Netscape Address Book Sync for Palm Pilot
User Guide
Netscape Address Book Sync allows you to transfer data between
Netscape address books and your Palm Compatible Platform device.
For information on HotSync setup, consult your palm organizer Handbook.
Getting
Started
Getting
Started
Requirements
-
Netscape Communicator 4.5.
-
Any Palm Compatible Platform device (e.g. Pilot, PalmPilot, Palm III, WorkPad).
Palm Desktop 2.0 or greater installed on your PC. If you have an older
version, get the upgrade from the Palm web site (www.palm.com).
Installing Netscape Address Book
Sync
-
If you already have data in your Palm Desktop, you should perform a HotSync
before installing the Netscape Address Book Sync. This will insure
that all your current address book information will be synchronized with
the Netscape Address Book.
-
To run the Netscape Address Book Sync Installer:
-
Click the Start button to bring up the Start menu
-
Select the Programs option
-
>From the Programs menu choose Netscape Communicator
-
>From the Netscape Communicator menu select Palm Tools
-
>From the Palm Tools menu select Address Book Palm Sync Install and follow
the instructions on the screen
-
If the HotSync Manager is running, the Netscape Address Book Pilot Conduit
Installer will prompt you to restart the HotSync Manager. To restart
press the Restart HotSync Manager button.
-
You have successfully installed the Netscape Address Book Sync tool.
This installation replaces the Palm Desktop Address Book sync with Netscape
Address Book Sync. Know when you sync using the Palm HotSync Manager
your Palm Connected Organizer will sync directly with your Netscape Address
Book. You can revert to using the Palm Desktop Address Book sync
at any time by following the Uninstall Netscape Address Book instructions
below.
Uninstalling
Netscape Address Book Sync
-
If you have existing data in your Netscape Address Book that has not been
synchronized you should perform a HotSync before uninstalling the Netscape
Address Book. This will update your Palm Connected Organizer with
the latest Netscape Address Book information before you disable the Netscape
Address Book Sync.
-
To uninstall the Netscape Address Book Sync:
-
Click the Start button to bring up the Start menu
-
Select the Programs option
-
>From the Programs menu choose Netscape Communicator
-
>From the Netscape Communicator menu select Palm Tools
-
>From the Palm Tools menu select Address Book Palm Sync Install
-
Select the Uninstall button from within the Netscape Address Book Pilot
Conduit Installer dialog box
-
If the HotSync Manager is running, the Netscape Address Book Pilot Conduit
Installer will prompt you to restart the HotSync Manager. To restart
press the Restart HotSync Manager button.
-
You have successfully uninstalled the Netscape Address Book Sync tool.
Your previous Palm Address Book sync has been enabled. If at anytime
in the future you would like to enable your Netscape Address Book refer
to the installation instructions above.
Advanced
Features
Configuring Netscape Address Book Sync
Preparing Netscape address books for Sync
Synchronizing your palm organizer for the first
time
Limitations
Synchronizing with different Netscape User
Profiles
Advanced Features
Configuring Netscape
Address Book Sync
You can use the "Customize..." feature of the HotSync manager to configure
the Netscape Address Book Sync to synchronize, copy the Netscape Address
Books to the Palm organizer, or do nothing. By default, the Netscape
Address Book Sync is set to synchronize data between your Palm organizer
and Netscape address books. It is also possible to manually configure
Netscape Address Book Sync to ignore specific Netscape address books.
This is done by editing the nabcnd32.cfg file. This file can be found
in the same directory as netscape.exe and is in the format of a standard
Windows .ini file. To exclude specific address books from being synchronized
with the Palm organizer, edit the [SyncExclude] section and add a line
for each address book you wish to exclude. For instance, to exclude
the address books "Top Secret" and "Old Addresses" the nabcnd32.cfg file
should contain:
[SyncExclude]
1=Top Secret
2=Old Addresses
By default, Netscape Address Book Sync attempts to synchronize all Netscape
address books.
Preparing Netscape
address books for Sync
Personal address books do not need any preparation. To synchronize
LDAP directories you must make sure you have configured them for "Offline"
access. To do this, select the directory you want to sychronize,
display the properties for that directory, select the Offline Settings
tab, and check "Select this Directory for download".
Synchronizing
your palm organizer for the first time
-
Is your Palm organizer address book empty?
-
Follow the instructions for your Palm organizer and synchronize.
Your organizer address book will then contain all of the records from your
Netscape address books. Each Netscape address book will be a category
on the Palm organizer.
-
Is your Netscape Communicator address book empty?
-
After sychronizing, all "Unfiled" records will be filed in a category.
This is due to the mapping of categories to Netscape address books.
By default, Unfiled records will get added to the "Personal Address Book"
in Communicator and filed in the "Personal" category on the Palm organizer.
If you do not want these records to get filed in the "Personal" category
then you will need to manually file them before sychronizing.
-
Follow the instructions for your Palm organizer and synchronize.
