Step 4, transferring your trip sheets from your laptop to your home PC or vice versa.

Now that you've downloaded the new form, learned how to enter information and work with directory structures, lets talk about transferring the data to and from your mobile office to your home office.

For the purpose of this discussion we'll be using Microsoft "Outlook Express", a powerful and easy to use email program (client). I have used "Outlook 98" and "Eudora" email clients and the same principles will apply. Transferring data by email is nothing new. It may be a little slow for some but it accomplishes the trick and will get you started as painlessly as the previous steps. Now don't laugh, you'll be mastering your trips and files and transferring them with ease after some practice and plenty of "soda pop".

Ok, go to MS Outlook Express (OE) and click on "accounts" in the top menu under "tools". A message box will come up for the accounts you have to make a connection to the internet...

...highlight the account that you know works and click on properties.

Get a piece of paper and copy all the information in each tabbed area, "general", "servers" and "connection". You'll need this information to set up a new account.

Go back to the "Internet accounts" screen and click on "add" and a "wizard" will prompt you with questions. This is where you'll type in the information copied from your working account.

If you made it through the process, you should be able to send and receive on both your email accounts every time you check your mail. Here is the trick though. If you don't take one of your accounts out of the send and receive "loop" you'll get mail immediately after you send it, if you check for it. For example, I finish my new trip sheet, save it as a file and then open a new email to myself. I type in something like the date in the subject area (or anything that lets me know it's my trip sheet) and then "attach" the file by clicking on the "insert" button in the file menu.

Then I send it off into cyberspace and decide to check for other mail. The mail I just sent will come right back. This won't do you any good if you're on the road and want to send the file home. Therefore, you take the account you set up and open the "properties" box. Remove the check mark that says, "include this account when receiving mail or synchronizing".

You'll still be able to send and receive mail but you'll have to specify the account first by selecting it.

The purpose is, to "only use" this account to transfer your files. When you're on the road you send them off and forget it. When you get home you select your special account and the files are transferred in. (Remember that you have to set up the account on both the laptop and your home PC). You might want to check with your ISP (the people that provide your Internet connection) to see how long they keep messages on the "server" (their computer). If you're gone on the road for weeks at a time, this may be a problem if your ISP deletes them after a week.

That's about it folks. Should keep you busy for awhile and scratching your head forever, at least it does for me. Now if you want to learn some more tips and tricks and get questions answered, go to the last step.

Copyright © Jeffry Blair