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It synchronizes notes, tasks, contacts, and calendar with Microsoft Outlook 2007 or greater (for Android 2.2 or greater) and also files and directories via WiFi.
Android market link
Android application consists of:
Notes application
Tasks application
Application for managing categories
Task widget 4x1
Task widget 2x2
Sync facilities and configuration screens
This software development is now forked in 2 versions - 2.x and 3.x. 3.x version (tablets) has modified UI - holographic theme. It is multi apk, so correct version is automatically downloaded from Android Market.
This application is real freeware - i.e. is free of charge and without advertising.
Send me please as private message what device and what ROM are you using and if it works or not, I will update list here, thanks.
Some screens
Would somebody be willing to test gingerbread calendar synchronizaton, I looked at source code and it looks the same but I would like to test that it is working correctly.
Is Outlook required?
Yes, Outlook 2007 or 2010.
Moved it to market.
OndrejP said:
Moved it to market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, where?
cz.psencik.simple
Q: is there a Due Today fildter (overdue + due today)?
A: Will do
Q: Can I filter by category?
A: No, maybe will do.
Q: Can I sync calendar in a specific date frame only (now it syncs all calendar items) ?
A: No
Q: Can I not sync completed tasks?
A: No, similar features were present millions years ago when devices had limited memory, I want to have everything in phone. You can move those tasks to different folder/archive in Outlook now.
Q: Contacts don't show after sync.
A: What phone, you must enable Local Sync account in Contacts application (open Contacts, Menu, Display options, check Local Sync All Contacts) - btw it is described in "manual"
Could this thread be moved to different forum where new users can post?
OndrejP said:
Q: is there a Due Today fildter (overdue + due today)?
A: Will do
Q: Can I filter by category?
A: No, maybe will do.
Q: Can I sync calendar in a specific date frame only (now it syncs all calendar items) ?
A: No
Q: Can I not sync completed tasks?
A: No, similar features were present millions years ago when devices had limited memory, I want to have everything in phone. You can move those tasks to different folder/archive in Outlook now.
Q: Contacts don't show after sync.
A: What phone, you must enable Local Sync account in Contacts application (open Contacts, Menu, Display options, check Local Sync All Contacts) - btw it is described in "manual"
Could this thread be moved to different forum where new users can post?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Ondřej,
Thanks a lot for your answers. This really helped. Also do you think it may be a good enhancement if the app can sort tasks by two fields? (for example by Due Date and then by Priority)
Thanks,
Sergey
Demeurg said:
Also do you think it may be a good enhancement if the app can sort tasks by two fields? (for example by Due Date and then by Priority)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Sergey, I think it may be a good enhancement. Will do it likely.
great,i love it ! does it have italian language ?
i also loved it! =)
thanks,
unfortunatelly I do not speak Italian, so there is no Italian language. I can post language files somewhere and you can translate it for yourself.
I relased update with some of Sergey's requirements.
Wow!!
I regret I haven't found it before - testing it right now and it looks really very impressive.
I also have installed AutoSync Account Activator.
I'll be syncing Calendar and Contacts via corporate push through Email.apk (with fixed 60mA drain in no-data/flight mode) - but was missing Notes.
And it's convenient to have your Simple Note and Task apps - both are cool!
In short, your solution deserves much more publicity!! Everything seems to work OK, but some questions for explanation:
* the PC Local Sync app - does it have to be running? or is it just to provide info. Pressing X seems to kill it, but the process seem to remain active.
* BTW, I see more than 1 LocalSync.exe process, is this correct? or is it due to running again PC Local Sync after closing it with X?
* the pairing is defined by IP number. what happens if my notebook is automatically assigned another IP number on next boot - do I have to adjust the address manually? will the app know it is actually the same pairing, or will it try to define a new one (all settings again)? could it be searched by name in the local pool 192.168.x.x?
cheers,
1. PC Local Sync app - if you shuthdown in via X it should shutddown (after while), if not it is bug - you can kill it with task manager.
2. You should not see more local sync processes, it means that something is hung (kill with task manager). Note - if you minimize app it is in tray, still running.
I will take a look at desktop application to improve this :/ It is masively multithreaded so some thread is probably hanging (however I did not have experience this much, is it WiFi or Usb sync?)
3. If computer changes IP address (you can use hostname too), you can change it by pressing button with link icon in that pair configuration - so settings will be kept.
If you delete pairing all sync data are removed indeed and you do not want that because it would have to resynchronize (can take hours if you have tens of thousands items in Outlook).
