Connection Settings

Connection settings define how Talk2Sync manages changes between a connected platform and the synchronization process. These settings are particularly important when deciding which fields can receive updates and which fields should remain protected.

Data Governance: Existing Updates, Fill Empty Fields, and Read-Only

Depending on the platform being connected, some fields are editable, mutable, or updatable. This means that their values can change over time.

When a field supports these types of changes, the connection configuration may display controls next to the field configuration that allow you to enable or disable specific synchronization behaviors.

These controls allow you to temporarily or permanently determine whether Talk2Sync should:

• Detect and absorb changes from equivalent fields or connections.
• Propagate detected updates to the current connection.
• Ignore changes and prevent them from being applied to the field.

Protecting a Field

If a field must be protected and you want to ensure that changes are never sent to that field in a specific connection, you must disable the appropriate change-detection mechanisms.

For example, if prices or images must remain unchanged in a particular connection, make sure that both Fill Empty and Existing Update Detection are disabled for the corresponding fields.

This allows the connection to retain its existing values even when equivalent data changes elsewhere in the synchronization network.

The Ultimate Source of Truth: Time

When Talk2Sync needs to determine which information should generally be considered the most reliable, the primary criterion is the chronological history of the data.

In other words, the newest or most recent information is generally considered the most relevant.

Talk2Sync follows a time-based synchronization philosophy. Synchronization is closely coupled with changes over time, because information can become outdated when it is not maintained, updated, or validated through active human interaction.

Users can update, complete, or enrich information at any time. Because these actions represent the latest modification to the information, the resulting value is considered the most recent and therefore the most valid value for synchronization purposes.

For this reason, Talk2Sync tracks the mutation time of each field and record. This allows the platform to determine what changed and identify which value is relatively older when comparing information across connections.

Key principle: When determining which value should take precedence, Talk2Sync uses the chronological history of changes and considers the most recent information to be the authoritative value.

Next Steps

• Review the connection settings before enabling synchronization.
• Identify fields that should be synchronized and fields that require protection.
• Disable Fill Empty and Existing Update Detection when a field must not receive updates.
• Use the field and record timestamps to understand which values are considered more recent.