Alright folks, ANYONE who is syncing their contacts between Outlook and the Google Contacts cloud, whether it be a one time move or an every day sync, NEEDS TO KNOW this information to protect the integrity of your contact data!
I started writing this guide simply because I could not find this information anywhere on the web (although it probably exists somewhere). This guide analyzes the difference between the available information fields in Outlook Contacts VS Google Contacts, and then by a process of experimentation, determined which fields will sync, and which fields will be LOST in the transfer.
First, the disclaimer: This test was performed using the CompanionLink Software. It was the only software I could find that reliably synced my contacts back and for in a no-nonesense manner. It also appeared to be the best developed and most professional. This is EXTREMELY important information, because different syncing software can have different standards for data translation. Some things of course cannot be translated at all, regardless of the software. For example, Google will allow you to have 29 home phone numbers, IF you wanted to.... but Outlook simply does not have the fields available for this!
Sync Microsoft Outlook with your Google account and your phone | CompanionLink
Because the structure and organization of Google Contacts is very different from Outlook contacts, I have broken the results up into two sections. 1) Outlook to Google, and 2) Google to Outlook. If you are syncing your contacts regularly between outlook and Google, you will need to follow the guidelines contained in BOTH sections with regards to creating and editing your contacts.
Without further delay, here is the detailed results of my testing.
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~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~
~~~~~~~~~ Outlook to Google Contacts: ~~~~~~~~~
Please note that while outlook will say “Home, Home 2”, Google only says “Home, Home” with no number delineation. Thus to maintain clarity, I have added a number in [brackets] to denote what order the contact information will appear in Google’s (and your phone’s) list.
First info group: (Everything syncs normally)
...... Full name ==> syncs
...... Company ==> syncs
...... Job title ==> syncs
Internet:
...... Email 1 ==> Work
...... Display as 1 ==> DOES NOT SYNC
...... Email 2 ==> Home
...... Display as 2 ==> DOES NOT SYNC
...... Email 3 ==> Other
...... Display as 3 ==> DOES NOT SYNC
...... Web address ==> syncs as “Home Page”, ALSO makes a copy in the “notes” field.
...... IM Address ==> ==> syncs to Google as “IM 1 Google Talk”, BUT NOT Android
Phone Numbers
...... Assistant ==> DOES NOT SYNC
...... Business ==> Work [1]
...... Business 2 ==> Work [2]
...... Business Fax ==> Work Fax
...... Callback ==> Home [3]
...... Car ==> DOES NOT SYNC
...... Company ==> DOES NOT SYNC
...... Home ==> Home [1]
...... Home 2 ==> Home [2]
...... Home Fax ==> Home Fax
...... ISDN ==> DOES NOT SYNC
...... Mobile ==> Mobile
...... Other ==> Other
...... Other Fax ==> DOES NOT SYNC
...... Pager ==> Pager
...... Primary ==> Work [3]
...... Radio ==> DOES NOT SYNC
...... Telex ==> DOES NOT SYNC
...... TTY/TDD ==> DOES NOT SYNC
Addresses (everything syncs normally)
...... Business ==> syncs
...... Home ==> syncs
...... Other ==> syncs
Notes: synced normally
Details tab:
...... Department ==> DOES NOT SYNC
...... Office ==> DOES NOT SYNC
...... Profession ==> DOES NOT SYNC
...... Managers name ==> syncs to Google, but NOT Android
...... Assistants name ==> syncs to Google, but NOT Android
...... Nickname ==> syncs
...... Spouse ==> syncs to Google, but NOT Android
...... Title ==> syncs
...... Suffix ==> syncs
...... Birthday ==> syncs, ALSO makes a copy in the “notes” field
...... Anniversary ==> syncs, ALSO makes a copy in the “notes” field
...... Internet free-busy ==> DOES NOT SYNC
~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~
~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~
~~~~~~~~~ Google to Outlook Contacts: ~~~~~~~~~
Please note that Google only says “Home, Home, Home” etc. with the only delineation being the order on the screen, and no numbers, While outlook will say “Home, Home 2” etc., Thus to maintain clarity, I have added a number in [brackets] to denote what order the contact information appears in Google’s (and your phone’s) list.