Thanks for clarifications.
re: PC LocalSync
Seems like all is good, X closes the app and also process. Minimizing puts it in tray. Just running it twice produces 2 processes ...
It seems the app does not need to run for syncing - is it just for info and monitoring? or does it have to run in order to sync items?
(If it is needed it'd be better if X just minimized it, to avoid closing by accident ...)
1 minor issue is that I have 2 Outlook profiles set up for manual selection at start-up - if I start Localsync before starting Outlook, it tries to start Outlook but your initial LocalSync logo hangs on top of the profile selection blocking it (can't be moved)
re: changing IP (this is a nuisance)
I guess you mean running Localsync on my HD2, then pressing adress/machine name at the top, then second icon at the bottom, next to Save, then edit address and re-pair? still not too convenient.
Trying to use hostname I get Error: UnknownHostException: <hostname>. What am I missing? Hope we can resolve this, I'd be very happy ...
BTW, tested USB sync and all is well, but I would prefer to keep it as option for syncing outside my home network only, I'm constantly on Wifi at home.
cheers,
PC application is important, it is server which exposes Outlook to android. Do not start it multiple times, it does not matter because it starts on other port, but it is not useful.
I did not test app with mutliple profiles, I will have to improve it in this area to avoid data loss (if you sync one profile, switch profile, sync then you will probably loose data).
In order to use host name, you must configure DHCP/DNS in your routers, I tried it now and it works with name then. I am using also fixed ip addresses for particular devices (where possible).
many thanks, forgot about my router config . I assigned a fixed IP to my notebook and all should be well - I should have automatic synchronization of my notes, tasks and files whenever I'm at home.
Outlook profiles is not a big issue for me, as the only difference between them are additional private mail accounts (which cause some problems while at work), data is the same. Still, you may make preparations for more sophisticated users...
So the only minor issues you can think of improving are:
* allow changing Outlook profiles if PC LocalSync starts before Outloook,
* make it more difficult to close PC LocalSync inadvertently (X minimizing not closing; separate Exit)
As mentioned, I'm push syncing Calendar and Contacts via Email.apk, and not using Tasks much - so can't help testing them.
But once again congratulations on very good apps - I'll be recommending them!!
One problem is the thread title is not mentioning local Outlook synchronization at all, so people might be missing it - I would say Note and Task apps (both very nice) are rather in addition ... unless you depend on Market exposure ...
thanks,
Thanks, I updated title. The app original name was Simple Sync but I discovered that this name is trademarked so I renamed it to Local Sync. And originally it did not have so many functions as it has now.
I am syncing exchange with this (calendar) because I do not like policy pushed by Exchange.
There can be only issue with Contacts, because manufacturers are doing proprietary changes in contacts app. But it should work on base Android, Htc and Samsung.
One of the sorely (and inexplicably) missing features of Android is the ability to seamlessly integrate Contacts w/ Calendar and vice versa. What I mean is to be able to create a Calendar Event and automatically add People to it, creating a link which may be accessed at a future date.
So far, I am aware of only two Market Apps which provide this functionality, although neither is perfect:
DejaOffice
Contact Event
Is anyone aware of others? I don't mind paid apps if they actually work.
P.S., Windows Mobile 7 does this seamlessly. Have no idea why Google refuses to. I say "refuses" because the integration would be so simple they MUST be leaving it out on purpose for reasons known only to them.
Hello
Forgive me if you’ve read this post in other forums…I’m going to keep posting it in the hopes of getting a solution to an ongoing problem.
I’m not a software designer, IT person or expert. Just a business professional that has a few simple needs in order to be personally and professionally successful. Successful management of personal information on our PC and our mobile phones plays a critical role in our success. With the advent of the smartphone, many of us thought our needs had been met, only to discover serious gaps in ability and performance. For example..trying to connect Outlook or Thunderbird/Lightning with an Android Phone (my personal issue) is either difficult, expensive or limited in ability.
Many of us choose Thunderbird/Lightning and other PIMs (such as Outlook) because of the excellent functionality they provide. Some of us are required to by our workplaces. Most of us DO NOT want to use Google products or have our data synced through Google for personal, security or other reasons. Many of us are restricted from using Google by our workplaces for similar reasons.
Then why do we use Android phones? Simple…for smartphones the operating system choices are limited and Android has one of the biggest market presences. These issues exist for other phone platforms as well…connecting Outlook to an iPhone for example. Android is also an excellent phone overall…with many other features we are looking for.
So…what are we looking for? What are these “needs?”
