PalmSync - Thunderbird

The PalmSync extension for Mozilla Thunderbird provides a conduit to synchronize your Thunderbird address book with the Address application on your Palm OS® device. PalmSync only works on Windows and only for address book (no mail sync). It replaces the Palm address book conduit, so it will no longer synchronize your Palm address book with the Palm Desktop or other software. Other conduits and sync options should not be affected. PalmSync currently has one major limitation - it does not sync non-ascii characters, eg. international language, 8-bit, unicode

PalmSync is a conduit, not a sync manager, so you need sync management software from Palm or another vendor. If you already have a sync manager then check the vendor website to make sure you have the latest version (Palm Desktop). After downloading, install and test it before proceeding further.

You also need at least Thunderbird 1.0.2. Contacts Sidebar extension may be needed for PalmSync to function properly (an issue being investigated in bug 234391).

Installation

To install PalmSync, follow these steps:

1.  Right click palmsync.xpi and select "save link as" to download the extension to your PC. DO NOT LET IT INSTALL IN THE BROWSER!.
2.  Download the Contacts Sidebar extension.
3.  In Thunderbird, go to "Tools -> Extensions -> Install" and install the PalmSync extension. (1)
4.  Repeat step 3 for the Contacts Sidebar extension.
5.  Restart Thunderbird again.
6.  Verify conduit settings (2):
      a) Right click the Palm Hot Sync icon in the system tray and select "Custom".
      b) Set the Mozilla Address Book conduit default to "Synchronize The Files".
      c) If the Desktop's Contacts conduit was retained after Palm Sync was installed then set the Contacts conduit default to "Do Nothing".

Perform a HotSync® operation to verify correct operation (3) - the palm and Thunderbird address books should sync.

Troubleshooting

If you have a problem after the above steps and it does not appear in the bug list (below), please uninstall and then reinstall thunderbird, and repeat the above steps. If you need further assistance then ask for help in the Thunderbird General mozillazine forum before filing a new bug. If you attempt a non-stable version of Thunderbird (nightlies, release candidates, etc) check the bug list below - the extension may not work in development versions and a newer version of PalmSync may be available for testing.

Bug list and known issues (with few exceptions). New bugs should be filed in component "Mailnews: Palm Sync" of product "Core" (select "Other Products" to find core when creating a bug).

Enhancement requests

The most notable requests for additional sync functionality (not just Palm OS® or Thunderbird) are:

• AB sync with non-Palm OS PDAs
• mail conduit for the palm sync
• mail PDA Sync for non-Palm OS Devices
• support opensync conduit

Notes

(1) PalmSync is installed via extension manager, but it is not yet a true extension. Therefore the extension will not show up in the list of extensions nor can it be uninstalled via extension manager.
(2) Some newer versions of Palm software retain the Palm Desktop's Contacts as the default conduit after Palm Sync installs the Mozilla Address Book conduit. This has been documented with Palm Desktop version 4.1.4 with HotSync version 6.0.1. As a result, the final step of the Palm Sync install process is to verify the conduit settings.
(3) You might not see a log entry for the hotsync - bug 183722.