It’s getting to the point where the functionality of our PC is being integrated more and more into a phone or PDA device. Thank God for this because now my Laptop is getting to be too much to lug around now. With internet access, email, messaging, address book, media and even productivity software like Excel docs being available on a hand held devices life can now get easier!
Here is a quick tutorial on synchronizing info between your PC and your Blackberry.
Blackberry offers some keen software that does the work for you: Blackberry Desktop Manager. Goto www.Blackberry.com to download the latest version of the software. At the time of this writing version 4.5 is the newest. After downloading (which will take awhile, this file is upwards of 200MB compressed) the self extracting program loads and you are asked to choose between Blackberry enterprise server or Blackberry internet service. Unless you are sure that your company uses a corporate Blackberry server, choose internet service.
Connect your Blackberry with a USB mini connector to the PC’s standard USB port. Its possible to allow the connection wirelessly using bluetooth, if your pc has a bluetooth adapter and the Blackberry has its bluetooth capability enabled and the desktop manager software is configured to use it (not shown in the tutorial).
When the program is installed and launched you will see the desktop manager screen: (This tutorial shows the the program as it runs in Windows XP)
Clicking the Backup and Restore icon will start the process of backing up data from the Blackberry. This saves all the devices user settings and apps.
Click yes to start, you will be asked for a destination for the backup file to be saved to.
You can select various sync options.
You can sync different applications depending on what the manager finds on your system.
For this example I am syncing Outlook to the Blackberry which allows my contacts in Outlook to match my Blackberry address book!
It’s also possible to use Yahoo’s web based calender to sync with the Blackberry calendar, in this setup you would need a yahoo account with the calendar application on your desktop and internet access. When you input info into your Yahoo calendar it will appear on your Blackberry calendar too!
Now whenever you connect the Blackberry to the computer via the mini usb cable and start the desktop Manager software, all the synchronizations will happen right away.
After syncing, select the Media Manager icon. When first running the application you can choose to have it monitor folders on your harddrive. You will see a summary screen (not shown here) that shows how many of different file types are available from your selected monitored files. The next screen after the summary screen will be this one:
This screen shows your computer files on top and the Blackberry files at the bottom. You can simply drag and drop files the normal way between each device. The TOOLS menu at the very type allows you to choose how files are imported into the computer. Keep in mind that Blackberries can have an optional add-on memory card for storing media. The browser will differentiate between the regular memory and the memory add-on from the blackberry. No you can easily transfer music, movies, pictures, or data files to and from the Blackberry and PC. Happy computing!