Syncing Outlook Or Other Email Clients?

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volknet

Jonathan Volk
Aug 27, 2007
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www.jonathanvolk.com
I'm sure that many of you work on multiple computers. Now that I have an office that is not based from my home, the main problem I face is accessing email.

What do you use to sync email across multiple computers?

I could use web mail but having 12+ email accounts just doesn't really seem to be efficient.
 


I've tried using IMAP, but it ultimately doesn't work and is a pain in the ass.
The simplest, most stable solution I've found is the most low tech:

outlook 2003 -> tools -> email accounts

choose them one at a time, and edit:

more settings -> advanced -> delivery

and set each account to leave a copy of the message on the server for seven days.

Doesn't sync your sent mail though.
 
I use a Lan in my office, all my PCs have a static IP every time plugged in the Lan.

This is my method:
1. Use a portable mail client, I use Thunderbird Portable (a Mozilla project).
2. Add your mail accounts. For Gmail you'll find a wizard to easily setup your accounts
3. Create a folder with the same name on all the PCs you want.
4. Use a sync application, I use Toucan but there are a lot better applications. In this app set a sync job:

-Choice the source and the destination
-Mirror synchronization;
-Retain timestamps;
-Retain attributes;
-Ignore read-only;

Every time you click the sync button, the app will search all the files that have been modified on the source pc and update them on the destination pc. You'll have 2 exactly identical copies of your mail client with all messages and configurations(POP3, IMAP, SMTP).
 
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Flash4Ever said:
I use a Lan in my office, all my PCs have a static IP every time plugged in the Lan.

This is my method:
1. Use a portable mail client, I use Thunderbird Portable (a Mozilla project).
2. Add your mail accounts. For Gmail you'll find a wizard to easily setup your accounts
3. Create a folder with the same name on all the PCs you want.
4. Use a sync application, I use Toucan but there are a lot better applications. In this app set a sync job:

-Choice the source and the destination
-Mirror synchronization;
-Retain timestamps;
-Retain attributes;
-Ignore read-only;

Every time you click the sync button, the app will search all the files that have been modified on the source pc and update them on the destination pc. You'll have 2 exactly identical copies of your mail client with all messages and configurations(POP3, IMAP, SMTP).
Click to expand...

That there is a good solution. Thanks for the idea.
 
IMAP works fine for me...gmail and google apps mail. I use Thunderbird on muliple PCs and have an Android phone. Only quirk is that sometime I have to delete mails from my desktop that were already read and deleted on another source, but I never miss a mail.
 
The best solution, if you have decent bandwidth (and a static IP) is slap together a server and throw on Microsoft small business server. install exchange, and then go from there. You can use outlook web access, setup outlook anywhere on any PC outside the LAN, VPN in, also iphone/blackberry sync is fairly easy with autodiscover/BES server. Not to mention the groupware functionality you receive inside the office if you have more than 1 person in there. You will also find that contacts, calendar, memo, tasks, etc will also sync back and forth to your mobile device / wherever you access.
If you have about $2500 to drop, this is the best solution. otherwise, your best option is probably going to be imap like mentioned above.
 
Gmail can pull email from multiple accounts via POP, then you can configure Gmail in Outlook or your phone, I know for sure push email works on Windows Mobile phones.
 
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