Sync Services and Entourage

[U n d e r a c h i e v e r]

Hi

Having trouble with Sync Services and Entourage. Mac OS 10.4.6 and Entourage
11.2.3

I go to Preferences > General Preferences > Sync Services.

I select all the check boxes (Address Book, iCal and Notes).

I click OK. A dialog asks me what I want to do, I select "Merge".

Dialog and Preferences windows disappear. But nothing happens ‹ no syncing.
Anyone have any idea why?

If I go back to the preferences, the Sync Services are unselected again

 

[Diane Ross]

Having trouble with Sync Services and Entourage. Mac OS 10.4.6 and Entourage
11.2.3

I go to Preferences > General Preferences > Sync Services.

I select all the check boxes (Address Book, iCal and Notes).

I click OK. A dialog asks me what I want to do, I select "Merge".

Dialog and Preferences windows disappear. But nothing happens ‹ no syncing.
Anyone have any idea why?

If I go back to the preferences, the Sync Services are unselected again

Please note microsoft.public.office.mac.entourage newsgroup is not active.
Please just post on microsoft.public.mac.office.entourage.

1) Check to see if there are any files at this directory:

~/Library/Caches/Metadata/Microsoft/Entourage/.

That's where Entourage places files for indexing.


2) Is the Entourage Database Daemon (Office Notifications) turned on?
Spotlight will index any cache files the Entourage daemon has created even
if the daemon is not launched, but no new cache files will be created until
the daemon is launched again. If the Microsoft Sync daemon never launches,
there's no way for Entourage to sync data with Sync Services. The
preferences in Entourage for Sync Services basically control 1) if this
daemon app is launched and 2) where it should sync data to-from.


3) Is the SyncServices preference disabled in Entourage? If you look at
Activity Monitor, is there an app called "Microsoft Sync" running (or runs
when you modify something in the Entourage calendar in iCal)?


4) Do you have a file on your computer called Microsoft
Entourage.mdimporter in either System/Library/Spotlight or
~/Library/Spotlight? Mdimport should be able to live in either location--try
moving it and seeing if mdimport succeeds.

4) Do you have Mail Messages. Contacts, Events & To Do Items selected in
Spotlight System Preferences? These options do not apply to just Apple's
applications.

More info here:

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq_topic/sync_services.html>

 

[U n d e r a c h i e v e r]

1) Check to see if there are any files at this directory:

~/Library/Caches/Metadata/Microsoft/Entourage/.

That's where Entourage places files for indexing.

Yes, there are files here.

2) Is the Entourage Database Daemon (Office Notifications) turned on?

It's turned on in the Entourage menu. Activity Monitor reports it running.

If the Microsoft Sync daemon never launches,
there's no way for Entourage to sync data with Sync Services. The
preferences in Entourage for Sync Services basically control 1) if this
daemon app is launched and 2) where it should sync data to-from.

I think this is where my problem lies. The daemon does not launch when I
make the selection in the Preferences.

3) Is the SyncServices preference disabled in Entourage? If you look at
Activity Monitor, is there an app called "Microsoft Sync" running (or runs
when you modify something in the Entourage calendar in iCal)?

It's not disabled in Entourage. I select it. It remains selected for a
while, but will eventually (after a quit and start) you can return to the
preference and it will require selecting again. It never stays selected.

There is nothing called Microsoft Sync running according to Activity
Monitor.

I can't modify any Entourage items in iCal as there are none there due to it
not syncing.

4) Do you have a file on your computer called Microsoft
Entourage.mdimporter in either System/Library/Spotlight or
~/Library/Spotlight? Mdimport should be able to live in either location--try
moving it and seeing if mdimport succeeds.

From the terminal $ ls /System/Library/Spotlight/Micros*
ls: /System/Library/Spotlight/Micros*: No such file or directory
$ ls ~/Library/Spotlight/Micros*
ls: /Users/user/Library/Spotlight/Micros*: No such file or directory
$

I guess this is bad ... No Microsoft Entourage.mdimporter

4) Do you have Mail Messages. Contacts, Events & To Do Items selected in
Spotlight System Preferences? These options do not apply to just Apple's
applications.

Everything is selected.

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq_topic/sync_services.html>

I've had a look at this already, and I'll have a look again. But it looks
like my problems are (a) no Microsoft Sync app running and (b) no Microsoft
Entourage.mdimporter

Any idea how to fix these issues?

Cheers for your help so far

 

[Barry Wainwright [MVP]]

I've had a look at this already, and I'll have a look again. But it looks
like my problems are (a) no Microsoft Sync app running and (b) no Microsoft
Entourage.mdimporter

Any idea how to fix these issues?

Re-apply the Office updates.

 

[Paul Barnard]

Re-apply the Office updates.

--
Barry Wainwright
Microsoft MVP (see http://mvp.support.microsoft.com for details)
Check out the Entourage User's WebLog for hints, tips and troubleshooting
<http://homepage.mac.com/barryw/weblog/weblog.html>

I too am suffering the missing 'Microsoft Entourage.mdimporter' file.
The standard reply of 'Re-apply the updates' doesn't do it. Applying
11.2.4 doesn't replace the file and having already updated to 11.2.4
the updater won't let me apply 11.2.3. Any ideas?

