Miscellaneous Ramblings

Short Takes

Charles W. Moore - 21 Dec. 1999

• I've Finally Found Backup Software That Suits My Style
• AutoTextTyper Types Frequently-Used Text For You

I've Finally Found Backup Software That Suits My Style

Picking up the software backup thread where we left off a few weeks ago, I've found another shareware application that I think fits my backup style better than anything I've discovered previously

Lorenzo Puleo's FoldersSynchronizer 1.7 suits my hands-on, "I like to see what's happening" backup style. The way it works is that you use one dialog to select a folder, and then a second dialog to select a folder you want to synchronize with the first folder. Click a button, and the program copies all files that are missing in one folder from the other folder. Both folders can have the same name, which suits the setup I use backing up to Zip disks.

What I have been doing is checking the latest date on the destination folder and copying everything created after that date from the master folder on my hard drive. Not foolproof, but it works passably. However, FoldersSynchronizer 1.7 does the same thing a whole lot better. New files are copied in both directions if that applies.

If the user chooses the program's "one-only-direction" option, FoldersSynchronizer switches into a backup program. The destination folder will be upgraded with the newest files, the new files (new entries) and the new Folders (new entries) coming from the source folder; the source folder will be left untouched.

FoldersSynchronizer 1.7 does not replace the old destination folder with a new one - only updates its content.

More advanced features of FS 1.7:

• can filter the documents to copy by Type, Creator and Modification Date.
• can do multiple synchronizations or backups from a custom list. The user can save and load the lists.
• can do syncs/backups at the time specified in the timer list.
• can copy invisible Files and Folders.
• also can synchronize/backup deleted files.
• can unlock the locked files, so the "exact backup", can delete also the locked files.
• scriptable under AppleScript. Two AppleEvents applet samples are included with the program.

System Requirements for FoldersSynchronizer 1.7

• Power Macintosh (PPC version) or All Macintosh (FAT version)
• MacOS 7.0.1 or higher
• 7 MB of free RAM
• 2.3 MB free on disk
• 14" Color Monitor (not sure what this pertains to. The program works fine on my PowerBook G3 233 with its 12.1" LCD (which in fact has a larger viewing area than the Trinitron 14" monitor on my desktop Mac).

FoldersSynchronizer is shareware, priced as follows:

• 1-5 single user licenses, $20 per user (US Dollars)
• 6-9 single user licenses, $18 per user
• 10 or more single user licenses, $17 per user
• A site license costs $400 for all locations for your organization within a 160 kilometer radius A World-Wide License costs $1600

This is a very slick little application, with an attractive interface. I think my backup quandary is solved.

For more information or to download FoldersSynchronizer 1.7, visit the FoldersSynchronizer page.

AutoTextTyper Types Frequently-Used Text For You

Another useful piece of shareware I downloaded recently is Chaotic Software's AutoTextTyper - a contextual menu plug-in that lets you quickly and easily add commonly used text, such as email addresses, web sites, addresses, company names, signatures, form letters, and more, to a list of items in a contextual menu. You can then select any of those items and have them automatically typed into any application that supports contextual menus.

The latest AutoTextTyper Version 1.2 adds the following features:

• Added ability to edit previously created macros
• Allow double-clicks in lists to edit/remove macros
• Fixed problem with placement of remove dialog on small monitors
• Widened macro entry dialog to make it easier to enter large macros
• Changed to support internationalization of all text.

AutoTextTyper system requirements:

• Power Macintosh running Mac OS 8.0 or later (AutoTextTyper is Mac OS 9.0 compatible).

AutoTextTyper 1.2 is $10 Shareware.

For more information, visit the AutoTextTyper page.