Home - ClearSync®

Top Frequently Asked Questions

Please see the ClearSync Quick Start Guide, Release Notes, and other online FAQs for more information, including answers to any other questions you may have about how to:

Subscribe to ClearSync and create a ClearSync User Account
Create a ClearSync User Account
Download and install ClearSync
Set up Communities and Publish, Share, and Subscribe to Shared Resources
Use the ClearSync handheld, Desktop Viewer, and Web Viewer applications
Trouble shoot problems

   1. Do all ClearSync users need their own User Accounts?
2.1  Do I need to set up a Community if I only want to share with one other person?
2.2  Do we each need to set up our own Community and invite each other to join them?
2.3  When should I set up multiple Communities?
   3. How do I set up ClearSync for someone else or a group?
   4. I share a computer with other people, how do we use ClearSync?
   5. Can I use ClearSync if I don’t have a handheld?
   6. Can I synchronize to my ClearSync Account from more than one computer?
   7. Can ClearSync be used through a firewall or proxy server?
   8. Why do I get a “User Name & Password don’t match an Account” error when I synchronize to the ClearSync Server?
   9. How do I share my calendars & contact lists after I’ve installed and synced to the ClearSync Server?
10. I created a calendar for someone else, why don’t I get this person’s events after we’ve both synchronized to the ClearSync Server?
11. Can we use ClearSync to share resources locally on our PC without synchronizing through the Internet-based ClearSync Server?
12. How does ClearSync work with 3rd party PIMs (Microsoft® Outlook®)?
13. Is ClearSync compatible with other handheld calendar & contacts applications (eg: DateBk5)?
14. How do ClearSync Wireless Refresh™ and Wireless Sync™ work?
15. How is my personal calendar and contact information kept private & secure when it is being synchronized through your Internet-based server?

1. Do all ClearSync users need their own Accounts?

Each person using ClearSync must have their own, unique ClearSync User Account. The synchronization of shared resources occurs between each person’s Account, eg: after I choose to Publish & Share my calendar and contact list(s) with a Community I have created or joined, only then can you, as a member of this community, Subscribe & synchronize to these resources and hence get access to them. See the ClearSync Quick Start Guide for step-by-step instructions about this process.

IMPORTANT

Synchronizing more than one handheld device or desktop User Profile to the same ClearSync User Account may result in data loss or corruption.

2.1 Do I need to set up a Community if I only want to share with one other person?
2.2 Do we each need to set up our own Community and invite each other to join them?
2.3 When should I set up multiple Communities?

The only way to share calendars and contact lists (“resources”) with other people, whether just one other person or a group of people, is through a community. One person should set up the Community and invite the other(s) to join. Each member can then decide which of their resources they wish to Publish & Share with the other members and which of the resources the others have shared that they wish to Subscribe to.

If you have created one or more calendars and/or contact lists that you'd like to share with some people and also other resources that you'd like to share with different people, you can set up seperate communities for these discrete groups of people to control who has access to which shared resources.

3. How do I set up ClearSync for someone else or a group?

Before proceeding, make sure that each person, including yourself, has ClearSync installed on their respective handhelds and/or desktops, has created their own, unique ClearSync User Account, and has performed at least one successful Sync to the ClearSync Server operation. If you do not do this installation and Account set up for them, be sure they provide you with their respective User Names and Passwords.
Assuming you are going to be the primary Community Administrator, login to your Account, create a Community, and send invitations to the people who will be sharing resources with one another, but use your email address rather than theirs Note that the invitation email address is discarded after the invitation has been sent.

Tip: Include the person’s User Name and Password in the optional Message field for each invitation.
Use the ClearSync applications on each person’s handheld and/or desktop, including yours, to publish the calendars and contact lists that you wish to be shared with the community members. See the ClearSync Quick Start Guide for step-by-step instructions about this process.
Next, click the “Join Community” URL link in each invitation email you receive, logging in with each person’s unique ClearSync User Name and Password to join them to the community.
After logging in for each person, click the name link to go to the community you have just joined them to. Share the person’s published resources, if applicable, and Subscribe to the desired resources that were previously shared to the community.

