Syncing with Outlook

ALpHa.Q.RoUgH

New member
Jan 21, 2012
434
0
0
Visit site
Okay, I got my mom to buy the same phone I have but she is having trouble syncing her notes and tasks from outlook with her phone. This is what she sent me:

"Cause it doesn't provide full functionality. Besides the calendar, I need to view my notes and tasks. It only lets you view/update your calendar. Plus! Its online. I don't like that. I should be able to just plug in the USB cord to sync the phone & computer."

How do I help her remedy her problem before she takes it back?
 

Squatting Hen

New member
Apr 15, 2012
878
1
0
Visit site
If she has the same phone as you, are you not able to help her?

She can sync her notes with OneNote. The Calendar does have To-Do's.

Online is the only option to sync and is far easier to do then syncing with a usb cord. People were concerned about flying on planes at first too, now we do it all the time.

I guess I don't fully understand, because for me, it just works.
 

wamsille

Banned
Aug 30, 2012
544
0
0
Visit site
It sounds like your mother was an old Windows Mobile or Palm OS user.

Microsoft no longer opts for local sync of anything other that photos, videos and music. PIM is all done through the cloud now. The reason for this is because of convenience and convergence of data from multiple accounts. Many people use Twitter and Facebook. Many have accounts with Linked In and there is a strong following for Gmail. To best compile that data, your phone acts as the local sync, pulling information in from those services initially to populate your phone and then pushing to and from the phone from there as you add, remove or make changes. If your mother wants a device that plugs into the PC and syncs with Outlook, her options will be limited. Some of this could be mocked with additional software, but you are really creating more trouble than what it is worth.

I haven't had the desire to sync with anything locally beyond my Palm OS days. I get the pictures, music and video bit. Beyond that, why?
 

ALpHa.Q.RoUgH

New member
Jan 21, 2012
434
0
0
Visit site
It sounds like your mother was an old Windows Mobile or Palm OS user.

Microsoft no longer opts for local sync of anything other that photos, videos and music. PIM is all done through the cloud now. The reason for this is because of convenience and convergence of data from multiple accounts. Many people use Twitter and Facebook. Many have accounts with Linked In and there is a strong following for Gmail. To best compile that data, your phone acts as the local sync, pulling information in from those services initially to populate your phone and then pushing to and from the phone from there as you add, remove or make changes. If your mother wants a device that plugs into the PC and syncs with Outlook, her options will be limited. Some of this could be mocked with additional software, but you are really creating more trouble than what it is worth.

I haven't had the desire to sync with anything locally beyond my Palm OS days. I get the pictures, music and video bit. Beyond that, why?


Correct yes your assessment about my mom being an old palm user is accurate. She had two treo's and it worked flawlessly. So her options as far as local sync is limited. Their is no workarounds or apps correct?
 

TK2011

New member
Nov 21, 2012
379
0
0
Visit site
There's a 3rd party PC software called Akruto Sync that lets you synch contacts in Outlook program (not Outlook.com) without going through the cloud. But it's probably best if she can be convinced to just trust Microsoft's privacy and security policy and use the default method. It's really a better way to get organized. (Use OneNote for note keepings and a simple todo list)
 

ALpHa.Q.RoUgH

New member
Jan 21, 2012
434
0
0
Visit site
If she has the same phone as you, are you not able to help her?

She can sync her notes with OneNote. The Calendar does have To-Do's.

Online is the only option to sync and is far easier to do then syncing with a usb cord. People were concerned about flying on planes at first too, now we do it all the time.

I guess I don't fully understand, because for me, it just works.


