A method and apparatus by which a user of two or more client devices (10 11)
each hosting a data store (10c 11c) can have the data
stores kept synchronized by a server (12) (in some cases operated as a synchronizing
service) in a way acceptable to the user even though at least one of the two data
stores (10c) includes a data component (such as a field of a record)
that is not in the other data store (11c) (or for which a correspondence
from the one data store (10c) to the other data store (11c)
in respect to the data component has not yet been set, including possibly a null
correspondence). Any such so-called problem field is monitored by a sync field
scanner (12g) usually hosted by the server, which alerts the user
that a data component is a problem field only when the user first provides a value
for the data component. The invention provides that, if possible, the sync field
scanner (12g) automatically suggests to the user how to accommodate
the problem field that occurs in one data store (10c) but not in
the data store (11c).
