Syncing is such a generic term. Syncing can mean all sorts of different things.

For most of us we think syncing to be the same as matching. Everything on my mobile device to match my computer. But the computer is significantly different than a mobile phone.

It will have different applications and operating systems. Which means different ways of doing things, accessing data and making it uniform.

It is impossible to completely sync a mobile device and computer. They are just way too much different from each other,

So what we have to do is sync the data and the applications each are using.

Some programs you might have on your phone wont exist on your computer and vice versa.

What we have to do is find those applications which are the same and install them on both computers or programs which are similar enough.

Many phones and computers claim to provide programs which sync both devices, but usually do a very poor job of it.

Back Up Before Doing Anything

No matter what you do on your computer or mobile device you much back it up (which is almost like a form of syncing).

If you are using your computer, plug an external hard drive into it and copy your data across.

If you are using a mobile device, phone or tablet, use whatever application comes with it to backup to another device or into the cloud.

It doesn’t really matter what happens to either device, if you have everything backed up you should be OK to start again Its just an inconvenience.

Sometimes syncing goes horribly wrong. and everything gets mixed up or deleted.

Deciding What to Sync

As discussed previously, not everything can be synced.

Having a good idea of what you do on your computer which you also need on your mobile device would be a good first when looking for applications we can use on both devices.

Most people will want contacts, emails and files.

So we will need to look for applications which exist for both these types of devices, alternatives if they don’t and protocols for performing the sync.

Sometimes joining a cable between the two devices will not work or suffice. You will need to use an online cloud service or equivalent.

Lets Get ICloud Out the Way

Icloud is Apple environment technology. You can get Icloud for your PC as well and i always have mixed results. It is not going to work for your android.

From your Apple computer or laptop and mobile device Apple Icloud is an excellent way to sync your emails, settings, passwords photos etc and it just works great.

When we start to chuck other things into the mix and other types of environments it gets a bit murky and not much more different than what I have already discussed.

Emails Syncing On Both Devices

Emails are not usually synced directly between computer and mobile device but through your email providers server.

Lets use Gmail as an example. There is either a Gmail app for every type of mobile device or computer. If you do not use the Gmail app you can use another other email client including Microsoft Outlook.

When you put your email details into each application, that program is access the Google Gmail servers to get your settings, emails and contacts.

The Gmail server is actually your sync point and when you make a change on one, whether it is deleting an email or composing a new one, that applications syncs with the Google server and your other devices makes changes and mirrors those changes,

You are in fact syncing, but not directly.

The catch here is there are multiple different types of email servers.

For email syncing to work best you will need to enter your email providers exchange or IMAP settings specifically. Using POP3 might not sync the same.

Syncing Files Between Devices

Each different operating system you use, whether it is Windows, IOS, OSX, or Android will have a different way or storing, reading and writing your files and data.

Whether it is photos, music, movies or documents, you are going to need two different things to sync these between your device. The first is a mechanism for transferring and syncing and the second is programs to open them up on each device and edit and save them.

The easiest and best way to do this is to use an online service like Dropbox or Google Drive. The only catch with doing this is both devices need access to sync your actual files. If one device is not online, it doesn’t matter. When it has access to the internet it will sync automatically.

Booth Google Drive and Dropbox have free usage to a certain limit and apps for all types of computers and mobile devices, phones and tablets.

When it is installed on your device, any files you save to your Dropbox or Google Drive will show up on your other devices application as well. Sometimes it is instant, sometimes it can take a few second, minutes or even hours if the files are very big like digital download and movies.

If both devices are connect to the same wireless network the transfer can be much faster and sometimes seem instant.

Once you have both the applications and files sync you must have installed on both devices the software which opens and edits those files.

An example if a Microsoft Word Document. If i type a letter up for a job application on my computer in Microsoft Word on my computer and save it in my Dropbox, when I try to open it on my mobile phone it will need an application like Microsoft Word or Open Office, LibreOffice etc to open the file.

Once you have opened the file and edited, or you save it to the same cloud application (Dropbox of Google Drive) the changes will sync to the other device as well.

This will work for all files, as long as you have the same sync application on both devices, access to the internet and an application to open, edit and save the file.

Backup vs Sync

If you are looking to backup your mobile device or computer, syncing might not be what you are looking for.

Syncing is a way of keeping all your devices uniform or the same as much as possible. Backing up is a way of storing your files for a rainy day in case of a virus, crash or loss of device or data.

Whether you have a mobile device or computer we strongly encourage backing up regularly. Most people think about it but you wouldn’t believe how many people don’t actually do it – most!

There are plenty of back up services out there and if you have a computer you can always plug your device into and just transfer the files using your mobile devices application.

Don’t be caught out. Recovering files from a computer is much easier than from a mobile device. Back up regularly!