TUTORIAL:quick transfer of PIM stuff & msgs to other WM devices w/o Outlook/Exchange
I often receive questions about quickly transferring contacts / calendar items from one Windows Mobile device to another. Because of the frequency of these questions, I deemed it necessary to devote a quick tutorial to the question, temporarily stopping my Next Big Thing: at last, a full review and roundup of ALL Windows Mobile-based database programs.
With devices running operating systems prior to WM5 this (at least as far as transferring contacts is concerned) was pretty easy: you just brought up the built-in keyboard SIP and tapped Ctl, and, then, A, to select all contacts. After this, you could mass-transfer all this via both infrared and Bluetooth to any other device. Alternatively, if you needed to transfer other (for example, Calendar) databases, you just fired up Pocket dbExplorer (my old, often-discussed favorite), backed up the database and just did the opposite (restored) it on the target machine.
Not so with WM5. Here, unless you use a (commercial) PIM extender like Pocket Informant, you can’t mass-select any kind of PIM data for transfer (yes, not even Contacts – Ctl-A doesn’t work any more) and Pocket dbExplorer no longer works either.
If you don’t have a desktop Outlook for quick synchronization of these types (the easiest way to do this is, again, Outlook on the desktop) and you don’t have access to any Exchange server either, you’re shot.
You may ask whether it’s possible to use, for example, Sprite Backup (or, for that matter, any other commercial Windows Mobile full(!) backup solution - see the Backup Bible for more info) to separately, selectively backup / restore ONE PIM database only (only all of them). That is, you would need to back up / restore all PIM databases, not only, say, Calendar (or any other database you select for transfer). This has the following major problem: While restoring the Calendar may work, doing the same with Contacts will most probably result in major problems (the built-in Contacts application not starting at all any more, necessitating a hard / clean reset).
I've tested this between the three models (in addition to my previous experience: see my related remarks on the problems with starting Contacts after some kinds of restorations in the Backup Bible):
Source: WM5 AKU 2.2 Dell Axim x51v
Targets: WM5 AKU 3.5 HP iPAQ hx4700 (imported calendar items weren't visible and
Contacts stopped working)
WM6 HTC Universal (imported calendar items became visible and Contacts
stopped working)
Jeyo’s well-known, commercial (!) Mobile Extender is only able to backup / restore / transfer contacts, SMS messages and call history – nothing else.
Fortunately, there IS a solution to this problem: either PIM Backup or SKTools.
Dotfred’s PIM Backup and / or SKTools to the rescue!
SKTools
With the latest, just-released SKTools, you can easily combat this problem. A quick remark: upon publishing the first, now outdated version of this tutorial, when SKTools was still unable to do inter-device model restoration, the excellent S-K folks have quickly fixed this bug. With the latest (internal date: 07/17) version, you can already do inter-model restoration.
Start it and go to the Maintenance category; in there, select Databases.
Now, select Appointments Database (or, if you plan to export contacts / tasks, Contacts Database and Tasks Database, respectively) and select Action / Export Marked:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/072007PIMBackup/SKToolsExport.bmp.png
Now, after the backup has finished, just copy the XML file from \My Documents\db_xml to the target machine. On it, go to Maintenance / Databases and select Action / Import:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/072007PIMBackup/SKToolsImp.bmp.png
and, in the file selector window, just double-click the just-exported file to load:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/072007PIMBackup/SKToolsImp2.bmp.png
If everything goes OK, the result of the import will be a number more than 0 as in THIS screenshot.
