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Android and Syncing...

My wife and I are swtiching to Android devices (EVO me, Hero or Moment for her), I wanted to setup the sync as follows for the calendar. I am not to worried about the email as she can just do POP for now.
We both use Outlook on our computers setup like this:
She is just connecting to POP mail
Mine is my company mail (via the DAMO LotusNotes Connect)
Both view shared google calendar in outlook
I don't have a clue how to setup the sync, what I would like is:
I would have to sync my work calendar via wire (HTC Sync) or LN Traveler for OTA (they already added me to the server)
I could sync the Google shared calendar OTA
She could sync the Google calendar OTA
The part I want to make sure of is I was trying this with my windows mobile phone and I could wire sync my work calendar and see google calendar in outlook. But as soon as I added to sync to the Google Calendar OTA via ActiveSync, it pushed all my work appointments up to the google calendar. I wanted to keep the google calendar just the family stuff (you know running the kids around)...
Thanks for any and all help, It was pretty easy when it was just me, adding her to the mix will make things better in the long run, just have to figure out how to do it!

I've got a Hero which can sync with Google and with my office calendar/email which runs on MS Exchange. The phone successfully keeps them entirely separate. I can change one or the other, sync OTA, and the each calendar continues to contain only the appointments it's meant to. I realise you aren't going to be using MS Exchange, but if Sense (HTC's customised version of Android) knows how to keep Google and Exchange calendars separate, it should be able to do the same for anything else. Furthermore, it knew how to have a separate 'Outlook' calendar when I tried syncing via USB and ActiveSync. I didn't experiment much with that as I stopped using it as soon as I got OTA syncing to work with the Exchange server, but it considering that it recognised it as a separate calendar in its list, it should still do what you want.
Another option for you may be to completely swap away from Outlook and use Thunderbird. That knows how to sync to Google calendars and address book, but I don't know if your DAMO LotusNotes Connect system will work with it. Both these features are done with plugins, so it's possible that there's also a plugin for your work's system. Thunderbird also handles IMAP messaging better than Outlook; at least, better than Outlook 2003 did. I mention IMAP because your wife will have to stop using POP if she wants to be able to read her emails both on her computer and on her phone - POP isn't designed to have multiple computers accessing the same email account. It wants to download emails off the server and delete the remote copy; you can make it just download them, but I don't think it would then know to mark them as read or unread.

Thanks, sounds like I will have to do some playing.. We are using Outlook 2010 and it is the best update for some time. I have my kids and mother-in-law on Thunderbird, just not us.
You can setup Pop to leave messages for X days unless deleted, this is how I have been running for my one pop account, it works fine but yes you get some dups, not a big deal.
I have thought for some time about making my linux server my mail server as well, heck, I think I could link that to whatever accounts I desire then have it do the push mail, that would be an interesting setup...
Again, thanks, sounds like we have some playing but it should work fine.

tschwenke said:
Thanks, sounds like I will have to do some playing.. We are using Outlook 2010 and it is the best update for some time. I have my kids and mother-in-law on Thunderbird, just not us.
You can setup Pop to leave messages for X days unless deleted, this is how I have been running for my one pop account, it works fine but yes you get some dups, not a big deal.
I have thought for some time about making my linux server my mail server as well, heck, I think I could link that to whatever accounts I desire then have it do the push mail, that would be an interesting setup...
Again, thanks, sounds like we have some playing but it should work fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have just pruchased a nexus one and getting it next week. I am wondering will it automatically sync my contacts and mail from outlook 2010 or do I need some sort of additional software on my win 7 PC to do this?
Thanks in advance...

[Q] Syncing Outlook contacts and calendar to WP7

Hi, I'm new around here as a new WP7 user, I'm trying to get some advice. I have all of my contacts and calendar entries synced to Outlook. I have Zune software installed. I may just be missing something simple, but how do I get the phone to sync with Outlook and grab these contacts and calendar entries?
Many thanks
Michael.

Bad news. It does not sync with Outlook (only Exchange version) with a pst file.
11 page thread below re this.

What? Windows phone do not sync with outlook? Are they killing each other...
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

Hi
It is possible - just get the Outlok connector to sync Outlook to Windows Live, and then Windows Live will sync to the WP7 (over the air).
Paul

I'm shocked that it can't just sync directly with Outlook
Anyway, I did put my Windows Live ID onto the phone, but that then synced all of my MSN contacts to the phone book, which I don't want. I couldn't find a way to stop it syncing my MSN contacts, and as you cannot delete the account once entered, I had to format the phone and start over.
So it looks like I'm going to need a whole new Windows Live account just to sync my Outlook contacts and calendar. Looking at the Outlook connector it seems to be saying that it'll transfer your Live contacts and calendar to Outlook, but what I'm wanting is the other way around, my Outlook calendar and contact to transfer to Live. How do you do this?
Many thanks
Michael.

