Method 1 – Using a USB Lead & Windows Explorer
Connect your TomTom to your computer/laptop using an appropriate USB lead. There will have been one in included in the box if you bought yours new, otherwise, you will probably be able to use any USB lead with a Type A connection at one (computer) end, and a Mini Type B (satnav) end. Older models may require a specialist lead. In either case, if you don’t have one, eBay will undoubtedly be your friend.
Once connected, turn your TomTom on, and it should then appear in Windows Explorer as a separate drive, and will probably be called just TomTom, with the “red hands” symbol next to it.
Expand this main TomTom drive and you will see a subfolder called itn. All you need to do now is copy and paste, or drag and drop, the itn files from the location you saved them to on your computer into this itn subfolder. The example below shows the TomTom drive, the itn subfolder and a number of itn files already in that folder.
(Tip #1 – See that file temporary.iti? Don’t be tempted to delete it should you be having a tidy up. That’s where TomTom stores the ad-hoc/on the fly itn you might create directly on your TomTom whilst you’re en-route, or any changes you make to an itn file you have loaded whilst you are following it.)
Method 2 – Using Tyre
If you have Tyre installed, and you have an itn file open in the software, you can copy it to your TomTom with a couple of clicks.
Again, ensure your TomTom is connected to your computer using the appropriate USB lead, and it’s switched on.
From the available Tyre menus click on TomTom, then click on Copy to TomTom from the submenu
The route that you currently have open in Tyre will be copied to your TomTom – if you checked the itn subfolder in Windows Explorer under the TomTom drive, you will see it there.
Neither method is better than the other, but if you like to preview the routes before the Road Trip, using Tyre to load them at the same time can be a convenient way of doing it.
(Tip #2 – Your TomTom will list all it’s itn files in alphabetic order when you get to the point where you are wanting to select and load one. On a trip where you will be using several itn files, and you want to be sure you will select the right one, consider renaming the files before you load them, so that they will automatically appear in the order you will be using them and/or there is some other identifier which will help you. To illustrate this, below is the Windows Explorer view of some of the files from last year’s Road Trip from my PC.
I have added the Road Trip “day” to the beginning of each file name, so they will all appear together, and in day order. I have also added whether the route is scheduled for Morning or Afternoon. But, alphabetically, morning is after afternoon, so how’d you get ‘round that? Simple, use the “underscore” character on your keyboard directly before the “m” of morning. You get this by pressing shift + - (minus or dash), which is typically next to the 0 (zero) character on your keyboard. Alphabetically, this is considered lower than “a”.
I have also added other, what I consider “useful” information to the file name, such as an indication of the no. of miles in each file, and if there are alternative options, such as a shortened route, that as well.)
