PapierloosVergaderen

Paperless meetings with Android tablets

The reason for writing this page is that the FGV will try paperless meetings starting September 1, 2015. For the main settings of an Android tablet or phone, see the Android page. Below we deal especially with the topics that are of interest for paperless meetings: an app for synchronizing the meeting documents to the tablet and one for annotating PDF files. Finally we describe how the annotated files can be synchronized to a backed-up disk.

First things for the FGV

• Android tablet or smartphone, connected to a network, e.g. Eduroam.
• Science account, that has been made member of the group "fgv" by the Faculty Bureau.
• Science VPN correctly setup and connected.

Synchronizing from and to a network drive

• To do your FGV-work, it is necessary that you have your own set of FGV meeting files, placed on your tablet and that you can make notes in these files. It is also important that there is a daily backup of these set of meeting files, in order not to lose your remarks. Of course you can also mail yourself the annotated documents. To synchronize from or to a network disk, you can use the same app. Folder Sync (free with advertising: Folder Sync Lite) is an app to do this. There are also alternative applications, eg. SyncMe Wireless, but Folder Sync works properly. The steps are further explained below.

• Start FolderSync, press "Create New Sync" at the bottom of the screen, give it a name and press "Next".

• Press Add Account and select SMB/CIFS as Account Type:

• Give it a unique name, fill in the Connection and Login data and press Save:

• Press "Folder pairs" in the main screen:

• Press the green "+" in the lower right corner to add a folder pair and fill in Unique name, Account, Sync type, Remote folder, Local folder and Scheduling:

• Choose the source folder that you want to synchronize to your tablet:

• Choose also the local target folder where the files will be synchronized to:

• Choose at "Scheduling" how often synchronization will take place and press Save:

• By pressing "Sync", the synchronization is started manually:

Annotation of PDF files

• An app to annotate PDF files: Foxit MobilePDF. There are alternative apps, but Foxit works properly. Save annotated files under a different name, in order not to lose them during the next synchronization.