Here's what I tell my clients about syncing with Palms, especially if they sync in more than one place. It generally avoids sync issues.

GOLDEN RULE: Only work on one platform at a time. When you arrive at work, sync your Palm to OGo or your desktop. Then, while you're at your desk, only edit data on the desktop or OGo interface. You can use the palm for viewing, but don't make changes on it while you're at your desk. When you need to leave your desk, sync before leaving, then work only on the Palm. If you sync at home, sync when you first get to your computer, then again before you leave it. Make it a habit to sync when you arrive at your computer, and before you leave it, and this will avoid the majority of HotSync related problems.

The reason for the Golden Rule is that the Palm Database format has a dirty flag per record and not per field in each record. If you were to modify the same record on both platforms (palm and desktop), both are dirty, and HotSync will create a copy of each record on BOTH platforms to avoid losing data. That is, the changed record on the desktop will be copied to the palm as a NEW record, and the changed copy on the palm will be created as a NEW record on the desktop, resulting in TWO entries on both platforms, with slightly different information. On the normal palm desktop, the hotsync log will tell you that the record "blah" was changed on both platforms, and has been duplicated. Make the changes you need to one, and delete the other. The software can't determine which is the "right" one, so it makes you decide.

Now, you might get problems even if you do follow the Golden Rule. One culprit is Outlook, where if alarms are fired off on the desktop and silenced, it sets a changed flag in Outlook, and will need to be synced. Similarly, alarms on the handheld also set the dirty flag, so a HotSync could result in two entries of the same appointment. In my case, I made the Palm the master, and I disabled alarms in Outlook to avoid this problem.

For more information on how to work with Palm Powered Handhelds & Smartphones, and the OpenGroupware.org server, feel free to visit http://SolutionsAtHand.ca or e-mail support [at] SolutionsAtHand [dot] ca