Ok - firstly Windows Live isn't the only way to sync contacts/calendar on to your phone OTA. There is Exchange, gmail etc to do this. You might want to look at the other methods.
I for one didn't want to use Live at all and went for an hosted Exchange option till I can get my own server sorted (overkill I know). However, hosted Exchange costs about £4 pm.If you have your own domain, even sweeter.
So I still use Outlook (I'm lucky I have 2010 so can have 2 excahnge accounts on 1 profile) to keep all my work and home calendar and contacts in sync with my phone and this also translates to home desktops and laptops automatically too. This is as easy as drgging and dropping between accounts.

chubnut said:
Ok - firstly Windows Live isn't the only way to sync contacts/calendar on to your phone OTA. There is Exchange, gmail etc to do this. You might want to look at the other methods.
I for one didn't want to use Live at all and went for an hosted Exchange option till I can get my own server sorted (overkill I know). However, hosted Exchange costs about £4 pm.If you have your own domain, even sweeter.
So I still use Outlook (I'm lucky I have 2010 so can have 2 excahnge accounts on 1 profile) to keep all my work and home calendar and contacts in sync with my phone and this also translates to home desktops and laptops automatically too. This is as easy as drgging and dropping between accounts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I have to sync with Outlook OTA, what I really want is a solution that works the same as MobileMe, i.e., it automatically keeps all the data between the phone and Outlook in sync without the need to perform manual syncs. Is this possible?

the usual send/recieve in outlook will connect to your live account also and onto your phone why pay £4pm when this kinda thing should be included, I'm sure MS will get off their arse soon and do some updates and tweaking.

jedix said:
the usual send/recieve in outlook will connect to your live account also and onto your phone why pay £4pm when this kinda thing should be included, I'm sure MS will get off their arse soon and do some updates and tweaking.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right MS need to sort this out but I doubt it's a priority. They consider the whole Outlook thing to be a business solution and by their very own words are a secondary concern for this OS at the moment. They want the simple masses not the business/power users. They want that massive chunk of iPhone and Android drones to come over to WP.
There is no way I want my business and personal contacts and calendar on Live. That **** gets hacked all the time. The hosted exchange solution was the safest and easiest solution for me at present. It's quick and easy to set up, secure as it's a business solution and employs security protocols way above those on Live. In addition the OTA synchronisation between the device and all other machines that use that exchange account (so those at home and my PC at work) is instantaneous, and yes a bit of a pain to do the drag and drop between the exchange accounts but it's EXACTLY the same as you will have to do if you use Live and the Outlook connector. £4pm is in my opinion not a high price to pay for to satisfy my concerns.

Hmmm, so what r the options ?
Desktop synching is critical to me.
I've got a small business, we don't run Exchange server but have invested serious time to standardise on Outlook/Office: contacts, tasks, notes, onenote, email client, word/excel.
Contacts and detailed contact info is our IP; Word/Excel data is client confidential. Placing this on someone else's drive in the cloud isn't an option.
From what I understand so far...
1. Phone 7: data on the cloud; doesn't sync (manual updates)
2. Android: data on the cloud; synchs email and contacts only (?)
3. Apple: data on the desktop, synchs email and contacts only
4. Symbian: ugh !
5. WM6.x: currently trying to get away from the endless problems and snail-like performance
Is this right ?
Does anyone have an alternative (other than implementing Exchange)?
(Waiting doesn’t seem an option either. I'm sceptical MS will introduce desktop synching anytime soon, or at all: social users won't care and Exchange synch takes care of corporates - hence 80% of potential market is catered for. Also, the prospect of selling cloud storage has put a light in way too many eyes. )

mrochester said:
If I have to sync with Outlook OTA, what I really want is a solution that works the same as MobileMe, i.e., it automatically keeps all the data between the phone and Outlook in sync without the need to perform manual syncs. Is this possible?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Windows Live uses Exchange ActiveSync. That is far superior to MobileMe. Do people still use MobileMe?
Anyways...
Exchange also uses ActiveSync.
Exchange is supported Natively in Outlook. Windows Live is supported via the Connector (Mail, Contacts, Calendar).
Everything stays in Sync.

jedix said:
the usual send/recieve in outlook will connect to your live account also and onto your phone why pay £4pm when this kinda thing should be included, I'm sure MS will get off their arse soon and do some updates and tweaking.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Outlook Connector and Hotmail ActiveSync is completely free.
Don't spread lies.