Your Netscape Communicator address book will then contain all of the records
from your Palm organizer. An address book will be created for each
category on the organizer.
-
Do you have records in your organizer and in your Netscape Communicator
address books?
-
Categories & address books
-
Netscape Address Book Sync will only attempt to synchronize the first 15
address books due to the Palm organizer limit of 15 categories. Before
you synchronize you need to make sure that the total number of categories
+ the total number of Netscape address books you want to synchronize does
not exceed 15. Categories with the same name as Netscape address
books will be merged and you should only count them once.
-
A common problem is that all 15 categories on the Palm organizer are used
and when you synchronize there's not any room to add the Netscape address
books. You can fix this by either removing categories from your Palm
organizer or by making sure that the Netscape address books you want to
synchronize are named the same as an existing category on the Palm organizer
so that they get merged.
-
After sychronizing, all "Unfiled" Palm organizer records will be filed
in a category. This is due to the mapping of categories to Netscape
address books. By default, Unfiled records will get added to the
"Personal Address Book" in Communicator and filed in the "Personal" category
on the Palm organizer. If you do not want these records to get filed
in the "Personal" category then you will need to manually file them before
sychronizing.
-
Be aware that records that exist in a category and in a Netscape address
book with the same name will get duplicated. The most common occurrence
of this is records in your Netscape Personal Address Book and in your Palm
"Personal" category. It is your choice whether to avoid this before
synchronizing by deleting/refiling records, or to clean up duplicate
records after the synchronization.
-
If you have an offlined LDAP directory that has the same name as a Palm
organizer category, all of the Palm records in that category will get re-filed
in the "Personal" category and added to the Netscape Personal Address Book.
To avoid this, rename the category on the Palm so that it is different
from the LDAP directory name.
-
Follow the instructions for your Palm organizer and synchronize.
All records on the Palm organizer will be copied to Netscape Communicator
and all Netscape Communicator records will get copied to the Palm organizer.
-
LDAP directories that are not offlined cannot be synchronized.
-
A maximum of 15 address books will be synchronized.
-
All Netscape fields with the exception of the Notes and Address fields
cannot contain multiple lines. When synchronizing, field values on
the organizer that contain multiple lines will be changed to single line
entries with each line separated by ", ".
Synchronizing with Different
Netscape User Profiles
Once you have successfully synchronized using a specific User Profile,
there are 2 choices for synchronization when you change to a different
User Profile. You will be given a choice during sync to decide which
type of synchronization you desire. You may choose to synchronize
with the new profile and merge all of the Pilot records with the Netscape
address books in the new profile - this employs the same logic as Synchronizing
your palm organizer for the first time. If you have existing
records in your new profile, this may cause duplicate records which you
will have to manually delete. The second choice is to copy the new
profile to the Pilot. This will ERASE ALL records from the Pilot
device and copy the address books from the new user profile to the Pilot.
Troubleshooting
HotSync
Problems
I cannot get my palm
organizer to HotSync with the Netscape Address Book.
-
Make sure your PC's HotSync Manager (Start > Programs > Palm Desktop >
HotSync Manager) is on.
-
Make sure that Netscape Address Book Sync is installed. You can verify
this by selecting "Customize..." from the HotSync Manager menu or by running
NSABPPIN.exe.
-
Close all HotSync windows on your PC (e.g. HotSync Log, Custom menu).
-
Verify that your palm organizer is placed properly in its cradle.
-
Make sure the Netscape Address Book HotSync Custom settings are not set
to Do Nothing.
-
Verify the Serial Port settings using the Setup dialog box (opened when
you click the HotSync manager icon on your PC's Taskbar and choose Setup).
Make sure no other programs are using the same Com Port as HotSync.
-
Close the HotSync Manager and then open it again.
The HotSync keeps timing
out.
It is possible for HotSync to time out while
waiting for Communicator to launch. If this is occurring, make sure
Communicator is running before synchronization.
The HoySync is taking too
long.
You can cut down the time it takes by doing
the following:
-
The first time you synchronize can take a long time. 3000 records
can take up to 20 minutes depending upon the speed of your PC. Subsequent
synchronizations will be much faster.
-
Set unused applications to Do Nothing in the HotSync Manager Custom menu.
-
Exclude unwanted address books from the synchronization - see Configuring
Netscape Address Book Sync.
Record
Problems
Some palm organizer
Records do not appear in Netscape after synchronizing.
-
Make sure the record did not get filed in the default address book (usually
the Personal Address Book). This can occur if the Palm record was
Unfiled or filed in a category corresponding to an offlined LDAP directory.
Some Netscape
Records do not appear in the palm organizer after synchronizing.
What happens to
a record that has been modified in both Netscape and the palm organizer
when I perform a HotSync?
When a HotSync is done and the Custom menu setting
for Netscape Address Book Sync is Synchronize the files, you will notice
that the record has been duplicated (for more information about the duplication,
open the HotSync Log). Simply delete the unwanted record (either on your
palm organizer or in Netscape) and HotSync again.
