[Macworld]

Post your comments for Sync your e-mail messages here

[rb07866598859]

There is another easier way to have a common set of Entourage email messages when using 2 Macs. It does NOT involve syncing.
Scenario: you have a MacBook of one varierty or another and an iMac or MacPro. You use the MacBook when out of the office etc. and want to use your more powerful iMac or MacPro on return. To do this I recommend the following:
Ensure you have Entourage installed on both machines and a LAN over which to connect to each machine.
In the MacBook go to your home directory, find the Micrsoft User Data folder and create an alias for the Entourage Database file.
Copy this alias to the equivalent location in your MacPro Microsoft User Data (MUD) folder.
Log out of the MacBook user account - it is not good enough to close Entourage - as you are still technically logged into the database, leaving it switched on and available via the LAN.
Log in to your iMac or MacPro account that has the MUD Alias in the relevant part of the Home folder. Open Entourage.
The Mac Pro Entourage account is 'fooled' into thinking the Alias to the Entourage database file on your MacBook is the 'local' copy of the Entourage database. For first time use it may ask you to choose the MUD - requiring the entry of a Syste Admin Password - so ensure you have this right in your account profile.
Points to note. It is essential that you log out of the MacBook accounts before access to Entourage on your other Mac with the alias in the MUD folder, if you do not do this you will receive an error message telling you that another user is logged in. The only way to clear this error is to shut down and restart the MacBook - remembering not to launch Entourage, it may also require you to restart your iMAC or MacPro.
This method does not work with MacMail.

Advantages
There is no Microsoft database to Sync - no data loss
As you are not Syncing you save huge amounts of time - a 2GB MUD file will take a while to Sync and I am not convinced that you can Sync the MUD file anyway - last time I tried it nothing happened and the sync failed.
There is no chance of corrupting your Entourage database - which a Sync may do - recovering and repairing a MUD file is painful.
You can use the MacBook Entourage database as your master email store and access it from any LAN connected Mac with an alias in its MUD folder. It may even work the other way around with the Mac Pro or iMac as the master MUD folder owner and an alias in your MacBook, connecting back to the MacPro or iMac using Back to my Mac (I don't know that this will work for sure, but I guess somebody will try!).

[hayesk]

That's a useful tip! I wish Apple thought a bit more about synchronization when designing these apps. We have to jump through hoops to synchronize mail, iTunes, iPhoto, etc.

[mcseufer]

Good tip and thank you for sharing. My only question about this set-up is: What happens if your MacBook isn't available? Ie. you've left it at home, it crashed, was lost/stolen or is getting repaired?

You need to have network access at all times to your MacBook in order to use this tip as it acts as the 'server' per se, for your mail store.

Otherwise this is a good tip.

M.

[rb07866598859]

In theory you would need to have your Master Mac machine with you to make this work, BIUT where you don't you would need to resort to one of the following:

If an Exchange user with Entourage as a client, use Microsoft Outlook Webmail.
If a POP user use your browser to go to their webmail site.

In either case the next time you have the 2 machines connected mail will be downloaded from Exchange or your ISP/POP mail account to your original MUD Folder.

[Halfdan]

why not use mobileme and have all your mail 'pushed' to your various machines?
Then loss, theft etc of any of the machines wouldn't affect matters

[derkathon]

That was the preferred method in the article.

[rb07866598859]

You are correct that Mobile Me provides a better way to sync mail. However it is only a workable solution for those who use Apple Mail and you have to have a Mobile Me subscription. If you are an Entourage user (because you think it better than Apple Mail or need access to an Exchange based email account and cache messages on your local machine) or no desire to pay for Mobile Me then this remains a good way to go.

[johntkucz]

nice tip rb, although I only use apple products, if the opportunity arises to use the "ghost alias database" link trick for sinking a database (like from devonthink or something) I'll remember that one!

[davebach]

Does anyone know if you can alias the MUD from a dot Mac iDisk (with local syncing on?) This seems like it would be the solution for me as I want to use two machines at different locations.