Hack 1.05: Sync More Than Music With iTunes

by Adam Stolarz, Damien Stolarz, and David Jurick.

Public Categorized as Public.

Not tagged.

Hack 1.05: Sync More than Music with iTunes

iTunes can push over more than just music, video, and photos.

Using iTunes to add your favorite songs, videos, and pictures to your iPhone or iPod Touch is a great feature all by itself. However, syncing offers several other benefits that will come in handy throughout your busy daily life. This hack will shed some light on what data you can sync between your computer and iPhone or iPod.

ED: This is where we have the problem of if the phone is jailbroken or not. If not, then you're limited with the vanilla install. You'll need to hit the App Store. If you've jailbroken your phone then there's options.

Sync with Your Computer's Calendar

Manually entering your meetings, appointments, and reminders into the Calendar application can be very time-consuming, especially considering the tiny size of your iPhone's keyboard. Luckily, with the power of iTunes, you won't have to waste your time on this tedious task. Some of the most popular calendar software products for your Mac or PC can be synced using iTunes. This information will conveniently appear in your iPhone's calendar application in the same fashion as if you had manually typed it in, as in Figure 1-33. With your computer's speed and more efficient data entry methods, you can bid farewell to sloth-like pace of your iPhone's keyboard to manage your monthly schedule.

Figure 1-33
Viewing the events added to the calendar application

AU: Update the screenshot to reflect multiple calendars

Calendars can be synced from the following computer programs:

Mac: Apple iCal and Microsoft Entourage
PC: Microsoft Outlook 2003 and 2007

To sync these appointments and events, open iTunes while your iPhone is connected to your computer. Locate your iPhone in the Devices section on the left side of the iTunes window. Click on "iPhone" so that it's highlighted blue, and your iPhone's details will appear in iTunes. Next, click on the Info tab, which displays Contacts and Calendars, as shown in Figure 1-34. If your computer has any of the supported software, the Calendar section will provide a box to sync from the program. Check this box, and now your iPhone will sync appointments and events from your computer whenever you sync your iPhone with iTunes.

Figure 1-34
Calendar syncing options

Sync Contacts from Your Computer

AU: In iTunes, Contacts comes before Calendars -- I think I'd mention them in the same order in the text -- please consider.

Another time-saving capability of iTunes is its ability to sync your computer's contacts, resulting in less time using that clumsy iPhone keyboard. This technique will quickly sync important contact information from your computer, including names, phone numbers, emails, addresses, and more. The following contact management software is compatible with iTunes and the iPhone:

Mac: Microsoft Entourage, Mac OS X Address Book, and Yahoo! Address Book
PC: Microsoft Outlook Express, Microsoft Outlook 2003 and 2007, and Yahoo! Address Book

If you use any of these programs to manage your contacts, iTunes will automatically detect the contacts on your computer. When you go to your iPhone's Info tab, you'll be presented with the option to sync contacts, as in Figure 1-34. Check the empty box, select which software to sync from, and you'll soon have all your contacts on your iPhone.

AU: Think we could re-word the highlighted section above?

Sync Bookmarks from Your Computer's Browser

Having all your favorite web site addresses at your fingertips will make your iPhone an even more valuable companion. Getting them from your computer to your iPhone just as easy as syncing any other data. Supported browser bookmarks include:

Mac: Safari
PC: Safari and Microsoft Internet Explorer

The current iTunes version features a "sync bookmarks" option in the Info tab. When iTunes finishes syncing, your iPhone's Safari browser will now proudly display a new set of bookmarks.

But what about Mozilla? Though iTunes may not offer direct support for syncing bookmarks from Mozilla Firefox, there is an easy hack for this. First, start Firefox, and click Organize Bookmarks from the Bookmark tab. After the new Bookmarks Manager opens, click the File tab at the top of the screen, and select Export. Select a location on you computer that is easy to find, such as your desktop. Now start up either Safari or Internet Explorer, and click Import (under the Files tab). Find the bookmarks that you exported from Firefox, and import them. Now, the next time you sync your computer bookmarks to your iPhone, your Firefox bookmarks will come along for the ride, too!

You'll save a significant amount of time by syncing your computer's calendar events, contacts, and bookmarks. Furthermore, you won't have to experience the arduous nightmare of manually entering all of this data on your iPhone's keyboard.

Sync PDF, Word, Excel, TXT, and Other Files

Sometimes, you might want to synchronize other files with your iPhone as well. There are a couple of ways to do this, depending on whether your phone is jailbroken [Hack #2.03] or not [Hack #4.08].

Although you can't directly (without jailbreaking) copy files to your iPhone outside of what iTunes syncs for you, you have a very flexible method of of getting files onto your iPhone: email. Any PDF, Word, Excel, text, or other file that you send will be delivered to your inbox, and once you view it once, it's cached on your phone. You can even view these attachments when the phone is out of network range or in Airplane Mode (networking off).

AU: There are apps at the app store that do this. Check out Air Sharing. Might be a good idea to review all hacks against the app store to see if we can spot similar statements.

You may not want to clutter your (already cluttered) personal inbox with reading or reference material. One method of keeping things organized on your iPhone is to create a separate email account that only you know about. Sign up for one on Google or Yahoo, add that account to your iPhone, and send all your pleasure reading and documents you need to have handy there.

Sync Email from Exchange and MobileMe

ED: is this really a hack?

With the release of the 2.0 firmware, iPhones and iPods gained two new email capabilities: Microsoft Exchange and Apple MobileMe. Configuring your iPhone for either email service is easy--and it can even be completed in less than a minute!

To take advantage of this new email feature, open the Mail application, and select either Microsoft Exchange or MobileMe from list shown in Figure 1-35, depending on which service you currently use.

Figure 1-35
The list of email services that can be synced with firmware version 2.0 and later

If you chose Exchange, fill in the Email, Username, and Password fields, as in Figure 1-36, then hit the Next button at the top right. This step will verify your Exchange account information. Afterwards, you may have to enter the Server address, as in Figure 1-37. Finally, hit the next button to finish the account verification. Once completed, your iPhone's email and calendar events will begin syncing with your Exchange account.

AU: Do you want to blur any of the following personal information in screenshots?

Figure 1-36
The Email, Username, and Password fields for configuring Exchange

Figure 1-37
The Server address, which is necessary for some Exchange accounts

If you chose MobileMe, complete the Name, Address, and Password fields, as shown in Figure 1-38. Once you're finished, hit the Save button at the top right, and your account will be verified. Once this task finishes, you will be able to sync with your MobileMe account.