 

[Paul Barnard]

I too am suffering the missing 'Microsoft Entourage.mdimporter' file.
The standard reply of 'Re-apply the updates' doesn't do it. Applying
11.2.4 doesn't replace the file and having already updated to 11.2.4
the updater won't let me apply 11.2.3. Any ideas?

Did the inevitable 'one more try' and this time it worked. I have done
an OS-X upgrade in between trying so that might have had an effect.

 

[U n d e r a c h i e v e r]

Re-apply the Office updates.

Done that. No dice; the mdimporter is missing and isn't reinstalled.

 

[Diane Ross]

Done that. No dice; the mdimporter is missing and isn't reinstalled.

Did you run the installer or do a drag and drop? The installer should
install the file.

If not, then check to see if the file is in one of these locations:

System/Library/Spotlight or ~/Library/Spotlight

Mdimport should be able to live in either location--try moving it and seeing
if mdimport succeeds.

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

From the terminal $ ls /System/Library/Spotlight/Micros*
ls: /System/Library/Spotlight/Micros*: No such file or directory
$ ls ~/Library/Spotlight/Micros*
ls: /Users/user/Library/Spotlight/Micros*: No such file or directory
$

Wrong locations... Try:
ls /Library/Spotlight | grep Entourage


That's where the installer places it

Corentin

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Did you run the installer or do a drag and drop? The installer should
install the file.

If not, then check to see if the file is in one of these locations:

System/Library/Spotlight or ~/Library/Spotlight

The installer installs in /Library/Spotlight only. The other two
locations are valid as well of course, but the installer doesn't attempt
to install anything in there.

Mdimport should be able to live in either location--try moving it and seeing
if mdimport succeeds.

Better yet: to check whether the mdimporter is really properly
recognized, in the Terminal run the command:
mdimport -L

The Entourage mdimporter should be in the list you'll get.

Corentin

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

am suffering the missing 'Microsoft Entourage.mdimporter' file.
The standard reply of 'Re-apply the updates' doesn't do it. Applying
11.2.4 doesn't replace the file and having already updated to 11.2.4
the updater won't let me apply 11.2.3. Any ideas?

Could you try these two command in the Terminal??
ls /Library/Spotlight | grep Entourage

(this one should tell you whether the mdimporter is indeed instaled
where it should)

mdimport -L

(this one will list all the mdimporters the System sees and uses -
hopefully the Entourage one will be in the list).

Corentin

 

[U n d e r a c h i e v e r]

Could you try these two command in the Terminal??
ls /Library/Spotlight | grep Entourage

(this one should tell you whether the mdimporter is indeed instaled
where it should)

It is.

$ ls -ld /Library/Spotlight/Microsoft\ Entourage.mdimporter/
drwxrwxr-x 3 glaw admin 102 Jul 11 09:12 /Library/Spotlight/Microsoft
Entourage.mdimporter/

mdimport -L

(this one will list all the mdimporters the System sees and uses -
hopefully the Entourage one will be in the list).

Entourage is in the list:

mdimport -L
2006-07-16 12:15:04.226 mdimport[1570] Paths: id(1089) (
[snip]
"/Library/Spotlight/Microsoft Entourage.mdimporter",
"/Library/Spotlight/Microsoft Office.mdimporter",
[snip]
)


But still no way to keep syncing selected in the Entourage preferences. I
can select, but after a restart, it becomes unselected again.

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Entourage is in the list:

mdimport -L 2006-07-16 12:15:04.226 mdimport[1570] Paths: id(1089) (
[snip] "/Library/Spotlight/Microsoft Entourage.mdimporter",
"/Library/Spotlight/Microsoft Office.mdimporter", [snip] )


But still no way to keep syncing selected in the Entourage preferences.
I can select, but after a restart, it becomes unselected again.

There is obviously something fishy with your Entourage prefs.
At this point, I would consider moving them to the Desktop to let
Entourage create a new set during the next launch to see whether this
helps (you can always move the old prefs back later if you want to)


Corentin

 

[U n d e r a c h i e v e r]

There is obviously something fishy with your Entourage prefs.
At this point, I would consider moving them to the Desktop to let
Entourage create a new set during the next launch to see whether this
helps (you can always move the old prefs back later if you want to)

Where are they (they're not in ~/Library/Preferences/... where I would
expect them!)

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Where are they (they're not in ~/Library/Preferences/... where I would
expect them!)

~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft

Corentin

 

[U n d e r a c h i e v e r]

There is obviously something fishy with your Entourage prefs.
At this point, I would consider moving them to the Desktop to let
Entourage create a new set during the next launch to see whether this
helps (you can always move the old prefs back later if you want to)

Tried this. No dice. The sync services settings won't 'stick' if I quit
entourage. I tried changing some contacts without quitting, and they did not
appear in address book.

I'm at a loss as to what to try next. A service called sync service very
breifly appeared in activity monitor when I tried this, but it clearly
didn't do much, or it crashed.

Nothing obvious in console either.

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

I'm at a loss as to what to try next. A service called sync service very
breifly appeared in activity monitor when I tried this, but it clearly
didn't do much, or it crashed.

No crash log with Sync Service in it's name in
~/Library/Logs/CrashReporter??

Corentin

 

[U n d e r a c h i e v e r]

No crash log with Sync Service in it's name in
~/Library/Logs/CrashReporter??

No crash log. So I guess it didn't crash, it just didn't do much.