This week, a reader writes:

I have two offices with desktop computers and, while not a total road warrior, when I travel, I do so with a laptop. I would like to consolidate all my e-mail, contacts and calendars so that no matter which computer I am using I can access the same information. I have Outlook, as part of Office, on all the computers, so I’d like to do this with Outlook as opposed to deploying other technologies. Can you help?

Signed,
Moving Target

This issue plagues anyone who regularly uses Microsoft Outlook on more than one computer, especially if you don’t have a Microsoft Exchange server sitting on your network to keep Outlook in sync automatically.

This means the Contact phone number you updated on your desktop PC is still stale on your laptop, the Calendar item you created on your laptop never made it to your desktop and your conflicting Task list and severed e-mail conversations make you feel schizophrenic.

You might think that keeping two independent copies of Outlook in sync would be fairly straightforward. The simple answer is: It’s not.

Different versions of Outlook store data differently and, as a result of Microsoft’s hardening Outlook against viruses, the programming interface makes it difficult for e-mails to be “injected” into Outlook from another program.

Nevertheless, intrepid geeks and programmers have poked their way around these issues. I sampled several products that were branded to do the job.

One solution is Easy2Sync. The program is robust, offering control over synchronization options if you need them. The different “Editions” have varying feature sets. Suffice it to say that if you want all of your e-mail folders and other Outlook areas to be synchronized, you’ll need the Business Edition ($79). That version allows you to create as many different synchronization “tasks” as you might need, then automate them in several ways. Easy2Sync is best suited for computers that are on the same network, but it can utilize a USB drive as the synchronization medium. It’s feature-rich, and seems to work as promised, but I can’t bring myself to say that it’s “easy.”

Tip: If you decide on Easy2Sync, rename all your “Data storage” devices and change the icons to be more intuitive, such as, “Desktop PC,” and “USB Drive” rather than the generic names Easy2Sync assigns. That way, when the program prompts you to select which of the two contains the most current record to “win” in a synchronization dispute, it’s easier to understand.

Outlook 2003 and 2007 don’t immediately play nicely with previous versions of Outlook. If you find yourself in that mess, investigate Easy2Sync’s “Bridge Mode.” It worked flawlessly for me using a USB drive between Outlook 2002 and 2003.

The solution for you, however, might be EZOutlookSync Portable, priced at a palatable $39.95. Simply unzip the program to your USB key and run it from there. The interface is a walk in the park, with a simple step-by-step wizard to walk you through everything.

You can also use EZOutlookSync Portable to back up and restore Outlook — certainly a handy feature. It supports Windows 98 through Vista, and Outlook 2002 (XP) through 2007. They have other versions of the product that you should also consider if you’re shopping for a solution.

I must also mention one other program, called OutlookSync. It’s simple and elegant, can be installed to and run from a USB thumb drive, recognizes the computer it is plugged into and is simple to use. Unfortunately, the programmer ceased development just shy of supporting Vista and Outlook 2007. Also, OutlookSync is missing the ability to synchronize e-mail: Although it allows you to view your synced e-mail within OutlookSync itself, it can’t copy the e-mail back into the other copy of Outlook. However, if this fits your needs, especially if you’re storing your mail on an IMAP server anyway, I highly recommend it. He gives it away free for personal use, but wouldn’t mind a donation of $24.99 if you like it. It’s a steal for that.

As always, if you’re planning to try things that access and change your data, make sure you’ve made a good backup copy.

Links:

• Run-from-USB EZOutlookSync Portable (and other versions): http://www.ezoutlooksync.com/
• Full-featured Easy2Sync for Outlook: http://itsth.de/en/
• Gone but not forgotten, OutlookSync: http://www.curosoft.com/downloads.html

Kevin McDonald: Writer and professional computer/network administrator. He lives in Amarillo with his wife and children, and owns and operates Definition Computers. E-mail Kevin at askthegeek@definitioncomputers.com with questions you’d like to see answered in this column.

(This article was originally published in the Amarillo Independent newspaper.)