Background

This Background section is totally skippable. It just explains why and how datafile synchronization has changed between iData 3 and iData Pro 4, and between iData Mobile and iData Mobile Plus.

When iData 3 came out in 2006, its datafiles had an .id3 file name extension.

In 2009, iData Partners added a new product, iData Mobile, for the iPhone and iPad. At that time, the iOS operating system on those mobile devices did not provide any way to have styled text in the Freeform Text Area. As a result, a new iData Mobile datafile format, having an .idm file name extension, was developed. Its most noticeable "feature" was the lack of styled text in the Freeform Text Area.

On the Mac side, iData 3.1 added the ability to open and edit .idm datafiles, and to synchronize these datafiles with their equivalents in iData Mobile. At the same time, another, less expensive app, iData Lite, was released that could handle only .idm datafiles, but sales were unexpectedly low, and it was dropped some years later.

In 2014, a new version, iData Pro 4 was released, which contained many new features. However, the .id3 and .idm file name extensions were retained, as the new features did not require any modification of the datafile formats. One of the reasons for the upgrade was that Apple had dropped MobileMe, which was one of the options for syncing datafiles between iData 3 and iData Mobile. iData Pro 4 replaced MobileMesyncing with Dropbox syncing.

By 2016, iOS had added enough capabilities to permit the use of styled text in the Freeform Text Area. Also, iData Partners had lost the ability to make changes to iData Mobile a couple of years back. As a result, we came out with an entirely new iOS version, iData Mobile Plus. We decided to make this one free. (The original iData Mobile sold for $4.95, but there was no way to treat iData Mobile Plus as a free upgrade, and so we just made it free, rather than make our old customers pay twice.)

So, beginning with iData Pro 4.0.19, which was released in July 2016,  iData has had the ability to sync .idm datafiles to iData Mobile, and .id3 datafiles to iData Mobile Plus.

So What?

Because .id3 datafiles include styled text, and iData Mobile had been discontinued, and iData Mobile Plus is free, the expectation is that many users who are upgrading from iData 3 to iData Pro 4 will want to convert their .idm datafiles to .id3 format and transfer them to iData Mobile Plus, as will many users who started with iData Pro 4 and iData Mobile, but want to upgrade to iData Mobile Plus.

Converting .idm to .id3

Start by converting your .idm datafiles to .id3 datafiles.

1. First, make sure that all of the .idm datafiles on your Mac are up-to-date.

2. In iData Pro 4, open an .idm datafile.

    NOTE: If you want to convert an .idm datafile that you have been editing, be sure to save your changes first.

3. Select Save As iData Pro Datafile under the File menu.

4 When the Save As iData Pro Datafile... dialog comes up, make sure that you will be saving the new datafile to your usual Datafile folder (normally either iData 3 Datafiles or iData Pro Datafiles), then click the Save button.

5. When the new datafile opens, save it. The original will be closed.

This process doesn't really "convert" your existing .idm datafiles. Rather, it saves their content in .id3 format. Your old .idm datafiles will remain unchanged.
If, for example, you converted a datafile called MyDatafile.idm, you would now see MyDatafile.id3 open in iData Pro 4, but MyDatafile.idm would still be where it was when you started.

6. Repeat this for each of your .idm datafiles. If you want to retain the originals, but don't want to get them mixed up with the new ones, you could create a new folder called something like IDM Datafiles, and drag them into it.

Syncing .id3 Datafiles

Syncing between a Mac and an iPhone or iPad

Syncing between two Macs

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