I filed a record in different
category on my organizer and it got re-filed in it's original category
when I synchronized.
Netscape Address Book Sync does not support this change. You
must move the record in Netscape and perform a HotSync to change its category.
I created an
Unfiled record on my organizer and I can't find it.
The Unfiled category is not supported by Netscape
Address Book Sync. All records in the Unfiled category will be moved
to Netscape's default address book, usually the Personal Address Book,
and filed in the corresponding category.
I keep getting multiple
copies of my records.
-
If you modified a record in both the palm organizer and Netscape, records
will be duplicated when you do a HotSync and the Netscape Address Book
Sync setting in the Custom menu is Synchronize the files. Simply delete
the unwanted record (either on your palm organizer or in Netscape) and
HotSync again.
-
If a HotSync gets stopped with an unexpected error, power loss, etc., it
is possible that the next time a HotSync is performed some records will
be duplicated.
Changes I made to
a record in my palm organizer were not transferred to Netscape.
-
Make sure the field you modified is supported. See Fields.
-
Change the Netscape Address Book Sync setting in the HotSync Manager Custom
menu to Synchronize the files.
Some palm organizer
record fields appear in a different order after synchronizing.
The order of the phone fields on the Pilot will
be reset during sync. On the Pilot, there are 5 phone fields and
you can choose the label for each field from the popup menu. When
you synchronize, the order of these fields is reset according the current
field mapping. For instance, if you set the first phone field to
be "Home" and the second to be "Work", after synchronization the order
will be "Work", then "Home".
Fields that contain multiple
lines get changed when I synchronize.
All Netscape fields with the exception of the Notes and Address fields
cannot contain multiple lines. When synchronizing, field values on
the organizer that contain multiple lines will be changed to single line
entries with each line separated by ", ".
Other
Problems
How do I delete Netscape
Address Book Sync?
Run NSABPPIN.exe and select Uninstall.
Addendum - Field Mapping
This section describes the conversions that occur when
transferring data between the Netscape Address Book(s) and your palm organizer's
Address Book. Apart from the special conversion rules that apply to specific
fields, some general rules apply:
-
Text fields are cut to the maximum allowed length on the destination platform.
-
Text fields that can contain multiple lines on the Pilot but not in Netscape
will be changed to single line entries with each line separated by ", ".
-
Fields that are available in Netscape but not on the Pilot and vice versa
will not be modified during synchronization.
Address records are filed in Categories on the Pilot,
in Netscape, records are stored in Address Books. Netscape Address
Book Sync matches categories and address books. After a successful
synchronization, each category on the Pilot will have a corresponding address
book in Netscape. Pilot categories can onlt be 15 characters long
so Netscape Address Book names are truncated on the Pilot. Following
is a description of what happens to categories and address books during
synchronization.
|
Netscape Address Book action
|
Pilot category action
|
Synchronization
|
|
New address book created
|
n/a
|
New Pilot category created IF there is an available
category. The Pilot can only contain 15 categories. If the
maximum has been reached then this address book will not be synchronized.
|
|
Address book deleted
|
category not changed,
category renamed, or
category deleted
|
All of the records from this address book will be
deleted and if the category still exists it will be deleted as well - even
if it was renamed.
|
|
n/a
|
New category created
|
A new address book with the same name as the category
will be created in Netscape. All new records filed in the category
will be created in the new address book.
|
|
n/a
|
Category renamed
|
The category will be renamed to match the address
book it corresponds to.
|
|
n/a
|
Category deleted
|
The category will get re-created and all appropriate
records re-filed into the category.
|
Fields
|
Netscape field
|
Pilot field
|
Notes
|
|
First name
|
First name
|
|
|
Last name
|
Last name
|
|
|
Display name
|
|
There is no Pilot field for Display name. The
Pilot can be configured to list records by Last name, First name or Company,
Last name
|
|
Email Address
|
E-mail
|
|
|
Nickname
|
|
Not synchronized
|
|
Title
|
Title
|
|
|
Organization
|
Company
|
|
| Department |
|
There is no corresponding Pilot field for Department. |
| Notes |
Note |
Multiple lines are allowed in this field. |
| Address |
Address |
Multiple lines are allowed in this field. |
| City |
City |
|
| State |
State |
|
| Zip |
Zip Code |
|
| Country |
Country |
|
| Work phone |
Work |
|
| Home phone |
Home |
|
| Fax |
Fax |
|
| Pager |
|
Only 5 phone fields are available on the Pilot. Work, Home, Fax,
Email, and Mobile are synchronized. |
| Cellular |
Mobile |
|
| Prefers to receive rich text (HTML) mail |
|
Not synchronized. |
| Conferencing |
|
No Conference fields or settings are available on the Pilot. |
Table of Contents | Installing
and Operating | Troubleshooting | Addendum
- Field Mapping