Windows XP’s Briefcase is one of those little utility programs that I ignored for years because I didn’t have a laptop. Now that I do have a laptop, I’ve started to understand why Briefcase might be a good idea. Say for example, that I start writing this article on my main computer. Then I have an off-site meeting, so I copy this file over to my laptop, so I can work on it during lunch. With one file, it’s not a big deal to remember which file is the most current one, but as you might imagine, when you’re working with multiple files, it’s all too easy to end up accidentally overwriting the wrong file and losing your work.
The idea with Briefcase is that one computer holds the original documents and the other one holds a copy. So in this example, your main computer has the originals, and the laptop has the copies. You use the Windows Briefcase utility to synchronize documents in an organized way, so you don’t get confused.
On your main computer, in My Computer or Windows Explorer, click the folder that you’d like to hold the briefcase. Choose File|New|Briefcase and a new briefcase appears aptly titled New Briefcase. (You can rename it by right-clicking it and choosing Rename.) Alternatively, if you want to create a briefcase on your desktop, you can just right-click any blank area of your desktop and choose New|Briefcase.
Now that you have a briefcase, you can copy files or folders into it. In Windows Explorer or My Documents and just click and drag the files and folders you want into your new briefcase.
After you have your files set up, you copy the entire briefcase to the laptop by either copying it over a network or onto a disk, thumb drive, or CD use can use to transfer the files to your laptop. Once the briefcase is on the laptop, delete it from the main computer. (Note that you aren’t deleting the original files, just the briefcase!) While you’re working on the files on the laptop, you open them from within the briefcase. Don’t move them around to other folders. You also don’t want to move the original files on the main computer around to different folders or Briefcase will have trouble finding them when you go to synchronize the files.
When you’re done working with the files on the laptop and you want to update the original documents on the main computer, you don’t copy the briefcase back. Instead, Windows reads the briefcase over the network or off the disk and updates the original files on your main computer. Just open the briefcase and choose Update All from the Briefcase menu. If you only want to update some of the files, click Update Selection instead.