I'm not totally of-fay with Android or iPhone so can't really comment except I think that iPhones also do calendar from Outlook desktop via iTunes (and correct me if I'm wrong OTA with exchange).
Also with Android, some guys at work do use desktop sync to Outlook but I don't know what and how but they do use it.
I just came off the WinMo 6.5 bandwagon so I know what it was capable of not mater how bad.
WP7, my company won't open up the ports to allow Exchange to sync (they like SlackBerries) and with the absence desktop sync I had to implement my own methods for OTA syncing without using Live. None of this is ideal but it seems from other forums that a lot of people are complaining about this and M$ I believe are listening, though when it will be sorted is another matter.
Sorry

dfh said:
what I understand so far...
1. Phone 7: data on the cloud; doesn't sync (manual updates)
2. Android: data on the cloud; synchs email and contacts only (?)
3. Apple: data on the desktop, synchs email and contacts only
4. Symbian: ugh !
5. WM6.x: currently trying to get away from the endless problems and snail-like performance
Is this right ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't understand... No, it is not correct.
1. Data on the cloud. Synchs automatically:
Of course your email, calendar, and contact list shows up from Hotmail, powered by Exchange ActiveSync. And because the phone supports multiple ActiveSync connections, you can connect to your Exchange server at work and view all of your mail, both calendars, and your entire contact list on your phone. And similar to Hotmail on the web, it’s really easy to make quick edits to Office documents you receive as email attachments and reply.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reference: http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_...0/10/11/windows-live-and-windows-phone-7.aspx
2. Android Synchs Calendars from Google Servers. Google on Android has weaker (i.e. less tight) integration than Windows Live on Windows Phone 7, though.
3. MobileMe is inferior to both the WP7/Live and Android/Google integration. It supports ActiveSync, however.
4. Symbian supports ActiveSync. Symbian may not look that great but feature for feature it can match or rival most other smartphone OSes. The UI is what has held Symbian back, not the core platform - which is great.
5. WM6.x Supports ActiveSync and there is Windows Live for Windows Mobile to Sync Winodws Live Mail and Contacts to the phone. It can also merge Live Contacts with already-existing Phone contacts and show Presence information. There is Microsoft Office 2010 Mobile for Windows Mobile 6.5. The only WinMo phone I'd bother using is an HD2 these days, but that device has its own problems (if you get a "good one", then you're good to go, though).
On WinMo 6.5 You can sync your Hotmail Contacts/Mail via Windows Live for Windows Mobile, chat with Windows Live Messenger Mobile, and get your Google Mail, Contacts, and Calendar via ActiveSync by way of Google Sync.
Does anyone have an alternative (other than implementing Exchange)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you can get a Blackberry and use BIS/BES.
(Waiting doesn’t seem an option either. I'm sceptical MS will introduce desktop synching anytime soon, or at all: social users won't care and Exchange synch takes care of corporates - hence 80% of potential market is catered for. Also, the prospect of selling cloud storage has put a light in way too many eyes. )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Desktop Syncing is a feature being fantastically overstated in these forums, just like stuff like a File manager. If you're a Lemming then just get an Android phone and use Google Services. If you can make your own decisions I think I've cleared up enough of your misconceptions in this reply (or at least given you the capabilities of each platform IRT what info syncs that may pretain to you specific use case).
EDIT: If you're running a business you can do yourself a favor and oursource your Exchange hosting. For example: http://www.apps4rent.com/ has 6-7GB mailboxes for something like $7.99/mo and you can get just 1 mailbox if you want, with no contract or anything. I used them for a couple of years, so I can vouch for them. You get Outlook for free with you Plan (or Entourage/Outlook for Mac) and ActiveSync is a free Add-On. You can access from web browsers using OWA, and use either a sub-domain or your own domain.

See this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=797472

I'm pretty sure anyone reading this thread has seen that trainwreck of a thread. You don't need to crosspost the link here. You're free to bump your thread.