Personal Information Management software in one package (such as Outlook and Thunderbird/Lightning) on our PCs and laptops. Obviously these already exist and don’t need development per se. Corresponding apps for our Android phones…and most importantly: the ability to sync between the two…using wifi, other “cloud” providers, even USB. The components include:
Email client that can access and send from multiple accounts (already fairly available..although many widget and app designers ignore the alternative email apps and only connect Gmail to their products…a serious omission).
Contact/Address lists that include birthday information, other personal details, and can be grouped or categorized. Somewhat available, but can be troublesome, and data can get duplicated or missed. Thunderbird can only sync contacts through Google currently…as mentioned above, and issue for many.
Calendar that can handle reoccurring events, reminders and alarms, categorize/tag events, meeting planning and invitations (through email client), management of multiple calendars and ability to attach documents to events to name some of the most important. Somewhat available now, except most connections require Google calendar (again an issue).
Task Management (the one critical item that has few solutions/options). Needs to handle reoccurring tasks, reminders/alarms, categorizing/tagging, sub-tasks, delegation of tasks, start and due dates, and proper handling of overdue tasks (items not marked complete move to next day with alerts for example). While Outlook and TB/Lightning have excellent task managers...there are very few options for the phones and in the case of Lightning…no phone app that can sync with it.
Notes, not critical but a “nice-to-have” function
All of the above also need to be connectable. For example…connecting a calendar event with related tasks. A task to a contact.
Aren’t there already solutions available?? The answer, after weeks and months of searching and putting products through a test, is “yes and no.” There are a few “connection and sync” products available for Outlook, but the proprietary or available phone apps that can use it don’t have all the functionality needed, or simple aren’t adequate. There are also complications based on the Outlook set-up…stand alone versus exchange server. Currently, I cannot find a product that can sync and use Thunderbird/Lightning directly and adequately.
So, after telling you all of this…what am I trying to say?
To all you enterprising software and Android phone app developers…there is a HUGE gap that you can fill. If you spend any time on forums for Thunderbird, Outlook and Android, you will see that there are literally thousands of people looking for a solution…something to fill this gap. Most of us would pay handsomely for such a product…I personally would pay “serious money” just to get my Lightning tasks in my phone. In addition…both Mozilla and Android are open-source (if I understand the term correctly) and thus available for development.
To the developer or software engineer that can connect Thunderbird/Lightning email, calendar, address book and tasks to an Android phone…go the spoils and riches. Don’t make me beg….or worse, dump my Android for a Windows phone or back to a PDA <shiver>.
To Google and Mozilla leaders, executives and software engineers…we are asking…have been asking for at least two years…for solutions. We are frustrated, disappointed and completely baffled that this has not been addressed. The perception is that both organizations either simple “don’t care”, are oblivious to our plight or unable to respond. Your reputations are at stake ladies and gentlemen.
Thanks for taking the time to read through this. If you’re like me…searching for the answer as well…cross your fingers and spread the word as much as you can. Maybe SOMEBODY will listen.
Presently if you wish to synchronize Thunderbird contacts and Lightning/Sunbird events with your Android device, you may try BirdieSync. BirdieSync has been successfully synchronizing Windows Mobile devices with Thunderbird/Sunbird for several years and now supports Android devices.
You can connect your mobile device over USB or with a Wi-Fi or cellular connection.
BirdieSync runs in background on your mobile device and can automatically synchronize your contacts and events if you are connected.
You'll find more information on BirdieSync web site (sorry I cannot post the link: it is forbidden to avoid spam. Look for BirdieSync on Google).
Presently BirdieSync doesn't support task synchronization. The main reason is that for some reason, Android doesn't provide a native task application with a shared local storage that other developers could access. Note that it is also the case for the iPhone contrary to Windows Mobile devices. I think that this lack is a bit weird. I would have thought that a task application would have been used by a lot of users... So it would be necessary to provide a synchronization solution with other opened third party task applications, but it would force users to use a particular task application.
Although Android is an opened platform, some technologies (official APIs) are still missing to developers. I hope that with time, more features will be available and that the Android platform will easy the implementation of these functionalities.
Hope this helps.
Thanks for the reply....and the suggestion. Unfortunately I have already tried Birdiesync. It made quite a mess out of my contacts I'm sorry to say.
Additionally, the one part of Lightning (and Outlook) that I can't live without also happens to be the part that even Birdisync doesn't work with...and you guessed it...TASKS. My life would crumble (okay, being a bit melodramatic) without my task lists. Google tasks is a bit of a joke, as far as I'm concerned, and I can't function with it. Lightning has a really great task manager...almost as good as Outlooks and yet nobody has made anything to sync with it. You are correct...the IT professionals I know have said , that unlike calendars and contacts (which have some standards that all software companies work within)...everybody treats tasks and task software differently.