Tip:Share all the resources for each community member you can first. Then refresh each person’s page, re-enter the community, and Subscribe to all the desired resources.

4. I share a computer with other people, how do we use ClearSync?

Handheld Users
- Each handheld has it’s own, unique Palm User Profile that is established on both the device and in the Palm Desktop during it’s initial setup.
- The ClearSync Installer will prompt you to install the ClearSync applications to each handheld that is already syncing to the computer. As it will also prompt you to create as many ClearSync User Accounts as you wish, be sure to set up a unique Account for each user.
- After ClearSync has been installed on each handheld, the first HotSync + Sync to the ClearSync Server performed for each handheld will prompt you to link its User Profile to the unique ClearSync User Account you have established for it.
- See the ClearSync Quick Start Guide for step-by-step instructions about how to create communities and set up sharing calendars and contact lists as desired for each user.
ClearSync Desktop Viewer Only Users
- When the Desktop Viewer Only option is selected during installation of ClearSync on the shared computer, you will be prompted to create an initial desktop User Profile. As the ClearSync Installer will also prompt you to create as many ClearSync User Accounts as you wish, be sure to set up a unique Account for each person you expect to be sharing the computer.
- To create desktop User Profiles for additional people sharing the computer, launch the ClearSync Desktop Viewer and select the <Edit Users> option from the User Name pulldown box on the Desktop Viewer toolbar, then click <New>.
- After creating each desktop User Profile, select that User and perform a Sync to the ClearSync Server, which will prompt you to link it to the unique ClearSync User Account you have established for that person.
- See the ClearSync Quick Start Guide for step-by-step instructions about how to create communities and set up sharing calendars and contact lists as desired for each user.

Tip: As the ClearSync Desktop Viewer will display the User Profile that was active when it was last open, be sure to select the appropriate desktop User from the User Name pulldown box on the Desktop Viewer toolbar.

5. Can I use ClearSync if I don’t have a handheld?

Absolutely!

In fact, there are a variety of settings where groups of people both with and without handhelds are using ClearSync to share and work with each other’s calendars and contact lists (“resources”). The most common scenario is where a central administrator without a handheld views and edits the resources of one or more handheld users. Some examples are executive teams, groups of professionals (consultants, doctors, lawyers, etc.), and traveling engineers, sales reps, and trainers.

To use ClearSync without a handheld, select the ClearSync Desktop Viewer Only option when prompted by the ClearSync Installer. You can then use the ClearSync Desktop Viewer to share & synchronize calendars and contact lists with others by syncing directly to the Internet-based ClearSync Server. See the Desktop sections of the ClearSync Quick Start Guide for step-by-step instructions about this process.

IMPORTANT

The ClearSync Desktop Viewer does not link directly with other desktop PIMs (Personal Information Managers) such as Palm Desktop, Microsoft Outlook, etc. Performing a HotSync operation with a handheld that has ClearSync installed on it is required in order for calendar and contacts data to be updated between ClearSync and any other desktop PIM.

6. Can I synchronize to my ClearSync Account from more than one computer?

You can install ClearSync on as many computers as you wish – at work, at home, on the laptop you travel with, or even on a friend’s, colleague’s, or “guest” PC – allowing you to synchronize your published / shared and subscribed resources to your handheld or to the ClearSync Desktop Viewer whenever you wish.

Tips

If you have a handheld but do not plan on synchronizing it to a secondary computer you install ClearSync on, select the ClearSync Desktop Viewer Only option and enter the your current desktop User Profile name – which is the same as your Palm User Name -- when prompted by the ClearSync Installer.

Though this Desktop Only option doesn’t prompt you to install the ClearSync handheld applications, the ClearSync HotSync conduits will be installed on the computer, allowing you to synchronize your handheld to this system in the future if you wish. Note that if you do install Palm Desktop on this computer and synchronize your handheld to it, you will need to re-run the ClearSync Installer after doing so in order to link the existing ClearSync Desktop User Profile to Palm Desktop User Profile.

7. Can ClearSync be used through a firewall or proxy server?

Synchronization with the ClearSync Server will work with most firewall / proxy server configurations that allow Internet communications through standard HTTP over port 80.

