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Can Sidekick98 be shared on a home network?

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Bud39

Technical User
Sep 28, 2003
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We have a small home network of three computers running Win2000. Can the sidekick data be stored on one computer giving us all access to the same Cardfile?
 
Dear Bud,
Short answer is No
However you could store the three initially identical cardfiles on the one machine (as long as it is ALWAYS ON)You would then have to merge all of them periodically to update each cardfile with any changes that have been made by any of the users (and then SaveAs over each of the other cardfiles).
It is an easy enough thing to do and only takes 10secs or less to merge each one. But and a big but, all the machines that you are merging them on should not have Sidekick running at the time...
I do it all the time at work and it has been grand for several years, as long as no-one alters the Index fields in the cardfile i.e. No FirstNames / LastNames & Addresses in the cardfile are identical (if that is what you sort on).
Good Luck!


Regards Jim
Check the FAQ area of this Forum for answers (If there are any FAQs!) , it could save you a lot of time and effort and means that links are more likely to be current. Please 'Comment' on them if they are not!
 
Yes, all computers are 'on' all the time. Could'nt I just use 1 cardfile stored on say, the main computer and just access and 'save to' that carfile from any computer? Why do I need 3 cardfiles?

Thanks
 
Dear Bud39,
If you are the only one that will have it open at any one time and if you only have it open on one computer at a time OK the scenario is fine.
But if they are opened concurrently, then the user or computer who/which saves last, saves over any preceeding saves made by the other workstations.
For example:
a. b. and c. have the Cardfile opened on their desktop.
a. adds a record Today
b. deletes a record Tomorrow
they both save and then either carry on working or close Sidekick
then in 2 days time:
c. Alters some records in the Cardfile that he/she (c.) has had opened since yesterday but neither adds a record or deletes a record and then saves (Ctrl+L).

The cardfile now ONLY reflects the changes that c. made since c. opened the Cardfile yesterday...

I hope that makes it clearer.


Regards Jim
Check the FAQ area of this Forum for answers (If there are any FAQs!) , it could save you a lot of time and effort and means that links are more likely to be current. Please 'Comment' on them if they are not!
 
Sidekick 98 is the best product I have ever used for keeping a PERSONAL data store. It does not do any of the file locking and updating required to be used on a network. It will run fine on all of the computers in the network and can read its data files from anywhere but as the previous post describes you must be careful not to do concurrent updates of the same data files. If you use separate data files for each computer it will work fine, just have different file names for the data files. You can then merge the files if you wish.

The answer is kind of "yes" and "no." There is no Outlook type network data support but if you understand how to manipulate the data files it can be used very effectively on a network.

My contention has always been that if your info manager shares data across a network it is not a "PIM" it's a "NIM"

Sidekick 98 is IMHO the best and most flexible PERSONAL information manager ever written for the PC. Go ahead and try it on the network. You'll figure it out and it's worth the time and effort.

-ronnie-
 
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