Recurring To Do ?

A

Alan Quirt

I've been holding off on installing Entourage X (which I own) mainly
because it appears from this news group that there are still some
serious issues with the Palm conduit. But I want to get out of running
my email in Classic, and Entourage looks like the simplest solution.

First, are there any hints on the smoothest way to upgrade to the latest
Entourage X, and get the conduit working?

Second, I wonder if it will give me a feature I would really like.

One of the features I liked in Outlook, a few years ago when I used it
on a corporate network, was the ability to set up recurring To Do items.
An item (for example Prepare Monthly Report) would pop up on the
specified date, stay in the To Do list until checked off, then pop up
again the next month.

Using PocketMirror, these items seemed to transfer across successfully
to my Palm IIIx even though there was no way to create similar items on
the Palm. There is still no similar feature (at least that I can find)
in Palm Desktop or in the Palm OS 5 version of To Do.

Does Entourage for Mac have this feature? If so, can it synch recurring
To Do items into the Palm?
 
B

Barry N. Wainwright

I've been holding off on installing Entourage X (which I own) mainly
because it appears from this news group that there are still some
serious issues with the Palm conduit. But I want to get out of running
my email in Classic, and Entourage looks like the simplest solution.
Click to expand...

The vast majority of people have no issues at all with the Palm Conduit. You
only see posts here from the minority that do!

I personally have not got any issues with the conduit, and happily sync my
m505 several time a day.

You od need to be aware that the added fields in the new calendar app in the
latest palms do not sync across, but otherwise the same conduit works well
for 99% of users.
First, are there any hints on the smoothest way to upgrade to the latest
Entourage X, and get the conduit working?
Click to expand...

Install, import and away you go!

Seriously, rebuild your 2001 database in 2001 before you install Office vX
After installing vX, install all the updaters to bring your office install
up to 10.1.5
Then, install the Palm Desktop software (if not already installed)
Then installed the Entourage palm Sync Conduit

Now, import the mail from 2001
Second, I wonder if it will give me a feature I would really like.

One of the features I liked in Outlook, a few years ago when I used it
on a corporate network, was the ability to set up recurring To Do items.
An item (for example Prepare Monthly Report) would pop up on the
specified date, stay in the To Do list until checked off, then pop up
again the next month.
Click to expand...

Yes, you can set the recurrence of Tasks (Entourage equivalent of 'ToDos')
several different models exist as well as a 'custom recurrence' which you
can define any way you like.
Using PocketMirror, these items seemed to transfer across successfully
to my Palm IIIx even though there was no way to create similar items on
the Palm. There is still no similar feature (at least that I can find)
in Palm Desktop or in the Palm OS 5 version of To Do.

Does Entourage for Mac have this feature? If so, can it synch recurring
To Do items into the Palm?
Click to expand...

Yes! Each recurrence is created on the handheld as a separate task.


--
Barry Wainwright
Microsoft MVP (see http://mvp.support.microsoft.com for details)
Seen the Entourage FAQ pages? - Check them out:
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/toc.html>

Please post responses to this newsgroup. If I ask you to contact me
off-list, remove '.INVALID' from email address before replying.
 
A

Alan Quirt

Install, import and away you go!

Seriously, rebuild your 2001 database in 2001 before you install Office vX
After installing vX, install all the updaters to bring your office install
up to 10.1.5
Then, install the Palm Desktop software (if not already installed)
Then installed the Entourage palm Sync Conduit

Now, import the mail from 2001
Click to expand...
Thanks for your info on the features of Entourage X. It does look as if
I should plan to install it.

I was not as clear as I should have been about my starting point. At
present I am using Outlook Express 5.05 (in Classic, and occasionally in
OS 9.2.2) as my email program, and Palm Desktop 4.1 in OS X 10.3.2 as my
calendar program. I do not transfer email to the Palm, which is a
Tungsten T2 running Palm OS 5.2.1. My copies of Word, Excel, and
PowerPoint X are all fully updated. (I also have Virtual PC 6.1, but I
don't think that should make any difference.)

My current plan for migration to Entourage is to install Entourage X,
then update it to 10.1.5, then import my Outlook Express mailboxes (a
deeply nested structure of over 200 mailboxes). I don't see any function
in Outlook Express to rebuild its database, so that step may not be
needed before the import.

After that I will install the latest Entourage conduit, set the hotsync
manager to Handheld Overwrites Macintosh, and sync my datebook.

I can see several possible sources of difficulty where a little advance
knowledge might help.

I expect that I should disable the Palm Desktop datebook conduit when I
enable Entourage, since running them both might cause problems.

I have moved my Users folder from its default location on the OS X boot
volume to my documents partition. My Microsoft User Data folder is also
in the documents partition, with aliases in its usual locations in the
OS X Users data structures and in the OS 9 boot volume. This setup has
worked well through several updates of OS 9 and OS X, but it makes any
major application upgrade a little more risky. Should it work with
Entourage? I don't mind if I have to put the Entourage database in its
usual OS X location within my home directory, now that my entire Users
folder is off the boot volume.

I have several email accounts, and many mailing list rules. Will
Entourage X import them or will I have to recreate them all?