ClearSync also recognizes most standard “authentication” requests that require you to enter a user name, password, & network domain in order to access the Internet.

However, there may be some configurations that ClearSync does not yet accommodate. If your firewall / proxy server is set to allow HTTP over port 80 in both directions and you’re still having difficulties synchronizing with the ClearSync Server, setting a Proxy Exception as described below may help. If doing so doesn’t resolve the problem, please contact ClearSync Support for assistance.

IMPORTANT

Setting a Proxy Exception will only allow you to bypass your proxy server for communicating with the ClearSync Server and does not open any additional ports on your firewall or proxy server. However, because setting the exception also means your interactions with the ClearSync web site cannot be monitored, we recommend that you check with your IS / IT staff before you proceed.
If you encounter a 401, 407, or 500 Server Error, your computer is accessing the Internet through either a proxy server or firewall that is not configured to allow synchronization with the ClearSync Server; or your web browser's proxy settings are enabled. If you get one of these errors and you are not behind a proxy server / firewall, disable your web browser's proxy settings.

Setting a Proxy Exception
The following instructions only apply to users who are accessing the Internet through a proxy server or a firewall with proxy server capabilities.
1. Launch the Internet Options application from your Windows® Control Panel (Start > Settings > Control Panel)
  Note: This application was named Internet in some earlier versions of Windows.
2. Click the <Connections> tab at the top of the Internet Properties dialog.
3. Click the <LAN Settings> button at the bottom of the dialog.
  Note: The LAN Settings are part of the Connections dialog in earlier versions of Windows.
4. Under the Proxy server section, check the <Use proxy server> box, then click the <Advanced> button.
5. Under Exceptions, enter *clearsync* in the <Do not use proxy server for addresses beginning with> text box.
6. Click <OK> to close each of the dialog windows.

8. Why do I get a “user name & password don’t match an account” error when I synchronize to the ClearSync Server?

This error indicates that you either entered an invalid ClearSync User Name & Password during your first attempt to synchronize to the ClearSync Server or you are accessing the Internet through a firewall or proxy server that is not configured to allow communications with the ClearSync Server.

If you confirm that you are entering a valid User Name & Password and you are connecting to the Internet through a firewall or proxy server that has been configured to allow HTTP communications over port 80 in both directions, setting a Setting a Proxy Exception (Top FAQ #7) may help. If that doesn’t resolve the problem, please contact ClearSync Support for assistance.

9. How do I share my calendars & contact lists after I’ve installed and synced to the ClearSync Server?

The ClearSync calendar and contact list sharing system is based on the premise that each person controls how and to who their personal information is shared with. With this in mind, all you need to do to get started with ClearSync is to follow the following 5 simple steps to share your calendar and contact list resources with other ClearSync users and get access to the resources they wish to share with you.

For more detailed instructions, click any of the Step # links; you can also see the ClearSync Quick Start Guide for complete step-by-step instructions.

Create / Publish and Share Resources

Step #1: Publish Your Resources

Use the Calendar Manager and Category Manager dialogs in the ClearSync applications on your handheld or desktop to designate which of your existing resources, such as your personal calendar and contact categories, and any new ClearSync only ones you create, that you would like to share with other people.

Step #2: Create Communities / Invite People to Join

After synchronizing your published calendars and contact lists to the ClearSync Server, click the <Home> icon on the ClearSync Desktop Viewer toolbar to login directly to your My ClearSync Home page where you can set up private communities for each group of people with whom you wish to share resources.

IMPORTANT

You do not need to create a community if all the people you want to share resources with will be members of communities created by one of them (or someone else, such as a central office administrator).

If you’re only going to be sharing with one other person, the two of you should agree which one of you will establish and administer your shared community and invite the other one to join.

Step #3: Share Your Published Resources

From your list of published resources within each community, select the calendars and contact lists that you want to share with that group of people.

Subscribe to Shared Resources

Step #4: Join Communities

Join any communities you’ve been invited to by clicking the <Join Community> URL link in the invitation email sent to you by the community Administrator and logging into your ClearSync Account.