No I wasn't able to help het unfortunately as, I don't have everything synced through outlook at the moment and just started using One Note. She syncs a lot of stuff at work/home and wants it to sync via plugging in to one of her computers, like on the old Windows days. I knew those workarounds as I had a treo myself with Windows Mobile on it, but once I left Treo I really never got back into syncing locally, I used Skydrive and manual inputs onto my calenders on my phone.
 

cluberti

New member
Mar 31, 2012
133
0
0
Visit site
Local sync, unfortunately, is as was previously described - music, videos, and photos can be synched from local copies, but calendaring and notes MUST be done in the cloud. There are ways to sync up Outlook to an outlook.com account (or a personal account hosted on outlook.com) with the Hotmail connector and migrate her Calendar and contacts in Outlook to outlook.com - this would allow her to continue to use Outlook at home and still have her things available on her phone, but she'll have to stop using Tasks altogether if she wants any of that to continue working in the 21st century.

That means that any Tasks she's created in Outlook will need to be manually migrated into Calendar reminders or OneNote notes. Otherwise, they'll have to be left alone in Outlook and not synchronized anywhere, as no mobile OS supports "task" sync from Outlook anymore (there's an exception to this for Exchange users with reminders on iPhone, but that doesn't work all that well and there are serious issues (still) with EAS sync and calendar/task/email items on iPhone synched with an Exchange account - given your mom probably isn't using Exchange, my previous statement is true).

Calendar reminders and OneNote don't have options for flag and follow up like Outlook tasks do, but the plus side to Calendar reminders is that they will follow her just about anywhere, as will OneNote notes (and calendar items fire reminders too, so it's not a total loss).
 

djncanada1

New member
Oct 12, 2010
47
0
0
Visit site
I am an old windows mobile guy

I have used and recommended users who want seamless sync to use either hosted ESS exchange provider or office 365. Office 365 is the best $7/month investment.

Once you are syncing via exchange, appa mundi has an exchange task app, I would suggest using one note for notes, one note is more robust than outlook notes and sync via ms cloud.

Best of all, if your mom adds a tablet or another computer, exchange will sync with lots of devices, including android, iPad, other phones as well.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD
 

Huime

New member
Oct 30, 2012
1,019
0
0
Visit site
It sounds like your mother was an old Windows Mobile or Palm OS user.

Microsoft no longer opts for local sync of anything other that photos, videos and music. PIM is all done through the cloud now. The reason for this is because of convenience and convergence of data from multiple accounts. Many people use Twitter and Facebook. Many have accounts with Linked In and there is a strong following for Gmail. To best compile that data, your phone acts as the local sync, pulling information in from those services initially to populate your phone and then pushing to and from the phone from there as you add, remove or make changes. If your mother wants a device that plugs into the PC and syncs with Outlook, her options will be limited. Some of this could be mocked with additional software, but you are really creating more trouble than what it is worth.

I haven't had the desire to sync with anything locally beyond my Palm OS days. I get the pictures, music and video bit. Beyond that, why?
Actually the OTA sync thing is really stupid. For example you are at a conference and wifi just suck. You cant get clear data signal either because it is like a billion layer of acoustic shielded or sometimes worst, you are just out of the country. Waited for an hour finally you can use one of cable connected computer and F! you cannot sync it to your phone togo! True and fresh story.
 

realwarder

New member
Dec 31, 2012
3,689
0
0
Visit site
I use this:

Outlook (IMAP connection to gmail) + GSyncIt (cheap app purchased to Sync Calendar/Tasks/Contacts into gmail)

Then just add the Gmail account as an Exchange account from the phone.

Suspect there are similar ways to have Outlook.com work, but this is what I am familiar with. Note that new Office 2013 runs as EAS client so shouldn't need a side app.
 

ALpHa.Q.RoUgH

New member
Jan 21, 2012
434
0
0
Visit site
Thank you all for your contributions, I let her know her options from this thread and see how it goes. From what it seems she doesn't want to pull everything online and I guess is old school and wants local sync. I'm going to see what the Microsoft Store suggests otherwise she is tempted to go back to blackberry.
 

cluberti

New member
Mar 31, 2012
133
0
0
Visit site
Be careful with that strategy - the BlackBerry Playbook did not have a local sync option (you had to use an online-based solution), and the BB10 will be QNX-based as well (and it won't work with BlackBerry Enterprise Servers either, confirmed by BlackBerry recently) and may not have local sync options either. Your mother may be able to delay the inevitable for a few more years by going back to an older BlackBerry device, but the likelihood is that she'll need to do this eventually. Other than times where you may not have good connectivity (and even then, the content is local, so you still would not be without your data.... the argument above has a lot of holes) to sync changes back, there's not really a good reason NOT to go with non-local sync. Especially when getting new devices means you no longer have to do anything other than sign in.
 

