Entourage and Palm Pre Sync

[TaJuanM]

Version: 2004
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel
Email Client: pop

Hi there! Longtime Outlook/Palm user that migrated to Entourage/Palm 3 years ago. Seamless sync without any problems the entire time...never used the sync services because the Hotsync worked perfectly for me. Recently, I upgraded to the Palm Pre and from my understanding, I have to use sync services to talk to my Pre via Mark/Space's "Missing Sync." The problem is I cannot get it to sync because I get a "duplicate calendars" message. When I opened Ical for the first time ever (been using Entourage the entire time), I had 8 "Entourage" calendars. I backed up to my old Treo, deleted the Entourage calendars so that I could have a clean ICal and synced again, with no problems. However, couldn't sync this week because of "Duplicate Calendars". So, I opened up ICal for the second time ever and I had two Entourage calendars this time. I don't understand what is happening to cause duplicate calendars. I don't merge calendars from anywhere; I only manage MY calendar so I don't understand the duplication. Could someone PLEASE what I'm doing wrong and how to stop whatever I'm doing to cause this.

BONUS Question---Because I now have to use sync services, have I completely lost the ability to sync my Entourage Notes?

 

[Kerry]

Version: 2004
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel
Email Client: pop

Hi there! Longtime Outlook/Palm user that migrated to Entourage/Palm 3 years ago. Seamless sync without any problems the entire time...never used the sync services because the Hotsync worked perfectly for me. Recently, I upgraded to the Palm Pre and from my understanding, I have to use sync services to talk to my Pre via Mark/Space's "Missing Sync." The problem is I cannot get it to sync because I get a "duplicate calendars" message. When I opened Ical for the first time ever (been using Entourage the entire time), I had 8 "Entourage" calendars. I backed up to my old Treo, deleted the Entourage calendars so that I could have a clean ICal and synced again, with no problems. However, couldn't sync this week because of "Duplicate Calendars".So, I opened up ICal for the second time ever and I had two Entourage calendars this time. I don't understand what is happening to cause duplicate calendars. I don't merge calendars from anywhere; I only manage MY calendar so I don't understand the duplication. Could someone PLEASE what I'm doing wrong and how to stop whatever I'm doing to cause this.

BONUS Question---Because I now have to use sync services, have I completely lost the ability to sync my Entourage Notes?

Unfortunately, you're not doing anything wrong. There is a problem
with sync services and when Entourage uses it, this behavior is just
one of the odd behaviors you will see - e.g. dups of records, dups of
changes to records, dups of all day events, data loss etc. If you scan
the forum this has been heavily discussed.

Microsoft has no time-frame for a fix.

However, I spoke with Apple and this is in a recent post I made on SP2
and sync services (do a search) and the hope is Snow Leopard might?
fix the problem as they are doing a lot of under the hood work and one
area they have majorily concentrated on is Sync Services.

 

[Kerry]

I forgot to add that yes you can continue to sync Notes, you just do
this by choosing Entourage Notes in Missing sync provided it supports
that in their Pre version - it does in the BlackBerry and Palm version.

Finally, there is a workaround, though somewhat cumbersome that avoids
a lot of the errors, mess but not totally. Just sync one module in
Entourage prefs/sync services at a time. So, you might use Calendar
and tasks all the time so only have that checked. When you need to
sync contacts go into Entourage prefs/sync services turn off Calendar
OK back into prefs and now turn on Contacts and use combine. Once done
then go back in turn of Contacts then turn on Calendar. Oh and the
first sync should be an over write preferrably of Entourage to iCal
etc. Then immediately, after that has finished, go into prefs, turn
sync off and on and now choose combine. From this point just choose
combine. This method works pretty reliably so your data doesn't get
messed up but its not 100%. Further, it is prone to human error. Make
sure you have backups.

I ran into the exact same thing as you. I was happily using Entourage
with the Palm conduit until Ent 08 required sync services. I got
Office 08 the day it came out Jan 15 08 and on Jan 22 I opened a case
with Microsoft that I still refer to. From that day to this there has
been no improvement in sync. However, having tried another product and
reading extensively on this issue it has to do with Apple's sync
services and third party developers have had a terrible time with
this. Unfortunately, we users have suffered horrendously with this
whole approach. Sync was a non-issue for me with the Palm and the
conduit. Not with sync services. It only seems to work well with
Apple's own apps but sync services will even mess up here and require
a complete reset. If you use the workaround for Entourage that I
described, you may end up with slightly more problems than just using
the Apple apps but not much. Yet, it is cumbersome and annoying that
you can only have one module sync'g.

 

[TaJuanM]

Kerry! Thanks soooo much for taking the time for such an exhaustive response.

1. I did search the forums first but came up empty when it came to finding other threads when i searched for "ical duplicates," "ical sync." Maybe they've taken those threads down. But either way, you answered my question.

2. No, "Missing Sync" for the Pre, does not sync Notes...only Contacts and Address Book. Maybe it's coming later. I felt it was misleading when they advertised it because it said that it would sync with Entourage but didn't list any exceptions, ie Notes. I was annoyed with that oversight since that was one of my first research questions when I decided to upgrade to the Pre

3. Gonna try Evernote, which is what some other users have suggested as an alternative to using Notes in Entourage since I don't really have a choice. I depend on my Notes daily. This was a MAJOR oversight with Pre. They have no way to transfer the Notes for the customers who have been using Palm since the Palm Pilots. You can type notes into the phone but there is know editable sync application to edit them on the computer.

4. Thanks for the workaround idea. I'm gonna give it some serious thought. I have some downtime now so I'm gonna sit down and come up with a workflow that works for me. As much as i hate to, I might have to consider switching to Mac's Mail, Calendar, and Address Book. Boy, I don't want to do that. I love one program running everything I need, but I really need a workflow that keeps errors & duplicates to a minimum.