How to sync Outook 2010 (non-corporate) with Windows phone?

[SB Jon]

I know there have been some posts going back over a year, but none of them fully solve this issue. For years, the best way to sync Outlook 2010(without corporate exchange server) to the windows phone has been to use the Google Calendar connector to get to their cloud and then onto the Windows phone. This had the advantage of doing two-way synchronization and working with the default calendar in Outlook (the existing .PST file).

Google fully discontinued this service on August 1. Microsoft does not have as simple a solution. The two options I've seen for cloud syncing are to use the Microsoft Hotmail Connector and to use Google App Sync. The Hotmail Connector does not work with the default Outlook profile which means than when an invitation is received from any email account other than hotmail/outlook.com it saves to the default calendar, and you then have to copy it to the hotmail calendar in order to sync. The Google App Sync requires a whole different profile with a migration which is an equally big headache or possibly greater. So, neither of these options work without making a lot of manual intervention.

I've been using a local sync program called CompanionLink to sync contacts, notes and tasks. It can sync the calendar but has a couple of disadvantages. 1) you need to manually sync calendar which is not good if constantly on the go and always want to have your appointments. 2) CompanionLink does not feed appointments into the native calendar so it won't appear on the lock screen. Also, CompanionLink live tile does not show appointments. So, the beauty of the Windows Phone is largely made pointless.

If anyone has figured out the best way to do this, please let me know. I'm sure there are many other people with the same problem as of August 1. Maybe Microsoft wants to quickly build the connector that Google managed to do???

thanks, -jon

 

[amb9800]

Frankly the best solution is to sign up for MS Office 365. The cheapest plan (Exchange Online) is $4 per month per user, so for $48/year, you'll get seamless sync of contacts, calendar, tasks, and if you choose, email and more, across Outlook and Windows Phone.

Not free, but works much better than Google's App Sync, the Hotmail Connector, and any of the local sync solutions, and it'll work great with any other devices you add in to sync with (since everything supports EAS).

 

[SB Jon]

Thanks. Do you know if this will work with Outlook 2010?

 

[amb9800]

Yep it does.

 

[SB Jon]

I tried the Exchange Online option. That is still not a good solution. It sets up a second whole set of folders and calendars in Outlook in addition to the ones that are part of the .PST file. I don't see how this is any different than the Hotmail Connector option. I have 4 email accounts coming into outlook (not counting the new O365 account), and I receive calendar invites to all of them. I want them all to save Outlook calendar and sync to some type of cloud (O365 in this case) to get it to my phone. Am I missing something or does this solution not work as seamlessly as the old google calendar sync by only needing to have one set of folders?

thx, -j

 

[SB Jon]

(Apologies for disjointed structure of this post. I am updating it as I accomplish more things in my effort to fully sync.)

I figured out a way to make it work (sort of) using a couple of tools. It does require using CompanionLink for Outlook. (Probably another sync tool would work, but I use CompanionLink because it supports contact subfolders.) I setup CompanionLink to sync to the Office 365 Cloud and purchased Office 365 Exchange for $4/month. I have CompanionLink setup for autosync every 30 minutes. I then added the Office 365 email account I created to the Windows Phone and that syncs up. So far I have the calendar syncing (bi-directional). Contacts is syncing well too (bi-directional).

Tasks on my phone is syncing only with the default hotmail/outlook.com account. I could possibly change that email account to the Office 365 one but not gonna do that. I found a 3rd party tasks app that syncs from the phone to Office 365. It is called Tasks and the author is In The Hand. I am currently using the free trial. It is a bit finicky to set up (I had to re-enter my O365 login credentials a couple of times for it to take. I uninstalled and installed once. It appears to be working now, and I am getting bi-directional sync. It requires pushing sync on the phone instead of automatic/timed.

Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be notes in Office 365 Exchange (my guess is MSFT wants people using One Note). I may play with OneNote and see how that goes. I can use CompanionLink to do a local sync of notes, but that would mean changing a lot of settings from the O365 sync and then back again. Maybe that will be my only option. I don't use notes much. If I figure out a good solution I will update this post.

In summary, I can get most things (NOT notes) syncing bi-directional between Outlook 2010 (without corporate Exchange server) and Windows Phone (Lumia 620). It is a hassle and costs some extra money. Maybe there are only a few people using Outlook for personal/small business without corporate Exchange, but it would be nice if Microsoft had better support for this since Outlook is a flagship product.

-j

 

[SB Jon]

The post immediately above has been updated several times as I made progress and describes my work arounds. I've decided not to do anything about notes right now, so I consider this solution I've put in place as complete. Good luck to others trying to integrate Outlook to Windows Phone.

-j

 

[SB Jon]

Agreed. The reason I went the CompanionLInk with Office 365 Exchanage was I wanted cloud sync on an automatic basis instead of manual syncing. That was especially important for my calendar. I didn't want to have to do a manual sync every time I left the house. I use this for my work calendar and I'm self employed.

 

[amb9800]

I tried the Exchange Online option. That is still not a good solution. It sets up a second whole set of folders and calendars in Outlook in addition to the ones that are part of the .PST file. I don't see how this is any different than the Hotmail Connector option. I have 4 email accounts coming into outlook (not counting the new O365 account), and I receive calendar invites to all of them. I want them all to save Outlook calendar and sync to some type of cloud (O365 in this case) to get it to my phone. Am I missing something or does this solution not work as seamlessly as the old google calendar sync by only needing to have one set of folders?

thx, -j

Just saw this, but yes, Outlook will manage Exchange / O365 accounts (just like any other account) in a separate file (as of Office 2010, this used to be .OST, vs .PST for local, but in 2013 it's .OST for all). You just need to move all your content over to the O365 account and get rid of the PST.

I migrated over from local PST and syncing to my iPhone with iTunes locally to Exchange Online in 2010 -- catalyzed by WP7's lack of any local sync support. So I signed up for Exchange Online, set up the account in Outlook, and moved over all the content in the local account to the cloud account (contacts, calendar, email, etc.), and since then, it's worked great across all my PCs, WP8 phones, and Android / iOS devices.

My primary email is hosted separately, accessed via IMAP, and I have 7 other accounts (some Exchange, some IMAP, some Google), so all those are set up on each device. All my PIM data (contacts/calendar/etc.), though, is kept in my Office 365 calendar -- and calendar invites received on any account that doesn't have its own synced calendar (i.e. all but one) are scheduled in Office 365 by default.

Not sure if I'm missing part of what you require?