The information in this article applies to:
The idea behind syncing is to keep your subscriptions list, news item status, and browser tabs synchronized between two or more copies of NetNewsWire.
How to set up syncing:
Open the Preferences and click the Syncing button. You can choose between .Mac syncing and FTP syncing. If you choose FTP, click the Settings button to enter your FTP server, folder path, username, and password. (The password is stored in the keychain.)
The computer name is used to identify each copy of NetNewsWire you have. This needs to be unique for each copy. NetNewsWire comes up with a default name based on the name you give your computer in your system settings. (Note, if you use syncing: do not copy your NetNewsWire preferences file between machines, as this will result in multiple machines with the same name. The name is stored in your NetNewsWire preferences.)
You can choose what you want to synchronize—any combination of subscriptions, news items status, and browser tabs.
You can also choose to have your subscriptions list be a copy of subscription lists on the server or have NetNewsWire do a merge.
You can tell NetNewsWire to sync at startup and when quitting. At both of those times, a sheet appears asking you if you want to synchronize. This way (if you’re on the train or bus) you can skip it. (The don’t-sync button responds to the Esc key.) You can also turn off the prompt and have NetNewsWire do it without asking.
Example FTP settings:
Syncing via .Mac doesn’t require extra settings, but if you sync via FTP you need to tell NetNewsWire information about your server. Here is an example of FTP settings:
FTP Server: example.com
Folder path: nnwsyncdata
Username: someusername
Password: somepassword
The FTP Server should just be a hostname such as example.com.
The Folder path should be a folder path relative to the folder you’re placed in when you log in to that server manually via FTP. Note that the folder must exist already: NetNewsWire won’t create it automatically.
How to sync:
In the File menu is a Synchronize Now… command. Choose that to sync any time you want to.
While syncing, a modal window appears—it displays messages and shows the progress of the sync session. It disappears when the sync session is complete. It has a Cancel button, so you can cancel the session. (It’s usually a good idea to let it run to completion, though.)
How a news item's status is synced:
If an item is marked as read, flagged, or followed, then that information will be synchronized. If not marked in one of those ways, then the status is not transferred.
The actual news items themselves are not transferred, just the status. When you refresh you’ll get the actual news items. It would be hugely wasteful to transfer actual news items via syncing.
Where syncing-related files are stored:
Files are stored on your .Mac iDisk or FTP server. Note that the files are prefixed by the name of a computer—this way different machines won’t over-write each other’s data.
If you’re using .Mac, the files are stored in the Documents folder. This is because NetNewsWire can’t write to the Library/Application Support/ folder. We wish it could, but it can’t.
NetNewsWire stores some files in your local ~/Library/Application Support/NetNewsWire/ folder. The SyncIDs.db file is important. do not delete it. It’s how NetNewsWire remembers what has been synced already. The SyncExport and SyncImport folders are for temporary storage. You don’t need to save them. (You may not notice them, as they’re deleted when a sync session completes.)
Backups and reverting:
If you do a sync and you want to go back to the subscriptions list you had before the sync, choose File > Revert Subscriptions… In addition, NetNewsWire stores backups of your subscriptions list at ~/Library/Application Support/NetNewsWire/Backups/. However, you still should make regular backups of your NetNewsWire preferences and data.