Pretty sure
I'm very sure that you do not use Outlook on a stand alone PC with a pst file and sync every day with a Win Phone or you would understand what we are all talking about. No I qualify, sync every day with Calender, Tasks, & Contacts.[/I]

Just for those who have read this thread and are confused; I have an outlook calendar, contacts, and hotmail all synced up with my WP7 device.
Calendar - I chose to install Google Calendar Sync onto my Outlook PC. It automatically syncs my local outlook calendar with the cloud every 10 mins. Google calendar then pushes any changes to my phone instantly, no wires.
Contacts - I chose to install the hotmail connector for outlook, and dragged all my contacts out of their folder and into the hotmail account. this pushed them onto the phone automatically, no wires. Any changes to contacts are now made either on the phone directly, or in the new contacts folder created by the hotmail connector.
Hotmail - I used to use the POP3 account settings, but decided to change to using the outlook connector instead. Works a treat. Push Email is far superior to clunky old send/receive schedules.
The above may not suit everone, but it works for me and I`m very happy with the results.

@N8ter
No, desktop sync and file manager is not oversized.
It's basics which should be provided

Funny how people were moaning about WM6.5's lack of wireless sync with Outlook. Now that WP7 syncs wirelessly with Outlook, people are moaning that it doesn't sync over wired USB.
Some people will never be happy. *shrug*

WinMo to Android - Moving Outlook Contact

For those of you who have been looking for a way to transfer your contacts from your Windows Mobile phone to the Captivate, I found that Sprite has a way to do this.
I didn't want to post all my contacts on Google because they don't belong there since, in my case, they belong in Outlook. Outlook being the standard business client for the majority out there. I was looking for a way to get my contacts from the old phone (HTC Tilt2) to the new phone (Captivate) without posting it to Google.
I ran across this:
http://www.spritesoftware.com/Products/Migrate/Migrate-Your-Data-Now/How-To-Transfer
Make sure you have sync'ing turned off prior to loading the contacts to the phone for your primary account so you're semi-assured to not sync them to Google.
It worked well for me. I wish that Google would have had the thought to meet the needs of businesses as well as the personal side of using Android. I use my phone for both business and pleasure and am a little tweaked at the Android OS for not making an Outlook client that sync's with the standard contacts list. Yes, without having to load seperate software to store them in like I've seen being released.
Let me know what you guys and gals think about using Sprite....

I keep reading that phone contacts sync to Google. From what I can see, Google only syncs your contacts from Google to your phone and not your phone cantacts to Google. If there is a way to sync your phone contact to your Google account, I would like to know how to do it?
In other words when I got my Captivate AT&T transfered my contact from my old phone to the new phone. I then added my Google account to my phone and the Google contacts were added to my phone but the phone contacts did not go to my Google account. Phone has Google and phone contacts and Google has Google contact only.

LBCaptivate said:
I keep reading that phone contacts sync to Google. From what I can see, Google only syncs your contacts from Google to your phone and not your phone cantacts to Google. If there is a way to sync your phone contact to your Google account, I would like to know how to do it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a Outlook plugin/app you need to install in order to sync contacts from Outlook to Google. Search and you will find it. I don't know the name of the plugin or app becaue I don't use it.
Microsoft also have Outlook Connector that you can install to sync contacts from Outlook to Windows Live accounts. Then you can setup your Android phone (or Windows Phone 7) to sync with your Windows Live account using Exchange ActiveSync. Or you can setup GMail to import contacts directly from your Live account.

I use Kies to keep them sync'd

Outlook connector not syncing?

I downloaded the outlook connector and went through the entire tutorial and i believe i set up my contacts and calender correctly. All the contacts and calender entries from outlook are now in my windows live account, and are also on my HTC trophy.
The problem i'm running into is now that it doesn't actively sync and keep my live entries up to date. If i add a new contact in outlook, i dont see it in live or on my Trophy, and the same with new calender entries.
I feel like i'm missing something small, but i just cant seem to figure it out. I tried deleting the live calender in outlook and recopying it again, and that worked to show new entries, but it still does not actively sync with new entries.

Make sure you're adding to the right calendar and contacts, there is at least 2 of each, contacts will have something like contacts and then contacts from "live account username", calendar you'll need to tick the box for calendar from "live account username" and add your entries to that calendar to get them on your phone. As an aside do you only use outlook for your live account?

No i use outlook for business email, contacts and calendar.
I'm attempting to delete the entire Live account from outlook and also clear my contacts, and calendar from hotmail then add everything again. Hopefully it works this time.
So just so i'm correct in my way of thinking, once Outlook connector is configured correctly it should automatically sync your contact and email 3 ways between the WP7 Smartphone, Windows Live, and Outlook? and for most people is this working flawlessly?

