Installing Briefcase
If you don’t see Briefcase in the menu, you will have to install this component by opening the Control Panel, selecting Add/Remove Programs, clicking the Windows Setup tab, double-clicking Accessories, selecting Briefcase, clicking OK twice, and, when prompted to do so, inserting your installation disk. Briefcase can be used with either a direct cable connection or diskette. A Direct Cable Connect makes it easy for portable PC users to interface with a desktop computer. After Direct Cable Connect is installed on both PCs, using Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, users select the host option for the machine that is acting as “server.” The server is normally the desktop computer with resources attached to it such as diskette drives, CD-ROMs, and printers. The guest option is on the other machine that is usually a laptop. If speed is an issue, you should use a parallel instead of a serial cable for this connection.

Moving Multiple Files with a Briefcase
If you already have a My Briefcase icon on your Windows 95 desktop, double-click it. Then click the Start button and select Programs followed by Windows Explorer. Now drag the files you want from the Explorer window to the Briefcase window. Close the Briefcase by clicking on its Close button. Next drag the Briefcase icon off of the desktop and onto the diskette. Then remove the diskette and take it with you on your trip. You can open the Briefcase folder on the diskette and use the files from there, or you can drag the Briefcase off the diskette and onto the laptop’s hard drive to use the files. But, remember to drag the Briefcase back onto the diskette when you have finished this transfer. When you return from your trip, insert the Briefcase diskette into your desktop PC’s floppy drive. Open Explorer and drag the My Briefcase folder back onto the desktop and then double-click the My Briefcase icon to open it. Lastly, in the My Briefcase window, open the Briefcase menu and select Update All. You can override an update on a particular file by right-clicking it and selecting Skip from the shortcut menu. When you have finished this task, click Update.

If you are using Windows 98 with My Computer and Windows Explorer, go to the network drive and folder that contain the files you want to transfer to the Briefcase. Right-click and drag them onto the My Briefcase icon. When you release the mouse button, select Make Sync Copy from the context menu that appears. Now open the My Briefcase to use the files. After you have made changes to the files, open My Briefcase and click Update All to update the files.

Setting up a Briefcase
To create a Briefcase, right-click the desktop and select New and Briefcase. Now select the New Briefcase, press F2 (for Rename), type your name of choice, and press Enter. Next copy into the new Briefcase any files you plan to work on at some other location just as you would any other folder by clicking and dragging the files directly over the Briefcase and releasing the mouse button. The files in the Briefcase, called “sync files,” are now linked to the originals. Use the Send To command to copy the Briefcase to a floppy disk, then copy these files to a second system and edit them there. Or, move the Briefcase directly to a laptop, connected to the originating system, and edit the files inside the Briefcase. 

Updating the Sync Files
If you copied your Briefcase to a floppy and then copied the briefcase files to another system, updating is a two-step procedure. First, at the location where you edited the files, place the floppy disk containing the Briefcase in the floppy drive, display its contents, right-click the Briefcase icon, select Update All, and click Update. To change an operation in the Update dialog box, right-click it and select a new operation such as Skip. Secondly, insert the floppy disk in the drive of the originating PC and follow the above steps (right-click the Briefcase icon, select Update All, etc.). The original files are now identical to their copies on the second system. If you moved your briefcase to a laptop, updating is only a one-step process, e. g. move the Briefcase back onto the system where the original files are located, right-click the Briefcase icon, select Update All, and click Update. On the other hand, if you created the Briefcase right on the laptop, connect the laptop to the originating PC, right-click the Briefcase, select Update All, etc.

Renaming a Briefcase File
You may want to rename a file that has sync copies. To rename a file, right-click the Briefcase, select Update All, etc. Because Briefcase is programmed to delete that file, you will see a Delete action next to the old filename. Remember, if you rename any copy of a Briefcase file be sure to rename all other sync copies before performing an update operation.

Restoring a Deleted Briefcase File
If for some reason a file is accidentally deleted from a Briefcase, you can correct this mishap. Inside the Update All window, you will see a Delete action next to the sync copy of the deleted file. Right-click this Delete action , select Create, Update, and Briefcase will create a new copy of that file to replace the deleted one.  If the deleted file was “not” inside a folder on the Briefcase, you can also copy the original file into the Briefcase.

Moving the Briefcase
A Briefcase can travel via floppy disk or laptop. If you want to carry the Briefcase to another location on a floppy disk, just move the Briefcase to the disk by right-clicking the closed Briefcase icon, selecting Send To, then choosing your floppy drive in the resulting list. Should you prefer a laptop (that’s connected to an office network or direct cable connection to the system on which the Briefcase was created), just move the Briefcase directly to the laptop. Or, you can fill the Briefcase right on the laptop by dragging and dropping files from shared folders on the main computer to a My Briefcase icon on the laptop’s desktop.

Editing the Briefcase
To edit Briefcase files on a floppy disk, pop the disk in the floppy drive of the destination computer and copy the Briefcase files to any location on that system’s hard drive. Do not move the Briefcase off the floppy disk. Now edit these synchronized copies of the Briefcase files. If you moved your Briefcase from the originating computer to a laptop, leave the files in the Briefcase and then edit them. Do not copy or move the Briefcase files to a new location on the laptop.

Deleting Files from the Briefcase
Once files have been copied to a briefcase, worked on, and updated, you may want to delete one of them from the Briefcase. If a file is deleted, the next time you perform an update operation, by right-clicking the Briefcase, selecting Update All, etc., the Briefcase will attempt to delete the other “sync copies” of that particular file. You can work around this problem by “orphaning” the file. For this operation, open the Briefcase, select the file you want to orphan, choose Briefcase, Split From Original, and click Yes to confirm the procedure. The orphaned file has no links to its former sync copies.

Creating additional Briefcases
The Briefcase can only hold as many files as will fit onto a diskette. If you plan to take more files than will fit on a diskette, you should create another Briefcase and place it on a separate diskette. To create a Briefcase, open Explorer and select the folder on the desktop PC in which you want to create a Briefcase. Open the File Menu, select New, and choose Briefcase.

Printing a Briefcase Document
While working on the road with your laptop, you often create documents that must be printed once back at home or the office. Windows 95 supports this scenario by offering Deferred Printing when no printer is available during the creation of a document or print job. Windows 95 stores the output and automatically prints it the next time there is an available printer. Deferred Printing continues this useful function by letting users queue print jobs without knowing which printer is attached to the computer. 

Summary
Many computer users frequently move files from one system to another, such as from their office computer to a home PC or laptop, using floppy disks. These folks are not taking advantage of a very useful Windows feature. Windows Briefcase will keep multiple copies of the same files current so they don’t have to spend valuable time trying to figure out which is the most recent version.