Technology

NetNewsWire Beta – doesn't synch

I use NetNewsWire as my feed reader – I keep going back to it, despite its limitations because it is faster to read my feeds in a desktop app than a web app.

However, one real bugbear I have had with it is its lack of support for synching. I use two different computers – my desktop computer while in the office and my laptop while on the move. I want to have the feeds and their read status synched across my computers (without having to shell out for a .Mac account).

Bernard told me last night that the new beta of NetNewsWire is out and that it supports synching – wohoo!

However, my joy was shortlived on trying it out! There is a synching function in NetNewsWire 2.1b17 but it doesn’t allow you to synch across machines. It simply synchs your feed reader’s status to the web – this status can only be accessed by the same machine subsequently – so it is more like a read status backup than a synch.

Hopefully this is because the app is still in beta and this will be resolved someday soon!

8 thoughts on “NetNewsWire Beta – doesn't synch”

  1. Hi Tom,

    Have you tried RSSBandit ?
    It has great synching, it works perfectly for me between work and home. You can sync by FTP, WebDav, Newsgator and a few others.

  2. Sean – thanks for stopping by and commenting.

    RSSBandit is a Windows app and I am Mac based so unfortunately it isn’t an option for me 🙁

    Tom.

  3. Hea Tom,

    From my understanding (I am still looking at NNW synching features) you should be able to synch to a number of machines.

    If you create a newsgator account (for free), synch your feeds on machine1 to the newsgator account.

    Then go to your other machine and under “synching options” (I think) enter your account details and hit refresh (I think-I am not at my mac yet).

    This should work. You will be able to see:

    “Edit locations” under newsgator manager, and “Create location: “. So you shold have location1 and location2.

    Let me know how thats goes,

    b.

  4. Bernard – thanks for commenting.

    I have a NewsGator account (have had for some time).

    I have two locations – the two computers created them automatically. In fact, that is part of the problem – computer 1 only synchs with location 1 and same for computer 2 – I can’t get Computer 1 and 2 to synch to location 1.

  5. Hi Tom,

    I will post this to Brent today and see if he has any advice. Strange. I should really get the iMac in work here hooked up and try it here too.

    Let me know if you have any luck.

    b.

  6. Another thing Tom,

    (not sure if this applies but…) did you actually look in the Newsgator account to see if your feeds were there?

    b.

  7. Tom — it is *supposed* to sync across machines. Not just multiple copies of NetNewsWire but also with FeedDemon, NewsGator’s Outlook plugin, and other applications that use this same syncing.

    If syncing across machines isn’t working for you, then it’s a bug. (You’re totally right that this is a beta release and bugs are expected.)

    Please do send me email with details about your setup, including the location names you’re using on your two different copies.

  8. Hi Brent,

    thanks for your comment.

    I’m Mac based and both my Macs are running OS X 10.4.5

    I sent you an email with my username and location names.

    What I want to have happen is that when I read something on the iMac, if I go to NetNewsWire on the laptop, it is marked as read. Is that what is supposed to happen? If so, great, but i can’t figure out how to do it. The Imac only seems to synch to its location and the laptop similarly.

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