iPhone syncing using WebDav with cPanel

[floatingpoint]

I hope this tip will save somebody else out there some time - sure woulda helped me :)

My web host uses cPanel for the site administration backend (as many many shared hosting services do), and I have just figured out how to set up a WebDav server and get OmniFocus to painlessly sync with my new iPhone:


Log in to cPanel (if you can't do this, I can't help you)
Click on "Web Disk" under the "Files" section
Enter a username in the box provided (I used "iphone") and choose your domain name from the dropdown (if you have multiple sites hosted)
Enter password in the boxes
Accept the default value in the "path" box (cPanel probably puts in "public_html/username" or similar)
Click "Create"


Now, that part's pretty easy to figure out on your own, but what ISN'T said anywhere (that I could find) is that, in order to get the WebDav server to play nice with OmniFocus, you need to enter the correct port number in the address in OmniFocus settings:

Follow the instructions for setting up syncing
When you come to the address entry part, do NOT enter "https://www.yourdomain.com/username" (which is what I kept trying)
Instead, simply enter "http://www.yourdomain.com:2078/" (2078 is the port number - be sure to put a colon ":" before it with no spaces)
Then, when you click "Sync Now", you'll get a "User/Pass" dialogue box.
For the username, be sure to enter the ENTIRE username, i.e.: username@yourdomain.com


That's it. I hope that helps. If, for some reason, port 2078 doesn't work for you, ask your hosting provider which port they use for the WebDav.

Good luck with it!! :D

[antcuc]

Thanks for the info floatingpoint that'll help me out a lot. One question, which web host are you using? There are quite a few out there I'm just not sure which ones are really good. I just need reliable 1-5gigs worth of space for a small company with webdav and ssh. Does yours offer that?

[kingsinger]

I noticed that you changed the url from https to http when you included the port number. Is that a typo? Or is it material to getting it working?

JL

[floatingpoint]

@antuc: I use A2 Hosting (http://www.a2hosting.com/1246-5-3-45.html) (on the advice of Merlin Mann) and have been super happy with it so far. As far as I know, it does offer ssh, but only with certain plans like the "Executive" plan, which is still only $7.95/month. Have a look at that link and double check.

@kingsinger: You know, I just realized that myself. I'm not sure if it will work both ways - haven't tried it. I have mine set up exactly like shown above and it works. I did that because I'm personally not concerned about security with my to-do info, and SSL takes longer to transfer data. All I can say is try it both ways and see what works for you.

Glad I can be of help!

[Tate]

This seems to work great with the OF desktop application, but I can't get it to work with the iPhone. It is just unable to reach the server. How do I sync my iPhone to this database?