Take Your Information Wherever You Go
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Through the course of the day, you may work on more than one computer or device. You might have a desktop computer at work, a laptop computer that you take home, and a Smartphone or Pocket PC to keep in touch and see your personal appointments while you're out and about. Working with the same information on each of these products would make your life much easier. Your list of contacts in the office, for example, is much more valuable if you can access the most recent version while you're on the road. The same is true for files, your calendar, your tasks, and other information.
Explore this page to learn how Microsoft Windows XP, the Microsoft Office System, and Windows Mobile-based Pocket PCs and Smartphones can work together so that you can work with the same information wherever you are.
On This Page
 | Synchronise Files on Your Computer |
| Synchronise Files on your Mobile Device |
| Synchronise E-Mail, Calendar, Tasks, and Contacts on your Computer and Mobile Devices |
Synchronise Files on Your Computer
If you're working on files but aren't on your main computer or connected to your company's network, your changes will eventually need to be applied to your primary computer. Depending on your needs, either the Briefcase or Offline Files features in Windows XP can help you make sure your files are always synchronised. Choose the tool most appropriate for you:
| • | Briefcase. Use Briefcase when you're synchronising files stored on two different machines. For example, if you use a laptop computer to work on files when you're on the road, Briefcase can synchronise and update the files on your desktop computer. You can transfer files with a floppy disk, storage device, or by connecting the computers with a cable.  Figure 1: Use Briefcase when you are synchronizing data that you have stored and modified on more than one computer.
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| • | Offline Files. Use Offline Files when you want to make changes to files saved on the network when you're not on the network. You can work with the files the same way you normally would. When you reconnect, changes that you made to the files are updated to the network.  Figure 2: Use Offline Files when you are synchronizing data that you changed while you were disconnected from your company's network.
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Synchronise Files on your Mobile Device
With Windows Mobile-based Pocket PCs, you can use Pocket Word and Pocket Excel to take meeting minutes, edit and create new files, record business travel report notes, or draft letters. When you're finished creating or editing the file, use Microsoft ActiveSync to synchronise the file with your main computer.
Figure 3: Use Microsoft ActiveSync to synchronise data between your mobile device and your main computer.
| • | Learn how to synchronise your Windows Mobile-based Pocket PC with a desktop |
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Synchronise E-Mail, Calendar, Tasks, and Contacts on your Computer and Mobile Devices
If you're working remotely you'll most likely need to access information from your e-mail client—your e-mail, calendar, tasks, and contacts—throughout the day. With Microsoft Office Outlook on your computer and Pocket Outlook on your devices, you can access all this information stored on your company's Microsoft Exchange Server. Exchange Server is a messaging and collaboration server that stores all your e-mail, calendar, and other information. With Outlook and Pocket Outlook, you can access and work with that information. By accessing the same mailbox on Exchange Server—regardless of the computer or device you're using—you can work with the same information wherever you go.
Figure 4: You can access your e-mail, calendar, and other information stored on your company's Exchange Server using different computers and devices.
Note You should check with your company's IT department to determine what e-mail server they use and how to best synchronise your information.
Outlook 2003—Cached Exchange Mode
With Cached Exchange Mode in Outlook 2003 a copy of your mailbox is automatically stored on your computer. When you're offline you can still work with your e-mail, calendar, and other information. When you reconnect to the network, any changes you made are automatically synchronised. If you're working on a slow connection, you can customise Cached Exchange Mode to transfer only a smaller amount of data so that you spend less time waiting for information to download.
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Note Some of the options in Cached Exchange Mode require that your company is using Exchange Server 2003.
Outlook 2002—Offline Folders
Offline Folders files allow you to work offline whenever you're not connected to your Exchange Server. When you're online, you can synchronise your Inbox, Calendar, Tasks, and any other folders in Outlook to make sure the contents are identical to the contents of the same folders on the server.
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Windows Mobile—based Pocket PC and Smartphone
Being able to access your e-mail, contacts, and other information on a handheld device can be extremely helpful while you're on the road. Windows Mobile-based Smartphones and Pocket PCs even enable you to stay up-to-date with your information by using a wireless connection, although this may require special service agreements. You should also check with the IT department to make sure this is possible at your company.
For your contacts, tasks, calendar, and other information on your devices you can use ActiveSync to keep your data synchronised between your Windows Mobile devices, your computer, and your company servers—e-mail can also be synched if you can't receive it wirelessly. For example, if you update a contact on your Windows Mobile-based Smartphone or Pocket PC, that information will automatically be updated on your server and computer the next time you synchronise.
| • | Help and how-to information about Windows Mobile-based devices |