Step #5: Subscribe to the Shared Resources

Within each of your communities, check the Subscribe box for each resource the other community members have shared that want access to. When you synchronize to the Server, these resources will be downloaded to your ClearSync handheld and desktop applications.

And that’s all there is to it! From now on, every time you synchronize with the ClearSync Server, from your PC or your wireless-enabled PDA / smartphone, the changes you’ve made to your shared resources will get sent to the Server and you’ll get latest updates those you share have previously synced to the Server.

10. I created a calendar for someone else, why don’t I get this person’s events after we’ve both synchronized to the ClearSync Server?

Since the ClearSync design is based on each person owning and controlling their personal information, in order for you to get access to another person’s calendar(s) and contact lists, they must first publish and synchronize these resources to the ClearSync Server and then share them to a community that you are a member of. Only after you next subscribe to these resources and perform a Synchronize to the Server operation will they be downloaded from the to the ClearSync applications on your handheld and desktop. The reverse is of course true for any of your resources that you wish to share with someone else.

Any ClearSync only calendar, or contacts category, that you create is by definition a resource that you own, regardless of what name you give it. These resource names are “arbitrary” and ClearSync does not link them with other resources that happen to have the same name.

11. Can we use ClearSync to share resources locally on our PC without synchronizing through the Internet-based ClearSync Server?

The current ClearSync service and handheld, desktop, & web-based applications are designed for you to share calendar and contact resources with others any time you want to, from practically anywhere in the world, simply by synchronizing with the Internet-based ClearSync Server from your computer or directly from wireless-enabled PDA / smartphone.

However, we are looking at possibly making a ClearSync Server product available for use behind a firewall for companies and organizations that want the information their employees / staff / members share with one another to be restricted to their internal networks. Please contact ClearSync Business Development if you would be interested in such a product.

12. How does ClearSync work with desktop PIMs (Microsoft Outlook)?

ClearSync is designed to co-exist with whatever desktop third party Personal Information Manager (PIM), such as Microsoft Outlook, that you synchronize your handheld to instead of Palm Desktop.

How this works is that when you perform a HotSync operation, the Palm and PIM synchronization utility conduits, such as PocketMirror® from Chapura®, the calendar and contact information between your handheld and the desktop PIM get updated with one another, as they normally do.

Then, the ClearSync HotSync and ClearSync Server synchronization conduits, which are designed to run last, “wake up” and synchronize the data in the ClearSync applications on your handheld – which is permanently linked to the data in their corresponding built-in Palm applications – with the ClearSync Desktop Viewer and, when you wish, with the ClearSync Server.

IMPORTANT

Because the third party PIM conduits complete their synchronization first and the ClearSync Desktop Viewer and ClearSync Server do not currently communicate directly with any third party desktop PIM applications, you need to perform a second HotSync operation in order to update your desktop PIM for changes originating in the ClearSync Desktop Viewer and the ClearSync Server.

Note that though the ClearSync Desktop Viewer also does not currently communicate directly with the Palm Desktop calendar and contacts applications, whose conduits also finish synchronizing before the ClearSync conduits run, the Palm Desktop databases do get updated with each HotSync operation.

Note:

What is a PIM?
PIM stands for Personal Information Manager, a general term that is used to refer to both handheld devices, such as Palm Powered™ organizers, and to applications running on your desktop computer and, more recently, on the web. PIM devices and applications allow you to manage personal information such as your schedule / calendar, contacts / address book, to do lists, and memos / notes, etc.

13. Is ClearSync compatible with other handheld calendar & contacts applications (eg: DateBk5)?

The ClearSync handheld applications are designed to co-exist with any other third party calendar and contacts management applications you may install on your PDA, such as DateBk5

Since both ClearSync and other third party handheld applications establish permanent links between their proprietary databases and the device’s built-in Palm Date Book / Calendar and Address Book / Contacts databases, all entries and changes that are made within each application to the fields of information that are shared in common between the third party applications and the built-in applications will appear and behave in each application as you would normally expect.

While ClearSync should co-reside happily with any of the many other third party applications available to enhance or extend the built-in Palm calendar and contacts managers, because developers are constantly producing new releases of their products, it isn’t possible for us to ensure 100% compatibility with these applications. If you encounter any problems with these third party applications that you think might be ClearSync related, please check the Known Problems FAQs before contacting ClearSync Support for assistance in addressing the problem.

