Synchronizing Data on Zimbra Desktop FAQ

Revision as of 20:32, 9 February 2009 by CAH (talk | contribs)

How much data is stored on a user's computer?

YZD is designed to copy all a user's data and store it locally on the user's computer. This feature allows YZD users to access all data when offline.

Where are the data stored?

Actual data is stored as files under <install>/store, where each item is a single file. Metadata is stored in an Apache Derby database under <install>/derby. In addition, indexes on data are stored under <install>/index. These 3 folders contain all user data stored by YZD, and any direct modification to these data will result in corruption and possible data loss.

Can I backup the data in those 3 user data folders by simply copying them to another location?

While that is possible, it is not recommended. If you choose to do file based backup, you must first shutdown the YZD back end service before running any types of backup. However we recommend users do backup using the import/export features provided by YZD instead. You will find this feature under your Options tab on YZD.

Is my data stored on my computer secure?

Currently YZD does not provide application level encryption. It is important that you choose a secure file system and not give others access to your computer.

Are all my data in YZD always in sync with my data in mailboxes on remote servers?

That depends on the type of account, what you choose to synchronize, and how often YZD synchronizes with remote servers. For Zimbra accounts, virtually 100% of data is synchronized with the server, including user preferences. The only data not in sync with the server are data you moved under "Local Folders" in YZD and the changes you made since the last synchronization. For Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, Windows Live, AOL, Exchange, and other IMAP mailboxes, it depends on which set of folders you choose to synchronize. Any data under folders with sync turned off may not be in sync with the server. Also for these accounts, currently YZD does not synchronize user preferences with the server. For POP accounts, all data are stored locally only once they are downloaded. We generally refer to the data that only exist locally in YZD and not on the server as local data.

For IMAP mailboxes, how do I know which folders are being synchronized with the server?

If at setup you chose to sync Inbox only, only Inbox is synchronized. If you chose to sync All folders, then most folders will be synchronized with server. The only exceptions are Spam and Trash, as well as folders that can only exist locally such as Outbox. You can turn sync on for folders such as Spam and Trash. However turning sync on on the Spam folder may download mail items containing virus and therefore not recommended. Any folder with sync turned on will have a small green dot to its left.

If my hard drive dies and I have no data backup, do I lose all my data?

You will lose all your local data. Data still in your mailboxes on the server can be downloaded again once you setup a new YZD install.

What are local data?

Local data are data that don't exist on the server with which YZD synchronizes, whereas sync data are data that exist on both your computer and on the remote server. In a Zimbra mailbox, all data is sync data except the data you moved under Local Folders in YZD. In an IMAP mailbox, including Yahoo!, Gmail, AOL, Exchange, or other types of IMAP account, emails under folders being synced are sync data, but emails in folders with sync turned off are local data. It is important to backup your mailbox data periodically, and especially important to backup your local data. That's because you don't have another copy of the local data in a server mailbox from which you can recover. It's also worth noting that when you choose to delete or reset a mailbox, all data including local data will be deleted from your local computer. Therefore you must make sure to have a backup of all your data, especially local data, before you delete or reset a mailbox.

How often does YZD synchronize with remote servers?

That depends on the sync schedule you choose for each of your accounts. Zimbra accounts supports the option to synchronize whenever your mailbox on the server has any new changes, we refer to this as "push". YZD currently doesn't support "push" for other types of accounts. You can also force an immediate sync by clicking on the "Send/Receive" button of that account. If there are outgoing messages in your Outbox, sync will run immediately unless your sync schedule is set to "manual". With "manual" setting you must click the "Send/Receive" button to even send outgoing messages. It's also worth noting that for non-Zimbra accounts YZD only downloads new messages in Inbox from remote server in regularly scheduled sync cycles. In order to synchronize all data, you must click on the "Send/Receive" button. For Zimbra accounts, YZD can synchronize all changes on every run. Finally when the YZD GUI is not running, sync frequency will be lowered to at most once an hour.

I made read or deleted some messages using a different client. Why are those changes not reflected in YZD?

For any non-Zimbra mailbox, scheduled sync will only download new messages. In order to synchronize other changes such as unread flag changes and deletions you have to click the "Send/Receive" button to do a manual synchronization.

Can I install YZD on multiple computers and make them synchronize with the same account?

Absolutely. Just remember for non-Zimbra mailboxes you have to click "Send/Receive" in order to see changes you made from one install in other installs.

How do I uninstall Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop?

You can uninstall Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop by running the uninstaller. The uninstaller is located under the folder where you installed the Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop software. On Windows you can also use "Add or Remove Programs" to uninstall.
(1) Run the uninstaller and follow the on-screen instructions.
(2) By default the uninstaller will only remove the software and will leave any downloaded data intact. This allows future software upgrades without resyncing mailbox data from scratch. If however you intend to delete all data as well, you can check the “DELETE ALL DATA” checkbox during uninstall. Alternatively, you can first use the uninstaller to remove the software and then simply delete the entire folder where Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop was installed.
(3) For a clean uninstall, make sure the existing install folder is completely removed.

I ran into an error when uninstalling Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop. What do I do now?

Sometimes due to unexpected install failures, uninstall will fail. If the uninstall process fails, use the following steps to manually uninstall Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop.
NOTE: These steps are for experienced users only. If you are not comfortable with changing system settings, STOP!
On Windows
(1) Close the GUI client window. The GUI client can minimize to tray, so make sure you actually quit it. In Task Manager the name of the GUI client process is zdclient.exe.
(2) Make sure that the Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop service is not running. In Task Manager the name of the service is zdesktop.exe. If it is, use the Service Manager to stop the service. If that fails to stop, you can use the Task Manager to stop the process.
(3) Use the registry editor (regedt32) to remove the uninstaller entry in "Add or Remove Programs." Find and delete the Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop entry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall.
(4) Use the registry editor to remove the Window service. Find and delete the Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop entry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services.
(5) Delete the installation directory. Note that if you want to preserve mailbox data, don't delete these 3 folders: derby, store, index.
(6) Reboot Windows. This is important for your registry updates to take effect.
On Mac OS
(1) Close the GUI client window.
(2) Make sure that the Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop service process is not running. It is a java process. If the service process is running, open a terminal window and cd into the install directory. Then run the following at the command line:
       ./zdesktop stop
If that fails to stop the service, you can terminate the process using the Activity Monitor GUI.
(3) Delete the install directory. Note that if you want to preserve mailbox data, don't delete these 3 folders: derby, store, index.
(4) In the terminal window type the following to remove the launched agent:
       launchctl stop com.zimbra.zdesktop
       launchctl remove com.zimbra.zdesktop
       rm ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.zimbra.zdesktop.plist
On Linux
(1) Close the GUI client window.
(2) Make sure that the Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop service process is not running. It is a java process. If the service process is running, open a terminal window and cd into the install directory. Then run the following at the command line:
       ./zdesktop stop
(3) Delete the install directory. Note that if you want to preserve mailbox data, don't delete these 3 folders: derby, store, index.

Can YZD synchronize contacts and calendar with an Exchange Server?

The current version can only synchronize messages using IMAP with an Exchange Server, assuming IMAP is enabled on the server. However we plan to support other types of data including contacts and calendar with Exchange Servers in a future release.

Can I synchronize data in YZD to a mobile device, like iPhone for example?

Not with the current version, but this feature is planned for a future release.
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