Yes thats right, anything you add to Outlook against your Live bits will sync to Windows Live which in turn will sync to your phone and any combination of adding on one will update the other two, it's not instant but will all catch up eventually (think mainly down to how you have your sync intervals)

ah, now i see where the confusion comes into play.
Only the Live(hotmail) profile in outlook will sync with the rest. Not my original profile. SO that means if i create a new calendar item in my regular POP account, i have to copy it over to my Live account in order for it to sync with the cloud, and then my trophy.
Seems like the simpler thing to do would be to use gmail calender sync. At least that doesn't require redundant sync's.

at least we know that MS thought it through

[Q] How does google contact synching work?

I currently use Gmail as my main email account but obviously needed a windows live account which I set up using my gmail address.
I havent really bothered sorting my contacts out before but not I have a decent phone I'm doing it so I deleted them all from Gmail and added them all to Windows live and synced to my phone no problem.
I realise I can export my windows live contacts to a CSV file and upload to Gmail which is fine.
What I really want is for all my stuff to be in Gmail on an ongoing basis.
If I therefore set google contacts to sync to my phone will they only update one way i.e. if I add someone on my phone that will sync to windows live and not gmail? If so that will be very irritating as I will need to remember to go into gmail and add all the info and duplication is what I want to avoid.
I guess this is also the same with google calendars?

Pravind said:
I currently use Gmail as my main email account but obviously needed a windows live account which I set up using my gmail address.
I havent really bothered sorting my contacts out before but not I have a decent phone I'm doing it so I deleted them all from Gmail and added them all to Windows live and synced to my phone no problem.
I realise I can export my windows live contacts to a CSV file and upload to Gmail which is fine.
What I really want is for all my stuff to be in Gmail on an ongoing basis.
If I therefore set google contacts to sync to my phone will they only update one way i.e. if I add someone on my phone that will sync to windows live and not gmail? If so that will be very irritating as I will need to remember to go into gmail and add all the info and duplication is what I want to avoid.
I guess this is also the same with google calendars?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, if it didn't sync both ways, it wouldn't be 'syncing' at all then now would it? XD
Syncing stuff with a Google account works the same way as it does with a Windows Live account. Any changes you make to the account will be sync'd both ways. I use Windows Live for my contacts, and Google Calendar for my calendar and it works fine.
Just, in regards to Google Contacts, you gotta watch out for those custom fields in a contact, as they don't seem to sync properly with the phone.

Ok thanks, well if I make them both match from the start (windows live and google contacts) and set the contacts to sync with google then in theory everything should match up and be the same in all 3 places regardless of if I add a new person on windows live, google contacts or the phone.
That what you mean yeah?
What are these custom fields you speak off? I've not spotted anything in there.
Sorry I'm not very clued up on all this technology business, I presume you mean fields in google contacts that arent within windows phone 7 or windows live meaning info will be missed when synced.
Are all the fields in windows live replicated in google contacts? (I know this is a lazy question)

Pravind said:
Ok thanks, well if I make them both match from the start (windows live and google contacts) and set the contacts to sync with google then in theory everything should match up and be the same in all 3 places regardless of if I add a new person on windows live, google contacts or the phone.
That what you mean yeah?
What are these custom fields you speak off? I've not spotted anything in there.
Sorry I'm not very clued up on all this technology business, I presume you mean fields in google contacts that arent within windows phone 7 or windows live meaning info will be missed when synced.
Are all the fields in windows live replicated in google contacts? (I know this is a lazy question)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The custom fields are fields you can define in Google contacts. For example, you can add a ton of numbers for your contacts and rename the label to whatever you want, Windows Phone only recognizes the first couple of numbers with common labels (work, home, mobile), and after that won't sync the rest. Stuff like that.
Also, while you can link an existing contact to more than one contact syncing service (for example, to both Gmail and Windows Live) on your phone, when you create a new contact on the phone, it only makes that contact in one of your services (so either Gmail or Windows Live, your choice). Because it only syncs to one service, you'll eventually have to remake the same contact on the other account in order to keep all 3 in sync if that's your plan.
Windows Live and Google Contacts share the same basic fields, its just that Google allows you to make custom fields as well and Windows Live does not.

Thank you.
From what I've seen it will always sync back to windows live if you create one on your phone as there is no way to change what you sync to windows live which means I'm always going to have to manually add things back to google which is a real pain.
It looks like the only way round this is to make them match from the start and then periodically export them and upload to google which I guess doesnt take too long but still annoying.
They should really fix that and look at upgrading windows live as its so slow and clunky to use, takes ages to browse around it when adding contacts and editing them etc