Onmadesoft - OnSync

FAQ Answers

General Information

What is OnSync ?
OnSync is a mobile phone contacts synchronizer for Mac OS X users. For an introduction read the Overview section. For a full features list red Details section.

Who should use OnSync ?
You need OnSync to synchronize contacts with a mobile phone not compatible with Apple's iSync. Or if you need more control than iSync on contacts synchronization (configurable contact's description formatting and single contacts synchronization).

Download and Install

How can I obtain OnSync ?
You can download the latest OnSync version from the Overview and the Download sections of this site.

How can I install OnSync ?
Simple: download OnSync from this site, double click on the downloaded file, a disk image will be mounted on your desktop. Just drag and drop the OnSync icon from the disk image to the Application folder on your hard disk.

How can I uninstall OnSync ?
Select the OnSync application from your hard disk and drag it to the trash.

How can I upgrade OnSync to the latest version ?
Trash your previous version of OnSync (or copy it on a backup disk), download the latest version and install it.

Is it possible to download a previous version of the program compatible with Mac OS X Jaguar ?
No we are sorry OnSync is anymore compatible with Jaguar, no previous versions are available.

System and mobile requirements

Which Mac OS X System versions are compatible with OnSync ?
OnSync is compatible with all Mac OS X versions starting from Panther Mac OS 10.3. You cannot use it with Jaguar 10.2.

Which contact management programs are supported ?
OnSync is able to synchronize contacts with Apple's Address Book, Microsoft Entourage, Eudora, Palm Desktop and Now Contact (for this one only partial support is provided, only synching from Mac to mobile is possible).

Which mobile phone models are supported ?
The list of mobile phones compatible (or partially compatible) with OnSync is provided in the Mobiles section of this site.

Which kind of connection are supported ?
OnSync supports different kinds of connection to mobiles. It is possible to connect via Bluetooth, USB, Serial cable and IrDa. Those connections are not available for all mobiles and Mac models. In some cases you'll have to buy an adapter or a cable. We tried to provide some informations about cables and adapters in the Mobiles section of this site. Informations on how to configure OnSync and a mobile phone are provided in program's help.

My mobile phone is not listed into your compatibility list, can you add support for my model ?
This is a very difficult question, so a long answer for it. OnSync development team is very small, we have very few resources and mobiles for testing. The list of Mobiles compatible with OnSync is not complete and it is built on feedbacks we receive from users. If you are lucky it could be that your mobile is already compatible or partially compatible with OnSync. You can verify this by downloading OnSync and trying a connection test from the program's preferences panel. Try different configurations by selecting the ones that seem more appropriate for your mobile's brand. If a connection test works you should then try a "reload contact" from the main window of the program. If you discover that your model is compatible and it is not listed please contact Onmadesoft Support so we will upgrade the compatibility list. If your mobile is not compatible or arrives to load only a few contacts from the mobile please contact Onmadesoft Support, send an email containing the following information: Mobile's Brand / Mobile's Model / a description (or a screenshot) of the configuration and the errors you got while testing. We will add it to the list of requested mobiles, it could be that in the future we will arrive doing something useful for your model too.

Purchasing and registration

How can I purchase OnSync ?
The Buy section of this site explains in detail how to buy a registration number that will activate all the features available in OnSync.

Is it possible to purchase a license using PayPal ?
No, we are sorry, at the moment OnSync can be purchased only from the Kagi store.

How can I register OnSync ?
You purchased a registration number, you need to register your OnSync copy, follow those steps:

start OnSync
press the "Register" button on the startup panel, a new panel will open
enter your registration number (you can copy and paste it from the registration email you received from Kagi). If the registration number is entered correctly the "Enter Code" button will enable
press the "Enter Code" button

I've lost my registration number, how can I obtain it again ?
You reinstalled your Mac OS X, you loosed your registration email (which contains your registration number), contact Onmadesoft Support , send an email containing your first and last name and the email address you used when you purchased your registration number. We will send you a copy of your registration email.

A new version of OnSync has been released, have I to purchase a new registration number ?
Till now your registration number is valid for all OnSync versions released. A new registration will be required only when the first digit of the version number will be increased, so when a new version 2.0 will be released, a new registration will be necessary.

Where can I find the list of features enabled only in the registered version ?
The list of features enabled when you register OnSync is provided in the program's help. Registering OnSync will enable sync operations on multiple contacts and numbers, drag and drop operations like copying, contact merging and number replacing (see the Details section for a description of drag and drop features).

Configuring and using OnSync

How can I configure OnSync with my mobile phone ?
The configuration section of the program's help and the Mobiles section of this site contain many informations at this subject, please try there, if you have some troubles feel free to contact Onmadesoft Support.

How can I synchronize, delete, merge, replace contacts ?
The Details section of this site describes the commands available in OnSync. Many of those commands works by selecting one or more contacts (or numbers) and by dragging and dropping between the two lists available in the main window. The left list contains contacts and numbers on your Mac, the right one shows contacts and numbers on your mobile phone. Many commands can also be done by pressing the corresponding buttons in the main window toolbar or form the "Phone Numbers" menu. A few of them are available only by drag and drop (like contact merging or number replacing).

