Grindstone 2, the task management and time tracking solution from Epiforge, has become an indispensable component of my workflow (I did a full review on this great utility a little while back that you can find here). Recently I discovered a way to seamlessly synchronize tasks on multiple computers if you’re already using Dropbox.

IMPORTANT: Play it safe… please backup your data before continuing!

1. Ensure that Grindstone is fully closed (right click on system tray icon and select Exit).
2. Create a folder named “Grindstone 2,” or something you can remember, in your Dropbox folder on the local file system. For example, C:\Users\<YourName>\Documents\My Dropbox\Work\Grindstone Mobile\Grindstone 2.
3. Locate C:\Users\<YourName>\AppData\Roaming\Grindstone 2 and copy its entire contents to the folder you just created in (2).

   

   Before continuing, ensure that the folder that you’ve just copied contains, among other files, config.gsc2 — this is the XML file that Grindstone uses to keep track of settings, tasks, segments, and all your other saved information.

4. Rename the original (in AppData\Roaming) to something like “Grindstone 2 Backup.”
   
5. Download Junction, a free utility from Microsoft. We’re going to use it to create a soft link from the original location to the new location within Dropbox’s jurisdiction, so that Grindstone 2 will link to the data indirectly when the program starts, without being able to tell the difference. NOTE: Normal Windows links (i.e., .lnk files to a folder) will not work for this purpose.
6. From wherever you extracted Junction, hold down shift and right-click in Explorer, and select “Open command window here.”
7. Now, execute the following instruction to create the soft link (note that this is actually all one line):
   
junction "C:\Users\<YourName>\AppData\Roaming\Grindstone 2" "C:\Users\<YourName>\Documents\My Dropbox\Work\Grindstone Mobile\Grindstone 2"

   The result of this command is shown below:

   

8. To verify that this worked, you can cd to Roaming and execute dir. What you see should resemble the following:
   
9. Now for the true test: launch Grindstone, and verify that all your profiles and tasks are intact.

Repeat this process on any other computer that you wish to sync Grindstone with. Note that in order for the tasks to be synchronized, it will be necessary to shut down Grindstone at the end of your work day since Dropbox cannot sync files that are in use.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 22nd, 2010 at 7:49 pm and is filed under Productivity, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.