{"id":1636,"date":"2012-12-12T19:05:30","date_gmt":"2012-12-12T19:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.oneminutetodolist.com\/blog\/?p=1636"},"modified":"2015-06-28T17:23:00","modified_gmt":"2015-06-29T00:23:00","slug":"part-2-setting-up-gsyncit-to-sync-tasks-between-toodledo-and-outlook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/part-2-setting-up-gsyncit-to-sync-tasks-between-toodledo-and-outlook\/","title":{"rendered":"Part 2: Setting Up gSyncit to Sync Tasks between ToodleDo and Outlook"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Dec 12, 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the previous article, <a title=\"Part 1\" href=\"http:\/\/www.oneminutetodolist.com\/blog\/syncing-outlook-tasks-with-toodledo-using-gsyncit-part-1\/\">Part 1<\/a>, I described the reasons and realities of using gSyncit to sync tasks between ToodleDo and Outlook. In this article, Part 2, I tell you how to set it up. Make sure you read that previous article before proceeding with this one.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Not for faint at heart<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One thing to keep in mind is that any time you sync data between two systems, things can go haywire; if you don\u2019t set it up right, you may end up messing up your existing task data. And even if it works right, due to variations between the systems, the lists are probably going to look different. So don\u2019t even consider this exercise unless you are ready to deal with all that. And don\u2019t flame the gSyncit folks or me when that happens. This is moderately advanced stuff\u2014don\u2019t play unless you have thought through and understand what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n<p>Also, make sure both your Outlook and ToodleDo have matching MYN or 1MTD settings installed. Otherwise the lists will definitely look like they did not sync correctly, even if they did.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Install gSyncit<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Okay, with those warnings in place, first, get a copy of gSyncit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fieldstonsoftware.com\/software\/gsyncit3\/index.shtml\">here<\/a> and install it in Outlook (installation is pretty straight forward).<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->Once installed in Outlook, it shows up as a separate menu or tab. Here\u2019s how it looks in Outlook 2010.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"gSyncit Tab\" src=\"http:\/\/michaellinenberger.com\/images\/gsyncit-tab.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"442\" height=\"166\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Only one use-case shown here<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>gSyncit is a general-purpose Outlook sync utility that can be used to sync Outlook\u2019s tasks, calendar items, contacts, notes, and so on, all into a number of other applications. There are a ton of possible uses here, but we\u2019re only going to use it for <em>one use-case<\/em>: to sync Outlook tasks with ToodleDo. If you have other purposes in mind, go for it\u2014just don\u2019t ask us how to do it! And, the instructions below are only for syncing tasks with the MYN and 1MTD task systems in mind.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Prep before first Sync<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I am amazed at the number of settings in gSyncit\u2014it is a powerful program with a lot of thought and flexibility designed into it. And for the sync we are doing here, you do want to change quite a few of those settings before the first sync\u2014I cover those below. But first, here are some prep activities to do first:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I recommend you back up your tasks before the first sync so you can undo everything if you don\u2019t like the results.<\/li>\n<li>Next, if you have years\u2019 worth of tasks usage, you may want to clear out your completed tasks before the first sync. These are usually hidden and you may not realize how many you have. They do slow down each sync a bit, even if you tell gSyncit it to ignore them (as in settings below).<\/li>\n<li>Next, you also should decide whether ToodleDo or Outlook is your primary system (which one syncs first, and which one rules if a conflict exists on a task).<\/li>\n<li>And then my next recommendation is this: before syncing the first time, clear all the tasks out of the non-primary system. That\u2019s not required, but I think it makes sense to avoid confusion when deciding if the first sync worked or not, and to avoid possibly overwriting some tasks in your primary task system. In my case I made Outlook primary and cleared all tasks out my ToodleDo account (there is a button at the bottom of the ToodleDo <em>Settings<\/em> window that will empty the ToodleDo task database in one step). This is just for the first sync; after that, per settings below, gSyncit will sync in both directions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Settings First Step: Setting up the Tasks Mapping<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Okay, here are the one-time settings you need to make to configure gSyncit. This only takes about 5 minutes.<\/p>\n<p>In the gSyncit tab or menu as show above, click the Settings button. Expand the Toodledo Sync bar on the left, and you\u2019ll then see this screen.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"settings\" src=\"http:\/\/michaellinenberger.com\/images\/gsyncit-settings.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1087\" height=\"670\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Then choose Task Sync in the subsection as shown. In version 4 click the New button at the bottom.<\/p>\n<p>As shown below for version 3, you next enter your ToodleDo account info. Use the same email as you use to access ToodleDo, and then click the Verify Account button to make sure you entered it right. Version 4 has you enter the password at the Toodledo site, not as shown below<\/p>\n<p>If you have standard MYN settings at Toodledo, then leave Task Folder at All Tasks.<\/p>\n<p>Then click the Select Folder button on right to select your Outlook Tasks folder, and find your main tasks folder in that folder tree\u2014its path will then be entered into the space to its left.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t click OK yet, you have more to do here.