With the Introduction of the Palm III in 1998 a very useful and helpful feature was introduced, the infrared transmitter/receiver. This new feature allowed Palm Pilot and compatible handhelds to beam programs or data through the air, from one Palm Pilot into the other. The infrared feature means that you can share programs with other Palm owners, exchange contact information, share notes, or most data on your Palm Pilot. This feature is know as beaming and you can’t beam everything from your Palm, you can't beam the core Palm applications, the Address Book, Memo Pad, Date Book, Memo Pad, Expense program, or the e-mail program but you can beam the programs you installed yourself. Your only limits on the data you can beam are data from the Expense program and Mail program.

Programs
Here's one of the most exciting possibilities. From now on, the clusters of excited Palm Pilot users on trains, in airports, and at computer conventions won't just be talking about the latest shareware programs they've downloaded; now they'll be distributing them. Note you must be within a few feet of the other Palm pilot and the infrared ports must be facing each other for this feature to work.

To beam a program make sure you have the Palm program list on you screen, meaning you are not in an application. then tap the menu button on your Palm and the Menu App will drop down from the top of the screen. Tap the beam menu selection and you will see a list of the programs you can beam to another Palm user. The padlock icon means "nonbeamable," either the program resides in the palmtop's ROM or because it's a protected commercial program. Tap the one you want to transmit; then tap Beam.

Memo Pad pages
You can beam either a single Memo Pad "page" or all memos in a particular category. To beam one page, bring it up on your screen. Tap Menu or push the menu button - tap the memo you want to beam( it will open) – Tap the menu button on the Palm – Tap Beam Memo from the record menu. 

You can also beam all memos to another Palm Pilot. To beam all your memos, bring the memo application up on your screen, you will see a list of all your memos. If you do not see a list of all your memos push the memo button, last button on the bottom right of your Palm until you see ALL in the top right hand corner of your pal screen. Tap the menu button on the Palm – Tap Beam category from the record menu. All your memos will be beamed to the Palm Pilot that is in line with yours. When you beam a category, all beamed records arrive in the recipient's Unfiled category. 

To Do items
As with the Memo Pad, you can beam either one to-do or an entire category of them. To send just one, tap it, and then choose Beam Item from the Record menu. To send a whole category-full, switch to that category. Make sure it says all in the top right hand corner of the screen and then tap the menu button, choose Beam from the Record menu.

Date Book appointments
Tap an appointment in the Day View of your Date Book program (Figure 5 picture 1). Use the Beam Event menu in the Record menu to transmit this appointment (Figure 5 picture 2). You can now beam this event to everyone involved in the event. One thing to remember you cannot beam more than one appointment at a time.

Address Book entries
You can beam all your Address Book entries, a single entry, or your own contact information to another Palm Pilot, the beam will include all the details of the contact. The following are your three choices for beaming address information.

• One Address
  Launch your Address Book. Tap the address you want to beam; from the Record menu, choose Beam Address.
  
  
• Beam all Addresses
  To send all addresses in a particular category, you must open the Address book and make sure ALL in the top right hand corner of the screen, and then tap Beam Category in the Record menu. 
  
  
• Your business card
  The ability to beam your business card quickly and conveniently is a great feature of the Palm Pilot.
  
  To use the Business Card beaming feature you must first tell your Palm Pilot which Address Book entry is your business card. You must create a record for yourself and then choose Select Business Card from the Record menu.
  
  After you've designated that address to be your business card, you'll see a tiny icon above your name To beam your business card hold down the Address Book plastic button for two seconds. You can also use the menu selection from the record menu 

Other Uses for the Infrared Port

• Communicating with your desktop PC
  You can also sync your Palm with your desktop or lap top using the IR port on you computer and Palm. If you do not want to carry your cable with you and your laptop has an IR Port you just need to line up the IR ports on the two devices giving you the ability to sync the two.
• Communicating with your cell phone
  With the right software, you can harness the power of your Address Book to dial your infrared-equipped cell phone, check with your phone manufacture to see what is required to take advantage of this feature.
• Communicating with your printer
  Printing through the Palm’s infrared port is also a popular feature. The Palm does not support this natively but there a 3rd party applications that allows you to print through the Infrared port.