I'm with you...I'm stunned that this has been ignored and people aren't more vocal about it. I think most people figure "why say anything, it won't help" and just make do.
Thanks again...
my task solution
I like ASTRID as my task list in Android. I sync that with google tasks which I know you cannot use and does not natively go into thunderbird / lighting calendar (though I have a thunderbrowse tab that goes right to google tasks, again clunky at best). I share your desire for a seamless solution. However, ASTRID also syncs with Producteev, which has just roled out more robust Task sharing and more functionality. I'm going to look at that to try and fill the gap and invite you to look with me.
Once again, smart people, I could have written this original post, though maybe not so clearly... HELP!
Hi,
Just as the title says, I am a very long time (since 2002) WM user. My current phone is also a WM device. I will keep it for another year, and I want to be prepared once my phone is due for an upgrade.
I use the phone both for personal stuff and for work - mainly scheduling, working with project related info, task lists, excel spreadsheets etc. Ability to share PIM data and files across multiple computers at work and at home is essential, as well as syncing to online calendar (I use Google).
Most of my work and some personal info was in ListPro database files and Excel spreadsheets. However, ListPro doesn't really work well when one has to joggle info between different computers all running different OS, plus AFAIK there's no Androind app yet. Anyway, to make life simple, and to be able to bring my data with me on a USB stick to any computer, I recently migrated most of it out of ListPro files into DOC files (can be easily converted to RTF) and Excel spreadsheets. So far, I had no problems using it on any Windows or Linux system. I also sync much of this data to my phone where I can quickly access it via Pocket Office. I prefer to use formatted text as it makes it easy to work with information, and applying formatting in Pocket Word is fast.
Finally the next big thing is information backup, especially PIM data. Don't know if this problem is specific to ActiveSync on WM, but every now and then the calendar gets completely out of whack and needs to be restored from backup which I run daily on the phone.
Anyway, sorry for the long winged intro. Here are some questions:
How easy is it to sync files on an Android phone to a computer via a direct connection (USB / BT / WiFi, i.e. not via cloud) ?
I was looking online for a good free Android editor capable of working with either RTF or Word Doc files, and couldn't find any - all I found was some paid soft. It has to be one of these formats so that I could send files to other people. Can you recommend an app ?
Can you work with PIM data on Android phone offline ? (I assume yes). Does it have to be connected to the internet at all time ? (I assume not)
Is there a free Excel compatible application other than Google Docs ? I.e. an app that can work with native Excel files and would output a file that Excel users can open on the computer.
How does backup work on Android - is there a way to automatically backup Google Calendar, Contacts, ToDos ? (I know I can download ICS files manually).
Any other things I may have overlooked ?
Thanks !
1. It is quite easy to sync files between an android phone and pc. It depends on your phone brand.e.g. - If you have an HTC Android phone, you could simply download and install HTC Sync on your pc and easily sync anything.
2. For document editing and excel format dealings, you could download and install quickoffice pro to easily deal with word, excel, powerpoint, and pdf documents.
3. Accounts and syncs (online) can easily be set to run in the background and you can download backup applications.
Good luck.
Your PIM data is backed up to Google contacts and calendar automatically. Any change made on your phone or PC syncs to the other next time you connect. As far as backups go, you can use things like Titanium Backup to back up individual/all system apps, installed apps, and their data to either the local SD card, online to DropBox, or both. And, if you root, you can take backup snapshots of your entire system and restore your entire OS and all the configuration of installed apps and widgets in just a couple of minutes. I do the full app backup nightly and the full OS backup about once a week.
Syncing is easy as your computer mounts the SD card as a drive letter on your device. There are lots of sync options out there that can be used to automatically sync files or entire folders to removable drives when they are connected. You can use them to sync documents to and from as well as things like syncing your phone backups to the computer. Both HTC and Motorola have sync software as well that acts somewhat like iTunes or Windows Media Player in syncing things like music libraries to your device. Personally, I prefer the old file explorer method.
As far as your RTF and Excel files go, there are a couple of different apps out there that work with Google Docs. If you don't want to sync with Google Docs at all or use their editors, your best bet is one of the office suite packages. I know of three or four of them that are available. Some offer free readers, but you need to purchase the pro version to edit. There is an Excel editor that I saw that was only $2 though, so there ARE cheap options out there if you don't want to go the free Google Docs route. Personally, I just sync my docs folder on my laptop with Google Docs and do any small edits I need on the Android using Google Docs. If I want to do a lot of heavy editing, I use the big screen of the laptop anyway.
