WP7 contact synchronization

[jj14x]

Hi! I'm currently an android user and am looking to possibly move to the Windows phone side. I am currently waiting on my Lumia 800 to be delivered, but have a few questions about contact syncing

I currently have my contacts on gmail and android syncs to it as expected. What I miss is the ability to have a local copy in my desktop outlook (non-exchange), so I usually download from gmail once a month and overwrite my outlook contacts (since gmail is almost always up-to-date because of my phone)

Reading about this on microsoft's site, it looks like I can sync up my outlook to my live account (using hotmail connector which I already use).

Question 1 - is this a one time sync (between live acct and desktop outlook)? Or does it sync back and forth if there are changes in either location? (I assume/expect that the WP7 will make sure that the phone and live acct will always be in sync regardless of where I make changes).
In other words, will my phone, live acct and outlook contacts be in perfect sync?

Question 2 - If I have my gmail account set up in WP7 people hub, will it show me duplicate contacts (that I will have to manually link)? Or will it be able to synchronize my contacts between gmail and live as well?

Thanks!

 

[ljkelley]

Windows Live works great with Outlook Connector. Your contacts should stay in sync always across your Phone, Live, and Outlook.

Windows Phone generally links duplicate contacts automatically, especially if they have the same details (name, number etc...) Or you can select any contact and link them with another.

However, if you edit a contact on your phone, you will have to edit both the Live and Gmail version as it does not sync your duplicated to each other. IE, it doesn't take their Facebook profile details and put them into my Exchange account. Nor does my Live and Exchange account sync if there exists the same contacts on both services.

 

[freestaterocker]

WP7 syncs to outlook, live and Gmail flawlessly, as well as your Facebook contacts, but you unfortunately will have to manually link them it's pretty painless though, as the software is pretty good at guessing who you want to link and suggesting accordingly. When I got my HD7 it put all the linkees on the same page very accurately. A few quick touches and it was done! I can speak about the device end of things, but you will love the WP experience. I LOVE my HD7 and am now convinced I could never use another platform happily. If MS throws in the towel I'll be going back to a feature phone.

 

[jj14x]

Thanks LJKelley. Appreciate your help and prompt response!

I'm not sure I understood the last paragraph - if I edit a contact on my phone, wouldn't it automatically sync onto my live account (and hopefully to outlook from there using the connector)?

Or did you mean that I'd have to manually edit the gmail version (but the live acct/outlook would get sync'd automatically)?

 

[jj14x]

Thanks freestaterocker.
(I don't use facebook, so not concerned about that) - if I understood you correctly, are you saying that regardless of where I make the change (gmail/live/WP7/outlook), all four will be synchronized without me having to edit any of these manually?
If so, that's AWESOME!

 

[jfa1]

WP7 syncs to outlook, live and Gmail flawlessly, as well as your Facebook contacts, but you unfortunately will have to manually link them it's pretty painless though, as the software is pretty good at guessing who you want to link and suggesting accordingly. When I got my HD7 it put all the linkees on the same page very accurately. A few quick touches and it was done! I can speak about the device end of things, but you will love the WP experience. I LOVE my HD7 and am now convinced I could never use another platform happily. If MS throws in the towel I'll be going back to a feature phone.

are you synching to outlook through exchange services?

 

[ljkelley]

Thanks LJKelley. Appreciate your help and prompt response!

I'm not sure I understood the last paragraph - if I edit a contact on my phone, wouldn't it automatically sync onto my live account (and hopefully to outlook from there using the connector)?

Or did you mean that I'd have to manually edit the gmail version (but the live acct/outlook would get sync'd automatically)?

If I have a contact on my phone that exists in both Exchange and Windows Live, it will ask me which version to edit. I can't edit both versions at the same time.

 

[jj14x]

jfa1 - no. Using outlook on a standalone PC (not on a domain) - so I expect to use zune (I'm still waiting on the phone to be delivered)

 

[GekkoAce]

Thanks LJKelley. Appreciate your help and prompt response!