ALpHa.Q.RoUgH

New member
Jan 21, 2012
434
0
0
Visit site
Here is an update to what she was looking for provided I think you guys already answered the question.

"Thank you. I'm not using an enterprise server. This is for personal use not business. Even the cheapest phone has a calendar. I'm more concerned with the notes function in outlook. I've been updating and syncing notes and calendars using the blackberry desktop and USB cable. I'm not concerned with linking tablets etc. The blackberry 7 OS for instance has a personal organizer which includes calendar, address book, task list, calculator and memo pad located all in one place for free. Isn't there a fee for Office 365?"
 

TK2011

New member
Nov 21, 2012
379
0
0
Visit site
Here is an update to what she was looking for provided I think you guys already answered the question.

"Thank you. I'm not using an enterprise server. This is for personal use not business. Even the cheapest phone has a calendar. I'm more concerned with the notes function in outlook. I've been updating and syncing notes and calendars using the blackberry desktop and USB cable. I'm not concerned with linking tablets etc. The blackberry 7 OS for instance has a personal organizer which includes calendar, address book, task list, calculator and memo pad located all in one place for free. Isn't there a fee for Office 365?"

She has OneNote right? She can convert all her Outlook notes to OneNote and start using OneNote instead. Google/Bing it and she can find howtos. It's easy. Same with Outlook contacts and calendar to Outlook.com. By having everything in the cloud, they get synched automatically everytime across all her PCs and windows phone. It's the way to go. She doesn't have to bother plugging in her phone to PC every time she need to synch. BTW, I used to use a Blackberry just like her. But not anymore. It's a small hassle to transition but I found it worth it.
 

ALpHa.Q.RoUgH

New member
Jan 21, 2012
434
0
0
Visit site
No, she does not have OneNote, she has never used that service before she is coming from a blackberry of 6 years and before that a palm treo so I'm under the assumption that she was used to just pluggind in the phone and updating without using OneNote. This is her first Windows Phone, as she never previously had Windows Mobile.
 

Squatting Hen

New member
Apr 15, 2012
878
1
0
Visit site
With a new device and a new OS, comes new products. While the products are different, they are far and away eaiser and I believe more useful especially once you learn them.

That is not always easy to do though and is probably the #1 reason people do not change devices/products.
 

TK2011

New member
Nov 21, 2012
379
0
0
Visit site
No, she does not have OneNote, she has never used that service before she is coming from a blackberry of 6 years and before that a palm treo so I'm under the assumption that she was used to just pluggind in the phone and updating without using OneNote. This is her first Windows Phone, as she never previously had Windows Mobile.

Most people with Outlook has a copy of OneNote also (from MS Office). If she doesn't have one or doesn't want to buy one, she can just use the free cloud version. OneNote is much more powerful for collecting notes of all kinds of data and links. It's better organized too with a notebook format. Outlook's notes are like sticky note papers. It's very limited and it gets messy pretty fast.
 

ALpHa.Q.RoUgH

New member
Jan 21, 2012
434
0
0
Visit site
What she does is make the notes and exports them to a excel spreadsheet and accesses them from there. She doesn't feel obliged to pay monthly to access her own notes.
 

TK2011

New member
Nov 21, 2012
379
0
0
Visit site
What she does is make the notes and exports them to a excel spreadsheet and accesses them from there. She doesn't feel obliged to pay monthly to access her own notes.

OneNote on Skydrive and WP is free. So is Outlook.com for emails, contacts and calendar. Office 365, a different solution, is not free.
 

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
322,902
Messages
2,242,867
Members
428,004
Latest member
hetb