Full name ==> (Everything syncs normally)
Nickname ==> syncs
Position Title ==> syncs
Company ==> syncs
Email:
...... Work ==> Email 1
...... Home ==> Email 2
...... Other ==> Email 3
Phone Numbers
...... Home [1] ==> Home
...... Home [2] ==> Home 2
...... Home [3] ==> Callback
...... Mobile ==> Mobile
...... Work [1] ==> Business
...... Work [2] ==> Business 2
...... Work [3] ==> Primary
...... Work Fax ==> Business Fax
...... Home Fax ==> Home Fax
...... Pager ==> Pager
...... Other ==> Other
...... NOTE: These are the only fields the will sync! ALL OTHER SUBSEQUENT FIELDS WILL NOT SYNC TO OUTLOOK. So if you make a “Work [4]”, or “Mobile [2]” field, THEY WILL NOT SYNC!
Addresses
...... Home ==> Home
...... Work ==> Business
...... Other ==> Other
...... NOTE: These are the only fields the will sync! ALL OTHER SUBSEQUENT FIELDS WILL NOT SYNC TO OUTLOOK. So if you make a “Home [2]”, or “Work [2]” field, THEY WILL NOT SYNC!
Birthday ==> syncs
Anniversary ==> syncs
Notes ==> First note syncs [1], all subsequent notes [2+] do not sync.
Website [1+] ==> DOES NOT SYNC
NOTE: NONE of the Google Custom Title fields will sync! If you create a phone number and assign it to a “custom” category instead of the traditional “home, work, mobile, other, etc.”, this number WILL NOT sync to outlook. FURTHERMORE, it is a very likely possibility that THE ENTIRE CONTACT WILL NOT SYNC TO OUTLOOK.
.
I started writing this guide simply because I could not find this information anywhere on the web (although it probably exists somewhere). This guide analyzes the difference between the available information fields in Outlook Contacts VS Google Contacts, and then by a process of experimentation, determined which fields will sync, and which fields will be LOST in the transfer.
NOT ALL INFORMATION WILL TRANSFER FROM OUTLOOK TO GOOGLE,
AND
NOT ALL INFORMATION WILL TRANSFER FROM GOOGLE TO OUTLOOK!
AND
NOT ALL INFORMATION WILL TRANSFER FROM GOOGLE TO OUTLOOK!
First, the disclaimer: This test was performed using the CompanionLink Software. It was the only software I could find that reliably synced my contacts back and for in a no-nonesense manner. It also appeared to be the best developed and most professional. This is EXTREMELY important information, because different syncing software can have different standards for data translation. Some things of course cannot be translated at all, regardless of the software. For example, Google will allow you to have 29 home phone numbers, IF you wanted to.... but Outlook simply does not have the fields available for this!
Sync Microsoft Outlook with your Google account and your phone | CompanionLink
Because the structure and organization of Google Contacts is very different from Outlook contacts, I have broken the results up into two sections. 1) Outlook to Google, and 2) Google to Outlook. If you are syncing your contacts regularly between outlook and Google, you will need to follow the guidelines contained in BOTH sections with regards to creating and editing your contacts.
Without further delay, here is the detailed results of my testing.
~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~
~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~
~~~~~~~~~ Outlook to Google Contacts: ~~~~~~~~~
Please note that while outlook will say “Home, Home 2”, Google only says “Home, Home” with no number delineation. Thus to maintain clarity, I have added a number in [brackets] to denote what order the contact information will appear in Google’s (and your phone’s) list.
First info group: (Everything syncs normally)
...... Full name ==> syncs
...... Company ==> syncs
...... Job title ==> syncs
Internet:
...... Email 1 ==> Work
...... Display as 1 ==> DOES NOT SYNC
...... Email 2 ==> Home
...... Display as 2 ==> DOES NOT SYNC
...... Email 3 ==> Other
...... Display as 3 ==> DOES NOT SYNC
...... Web address ==> syncs as “Home Page”, ALSO makes a copy in the “notes” field.
