Sharing Chaos Data with an Android device
Chaos Intellect and Time & Chaos
offer excellent contact management with tasks and appointments, on Windows PCs.
You can easily expand your use of your Chaos Data files, however, to include using
your data with popular Android devices running this popular OS from Google, including phones from Samsung, Motorola, HTC and others.
1) Best Choice: add a ChaosHost.com account for your data!
Sync your data Over-The-Air to the built-in apps on your device!
Android devices feature built-in applications for Contacts and
Calendar data and have built-in support for online synchronization using a
technology called Exchange ActiveSync.
By having a ChaosHost account, you'll
be able to use a built-in way on your Android to sync with ChaosHost, just
like our desktop software does. Add a new account to your device the same way you
would add an new email account, but by using a special "Exchange" or "Corporate" account,
you'll see options for your device to sync Contacts and Calendars. This
data is sent from ChaosHost.com directly to your device through the Internet. You
won't have to use a wire or connect your device to a computer at all to get
this data!
Your Android will also let you schedule how often to sync, so any changes you
make while mobile will get copied back to ChaosHost.com. When you return back to
your computer where Intellect is installed, our desktop software can sync with ChaosHost
to pull those changes down to our software on your PC, too!
(One caveat: over-the-air synchronization works best for databases of 2000 or less
contacts. There are configuration options, if needed, to only sync one particular
group of contacts instead of all contacts, but if you have a larger database and
can't live without it all getting transferred to your mobile device, you may
need to use one of the other alternate methods mentioned below!)
Bonus: Use the live ChaosHost.com web app from your mobile Web Browser
One other benefit of a ChaosHost
account is that in addition to hosting and synchronizing data, we also have a web
application that allows you to work with your data through a web browser when you
are away from your PC.
Either as a supplement to doing the Over-The-Air Sync or as a separate option, ChaosHost
offers a special mobile version of the Chaos Data Live web application that is designed
for use on mobile device web browsers.
When you login to ChaosHost's mobile edition, you can see your data, make changes
and additions, all at a form factor appropriate for handheld devices. When you get
back to your PC, you can use the Web Synchronization option in our PC software to
make sure your changes made online are transferred back down to your computer.
This web app is especially useful because it allows you to work with your Memos
or Projects data, which otherwise would not be available to your device, since most Androids
devices do not have built-in applications or Exchange synchronizing that supports
our Tasks or Projects data.
The special mobile version of ChaosHost formatted for mobile
can be found at https://www.chaoshost.com/m/.
How do I get a ChaosHost account and how does it work with my current software?
If you don't already use ChaosHost.com,
our sales department can set you up with a free, fully
functional, 30 day trial so you can see the sync process first hand before purchasing
a ChaosHost subscription. You won't need to hold it with a credit card either! If
it doesn't work for you they way you want, it will expire on its own without any
need to cancel. You'll only need to do something if you want to keep it!
Once you have an account, your data can
be synchronized with Chaos products using an option you will find is already built-in
to your desktop softare, on the File Menu, under Web Synchronization. Fill out your
user name and password and it is ready to go. You can sync your pc on demand or
sync automatically when you start and/or exit our program, your choice.
Keep in mind that unlike many "cloud" solutions, you are NOT giving up
your PC. Intellect and Time & Chaos will continue to keep a local copy of your
data with all the features you have gotten used to using. But, now you'll be able
to work in more places by using ChaosHost to keep your phone in sync or to use the
web site version from any borrowed computer!
Once your ChaosHost account is up and running, you can find the full step-by-step
details on adding the new ChaosHost account to your Android device in the ChaosHost help files.
2) Desktop Sync Alternative: CompanionLink for Chaos
CompanionLink for Time
& Chaos is a great tool that can
sync Android devices with your Chaos Databases using a direct USB connection. This
also requires CompanionLink's Deja Office app on your device. Some users prefer the extreme security of
direct synchronization rather than using an online
hosted solution like ChaosHost or Google. Direct
synchronization can also be more accomodating for
extremely large databases. We are excited to
have CompanionLink extend their solutions to Chaos users as an alternative option
if you need it!