How can I configure the format of description's contact written to the mobile model ?
It is a configuration problem, in the preferences panel, under the Description Format tab you can find a few selectors that let you decide how the contacts descriptions will be composed during synchronization. You can try to modify this configuration and see immediately an example of what will happen in the example label provided in this panel.

How can I configure the format of description's contact written to the mobile model ?
The USB configuration selector in the preferences, at the moment, is enabled only for some LG mobiles models. In many cases you can use your USB cable configuring it in the Serial Devices. Please refer to the program's Help under the Configuration section.

I've troubles while trying to connect my mobile over Bluetooth. Is there an alternate Bluetooth configuration ?
If you tried to configure OnSync to your mobile using the Bluetooth configuration provided in the preferences, but you cannot test the connection succefully, you can try an alternate configuration. Try to check the Serial configuration and select your mobile from the Serial Device Selector. If this configurations does not works or if your mobile is not listed in the Serial Device Selector, you can try to add a serial port following the help provided in this document: Adding a serial port over bluetooth to your Mac.

I'm using an USB cable, I get a 'Device Busy' error when trying to connect to the mobile, how can I solve this ?
If you connect a Motorola mobile using an USB cable, you'll have to select the serial configuration in the OnSync's preferences. If you get a "Device Busy" error it could be that you have to change the mobile's modem configuration. The modem could be configured to "hard-drive" try to switch it to "modem".

Missing Features

We have a long list of features requested by users, not all will added in the future (at least not in the near one). We cannot provide a precise plan of when a new feature will be available (at the moment we have very few resources for development). We list here some of the more frequent requests (there are many more, but a full list would be really too long). If you need a new feature feel free to contact Onmadesoft Support, we will add it to our to-do list.

Is it possible to edit a mobile's contact description ?
No, the current OnSync version does not allow to edit descriptions, there are many requests for this feature, it will be provided in a future version. At the moment the only possible workarounds are the following:

edit contact descriptions directly on the mobile
remove a contact from the mobile and synchronize it again with the desired description format selected in the program's preferences.

Is there a way to save the address book on the cell phone to a file on the Mac so that if I mess it up on the phone I can restore it?
No, this will be added in the future, in the meanwhile you can create a group on your contacts management program on your Mac, so you can store in it your mobile's contacts. This group can be used as a backup. In Mac Address Book you can drag the content of a group to the desktop and this will generate a file containing a copy of the contacts, the type of this fill will be vCard, a standard format to store, save and transfer contacts to other programs and devices.

Does is exists a Spanish, German (or other) localization for OnSync ?
Currently the only available localizations are English French and Italian, we have contacts with some volunteers that will help us with other languages. At the moment we are not working on this, currently our efforts are in adding more mobiles compatibility and more features. So localization has a lower priority but more languages will be available in the future.

I need calendars synchronization, is this possible in OnSync ?
At the moment this is not possible, we had many requests for this and something will be tried in the future, but not the near one. Contacts us to give us ideas on what could be useful for you at this subject. We need requirements to understand how to build synchronization functions and a user interfaces that suit your needs.

Troubleshooting

I see an error message while trying a connection test in the preferences panel. What's wrong?
Please read attentively the configuration section of the program's help, if you cannot arrive to connect to your mobile it could be that:

your cable or your adapter is not compatible with OnSync, verify if you arrive to use it with a different program. If it is an USB cable it could be that it cannot recognized as a serial device from your Mac, it could be that you have to find some drivers for this cable. In the mobiles and compatibility section you can find some informations about cables and adapters
the configuration you are testing is not compatible with your mobile, try a different configuration
your mobile is not compatible with OnSync, please read the FAQ related to mobiles not compatible with OnSync

I see an error message while trying to load or synchronize contacts. What's wrong?

If your mobile model is present in the the mobiles and compatibility section, send a screen shot of your error and a screen shot of your configuration to Support.
If your mobile model is NOT present in the the mobiles and compatibility section, it could be that it is not compatible with OnSync also if you arrive to do connection test. Please read the FAQ related to mobiles not compatible with OnSync.

I cannot synchronize one contact (or one number). Why ?
Contacts and numbers with a green status icon, are considered already synchronized because there is a corresponding entry on the mobile phone. In the Details section you can find some explanations about how synchronization works, how OnSync decide if two numbers are already synchronized, and the meaning of the colors of status icons.

I see a couple of parenthesis in contact's descriptions written to the mobile, how can I get rid of those characters ?
It is a configuration problem, in the preferences panel, under the Description Format tab you can find a few selectors that let you decide how the contacts descriptions will be composed during synchronization. You can try to modify this configuration and see immediately an example of what will happen in the example label provided in this panel.

OnSync crashes, a window with the message "The application OnSync quit unexpctedly" appears. What can I do ?
Press the "Report" button, then send the report to Support. If you are running on a Tiger system it will just necessary to press the button "Send report to OnMadeSoft and Apple".