Will Return WP7.5 for BlackBerry or Iphone

[rocketboy]

...unless someone can tell me a way to sync Exchange contact folders to WP7. I'm absolutely stunned that Microsoft's own phone cannot do this and both BB and iPhone can.

I bought a new L900 for my wife. She likes it well enough, but her work uses Exchange and stores contacts in subfolders and WP7.5 will not sync any of contacts stored in said folders. It's a non-trivial amount and she's not so much in love with WP that she's willing to do manual copies up to the root. I don't blame her.

Does anyone have any workable solutions for this problem aside from manipulating contacts manually? Are there app(s) that can be bought to handle this?

I confidently expected that Microsoft's phone would work with their own mail protocols. Really disappointed that I can't find any info on WP8 either on whether there will be support. Forget app parity with other platforms. How about just getting their own stuff to work together? This one thing - totally within MS control - will cost them an adopter for at least another 2 years (her old BB is so dead and dying there's no waiting for WP8 or even new iPhone). I wonder how many others have had to give up on WP7 because of such a simple thing.

Aside: I'd hate for her to have to pony up for a new BB7 at this point or a new iPhone at full price knowing another is just a month away and will push down the 4s prices. Anyone know if the Galaxy S3 will do Exchange syncing of contact folders? At least the S3 is a new model at this point.

So disgruntled...

 

[eric12341]

I never heard of contacts being in subfolders but I have heard of groups which WP does support. What she can try is export her contacts to a .csv file and then import them into a windows live/outlook account and then try to sync from there. The sub folders are probably not an exchange feature.

 

[pjs37]

I do not believe this feature is supported in WP7...

Another option to consider is use the categories feature instead of the folder feature in Outlook.

As for Android and iPhone, iOS seems capable of it for the most part but Android is hit or miss, some people said it works fine others said it doesn't. I think it comes down to how you are syncing. If you are using EAS then there will be an issue. I am not too sure on apps at the moment hopefully someone will have a better idea.

Syncing additional address books and contact folders - Microsoft Answers

How to sync contacts in Outlook folder not named "contacts" - Microsoft Answers

 

[Guzzler3]

I never heard of contacts being in subfolders but I have heard of groups which WP does support. What she can try is export her contacts to a .csv file and then import them into a windows live/outlook account and then try to sync from there. The sub folders are probably not an exchange feature.

Older versions of Exchange had the ability to have contacts in sub-folders. I can't remember the version number when they changed, sorry. It's when they moved to Sharepoint with exchange was when it was lost.

 

[HerronScott]

We've been using Exchange since 5.5 and I can't imagine why a company would have a user's contacts in a subfolder. What do they use the default Contacts folder at the top-level for?

Note that since iPhones use the same ActiveSync functionality I doubt they would be able to support any contacts other than those in the default Contacts folder.

Scott

 

[rockstarzzz]

Can't you extract them as .csv and import to your hotmail account?

That's what I've done to mine. The company directory automatically is cached anyway. So when I search (need data connection I think) I can get all internal extensions with email address, building details etc.

 

[gregoron]

To OP, have you tried using a Gmail account to sync the contacts then add Gmail to WP?

 

[Guzzler3]

We've been using Exchange since 5.5 and I can't imagine why a company would have a user's contacts in a subfolder. What do they use the default Contacts folder at the top-level for?

Note that since iPhones use the same ActiveSync functionality I doubt they would be able to support any contacts other than those in the default Contacts folder.

Scott

Some places put common shared contacts in a sub-folder.

Examples:
A general contractor firm would have a collection of contacts of all their sub-contractors (names, phone #'s, email addresses, web site, etc). Everyone in the firm could either add, or or update contact information.

Or it could be an advertising/bulk email list.

But these contacts wouldn't be in the GAL (top level contact list) because they aren't part of the companies internal email list. Oddly enough, this shows up quite a bit in older Exchange setup's. And several companies have avoided upgrading their exchange because MS in their wisdom took this "feature" out.

 

[Jazmac]

You might try this app called GOOD. Its free in the marketplace and it does just what you're talking about. You'll need to check to see if your wife's company has the backend piece for it. Or she can wait on Windows Phone 8.

 

[rockstarzzz]

It would be nice if OP could have used at least one of the options that might have worked for him and then let us know too so we know what works in such situations

 

[rocketboy]

Damn you Exchange

My wife's company is a law firm and they apparently make subfolders for client contacts. I've seen the contacts tree and it's rather lengthy. She gets the root folder fine, but not the folders organizing contacts by client. It's admitedly a logical set up in my mind. Clients contacts are added/removed/changed with frequency. Guzzler3 has the right idea I think.

Rant: It's stuff like this that makes a phone "Enterprise Ready" and so for the first time since owning a WP I'm understanding the critics a bit. Doubly galling that we're talking MS-to-MS products. It's easy to poke fun at BB, but they absolutely have these essentials (to a business) down pat.

As for export/imports: If it were me I could do a work around. I could even do it for my wife. But I don't want to be her technical support for the next 2 years and I think she would get frustrated with it. It's one thing to put up with something knowing a fix might come down because a lot of people are shouting about it, but it seems like this has been an issue since WP7 released and its been 2 years with WP8 weeks away. I'm inclined to punt in this case.

She says that iPhone users in her company have this working. We know it works on her 8800 series BB Curve. She's reported that Android co-workers are copying stuff up to the root so Android might be out of the question as a choice. My quick searches on the topics re: Android 4.0 did not yield a definitive answer even for a OneX or an SIII. Also seemed to turn out other reported problems with mail.


gregoron: I will look into gmail. I've never tried to use it with Exchange contacts. If it's relatively seamless (doesn't require manual intervention) then that might be a way.

Techblogger: I'll look into GOOD. I have no idea if it's supported by their firm, but worth a shot.


Thanks for the help. If nothing else works we'll try and get a 1 cent BB Torch 9810 off Amazon and then re-evaluate after the wave of new phones if she's unsatisfied. I'll post if we find some workable solution for the L900.

 

[jmerrey]

Huge oversite by ms here. I'm not sure why they just didn't make the groups function the same as contact folders. My company uses contact folders for clients, prospects, employees, etc.
Yes, they do sync on iphones, androids, etc. Just not Windows phones. Go figure.