Palm - Outlook - Exchange sync: the problems of five years solved

[John Faughnan]

This is a f/u to an earlier post. I can now definitively confirm that
my Palm/Outlook/Exchange sync problems have been solved. Problems I've
been experiencing with three different synchronization vendor sync
solutions, a dozen total versions, 4 versions of Microsoft Outlook,
and and five PalmOS devices from 2 different vendors have not recurred
in months.

This is the earlier post.

http://groups.google.com/[email protected]

The problem was ongoing duplication of a variety of Palm objects (esp.
contacts & tasks, sometimes appointments), or overwriting of newer
versions by older versions -- depending on how the sync software was
configured.

The cause of the bug lay in our corporate exchange server. In between
times that I was accessing my Outlook/Exchange data, the Exchange
'last modified' date was being altered. I don't know why it was
changed, I could not see that the contact, task, appointment, etc was
in any way different. I presume it's a bug in our outdated exchange
server software.

In other words, the true synchronization bug was between Outlook and
Exchange. When I would sync from Palm to Outlook the item had
"changed" on both machines (one a real change, the other a bug), so
conflicts occurred.

I only uncovered this when Outlook allowed me to add a 'Modification
Date' column to my Outlook views, and to set a rule that changed the
color of items recently modified. I then would, every few days, see an
apparently randomly modified item -- such as a contact I had not even
VIEWED in either Outlook or Palm or Palm Desktop for years. This would
occur even when I had not synched with my PalmOS.

I discovered this in June of 2004. I moved all my Outlook items off
the Exchange server to my own machine based PST file. Only my calendar
remains on the Exchange server; and duplication there was always less
of a problem. I have had NO sync issues since June. (I use
PocketMirror Pro now.)

If sync had worked this well five years ago, I think the Palm devices
would still be in use at our company. There are now only 1-3 people in
our office of 50 using any Palm devices, and perhaps 1-2 using a
PocketPC device. Years ago there were many more. The rest do not use
PDAs or Blackberry-type devices. By contrast many of us have iPods.

john
(e-mail address removed)
meta: jfaughnan, jgfaughnan, synchronization, sync, HotSync, HotSynch,
versioning, conflicts, exchange, outlook, data model, attribute,
metadata, versioning, bug, defect, conflict, duplication, duplicate,
usability

 

[Malcolm]

The cause of the bug lay in our corporate exchange server.

I had a similar problem generated with my calendar items before I switched
to using a PST file to keep everything local. The company set up an Exchange
Server on a new machine and moved everything over on the weekend. When
everyone came in on Monday, the one thing they had forgotten was to set the
proper time zone on the Exchange Server (it was an hour off).

When they corrected the issue, it triggered a long-standing bug with "all
day" events that put the events as starting at 1:00 am and ending at 1:00 am
the next morning. This had the net effect of putting all my "all day" events
(such as Birthdays, Paydays and holidays) on two consecutive days each.

If sync had worked this well five years ago, I think the Palm devices
would still be in use at our company. There are now only 1-3 people in
our office of 50 using any Palm devices, and perhaps 1-2 using a
PocketPC device. Years ago there were many more. The rest do not use
PDAs or Blackberry-type devices. By contrast many of us have iPods.

I work in a similar sized office, with a large percentage of the staff being
IT-related. With all the techie folks here, you'd think there would be more
than three people that use a PDA, and only two (myself and the CEO) that
actually remove them from the cradle and carry them along when we leave the
office.

Interesting, too, on the iPods. Most of the folks at my office (that listen
to music while they work) generally tend to still insert CD's into the
CD-ROM drive and listen to music via MS Media Player. The same two folks
that actually use their PDAs (again, the CEO and yours truly) have hard-disk
based MP3 players (both Dell DJ's). Go figure.

 

[John Faughnan]

In a prior post (below) I noted that I was able to get my
Exchange/Outlook/Palm synchronization working after five years of
effort -- by moving all but my address book data into a locally stored
PST file.

One problem with that is that the default address book settings don't
"see" this file, and contacts created from the address book go into
the unused Exchange Server contacts folder.

Here's the fix:

1. Right click on default contacts folder. Chose Properties:Outlook
Address Book. Uncheck "Show this folder as an e-mail Address Book".
(Note archaic spelling of "email".)

2. Go to contacts folder in new PST file. Do as above but check "Show
this folder as an e-mail Address Book". I also changed the display
name to be distinctive, I used Contacts_Active.

3. From main Outlook menu choose Tools:Address Book. In this subwindow
choose Tools:Option. Make sure the Contacts folder you've selected is
searched and used for Address Book additions.

Parenthetically,

1. The way Outlook distributes configuration between a mess of menus,
tool options, and context menus is a wonderful anti-usability exhibit.

2. Outlook's Address Book/Contacts integration is better than it used
to be, but it's still peculiar.

john

(e-mail address removed)

meta: jfaughnan, jgfaughnan, synchronization, sync, HotSync, HotSynch,
versioning, conflicts, exchange, usability, AddressBook, Contacts,
Outlook 2003, Microsoft Outlook, setup, configuration