PIM Backup
I’ve elaborated several times on Dotfred’s excellent, free and both Pocket PC and MS Smartphone-compatible PIM Backup several times and made sure it got nominated for both the Pocket PC and Smartphone. It is certainly worth giving a try and worth switching to for even scheduled (!) backing up your PIM data and messages, not to mention transferring this data to other Windows Mobile devices.
http://www.winmobiletech.com/072007PIMBackup/PIMBackupMain.bmp.png
(WM6 VGA PPC; WM5 QVGA PPC HERE)
http://www.winmobiletech.com/072007PIMBackup/SPMainTH.bmp.png
(QVGA Smartphone)
http://www.winmobiletech.com/072007PIMBackup/SPMain176TH.bmp.png
(176*220 Smartphone)
Get the program HERE. Just transfer the single EXE file onto your handheld, let it be either a Pocket PC or a Smartphone. You can put in anywhere (I recommend \Program Files\PIM Backup or \Storage Card\Program Files\PIM Backup); of course, you will want to create a link to it from \Windows\Start Menu (on a Smartphone) or \Windows\Start Menu\Programs (on a PPC). Then, just start and enjoy it.
The user interface of the application is REALLY straightforward: if you’ve ever seen a Windows Mobile backup application, you’ll learn it in a second. I still provide you a step-by-step tutorial and, then, also remarks on the compatibility and the main subject of this article: selective restoration and data transfer to other Windows Mobile devices.
PIM Backup step-by-step tutorial
To backup a PIM category (that is, making it ready for future transfer to another WM device), just make sure its checkbox is surely checked in after starting the app (other checkboxes can also be checked in, of course, as separate restoration is possible). In the following screenshot, I show an example of backing up the Appointments database:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/072007PIMBackup/PIMBackupAppDBBackup1.bmp.png
Now, click Next in the lower right corner of the GUI and, in the next window (where you can set the backup parameters: where to store the backup file at: it’s \Storage Card by default; note that if you don’t have a storage card or its path is named differently, you will want to click the Browse button and select another target directory; remember to do this because, if you fail to do it, the current (2.4) version may ot create a file anywhere and just keeps silent about this fact), also the same Next. The backup process will start as can be seen in the following screenshot:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/072007PIMBackup/PIMBackupAppDBBackup3.bmp.png
Now, just exit PIM Backup on the source machine – you won’t need it any more.
Transfer the file (in this example, \Storage Card\PIMBackup_20070717.pib) to the target WM device and just click it (if you’ve at least once run PIM Backup on it so that it can associate backup files with itself for automatic execution). The data type contents (here, Appointments only) of the backup file will be shown:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/072007PIMBackup/PIMBackupRest1.bmp.png
Here, all you need to do is clicking Next in the lower right corner.
On the next screen, you can fine-tune what should happen to the already existing records in your local Appointments database. Make sure you do NOT use the default “Delete all existing appointments from the database before restoration” if you want to add the new records to the existing ones, keeping the latter. That is, select either the second or the third record, depending on whether you’d like to just blindly insert the new records, or update the existing, changed ones.
Other tips
It has excellent separate restoration capabilities: not only can you select what PIM type to restore (see THIS), but also you can select the individual Messaging folders to be restored as can be seen in the following screenshot:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/072007PIMBackup/PIMBackupMessagingFolderList.bmp.png
(A quick note: of them, it’s only SMS messages (MMS messages are still not supported) that will be restored on another device!)
Also, it has EXCELLENT options on setting what to overwrite / delete upon restoring: 1 2 3
Cross-restoration
As has already been pointed out, you will not only want to use the excellent (for example, scheduled) backup features of PIM Backup, but also its cross-device restoration capabilities.
I’ve thoroughly these with all kinds of PIM data and messages between several of my WM5 / WM6 Pocket PC’s and no-touchscreen smartphones. As can clearly be seen, cross-restoration (that is, simple PIM database transfer to another device) works just great. All you need to do is select the only PIM database(s) to transfer for backup, transfer (for example, beam via infrared or Bluetooth or transfer via a memory card) the file to the other one (and, when needed, PIM backup’s EXE itself) and, there, just restore the data. It’s really simple!
The cross-restoration compatibility chart
http://www.winmobiletech.com/072007PIMBackup/table.png
As can be seen, in general, you can safely transfer between any kind of WM5 and WM6 devices, both Smartphones and Pocket PC’s, the results will most likely work. I’ve only encountered real problems with transferring PIM data and messages from my HTC Oxygen / s310 (a WM5 Smartphone) – the Universal (which was able to import the backup files of both the WM5 Dell Axim x51v and the WM6 HTC Vox Smartphone) just couldn’t import it.
