Calendar Sync Tool – Plaxo
ByA few weeks ago, I talked about using Google as a 2-way calendar/tasks/contacts/notes sync tool to access either your own or your client’s calendar without having to login to a desktop client or a remote computer.
I started using Plaxo with a client over a year ago. It was how I originally accessed and made changes to her calendar, contacts and tasks. It was a simple login from my web browser and my entries were synced to her Outlook. If you do use Plaxo with a client, either they will need to do the download and install to their email client, or you will need to log in and do it for them. After the install, the software leads you through choices about syncing. For example, you can choose to sync only the calendar and not contacts, etc. There will be Plaxo icons appearing in Outlook after installation.
You’re not limited to using Plaxo with just Outlook. Plaxo gives you the option to add “sync points” with Yahoo, Google, MSN, Windows Mail, Mobile and Outlook Express. It must be noted that these are all 1-way syncs. So this means if you are entering calendar updates, contacts or new tasks in, you’ll need to enter them in Yahoo, Google, etc. Then, they will sync to Plaxo. See below for an excerpt from the Plaxo Help Site that explains how it handles Google:
Google Synchronization Limits
Currently, the Google sync point is a one-way sync. It can only read data and changes to the data from Google to Plaxo. Any changes on the Plaxo side will not reflect back to your Google address book.
In addition, we only support contact deletions and additions during the sync. Changes to existing contact records will not sync to your Plaxo account.
It also must be pointed out that the web mail apps mentioned above are the 1-way sync. Since Plaxo has a software download for Outlook, that is a 2-way sync. This means when you enter a new appointment from within Plaxo, it will sync with the linked Outlook account.
When setting up your sync points with your various web accounts, Plaxo does give you options on what to sync. For example, you can choose to only sync your calendar and nothing else. If you change your mind and decide to remove a sync point, there are no worries about deleting any information. It simply stops the sync.
If one of your Plaxo contacts updates their contact information, it silently communicates this to your Plaxo account and updates it – nice.
There is a Plaxo Premium service that offers some benefits. A new service added is the ability to sync (again only 1-way) from your LinkedIn contacts to Plaxo.
There are many other features and benefits from Plaxo, such as ability to see and send your picture with each email, see pictures of your contacts (if they’ve uploaded one), get reminders of people’s birthdays and many more.
Plaxo also has a popular Pulse feature. This is Plaxo’s social networking side of things. You see your contact’s updates, blog postings, comments, etc. This can be delivered to your in-box, or you can view updates from the web.
Earlier this year Plaxo was acquired by Comcast. This gives me reason for pause, although they initially said privacy policies would not be changed, policies can be changed at any time. By choosing to be on-line and participating in a number of social networks, I have no expectation of being anonymous. Since Comcast is an information-collecting gorilla, digesting Plaxo just made it a bit bigger. To put that in perspective though, just mull over all the information Google has on all of us!
