With data plans for Pocket PC phones now becoming much more reasonably priced, I often want to get information from the internet on my phone. This is all very well but I would never have my favourites on my phone so I would have to google it. The whole process of getting to the site I want takes quite a while and costs much more than it should. Wouldn’t it be nice to carry your favourites with you ?

This article will explain how you can synchronise your Internet Explorer favourites from your PC with your Pocket PC. This is a permanent solution which will function nicely once it is set up.

Please excuse the misspelling of Favourites and Synchronise. Americans and Australians, so similar, yet so different.

Mobile favourites were designed for Windows Mobile devices to preload web pages for viewing offline, so it is not appropriate to copy all of your favourites in this folder, even though this would work. There are third party applications which can use to store your favourites online. I did not like this option either as it meant I would have to visit this site every time I wanted to use the web. So I sat down and nutted this method out.

What you need:

• Pocket PC running Windows Mobile 5 (This procedure may well work with other WM devices).

I will be using a HP Ipaq rw6828

• PC/Laptop running Windows (any version)

Internet Explorer as your source of favourites (any version)

• Microsoft ActivSync.

I will be using version 4.5.0, available from Microsoft for free.

• A program that will sync folders

I will be using SyncToy as it can be scheduled easily and I am familiar with it, available from Microsoft for free.

I recommend tidying up your “Favorites” before you start by culling the Favourites you no longer want and correcting the names of the Favourites with descriptive names. Placing your favourites into categorised folders is also highly recommended. Your favourites will be much harder to navigate on the small screen of your Pocket PC.

Not much can go wrong if you follow the steps in this article as we are not altering the initial “Favorites” folder. Saying that, please back up your favourites in internet explorer by clicking on the file menu and selecting Import and Export. In the rare chance that anything will go wrong, you can easily restore your bookmarks.

Setting up ActivSync:

Our first step is to setup ActiveSync. Activsync is generally the software you would use to synchronise your mail, contacts, calendar and mobile favourites between your PC and your Pocket PC. I will assume you already use this application and you have a profile setup. The next few steps enable file sharing between your PC and PDA.

Open up ActivSync

Click “Tools”

Select “Options”

Select “Files”

You will be presented with a pop-up letting you know that a folder has been created in your “My Documents” folder, called “devicename My Documents”. Here you can put any files you want to sync to your device. Click “OK”.

Setting up Synctoy:

We need to set up Synctoy so that it will automatically synchronise your original “Favorites” folder with a new folder called “Favorites” in your devices “My Documents” (the folder you just created with activsync). It’s a mouthful but it’s not as hard as it sounds.

Load up Microsoft Synctoy

Click “Create New Folder Pair”

In the right folder we want to put your original “Favorites” folder.

Click “Browse”

Navigate to your favorites folder located at “C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Favorites”

Click “Next”

Now you setup the folder your favourites will sync to.

Click “Browse”

Navigate to your “My Documents” folder

You will find a new folder since you setup file synchronisation in activsync. This folder will be called “Devicename My Documents”. Click on this folder.

Click “Make New folder”

Rename it by right clicking on “New Folder” and selecting rename. Call it “Favorites”.

Select your new Favorites folder and press “OK”

You now have the choice of what type of synchronisation you would like. This is personal preference but I would stick with either “Synchronise or Echo”

Click “Next”

Finally, name your folder pair whatever you like. I call mine “Pocket Favorites”

Click “Finish”

You have now setup SyncToy to sync the two folders. You are now able to preview the sync and ensure that it is successful. You may need to rename one or two favourites as the name may be too long. When you successfully preview, run it so it will do the physical sync.

Automate Synctoy:

You can synchronise your Favourites when you want manually by loading up Synctoy, selecting the folder pair and selecting run. I couldn’t be bothered doing this so as with most things I like to automate them to work without my knowledge.

You have some options here. You could create a shortcut in the startup menu so that your machine will synchronise when you turn your machine on. I leave my machine on all the time so I am going to schedule the synchronisation to happen at 5AM each morning. The command line is the same for both options.

Load up scheduled tasks by clicking “Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Scheduled Tasks”

Click “Add Scheduled Task”

You now get a wizard to guide you through the next few steps.

Click “Next”

Select “SyncToy” from the long alphabetical list

Click “Next”

Select your frequency: This sync will be very fast and you probably won’t see it happen. Make it frequent, I recommend daily, at a time when you’ll be in bed so it won’t disturb you.

Rename it “Mobile Favorites” The name is not important. It does not relate to the name we used earlier.

Click “Next”

Set the time you would like the sync to occur. I have selected 5AM

Select “Every Day”

Start date should be tomorrow (leave as default)

Click “Next”

Enter your username and password here. I am not sure if this is necessary but may as well put it in.

Click “Next”

You will now be told you have successfully set this up and will be given a brief rundown of what options you selected.

Ensure the tick-box is selected to open advance properties.

Click Finish

In the run box where you have the path of Synctoy, drag across to the end and after the final ” leave a space and enter -R.

Click “OK”

This will close SyncToy after it has been run. I don’t have a fancy PC and the sync took under 3 seconds. Try it out by right clicking on the task and selecting run.

Syncing the favourites with your mobile device:

As you have already done all the legwork, open up activsync and synchronise your Pocket PC with your computer. If all has gone well, you should have a Favorites Folder with all your favourites contained, in your “My Documents” folder on your Pocket PC.

Tidying things up:

Your favourites are now viewable from inside “My Documents” of your device as a collection of shortcuts but that is not ideal because you want them inside you Pocket Internet Explorer.

We will now create a shortcut to this from within Internet Explorer Mobile on your pocket PC.

Open up Internet Explorer Mobile

Tap “Favorites”

Tap “Add/Delete”

Tap “Add”

Name the link “Favorites”

Set the address to file://\My Documents\Favorites

Tap Add

You now have a new link called “Favorites”. Now when you get into internet explorer, you can click on favorites and get the whole list of favourites as they are on your desktop PC.

When you select one of these shortcuts, Internet Explorer Mobile will again come to the front of screen and load up your page.

I came across one problem whilst syncing and that was a conflict with the mobile favourites links in Activsync. It was due to replicating the Mobile Favorites folder creating a loop. I simply removed the offending “mobile favorites\favorites.url” shortcut from the sync list and the error no longer occurred.

I hope this solution works for you. You should not have to do anything to keep the list updated as ActivSync will detect any changes and update your device. You will now have your complete favourites list with you wherever you go, ready for quick access. With your Mobile Favorites being untouched, you will be able to use them as you always have.

I hope you have enjoyed this article has been useful and enjoyable to you. Please check out some of my other how-to’s at Inspect My Gadget.