Smartphone compliance
The only problem I could find was the inability to see files at the bottom of a directory tree as can be seen in HERE. This means you won’t probably want to put your backup files in, say, the root directory of your Smartphone or will want at least once start the backup app so that it associates itself with .pib files.
Works great even on 176*220 Smartphones; the only problem I could find was the slightly overlapping buttons HERE.
wm2003SE to WM6
Hi,
Thanks for this great article! Very informative. I would like to ask though, is it as simple as you described as well if one wants to transfer contacts from a wm2003SE device to a wm6 device? If not, then what steps can I take to make sure the transfer goes smoothly?
Thanks in advance
Related
I have a strange problem here, haven't seen it mentioned yet on the forums.
Calendar: creating and editing appointments gives "An unexpected error has occurred in this program".
Tasks: when I create a new task, it appears OK, but if I close and restart Tasks, the changes vanish! When I tick-off a task, I get the error "No program memory available".
Contacts: creating or editing contacts gives "No program memory available"
I am able to view entries without problems, but completely unable to create or edit...
There is plenty of memory available, 25MB storage + 50MB program. All other applications working ok, including Notes.
I have guessed that the problem might be in the Outlook databases.
I have tried:
1. Soft reset - no change
2. Restoring ROM backup - no change
3. Deleting the ActiveSync partnership and overwriting the device databases - no change
4. Hard reset - fixes the problem, But comes back as soon as I restore from ActiveSync backup. Sadly the only backups I kept were after the problem arose.
5. Deleting the Outlook databases using PHM PowerToys - but half of them I couldn't get rid of because "another application was using them", though apparently nothing else was running. Deleting the ones I could gave no change.
I DON'T want to do a hard reset and start again from scratch, because I lose a lot of data that will be hard to restore. E.g. a few very important progs that I haven't got the installers for, my SMS messages, the phone call history + timers, GPRS and network settings, and a huge number of program configurations, including photo contacts database, transcribe settings etc. (don't know of a way to back these things up).
I have an XDA2 (Himalaya/xscale/128MB) running PocketPC Windows Mobile 2003 Phone Edition. Please help! :x
Forgot to mention, I am able to create items on Desktop Outlook and sync them across. (I'm using ActiveSync 3.7.1)
I have also tried ScanPST.exe on Desktop Outlook, which finds no problems.
Not sure if it help, but I would recommend to export the files from Outlook on the PC, then delete Contact, Calendar and Tasks on the PC and synchronize - which should delete the data on the XDA as well. Then re-import the data on the PC from the exported files and sync again...
as the title states,
Where does a ppc running wm5 or 6 store the contacts?
my pc (with vista os) has stopped recognising all my ppcs and I want to send the contacts to a 'new' phone from my m3100 that has them all stored.....i just cant find where.
I copied the contact/lnk file but its a link file not the root folder where the files live.
any help is greatly appreciated
gurry
if i'm right, contacts are stored in the pim.vol file in the root of device. But do not expect miracles - pim databases from different versions of OS are not compatible! you may be lucky, but regullary it does not work. and you cannot simply rewrite pim db...
best way is to export contacts to completely different format (you will easily find some tool) an then import it back to new device using the same tool.
your vista may be cured by manually downloading wmdc and reinstalling it - i have already seen similar issue. or you can install xp to a virtual machine and connect device to virtualized xp...
nocturne is correct. Contacts and appointments and some other outlook stuff (not email) are kept in PIM.vol and it is different even between AKU versions.
You can overwrite PIM.vol once however, but if the file is of incorrect format your contacts app will fail to work. to fix this rename pim.vol to something else (like pim1.vol) then reset.
At this point a new empty correct pim.vol will be automatically created.
From what I read around the forum pim.vol from higher AKU versions (3 and up at least) is compatible with WM 6.
I'm pretty new to ppc's, so this may be a dumb question....
