A few months I released the Vista sidebar gadget that count downs the days until the 2008 Presidential Election. With the release of Vista SP1 it caused some compatibility problems, but I’m happy to say those have been resolved and I can release the updated gadget.
As I’m sure many of you can relate, I spend hours and hours behind multiple PC’s just about on a daily basis. One of the applications that is open pretty much all of the time is Microsoft Outlook 2007. Everything is organized through there. My e-mail, contacts, calendars, tasks, the list goes on and on. Along with my two Vista PC’s, I also have a Mac that I do a lot of work on. The other “tool” I have been using regularly is Google Calendar. One reason is simply the ease of sharing multiple calendars with multiple people.
So with all these different ways of accessing my calendar events, a big problem arises. How to keep all my information synced between multiple PC’s? It appeared I wasn’t the only one with this problem, and with the recommendation from a friend and co-worker, I went and checked out SyncMyCal from Synchronization Technologies. The folks there were kind enough to provide me with a copy to review, and I have spent much time with it over the past month.
The idea is simple…two-way syncing between Outlook and Google Calendar….but many solutions I have tried are just plain worthless. I didn’t set my expectations too high, but after just a day of use, I was pleased that SyncMyCal seemed to have gotten it right. It allows you to sync multiple Outlook calendars and your Google Calendar together, and lets you sync that data in a variety of customizable options.
Installation was straightforward, and SyncMyCal installs a small toolbar inside Outlook which gives you quick access to it’s options, menu items, and synchronization button.
Once installed, all you need to do is enter your Google info, and then create your sync jobs in the settings menu.
The menu (shown in the screenshot above) shows you sync jobs, and gives you the option to add, edit, and delete them. Clicking “Add” brings up the settings configuration where you can configure you sync jobs with the variety of options SyncMyCal has. It works with multiple Google Calendars on your account, and you can specify which calendars to sync and how. You can choose options like “Download only”, “Upload only”, and “Synchronize” with either Outlook or Google precedence.
Another really cool feature is Category Sync. It allows you to filter categories when syncing so you can be selective by including or excluding specified categories. The configuration menu can seem a bit overwhelming at first, but the online help is pretty clear in it’s explanations, and it shouldn’t take long for you to get to know all the related functions.
I tried quite a few different configurations such as 2-way syncing, just uploading, or just downloading calendars, and for the most part it worked flawlessly. The only complaint I have is when doing a 2-way sync I would get some duplicate entries, and it would be nice if these duplicates could be filtered out beforehand. Other than that there were no other issues to speak of. SyncMyCal was stable, and syncing only takes a few seconds depending on your configuration.
SyncMyCal comes in two versions, the Lite version (free) which does not include auto-syncing and has a limited sync date range. The Pro version allows unlimited date ranges and a highly configurable auto-sync function. The Pro version is $25, and giving this a rating of 4 out of 5, it’s worth the small investment. Download the Lite version and give it a try, I’m sure you will find the upgrade well worth it.
Link: SyncMyCal
This past week we saw some fantastic skins come through the pipes over at WinCustomize, and I wanted to take a few minutes to share some of them.
Organic for ObjectDock Backgrounds
