Synchronize! automatically keeps the documents on two Macs, or other storage devices, up to date, by copying the newest version of those documents to the other Mac. This way, they both have the most recent versions of your documents.

The following points cover the steps needed to set-up a document that tells Synchronize! which folder on your hard drive to keep identical to a folder on any other Mac drive or storage device.

Make sure that the clock on your Mac is set correctly!

It's critical to Synchronize!'s proper operation that the clock on your Mac is set correctly, since this determines the modification time of your files. Use the "Date & Time" Control Panel to check the time of your Mac's clock. The time does not need to be accurate to the second, but it should be accurate within five minutes.

Launch Sychronize! If this is the first time you've launched the program, you will see a window titled "Untitled 1". This represents a new Synchronize! settings document. Synchronize! settings documents describe the two folders you select to be kept identical to each other.

We will assume that you have a folder on your hard drive which contains the documents you are currently working on, and that would like to have a copy on another storage device.

Follow these steps:
1) Click on the left-hand folder icon.
2) Find one the folders to be synchronized.
3) Repeat with the right-hand folder icon.

Note that the name of the folder and its disk is displayed below the folders. Once both folders have been chosen, you are ready to synchronize them.

To start checking, click the <Sync...> button. The cursor rotates until Synchronize! shows a list of the files and folders which need to be copied or created. NOTE: NO files are moved, copied or deleted until AFTER you have a chance to verify the list.

Every time you click the <Sync...> button, Synchronize! checks the contents of the two folders shown in that setup document. When it encounters a file which is newer than the corresponding file, or which doesn't have a corresponding file, it marks the newer document to be copied to the other folder.

Verify the list of files to copy, if you wish. You have the ability to remove or skip Files and folders shown in the list by selecting them. When the files and folders to be copied are OK, click the <Start> button. Synchronize! begins to copy the files and folders in its list.

The Status window shows the copying progress, and how much time is left to complete. Notice that Synchronize! does its copying "in the background", which means that you are free to use your computer for other things while copying is underway.

Once you've set up your document, it's important to save it so that you can use it again. To use Synchronize! effectively, create a Synchronize! setup document for each Macintosh on which you intend to keep working files or even for each set of folders you wan't to keep synchronized. You can keep the saved setup with the Synchronize! folder on your main Mac.

Open and Start the setup on each Macintosh before and after you make changes to your working files and Synchronize! will keep the folders on both drives current, automatically.

The easiest way to create a backup is to follow these steps:

1) Open a "New" setup document.
2) Click "Backup".
3) Click OK.

The Sync Setup is now pre-configured for a backup. Just follow the same steps above to choose the folders for your backup, and to save the setup document.