...... IM Address ==> ==> syncs to Google as “IM 1 Google Talk”, BUT NOT Android
Phone Numbers
...... Assistant ==> DOES NOT SYNC
...... Business ==> Work [1]
...... Business 2 ==> Work [2]
...... Business Fax ==> Work Fax
...... Callback ==> Home [3]
...... Car ==> DOES NOT SYNC
...... Company ==> DOES NOT SYNC
...... Home ==> Home [1]
...... Home 2 ==> Home [2]
...... Home Fax ==> Home Fax
...... ISDN ==> DOES NOT SYNC
...... Mobile ==> Mobile
...... Other ==> Other
...... Other Fax ==> DOES NOT SYNC
...... Pager ==> Pager
...... Primary ==> Work [3]
...... Radio ==> DOES NOT SYNC
...... Telex ==> DOES NOT SYNC
...... TTY/TDD ==> DOES NOT SYNC
Addresses (everything syncs normally)
...... Business ==> syncs
...... Home ==> syncs
...... Other ==> syncs
Notes: synced normally
Details tab:
...... Department ==> DOES NOT SYNC
...... Office ==> DOES NOT SYNC
...... Profession ==> DOES NOT SYNC
...... Managers name ==> syncs to Google, but NOT Android
...... Assistants name ==> syncs to Google, but NOT Android
...... Nickname ==> syncs
...... Spouse ==> syncs to Google, but NOT Android
...... Title ==> syncs
...... Suffix ==> syncs
...... Birthday ==> syncs, ALSO makes a copy in the “notes” field
...... Anniversary ==> syncs, ALSO makes a copy in the “notes” field
...... Internet free-busy ==> DOES NOT SYNC
~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~
~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~
~~~~~~~~~ Google to Outlook Contacts: ~~~~~~~~~
Please note that Google only says “Home, Home, Home” etc. with the only delineation being the order on the screen, and no numbers, While outlook will say “Home, Home 2” etc., Thus to maintain clarity, I have added a number in [brackets] to denote what order the contact information appears in Google’s (and your phone’s) list.
Full name ==> (Everything syncs normally)
Nickname ==> syncs
Position Title ==> syncs
Company ==> syncs
Email:
...... Work ==> Email 1
...... Home ==> Email 2
...... Other ==> Email 3
Phone Numbers
...... Home [1] ==> Home
...... Home [2] ==> Home 2
...... Home [3] ==> Callback
...... Mobile ==> Mobile
...... Work [1] ==> Business
...... Work [2] ==> Business 2
...... Work [3] ==> Primary
...... Work Fax ==> Business Fax
...... Home Fax ==> Home Fax
...... Pager ==> Pager
...... Other ==> Other
...... NOTE: These are the only fields the will sync! ALL OTHER SUBSEQUENT FIELDS WILL NOT SYNC TO OUTLOOK. So if you make a “Work [4]”, or “Mobile [2]” field, THEY WILL NOT SYNC!
Addresses
...... Home ==> Home
...... Work ==> Business
...... Other ==> Other
...... NOTE: These are the only fields the will sync! ALL OTHER SUBSEQUENT FIELDS WILL NOT SYNC TO OUTLOOK. So if you make a “Home [2]”, or “Work [2]” field, THEY WILL NOT SYNC!
Birthday ==> syncs
Anniversary ==> syncs
Notes ==> First note syncs [1], all subsequent notes [2+] do not sync.
Website [1+] ==> DOES NOT SYNC
NOTE: NONE of the Google Custom Title fields will sync! If you create a phone number and assign it to a “custom” category instead of the traditional “home, work, mobile, other, etc.”, this number WILL NOT sync to outlook. FURTHERMORE, it is a very likely possibility that THE ENTIRE CONTACT WILL NOT SYNC TO OUTLOOK.
.