Setting up the Desktop for iPhone sync

To enable iPhone synchronization, you must open the iPhone Sync Settings window located in the “Life Balance” menu on Macintosh, or in the Edit menu on Windows. Check the “Enable iPhone Synchronization” box to begin. This step only needs to be done once.

iPhone synchronization provides network access to your Life Balance data. This access is not (yet) authenticated or encrypted, so it should only be used on local area networks that have been secured by other means, such as a NAT router, firewall, or password-protected WiFi access point.

If you have enabled the Firewall in the Security panel of the Mac OS X System Preferences, then you will need to add Life Balance to the list of applications that allow incoming connections.

If you have turned on the Windows Firewall or some other firewall software, then you will need to add Life Balance to the list of applications that allow incoming connections.

If the TCP port number field under Advanced Settings is left blank, the operating system will automatically assign Life Balance a TCP port number each time it is launched. This is the recommended setting.

Alternatively, you can enter a number between 1024 and 65535, and Life Balance will request that specific port number. This can be useful if you need to allow access to Life Balance through an external firewall or router.

On Mac OS X, a small background application keeps iPhone synchronization working even when Life Balance is not running, so you don't need to launch Life Balance to sync your iPhone. On the desktop, use the File ► Save command to give this document a name and make sure that File ► Open Automatically is checked so that the file will be opened each time you launch Life Balance.

Transferring data for the first time

Once you have enabled iPhone synchronization on the desktop, you can transfer your desktop file to the iPhone or vice-versa. (If you have already entered data in both places, skip ahead to the section on Synchronizing.)

All network operations are initiated from the Network tab in the iPhone version of Life Balance. (If you don't see the Network tab, look under the "More" tab.)

To transfer your desktop data to the iPhone, open your data file on the desktop. Then on the iPhone, tap Network ► Receive. The name of your desktop computer should appear on the next screen. Tap on that, and a list of open files should appear. Tap on the filename and the desktop file will transfer to your iPhone, replacing any previous data that was there.

To transfer your iPhone data to the desktop, tap Network ► Send... and then tap on the name of your desktop computer. Your iPhone data will open on the desktop as an untitled document. On the desktop, use the File ► Save command to give this document a name and make sure that File ► Open Automatically is checked so that the file will be opened each time you launch Life Balance.

Synchronizing

You can make changes to your data both on the desktop and the iPhone. Life Balance supports synchronization of the changes between the platforms, not just copying all the data from one platform to the other. To synchronize your data, open your data file on the desktop. Then on the iPhone, tap Network ► Synchronize. The name of your desktop computer will appear on the next screen. Tap on the desktop computer to sync to, and a list of open files will appear.

Life Balance also remembers the most recent synchronization settings for your convenience. You can edit the cache of saved settings by tapping on the Edit button in the Network settings view.

Synchronization simultaneously copies desktop changes to the iPhone, and iPhone changes to the desktop. If a record has changed in both places, a triangular conflict icon will appear next to that record on the desktop. Clicking on this icon will allow you to resolve the conflict.

Backing up and Restoring

It can be helpful to do a backup of your iPhone Life Balance data from time to time. Life Balance for iPhone makes this easy. Just choose Backup, and select the server location. The backup file will be stored in a folder named after your iPhone, with the date and time of the backup as the file name. Once you have performed a backup, a new button will appear on the Network tab that allows you to perform a backup in one step.

To restore a backup of your iPhone Life Balance data choose Restore, and select the server and the file to restore from the server. The files are identified by date when they were backed up and the iPhone to which they belong. The restored data will replace the data currently on your iPhone.

Life Balance also remembers the most recent server settings for backup and restore operations. You can edit the cache of saved settings by tapping on the Edit button in the Network settings view.

Entering a Life Balance Server Manually

If your iPhone and your desktop computer are on the same local area network, your desktop computer should be listed on your iPhone automatically when you perform a network operation. But at some locations like business and universities, it may not be possible to connect your iPhone and your desktop computer to the same local area network. In these situations, it may still be possible for you to sync to the destkop edition of Life Balance by entering the connection information manually.

Some of the information that you need to synchronize manually is technical, so you may want to ask for the assistance of your IT department to help you get set up.

For this to work, you must first enter a port number in the advanced settings section of the iPhone Sync Settings of Life Balance on the desktop. Any number between 1024 and 65535 will do, as long as it is not being used by another program on your desktop computer. Just pick a number that is easy to remember, like 12345, and try a different number if you get an error. On most computers very few ports are in use, so your first attempt will probably work fine.

You also need to know either the full hostname of your desktop computer (like orion.example.edu) or its IP address (like 198.168.1.123). The hostname is preferable because it usually does not change, but many desktop computers do not have any hostname assigned to them. In this case you will need to use the desktop computer's IP address, with the understanding that it may change from time to time and need to be re-entered.

Once you know your desktop computer's port number and hostname/IP address, you are ready to perform your first network operation manually from your iPhone.

1. From the Network tab in Life Balance for iPhone, select the network operation you would like to perform.
2. Tap the Edit button at the top right of the Server screen.
3. Tap the green plus sign next to “Add server...”
4. Enter the requested information on the Edit server screen.

   Name

   The name you'd like to use for this computer in the list of servers on the iPhone. You can pick any name you'd like.

   Host

   The full hostname or IP address of your desktop computer

   Port

   The port number that you entered in the iPhone Sync Settings on the desktop

5. Tap the Server button to return to the list of servers. The server that you just entered will now be on the list.
6. Tap Done to get out of Edit mode.

Once you have entered the server information manually, you can select it for any network operation just as you would any other Life Balance server.