Can you shutdown part way through synchronization process and start up again from the same point? Can you shutdown part way through synchronization process and start up again from the same point?  When opening bitcoin software again will the process start from where it left off or does it need to begin all over again?
Yes you can, as long as you don't close the client in some bizarre way (system crash, etc.). In such case, you can get a blockchain that will never synch (you'd have to delete it and start over). But in most cases, yes, you can close the client and start synchronization over without a problem.