Feature Request: Preview Synchronization before applying

[FilmTraveler]

Before buying BirdieSync, I tried a couple of free or very cheap synchronization tools. One feature that they all had, which BirdieSync does not, was the ability to Preview Sync before applying it. I miss that feature very much, as it could have prevented some catastrophic problems. There have been a couple of times when, following an upgrade or when trying to sync to a new computer, all my contacts got duplicated on both devices. If I had been able to click "Preview Sync" I could have seen what BirdieSync intended to do, and chosen NOT to sync until I made sure all my settings were correct.

This is a much-improved workflow I would like to suggest for BirdieSync:

1) Connect device
2) Preview Sync
-- (with NEW FEATURE: Reconcile Conflicts as described in this other feature request)
3) Synchronize

Some people obviously won't care about previewing and will prefer just hitting one button. So you could add a separate button for Preview, or make it optional in Settings.

[timjohnson]

This is a fantastic suggestion!

I have been using BirdieSync for about 6 months now, but not entirely without problems. I believe this is more to do with the fact of trying to sync two identical make/model mobiles to a joint diary held on PC. Both are set to sync "both ways", but this seems to either drop events off both mobiles AND the PC, or duplicate 100% identical events.

The former problem is a humdinger as I do a little bit of contract work and enter the sessions I am booked for on my mobile, and do not need them to drop off. It's not realistic to check months of calendar entries AFTER a sync just looking for what's dropped off.

If we had a preview option listing what will be added, what will be deleted, and what will be amended on each device, that would solve the problem.

I'm seriously having to think about maintaining the PC as the master version of both our mobile calendars MANUALLY then over-writing each mobile. It's all a bit 20th Century!

Thanks. Tim

[wolfgang]

Thank you for adding a basic preview function in BirdieSync 3. By the way, the entire release is quite nice.

Anyway, I'd have some suggestions how to improve the preview function:

• Ability to switch on/off preview for each source separately
• Ability to choose for each item individually if I want to
  • keep the suggested sync direction (default)
  • change the sync direction
  • exclude sync for this item (for now or forever)
• Highlight the differences between items, perhaps with the ability to choose sync direction of each differing entry of the item

Thanks for considering my ideas,
Wolfgang