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| Maximize PC Performance | |
| July 2001• Vol.9 Issue 7 | |
E-mail & The PDA Get A Handle On Your Communications |
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[MAIL]
[PDA]
To utilize the full power of your Palm or Windows CE handheld device, you’ll need to equip it to handle e-mail. You generally have two options when it comes to working with e-mail on a PDA (personal digital assistant): You can synchronize it with a desktop e-mail application, or you can download mail directly to the PDA either through a modem or network card. We’ll show you how to do both on each of the two major PDA operating systems.  E-mail In Your
Palm. When you think e-mail on your Palm handheld, think Mail.
This application lets you manage e-mail that you send and receive through
the e-mail application on your desktop PC. You can do pretty much anything
on the Palm you can do on your desktop e-mail system, including reading,
replying, composing, and deleting e-mail. Whenever you place the handheld
in its cradle and perform a HotSync (or synch using infrared), your PDA
messages are sent, received, and synched with your desktop application.
Set up Mail. To set up Mail for use on your handheld, you’ll need to have Palm Desktop Software on your desktop PC. This application will let your PDA and desktop PC synch; if you don’t have it yet, you can download it at http://www.palm.com/support/downloads/palmdt_4.html. When you first install the software, you can choose to set it up to synch with your desktop e-mail application. If you already installed the software but didn’t set it up for e-mail, you can do this now by clicking the Start button, selecting Programs and Palm Desktop Software, and clicking Mail Setup. One of the various steps in the setup procedure is to select an application to synch Mail with (options include Microsoft Exchange, QUALCOMM, and Eudora). If your e-mail application isn’t listed, you’re not necessarily out of luck. Check with your vendor or on the Palm site (http://www.palm.com/) to see if connection software (known as a conduit) exists for your favorite e-mail program. You’ll also have to set up HotSync to work with Mail. To do this, click the HotSync icon in the Windows system tray and choose Custom, followed by Mail in the list box. Click Change, then select the option you want; in most cases, you’ll want to choose Synchronize to keep your Palm Inbox and desktop systems in step with each other. You’re now ready to HotSync. Use Mail. Once all this is set up, you can use your Palm Mail application as you would your regular desktop PC e-mail application to compose mail, look up contacts in the Address Book, and more. Mail is a full-featured program, giving you options such as the ability to add signatures, assign priority levels, and send blind copies. You can create messages as drafts and then send them when you’re ready or line them up in the queue so they are sent the next time you synch with your desktop. One very powerful feature of Mail is the ability to set up detailed filters that can restrict which messages your desktop PC transfers to your Palm during synchronization. Memory is still an issue with most PDAs. Because they don’t have as much room to store e-mail as desktop PCs, the ability to retrieve some messages but ignore others is important. Palm Direct
Connect. While synching your PDA with your desktop PC gets the
job done, it might not allow you as much freedom as you want. If you’d
like to check your e-mail through a modem or network card, you’ll need to
go through a third-party client (and, of course, you’ll need a modem or
network card). Here are a couple third-party clients to
consider.MultiMail Pro. This product is so good that Palm purchased its parent company, Actual Software Corporation, last year. MultiMail Pro supports a number of e-mail protocols (including POP3 [Post Office Protocol version 3], IMAP4 [Internet Message Access Protocol version 4], and SMTP [Simple Mail Transfer Protocol]) and supports the ability to download messages up to 2MB in size. It also offers features such as an e-mail preview pane and support for multiple accounts. MultiMail Pro also supports the use of plug-ins, allowing for a great deal of expandability. You can find more information on MultiMail Pro at the Actual Software Web site (http://www.actualsoft.com/index.htm). Eudora Internet Suite 2.0. EIS, as it is known, is really three applications in one: a Web browser, e-mail synch (for use with the Eudora desktop client), and direct e-mail client. EIS supports multiple accounts and is free for Eudora 5.0 and 4.3.2 users. You can download the suite at http://www.eudora.com/internetsuite. AOL for PDAs. AOL users with a Palm PDA can access their AOL e-mail through AOL for PDAs. You can find this free product, which lets members download their AOL e-mail to their PDA through a modem or network card, at http://www.aol.com/anywhere/pda. This product works with Windows CE and Pocket PC devices, as well. E-mail &
Windows CE. Right out of the box, Windows CE devices such as
the Pocket PC offer you a couple of different options for working with
e-mail. First, like the palm, you can synchronize the PDA with your
desktop PC e-mail client (Microsoft Outlook, although you can synchronize
with other e-mail clients by using third-party solutions covered below).
