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With the release of The Missing Sync for Palm version 5, getting data from your Mac desktop to your Palm (and vice versa) has become a more streamlined process. For those using Mac OS X 10.4.x MS does away with Apple's basic HotSync conduit for iSync, using Tiger Sync Services instead. The results are mostly pleasing.

The most obvious new capability is Folder Sync, a conduit that lets you synchronise a desktop folder with a folder on an SD card:

This is useful for several reasons:

• Using Folder Sync for Word documents to a /Documents folder (accessible by DocToGo) on the SD card means you can keep working with native Word documents and avoid the desktop DocsToGo, which is (in my experience) both flakey and slow;
• Using Folder Sync for MP3s to an /Audio folder (accessible by RealPlayer) on the SD card is better than iTunes conduit, as it avoids sync history alerts re incompatible files (i.e. AACs). However, installing via HotSync takes such an age you might consider using a USB 2.0 card reader instead;
• Using Folder Sync for JPGs to a /DCIM folder (accessible by Photos) on SD card is better than iPhoto conduit, as you get more control over image size and quality (e.g. use PhotoToolCM to batch re-size the longest side to 480 px at high JPEG quality);
• Using Folder Sync offers a quick way to drag-and-drop the same Word docs/ MP3s/ JPGs etc. to a Pocket PC from the same desktop source folders.

Other observations on the upgrade:

• Application stability seems to have improved overall, with a greater likelihood of sync initiation and fewer unexpected quits;
• Sync of Events (calendar data) seems to be excessively slow;
• For the first time Palm Contacts data is an excellent match for data in the desktop Address Book (in particular the difference between "Work" and "Home" addresses is appreciated);
• No more "Untitled" empty calendars are created in iCal after a sync.

So far I've come across two glaring calendar bugs, which I hope will be fixed shortly. If you create an event in iCal that repeats "every year", this will get duplicated by Mark/Space Events in the Palm calendar (e.g. birthdays). As you can see in the screen captures, on the the Palm the event is set to repeat "every year" in one instance, and "yearly" in the other. Interestingly the duplicates only appear on the Palm, and not in iCal:

Furthermore, if you subscribe to a calendar such as UK Holidays, every refresh of the calendar will result in duplicate entries on the Palm (but not in iCal)!

Update 20.11.05: Mark/space tech support say:

We just posted version 5.0.2 final. It has addressed several calendar PIM sync issues... I suggest that you reset the sync history prior to launching your first sync using the final 5.0.2 version. To reset the sync history, open iSync and the iSync preferences. Choose Advanced Options > Reset Sync History.

So far, so good...

Update 10.12.05: The old "Unfiled" bug is back. Unfiled events or tasks created on the Palm are not re-created in the specified iCal category (e.g. "Bruce"), but a new (unwanted) "Unfiled" calendar is created on the desktop instead.

1. Open M/S Events and confirm M/S Events + M/S Tasks conduits are set to "Put items with unmatched handheld categories into Bruce";
2. Open iCal and confirm there is no clendar "Unfiled" or To Do with the category "Unfiled";
3. Create a new event called "Test-E" and a new task called "Test-T' on the Palm; do not specify a category;
4. Sync ;
5. Open iCal and observe a new "Unfiled" calendar containing the event "Test-E" and a new To Do "Test-T" with the category "Unfiled".

Update 14.12.05: Regarding the "Unfiled" bug, Catherine from M/S Support writes:

It does occur that I create an event on the handheld and it is 'unfiled', in the Events conduit, I sync to the Mac, an Unfiled calendar is created and my event lands in that calendar. I am working with our QA department to write up a bug so our engineers can fix it.

Update 12.01.06: Regarding very slow sync speeds, Dave from M/S Support writes:

Missing Sync is much slower then on iSync. It is because iSync is very limited in what it syncs. With Missing Sync it will sync everything which is many more fields. This slows the sync down exponentially. This is a Sync Services issue that we have no control over.

Update 16.01.06: Missing Sync version 5.0.3 does not work with Mac OS X 10.4.4 (the conduits appear to sync but no Contacts or Events data are transferred in my testing). Mark/Space Support are thus far silent.

Update 24.01.06: I fixed the MS 5.0.3/ OS X 10.4.4 bug simply by re-installing Missing Sync. Regarding an update on the "Unfiled" bug, Catherine from M/S Support writes:

The situation was identified and the solution the engineers came up with isn't what you would have liked. Events in Unfiled on the handheld are synced to the Unfiled calendar on the Mac. We removed the option to designate a calendar to receive Unfiled events from the handheld and instead the Unfiled calendar is created and events synced to it. The solution for your situation is to assign your events to categories on the handheld and then have them sync to that calendar on the Mac.

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