Windows Sync

The Microsoft Windows Sync API provides a way for developers to write custom synchronization providers by implementing a set of powerful native Microsoft Windows interfaces.

Windows 7 contains a new synchronization architecture that enables devices to synchronize data with data stores on a computer or on a network. Frequently, people keep data, such as a list of contacts, on their personal devices, while trying to maintain that same list of contacts at home and at work. This new synchronization architecture is designed with this scenario in mind. It gives developers the tools they need to build a synchronization provider (a software component that represents a data store), and it gives them the infrastructure to connect their synchronization provider with the synchronization provider that represents the data store of a device.

Using Windows Sync, developers can write synchronization providers that keep data stores such as contacts, calendars, tasks, and notes on a computer or on a network synchronized with corresponding data stores in personal information managers (PIMs) and smart phones that support synchronization.

The Windows Sync documentation includes the following.

Section	Description
Windows Sync Overview	Describes how Windows Sync fits into the Windows 7 synchronization architecture, and discusses how it can be used to build synchronization providers that work well with Windows. Other topics in this section discuss how to build and register a synchronization provider.
Windows Sync Reference	Provides reference pages for the Windows Sync interfaces, the members of each interface, and the structures, enumerations, and error codes.
Windows Sync Registration Reference	Provides reference pages for the Windows Sync Registration enumerations, interfaces, structures, error codes, and property keys.