If you have any other questions, I'll be following this thread and will respond with whatever I know. I know the stress of deciding to move to another platform. I've been on Palm, Blackberry, WM, iOS, and now Android. And, I have to tell you, I like the Android best of all and can't think of a single thing that I used to do on those other devices that I cannot do on this one.
Thanks, guys !
The reason I don't like using Google Docs is twofold. First, and foremost, the access to GD service via our corporate internet is blocked. I work for a major corporation, and as far as I know, at least two of our biggest competiors block GD as well. (We at least can access gmail and calendar). They see it as a potential security issue. Actually for me it's a security issue as well - if anyone ever got hold of my Google password, I definitely don't want them browsing through some of my personal spreadsheets, or any of my work-related stuff. It may be ok for them to see the list of invites to my kids' party, but definitely not my 401K rebalancing sheet . I do use Docs as dropbox, but I upload excel files saved inside AES encrypted zip archive.
Second, I need Doc and Excel since many of my work docs get shared with other people, and I like to be able to email them right away in a useful format.
Thanks ! I will keep reading up on the subject. My wife does have an Android phone but I don't have time to play with it at home.
Added: another thing that bugs me about Android, is that whomever steals your phone has full access to all of your Google services. The way it works on WM, they would only be able to see a few days' worth of emails (I do not save passwords to sensitive sites in browser cookies). The way Android phone is fully integrated into online Google, however, makes it a perfect key to all your Google data. I password protected her phone but I don't put too much trust into a 4-digit PIN.
Personally I think the contacts provider (and other providers)in Android is a huge security risk. Every app and it's brother wants full access to your contacts so they can mine them for usable information. This can be just to add easy links to friends or to spam them with advertisements or offers to identity theft.
I've started using a pim manager that does not access Androids contact provider, calendar provider , tasks or other providers in it's operations.(And I really wish it was open source)
I have already removed the Google sync apks from my device and have removed contacts, calendar in the past. But not the providers.
It might cause some badly written apps to crash.
But I can't forsee any other serious problems.
Ideas? Thoughts?
Honestly sounds like a good idea..
Myself I decided to go for a while without any gapps and any other "store" installed on my phone.
My contacts are imported from a .vcf file which i update manually when needed.
I also have installed AFWall+ and i blocked the internet access to pretty much all the other apps including the system ones.. (everything i could get away with basically )
This could be a solution as well but it's rudimentary one at the moment.
nutpants said:
Personally I think the contacts provider (and other providers)in Android is a huge security risk. Every app and it's brother wants full access to your contacts so they can mine them for usable information. This can be just to add easy links to friends or to spam them with advertisements or offers to identity theft.
I've started using a pim manager that does not access Androids contact provider, calendar provider , tasks or other providers in it's operations.(And I really wish it was open source)
I have already removed the Google sync apks from my device and have removed contacts, calendar in the past. But not the providers.
It might cause some badly written apps to crash.
But I can't forsee any other serious problems.
Ideas? Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I already don't have Google apps on my device.
Everything blocked with afwall+ using profiles so things only get net when I'm using them on the net.
Fdroid is where I get 90% of my software and from the internet for much of the other 10%
I have a old phone with nothing on it personal at all. Which has play store for the 3 or 4 paid apps I need, it does updates for them and a few free ones. I copy the apks over to my daily driver.
I constantly hound developers on play store to support offline devices and not to implement features that break the app when there is no internet. Even app I don't use lol.
(I have 2 tablets and far too many old phones.only two devices are online(some are local lan only))
Someone should start a offline foundation. But being online it might be ridiculous..
I too removed contacts by using /system/app mover from f-droid. It was unintended as I wanted them as a user application but they wouldn't work like this and the icon vanished, that was fine with me for a long time. The other day I wanted contacts for signal (and telegram also won't work without them). I restored the application files from a backup,
For reference in /system/app/ the missing files were
SecContacts.apk
SecContactsProvider.apk
Other contacts programs like Simple Contacts can't run without a system permission called com.android.contacts and without those files in /system/app the permission doesn't get created at boot. The result being that no contact creation is possible.
What I would really like is a modified version of the system app that passes contacts data to the calling program depending on individual contact entry permissions with regard to each calling app; one list for telegram, another for signal etc. I gather that recent android versions above 6.0.0 have functionality to check calling application certificates so something along these lines should be possible. For earlier versions it might be necessary to switch between multiple contacts databases before starting the messaging app and also removing it from the autoboot list.
https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/permissions/defining