Recently the Outlook server at my office crashed and the guys at work had to format the whole thing. Now the Outlook on my desktop is basically empty, and I thought I could just sync my ppc and get all the contacts and calendar entries etc back to the desktop.
But when I tried, it says "there's been a change made on your server that requires you to re-synchronize all items on your device. You may lose changes made since your last successful synchronization. Support code: 8600050d"
If I click "Yes" to continue, it'll wipe everything from my ppc. I've already selected the option for "If there's a conflict: Replace item on desktop".
What can i do?
I'm using HTC Touch Dual, and running Windows XP....Thanks....
I've seen this error when there is a time difference between the PPC and Outlook, as a result of traveling. In your case, is probably due to the server crash. You can try deleting the AtiveSync partnership and then create a new one. AS will ask you to select which info to keep, i.e. Outlook -> PPC, Combine PPC and Outlook or PPC -> Outlook. Just select the PPC overwrites Outlook at that point. HOWEVER, I don't know how will it handle PPC emails in subfolders (that is, will it create the subfolder structure in Outlook?). So, just to be save, do a PIM backup on the PPC before you try anything. Good luck.
PS,
Also, your IT guys should have a kept a backup!!! Or at least, setup your Outlook to use a PST file on your computer to store the information.
Thank you very much, it worked after I deleted the ActiveSync partnerships.
I have an XDA Argon running WM5. It has on it all my contacts, calendar etc. plus lots of Excel, Notes and other files. It used to synchronise with my notebook PC, but now whenever I connect it to the notebook either the notebook overwrites the data in the mobile, or vice versa. I have not therefore dared to synchonise it for over a year now, so both devices now have a lot of differences. Also I suspect the root of the problem is that somehow the timestamps (or whatever Mobile Device Center uses to control its sync process) have got messed up.
How do I, without risk of losing any data either in my mobile or in my notebook, get the two re-synchronised?
Either I need to back up both sets of data to somewhere I can restore from before trying to sync, or I need a sync process that will never delete or overwrite anything without asking for permission first. So far I've failed to find either solution. I can back up the files from the mobile to an SD card, but I can't find out how to back up the calendar and contacts. Is there a web service that will do it (without connecting to the PC)? Or can I create a new Outlook account and copy the mobile items to it in some way (without the risk that the PC writes the empty Outlook account into the mobile thus deleting everything)?
Hope someone can suggest a safe way out of this mess...
Thanks - Rowan.
I have a very large database of 5000+ contacts in Outlook.
I want to maintain this database and add my new Android contacts to this database.
However, this database is too large to keep on my phone.
So, I want to run two separate syncs so I can maintain two separate databases.
#1. A one way sync that ads all of my android contacts to my existing master database in Outlook that will NEVER delete any information from the master Outlook database on my laptop hard drive.
#2. A full sync that will that will allow me to backup and sync my phones database which of about 100 frequently used contacts.
I have just purchased both a new EVO Shift 4G phone (added to my collection ofevery Windows/HTC phone released on Sprint) AND a new Windows 7 laptop (added to my Windows XP desktop).
So, I believe I am going to have to get Outlook for Windows 7 onto my newlaptop. (Even though I have MANY Outlook licenses that I have PAID for with all of my Windows Mobile Phone purchases. 6700, Mogul, TP1, TP2)
As an example, I used the process below to accomplish what I am looking todo with Android with all of my previous HTC/Windows phones, the Outlooksoftware that came with those phones, and my Windows XP laptop.
#1. I would save a PIM file on my SD card with about 100 contacts and name it by the current calendar date.
#2. I would then do a FULL sync with Activesync between my desktop Outlookdatabase (my master database) and the phone. Unfortunately, that would put all5000+ contacts in my phone.
#3. I would then restore the PIM file from the SD card with the 100 or sofrequently used contacts.
This method above would allow me to keep a master database AND a phonedatabase and I would really like to do the same with Android.
Thanks for reading this.
I hope I relayed what I am looking to accomplish apologize if I rambled on.
Thanks in advance for any help.
132 view and no ideas.