I do definitely want to import the OE address book into Entourage. I do
not currently sync my Outlook Express address book with my Palm
contacts, because the address book is very large and mainly consists of
email addresses that act as a "white list" for spam filtering purposes
(I have the OE spam filter set to its highest level). I might want to
sync my Entourage address book with Palm contacts, but only if I can put
it into its own separate category to keep it from cluttering up normal
lookups. If that is not possible I will continue to synch contacts with
Palm Desktop. (It seems to me that I read somewhere that Entourage
supports the Vcard contact format; that would make it more useful to
sync it with Palm.)

I hope this note has given you enough technical detail to offer good
advice :).
 
P

Paul Berkowitz

Thanks for your info on the features of Entourage X. It does look as if
I should plan to install it.

I was not as clear as I should have been about my starting point. At
present I am using Outlook Express 5.05 (in Classic, and occasionally in
OS 9.2.2) as my email program, and Palm Desktop 4.1 in OS X 10.3.2 as my
calendar program. I do not transfer email to the Palm, which is a
Tungsten T2 running Palm OS 5.2.1. My copies of Word, Excel, and
PowerPoint X are all fully updated. (I also have Virtual PC 6.1, but I
don't think that should make any difference.)

My current plan for migration to Entourage is to install Entourage X,
then update it to 10.1.5, then import my Outlook Express mailboxes (a
deeply nested structure of over 200 mailboxes). I don't see any function
in Outlook Express to rebuild its database, so that step may not be
needed before the import.
Click to expand...

Yes, you should probably rebuild the OE database before importing it -
especially as you've been using OE a long time and evidently never done it.
It's similar to Entourage's method. Hold down Option key when launching OE,
click No the first question about Compact, the Yes to next question about
Rebuild.
After that I will install the latest Entourage conduit, set the hotsync
manager to Handheld Overwrites Macintosh, and sync my datebook.

I can see several possible sources of difficulty where a little advance
knowledge might help.

I expect that I should disable the Palm Desktop datebook conduit when I
enable Entourage, since running them both might cause problems.
Click to expand...

The Entourage Conduit installer does that for you. It moves the standard
Palm conduits for Address Book, Date Book, ToDos and Memos to a "Conduits
Disabled" subfolder, leaving in place certain conduits (Backup, Installer)
you still need. Just let it do its job and don't move other things around
manually.
I have moved my Users folder from its default location on the OS X boot
volume to my documents partition. My Microsoft User Data folder is also
in the documents partition, with aliases in its usual locations in the
OS X Users data structures and in the OS 9 boot volume. This setup has
worked well through several updates of OS 9 and OS X, but it makes any
major application upgrade a little more risky. Should it work with
Entourage? I don't mind if I have to put the Entourage database in its
usual OS X location within my home directory, now that my entire Users
folder is off the boot volume.
Click to expand...

I use an alias to my MUD (on a separate partition) in the ~/Documents
location. It works fine for Entourage. Entourage X uses the same MUD folder
as OE does in Jaguar and Panther (but not OS 10.1), namely the Documents
folder in you OS X user folder ("Home"). That's where the alias should be.
Installing Office v. X puts several new subfolders into the MUD folder,
including an Office X Identities folder. The same alias to the MUD you
already have will resolve to your real MUD folder when you install - don't
worry about it.
I have several email accounts, and many mailing list rules. Will
Entourage X import them or will I have to recreate them all?
Click to expand...

It will import them all. (In the case of IMAP accounts it imports the
account settings, not your whole download cache: as soon as the import is
finished, Entourage will connect and download all the headers; you have to
click on a message or Receive All Messages to download the full messages
again).
I do definitely want to import the OE address book into Entourage. I do
not currently sync my Outlook Express address book with my Palm
contacts, because the address book is very large and mainly consists of
email addresses that act as a "white list" for spam filtering purposes
(I have the OE spam filter set to its highest level). I might want to
sync my Entourage address book with Palm contacts, but only if I can put
it into its own separate category to keep it from cluttering up normal
lookups. If that is not possible I will continue to synch contacts with
Palm Desktop. (It seems to me that I read somewhere that Entourage
supports the Vcard contact format; that would make it more useful to
sync it with Palm.)
Click to expand...

The Importer lets you choose exactly what you do and don't want to import
from OE. You can uncheck the Address Book while leaving Mail, Accounts,
Rules, Schedules, Signatures etc. checked for import.
I hope this note has given you enough technical detail to offer good
advice :).
Click to expand...

You're fussing a bit overmuch. It's certainly good to anticipate options and
problems, but the Entourage team has thought of all this before you and made
it very easy to import from their own Outlook Express app with a minimum of
effort and a maximum of options. While importing from apps other than OE and
Entourage 2001 may have greater or lesser compatibilities, it's all clear
sailing importing from OE and 2001.


--
Paul Berkowitz
MVP Entourage
Entourage FAQ Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/toc.html>
AppleScripts for Entourage: <http://macscripter.net/scriptbuilders/>

Please "Reply To Newsgroup" to reply to this message. Emails will be
ignored.

PLEASE always state which version of Entourage you are using - 2001 or X.
It's often impossible to answer your questions otherwise.
 
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