I'm not sure I understood the last paragraph - if I edit a contact on my phone, wouldn't it automatically sync onto my live account (and hopefully to outlook from there using the connector)?

Or did you mean that I'd have to manually edit the gmail version (but the live acct/outlook would get sync'd automatically)?

You can sync your gmail account to Windows Phone just like you would on Android. If you edit a contact on your phone it will make the change on your gmail contacts list. You are not forced to sync with your Windows login.

Unfortunately, Gmail doesn't offer a way to sync contacts on your Desktop outlook.

 

[jj14x]

If I have a contact on my phone that exists in both Exchange and Windows Live, it will ask me which version to edit. I can't edit both versions at the same time.

And if you edit one, does it then synchronize over to the other?
(and do you use non-exchange contacts at all? i.e.. Local outlook contacts.
Does it work the same way? Or does it let you edit your live contacts on your WP7 and then, sync over to local outlook contacts?

 

[jj14x]

You can sync your gmail account to Windows Phone just like you would on Android. If you edit a contact on your phone it will make the change on your gmail contacts list. You are not forced to sync with your Windows login.

Unfortunately, Gmail doesn't offer a way to sync contacts on your Desktop outlook.

That is very true... gmail doesn't (at least not for free).
But does live permit that? In other words, if I can keep my phone synced to gmail (as you indicated above), and can also sync phone to live (and live syncs to outlook), all 4 are in sync.

(or am I just expecting too much? lol!)

 

[GekkoAce]

And if you edit one, does it then synchronize over to the other?
(and do you use non-exchange contacts at all? i.e.. Local outlook contacts.
Does it work the same way? Or does it let you edit your live contacts on your WP7 and then, sync over to local outlook contacts?

If the contact is on gmail and Live, your phone will ask you which one to edit when you change the contact info. When you make a new contact it'll also ask you which one you want it saved on.

 

[jj14x]

Oh.... so WP7 doesn't really maintain a local WP7 address book - it basically maintains a copy of live address book (and gmail address book etc) and that is what is being edited each time...

If so, that's a bummer. I guess I won't be able to keep all these synced up. At least for the near future, I was planning to use both devices, so it is kinda important to me to have the same information in gmail and live accounts. I guess I will have to manually wipe out outlook (like I do now) and reload from gmail every month - and then, sync outlook to live.
Was hoping to avoid that.

 

[GekkoAce]

Oh.... so WP7 doesn't really maintain a local WP7 address book - it basically maintains a copy of live address book (and gmail address book etc) and that is what is being edited each time...

If so, that's a bummer. I guess I won't be able to keep all these synced up. At least for the near future, I was planning to use both devices, so it is kinda important to me to have the same information in gmail and live accounts. I guess I will have to manually wipe out outlook (like I do now) and reload from gmail every month - and then, sync outlook to live.
Was hoping to avoid that.

Yes, contacts on WP7 are saved in the cloud on whichever account you chose.

There are add-ons for outlook that can do that work for you. I found a couple on Google when I was researching your question (syncing gmail contacts in outlook).

 

[jj14x]

I had tried to use sync2 and soocial and gsyncit - these are all paid ones.. each had its own set of quirks. The one that I know to work is to upgrade my google apps account to a paid one and use google apps sync - but that is more expensive than I want it to be

Thanks for everybody's help though - I do appreciate it!

 

[SolunaKitty]

Well, at least you can get that $25 app card! Or... at least I hope you can.

 

[jj14x]

Well, at least you can get that $25 app card! Or... at least I hope you can.

wait.. how do I get a $25 app card? (is it free?)

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_...a-new-windows-phone-get-25-worth-of-apps.aspx

Edit: searched the web... found it... I suspect I won't be eligible for it because I am technically not buying it. (getting it from Nokia's promotion for their old registered developers)

Oh well, I can't complain