14. How do ClearSync Wireless Refresh and Wireless Sync work?

ClearSync Wireless Refresh allows you to perform a wireless update of your previously published / shared and subscribed calendars and contact lists directly with the Internet–based ClearSync Server.

ClearSync Wireless Sync, which will become available in a future release, will allow you to perform a full synchronization between your device and the ClearSync Server.

Note that a Wireless Refresh update will, by definition, transfer both new records and any “single direction” edit changes made but does not perform conflict resolution for individual records that have been changed on both the device and the Server. When such a conflict occurs, the Sever version of the record will be downloaded and the handheld version will be discarded.

IMPORTANT
Your device must be able to connect directly to the Internet with the ability to upload & download data. If you use a smartphone, you need to sign up for the data transfer option that is in addition to the basic phone service your telecommunication carrier provides.

See the Palm Powered Handheld / PDA & Smartphone Hardware and Software System Requirements for a list of currently supported smartphone and wireless-enabled devices.

See #4 Use ClearSync’s Wireless Refresh to Update Information on Your Handheld in the ClearSync Quick Start Guide for complete usage instructions.

15. How is my personal calendar and contact information kept private & secure when it is being synchronized through your Internet-based server?

The personal information you provide when you subscribe to ClearSync and that you maintain in your ClearSync User Account, the calendar and contact resources you share with others – and others share with you – you synchronize with the ClearSync Server (including through the Wireless Refresh), private and secure as follows:

ClearSync Privacy Policy
ClearSync and Tanner Research, Inc. take very seriously our responsibility and commitment to protect the privacy and security of both your personal ClearSync Subscription & User Account information and the data you synchronize to & store on the Internet-based ClearSync Server.

We will never divulge nor allow third party access to any of your personal information or data for any purpose without your express prior consent, unless we are, in good faith, required to do so by law.

Please see the ClearSync Privacy Policy and the ClearSync Terms of Service for the full details about these protections, and don’t hesitate to contact ClearSync Support if you have any questions.

ClearSync User Account
A uniquely encoded and private ClearSync User Name and password-protected ClearSync User Account and associated My ClearSync Home page & data files are automatically created on the ClearSync website and the Internet-based ClearSync Servers when you subscribe to one of the ClearSync service levels. Only you, and anyone you give your User Name and Password to, have access to the information associated your Account and to the resources that you publish to the ClearSync Server for the purpose of sharing with others or with yourself from multiple computers or directly from a wireless-enabled PDA / handheld or smartphone.

ClearSync Communities
You control which groups of people have access to the resources you choose to share with them through the ClearSync Communities you create or join through your ClearSync User Account. The community creator is the default Community Administrator who determines who is invited to join the community and therefore have access to the resources that you and the other community members share through the community. The Administrator can also assign Administrative rights to other members, remove both individual resources and members they no longer wish to have in the community, change the community name & description, and delete the community from the ClearSync Server.

ClearSync Calendars & Contact Lists
Every ClearSync user can designate the calendars and contact lists (categories) they own which they wish to share with others to be published to the ClearSync Server as Read / Write or Read Only resources. Read Only calendars can also be made Private, which causes all synced event descriptions to appear to subscribers as **PRIVATE**.

Individual event and contact records that you have marked as “Private” do not get uploaded when you synchronize to the ClearSync Server. This means that subscribers to your personal calendar, and any other calendars you create, and any contact lists (categories) you create will never see these “Private” events or contact entries.

ClearSync Data Encryption During Synchronization
When ClearSync Gold Subscribers synchronize to the Internet-based ClearSync Server from a desktop computer / PC, the data being transmitted is protected by SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption. SSL is a protocol that Netscape developed for transmitting private documents over the Internet and is widely used by many websites to obtain confidential user information, such as credit card numbers.

ClearSync Wireless Sync, the ability to perform a full synchronization of all published and shared resources directly with the ClearSync Server via wireless-enabled smartphones and PDAs / handhelds, will include SSL encryption when it becomes available in a future ClearSync release.