ShulCloud offers the ability for select people to sync (download) the ShulCloud database of people to a mobile device (iOS or Android). The benefit of this is that it creates a separate address book on the mobile device containing names and contact information. If a person in the ShulCloud database calls the mobile device, the device will be able to provide correct caller ID information for the caller. Note that the sync is one-way; edits made on the device will not transfer to the ShulCloud database, and in fact will be reverted to whatever is in the ShulCloud database at the next sync.
Contact syncing uses a format known as “Carddav”, which is a standardized format for transferring contact information. There are limitations to this format, however using it provides the greatest operability with most mobile devices. IOS devices have Carddav functionality built in, and more fully support the Carddav format; Android devices require a separate app to support Carddav (and these apps are not yet as sophisticated as the IOS built-in support for Carddav).
ShulCloud databases can be quite large, and the larger the database, the more prone the sync process is to some type of intermittent error. To minimize errors, it is best to transfer as little information as needed. Also, only contacts with either a phone number or email address will be transferred - people with no contact information will not be included in the sync.
You must give Accounts or Accounts Read-Only admin permissions to those who would like this functionality.
Settings
To set up contact syncing in ShulCloud. Go to the Settings screen, and click the Carddav heading in the top navigation section, or scroll to the bottom to the Carddav address book settings section. The available settings are as follows:
- Turn on the function by setting Show Carddav to Yes (it will not sync contacts if set to No)
- Organize Address Book By: To minimize connectivity interruptions, the Carddav functionality splits the database into separate address books on the device. You can select to split the address books by your Account Types, or alphabetically (A-G, H-N, O-U, V-Z).
- Included Account Types: Select which Account Types which should be included in the sync. We strongly recommend only including member Account Types.
- Include Inactive - We recommend only including Active accounts.
- Person Type: Limit contacts include to the Person Type(s) selected (only contacts with phone numbers or email addresses will be included)
- Excluded Tags: You can create a tag that will mark a contact as “not to be synced”.
- Fields to Sync: Select the fields you want to appear as part of the contact. Note that Android devices will only include Name, Address, some phone numbers, and some email addresses (other fields are considered custom fields by the Carddav format, and the Android apps do not yet support custom fields). All the fields will be shown on IOS devices. Note that including Yahrzeits will substantially slow down the sync, and may cause additional sync issues.
Whenever the Carddav settings are changed, all contacts will be re-downloaded to all devices currently set up to sync contacts.
Installing Contact Syncing for ShulCloud
After enabling the settings as above, use your mobile device to set up contact syncing.
iOS:
- Ensure the account you are setting up has either Accounts or Accounts Read-Only permission.
- Press “Settings”
- Press “Accounts and Passwords”
- Press “Add Account”
- Press “Other”
- Press “Add CardDAV Account”
- Enter the server name. The server name is your full ShulCloud URL, with “/carddav” at the end (for example, https://www.shulname.org/carddav)
- Enter your ShulCloud user name - this is your ShulCloud email address, where you receive ShulCloud emails
- Enter your ShulCloud password
- Description can be the default, or you can edit it to something shorter
- Click Next
- After a few seconds, you should see four blue checks next to each field. If you get a prompt to try it without SSL, either your site is not using full HTTPS (contact the help desk for assistance with this), or you did not type something correctly
- You should now be returned to the Accounts and Passwords screen, and the new account you added will be shown
- Downloading all the contacts will take some time, please be patient. You can visit the Contacts app and click on Groups (top left) to see the new address books
- The iOS Carddav functionality syncs every 5 minutes, or when there is a change on the server (in ShulCloud).
Android:
- Ensure the account you are setting up has either Accounts or Accounts Read-Only permission.
- Visit the Google Play Store. Search for “carddav”, several apps will be displayed. ShulCloud contact syncing has been tested with DAVdroid, CardDAV-Sync free, and Open Sync. Install your preferred app. If one doesn’t work, try another
- Follow the app instructions to indicate the server, user name, and password (you are adding a Carddav account; use the default settings when presented with a choice):
- The server name is your full ShulCloud URL, with “/carddav” at the end (for example, https://www.shulname.org/carddav)
- Enter your ShulCloud user name - this is your ShulCloud email address, where you receive ShulCloud emails
- Enter your ShulCloud password
- After successfully submitting the server, user name (email address), and password, you will be prompted with the specific address books to sync - place checkmarks next to all of them
- If you see or find an option for one-way syncing (from the server to the device), enable that setting
- Complete the setup and allow some time for the sync to take place. Downloading all the contacts will take some time, please be patient
- The Android apps allow you to specify the frequency of syncing. Set this to meet your needs, balancing battery life and need for updates - for most synagogues, once a day should be sufficient. Note that the Android apps can be forced to sync manually.