To get started synching, you’ll need to install the ActiveSync software
(ActiveSync is Windows CE’s alternative to the Palm’s HotSync) on your
desktop system. You can do this by inserting the CD in your CD-ROM drive
and following the setup directions. Among the setup steps, you’ll be asked
to establish a “partnership” between your handheld and desktop (Keep in
mind that you can synchronize e-mail between your PDA and only one
other computer; you can synchronize other information, such as calendars,
between your PDA and more than one computer).By default, ActiveSync does not synchronize your desktop Outlook Inbox with your PDA’s Inbox. This is a memory-sharing feature, and you can easily change it either through the initial “partnership” setup, or by opening ActiveSync and clicking the Options button on the toolbar. Place a check mark in the Inbox checkbox under the list of services, then click Settings to choose extra synchronization options, such as whether you want to allow attachments and whether the device will automatically send messages as soon as you reconnect. You can also override the default setting that only lets you pull in the first 100 lines of an e-mail message from your desktop. As with the Palm, you can set up ActiveSync so it only synchronizes the information in certain categories; this is a good way to limit the amount of information passing from your desktop PC to your PDA. If you’re looking for additional synchronization options, such as support for more e-mail programs such as Eudora Mail, Lotus Notes, or Goldmine, try a third-party application such as Intellisync from Pumatech (http://www.pumatech.com/intellisync.html). Once you’re got synchronization set up, you’re ready to begin using your e-mail. As mentioned, unless you decide to go with a third-party solution, you’ll have to use Outlook on your desktop; check the ActiveSync CD Extras folder for a free copy. Every time you put your handheld into its cradle, it will automatically keep your handheld and desktop e-mail synched, and anytime you wish to create, read, or delete mail on your desktop, you can open your Inbox by selecting it under the Start Menu. Modem and network card options. Unlike the Palm, you can add a modem or some form of network card and use a Windows CE devices as is to connect to an ISP (Internet service provider) or network to retrieve e-mail. To dial into an ISP and get your e-mail, make sure you have a dial-up connection set up on the PDA (open the Start Menu, select Settings, followed by Configurations. Go to Modem and fill in the necessary information on the set up screens, such as modem type, baud rate, and phone number). Then you’ll need to configure it to receive mail. Launch the Inbox (usually Start, Programs, Inbox) and tap Services, followed by the New Service option from the menu. Select what kind of service you want to set up (such as POP3, IMAP4) and then fill in the necessary information (such as the service settings, name, and password). If you have any questions about some of this information, contact your service administrator. You can also set options here for such things as how often you want to check for e-mail and if you only want to display messages from a certain number of days ago. Devices such as the Pocket PC offer a number of very attractive features, such as integration with Microsoft Word and Excel, so you can easily send both file types as attachments. Additional third-party products let you view PDF (Portable Document Format) and PowerPoint files. You can use the Pocket Internet Explorer to easily access Web-based e-mail services such as Yahoo!, Hotmail, and AOL, not to mention national ISPs such as EarthLink that feature a Web-based option. The Pocket PC also supports HTML e-mail, although not necessarily in a form you’re familiar with; HTML e-mail is parsed, resulting in a text e-mail with appropriate enclosures for images and other page elements. E-mail In Motion.
Regardless of whether you use the Palm or Windows CE operating
system or whether you choose to synch your PDA with your desktop PC or use
a modem or network card, it’s quite easy to obtain and set up e-mail
capabilities on your PDA. 
by Rich Gray
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