Hack 30 Take Your Work on the Go with Offline Files and the Briefcase
 
Two ways that road warriors can more easily
take files with them when they leave home or the officeand
synchronize files back to their desktop PCs when they
return. If
you use a laptop on a corporate LAN, you
might sometimes store files on the network and forget to bring them
home or with you on the road. This frequently happens to people who,
like me, are absent-minded on occasion (or more than one
occasionafter all, I once left my car keys in the
refrigerator). If you have XP Professional, you can use its Offline Files feature to
automatically
synchronize
folders from the LAN to your notebook
so that whenever you leave the office the latest version of your
files will be available. To enable the use of offline files, choose
My Computer  Tools Folder Options
Offline Files tab (shown in Figure 3-21), and select
the checkbox next to Enable Offline Files.
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You won't be able to use Offline Files if you have
enabled Fast User Switching. To turn off Fast User
Switching, choose Control Panel User Accounts
"Change the way users log on or
off," uncheck the box next to Use Fast User
Switching, and click Apply Options. |
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As you can see, there are a number of options on this tab for using
offline files. Here's what you need to know about
each to take best advantage of offline file
synchronization:
Synchronize all offline files before logging off
Make sure to choose
this option. When you do, the most recent copies of files will
automatically be copied to your laptop. If you don't
choose this option, you'll get only a partial
synchronization, which means that you won't have the
latest version of all your files. Also, keep in mind that you have to
log off or turn off your PC in order for this option to work. If you
only physically disconnect your PC from the network, the files
won't be copied.
Synchronize all offline files when logging on
If you choose this option, as soon as you connect back to the
network, your files will be synchronized from your laptop back to the
LAN. That means you won't be able to use them
locally, and you'll have to use them on the LAN. If
you don't choose this option,
you'll be able to continue using your files locally
and can then manually synchronize any folders you want to the LAN.
Display a reminder every...
If you've disconnected from the network, this option
will automatically flash a balloon message at you, telling you at an
interval of your choosing that you've been
disconnected. More than anything, this is an annoying option and is
useful only if you frequently disconnect from your LAN accidentally.
Create an Offline Files shortcut on the desktop
If you choose this option, XP creates a desktop shortcut to the
Offline Files folder it creates when you enable
the use of offline files.
Encrypt offline files to secure data
If you're concerned about the security of your
files, choose this option. As the name implies, it will encrypt your
offline files.
Amount of disk space to use for temporary offline files
When you use offline files, Windows caches files from the LAN onto
your hard disk temporarily. This option lets you determine the exact
amount of disk space to allocate to those temporary offline files.
After you've set up your laptop to use Offline
Files, you next have to choose the specific folders on the server
that you want to make available to you offline. Open Windows
Explorer, right-click on the network folder, and choose Make
Available Offline. If there are subfolders in the folder,
you'll be asked whether you want to make those
subfolders available as well. After you do this, when you log off the network, the server copies to
your laptop all the folders you've marked.
They'll be available to you in the same way as any
other folders are, via your applications, Windows Explorer, in My
Computer, or My Network Places. Work with them on your laptop, and
then, when you next connect to the network, they'll
be synchronized to the network folders, depending on the options
you've chosen.
3.11.1 On-Demand and Scheduled Synchronizations
If you'd
like, rather than synchronize when
you log off the network, you can synchronize manually on demand, or
you can set up a schedule for automated synchronization. To
synchronize on demand manually, in Windows Explorer choose Tools
Synchronize. From the dialog box that appears, select the
items in the Logon/Logoff tab that you want to synchronize, and click
Synchronize. To set up times to synchronize, use the On Idle and
Scheduled tabs.
3.11.2 Use the Briefcase for Mobile File Transfers
Offline
Files
works only if you have XP
Professional and if you have a local area network to which both your
laptop and desktop connect. But if you need to synchronize files
between two computers not on a networkeven if you
don't have XP Professionalthere is still a
way to way to synchronize files between computers: use the Briefcase.
It's not as easy to use as Offline Files, but it
still does the trick. It synchronizes files between your two machines
by using removable media such as a CD or Zip drive.
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Using floppy disks is not recommended, unless you have very few files
or very tiny files that you need to transfer and have no other way of
transferring them, such as email attachments. |
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To use the Briefcase to transfer files from a laptop to a desktop
computer, first format the media you're going to use
if it needs to be formatted. With the removable media in the drive,
open Windows Explorer, click on the media's disk
folder, and choose File New Briefcase. If
you're going to be using more than one Briefcase at
a time, rename the Briefcase with a descriptive name. The Briefcase
is a folder, like any other folder on your computer. Open it, and
then click Finish to close the dialog box that appears. Copy into the Briefcase the files you're going to
want to transfer to your laptop and keep synchronized between the two
computers. You can copy files from different folders. If
you've going to add files to the Briefcase over
time, or if you expect the files in the Briefcase to grow, make sure
to leave enough extra room on the disk. Eject the media from your
desktop. (If you get an error message when trying to eject a CD,
close Windows Explorer and then eject it.) Place the media in your
laptop, and move or copy the Briefcase folder to the
laptop's hard disk. Remember to move or copy the
entire folder, not the individual files in the folder. Work on the
files as you would normally. Add or delete files as well. When
it's time to transfer the files back to your PC,
copy the Briefcase from your laptop to removable media, and put the
removable media in your desktop. Open the Briefcase folder. To synchronize all the files back to your desktop, choose Briefcase
Update All and, from the Update Briefcase dialog box
(shown in Figure 3-22), click Update. To synchronize
individual files, select them, choose Briefcase Update
Selection, and click Update.
3.11.3 A Closer Look at the Briefcase
It's a good
idea to examine the files in your Briefcase before you synchronize,
so that you know the status of each. As you can see in Figure 3-23, you'll see whether each file
has been updated and therefore needs to be updated on your current
machine, or whether it was unchanged. The Briefcase folder also shows
you the file's original location on the computer, as
well as other details such as file size.
Right-click on any file in the Briefcase, and choose Properties
Update Status; you'll get updated
information about each file. You can also perform the following
tasks: Update
This button updates the file. Only this file, and no others, will
update.
Split from Original
This button breaks the link between the Briefcase file and the file
in the hard disk. You won't be able to do automatic
updates. The file in the hard disk will be listed as an Orphan in the
status field in the Explorer view. You can still copy the file, even
though the automatic link no longer works.
Find Original
This button opens the folder on your computer that holds the original
file.
3.11.4 See Also
Backer (http://www.leanware.com/english/leanwarel)
is a combination backup/synchronization program that lets you
synchronize your laptop data with a desktop PC or server. It also
lets you synchronize with a server while you're
traveling, transfer files between PCs, and archive old versions of
files. It's shareware and free to download, but if
you decide to keep using it you're supposed to pay
$24.
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