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 566px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"Tasks Mappings\" src=\"http:\/\/michaellinenberger.com\/images\/gsyncit-tasks-mapping.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"556\" height=\"544\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tasks Mappings<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Setting up the Sync Options<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Activate the <strong>Sync Options<\/strong> tab next. Settings in this tab vary depending on whether you are using 1MTD or MYN. If using MYN, and running the sync unattended as I described in Part 1, then just set them as below (version 3 shown here; options are in a slightly different order in version 4 and some are omitted in vers 4). Decide whether Outlook or ToodleDo is primary and set the top setting accordingly.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"Sync-Options\" src=\"http:\/\/michaellinenberger.com\/images\/gsyncit-sync-options-tab.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"552\" height=\"539\" \/><\/p>\n<p>If you are running the sync <em>attended<\/em> (you will be at the Outlook computer during sync), you may want to clear the box labeled Automatically continue synchronizing on failure, and set the box labeled Confirm deleting tasks.<\/p>\n<p>And if you are using 1MTD instead of MYN, and using due dates on tasks, you probably want to click the box labeled Sync Outlook task reminder date\/time with ToodleDo task due date\/time. MYN users should not do that (see Part 1 for explanation).<\/p>\n<p>Skip the Categories Tab (advanced users may want to consider it\u2014it maps Outlook Categories to ToodleDo Folders, but I offer no help on that).<\/p>\n<p>Set up the <strong>Other<\/strong> tab as below:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"Other Tab\" src=\"http:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/images\/gsyncit-other-tab.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"537\" height=\"525\" \/><\/p>\n<p>But if you are using 1MTD, and using due dates on tasks, you probably want to click the two middle boxes that refer to due dates and alarms.<\/p>\n<p>Now click OK, and then click OK on the main Settings window. That\u2019s it for the settings.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Run the Sync<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Now it\u2019s safe to run your first Sync! To do this you can either click the Sync Tasks button or you can simply click the large Sync button as shown at the left of the very first figure above. The latter works too because in your mapping you did not set anything else up\u2014it will only sync tasks. In either case, you\u2019ll see a dialog box that shows gSyncit is at work. When the dialog box disappears, the sync is done.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Examine Your Synced Tasks, Confirm Success<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>After running the sync, examine the tasks in the receiving (non-primary) system and confirm all worked okay. Keep in mind that sorting and filtering may be different across the two systems. Even with MYN settings installed in both places, there could be some differences. For example, tasks with the same date may sort differently within that date group; so take that into account as you examine the differences. In other words, the sync may have worked fine but the tasks are just listed differently, so don\u2019t jump to negative conclusions.<\/p>\n<p>And remember, as discussed in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.oneminutetodolist.com\/blog\/syncing-outlook-tasks-with-toodledo-using-gsyncit-part-1\/\">Part 1<\/a>, since MYN users put start dates on all tasks, Outlook will auto-populate all the due dates. And so on the first or second sync, gSyncit on Outlook will copy those due dates into all your ToodleDo tasks. When that happens, just ignore them; you probably should even hide the due date field in ToodleDo.<\/p>\n<p>If all went well, congratulations! You now have the same tasks in both places, and you now have a way to keep these two task servers in-sync!<\/p>\n<p>If things look wrong, well, unless you had a question about MYN or 1MTD, you\u2019ll need to reach out to the gSyncit folks to get technical support\u2014I am not set up to handle that. Go to the page where you downloaded the software.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Scheduling Automatic Synchronizations<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As I mentioned in Part 1, I allow gSyncit to run unattended on a PC in my office while I am traveling. I need to do this since I don\u2019t always carry an Outlook computer with me, and I want all tasks consistently synced for when I use my many mobile devices.<\/p>\n<p>If you need this too, you\u2019ll want to set up gSyncit so it runs on a schedule. Here\u2019s how you do that.<\/p>\n<p>Open the <strong>Settings<\/strong> window like we did before, and under Application Settings, click Sync Options as shown below for version 3 (in version 4 the options are in a different order and some are omitted). Then adjust the settings on the right as needed. Note how I did it in the figure below (you may want to tweak these settings a bit). Then click OK. Don&#8217;t forget you need to leave Outlook on that computer running all the time for the sync to run.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"scheduling\" src=\"http:\/\/michaellinenberger.com\/images\/gsyncit-schedule.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1087\" height=\"670\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Well, that\u2019s it, that\u2019s how to set up gSyncit to keep your ToodleDo and Outlook tasks in sync. Let me know how it goes!<\/p>\n<p>Michael<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dec 12, 2012 In the previous article, Part 1, I described the reasons and realities of using gSyncit to sync tasks between ToodleDo and Outlook. In this article, Part 2, I tell you how to set it up. Make sure &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/part-2-setting-up-gsyncit-to-sync-tasks-between-toodledo-and-outlook\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1636"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3235,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1636\/revisions\/3235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}