We can now synchronize Outlook & Android without a 3rd party app or Exchange Server!

UTPiper · Dec 15, 2011

02befree said:
Raines30 I have 6 POP3 email accounts and they are all coming through on my phone's email through Hotmail. It's really slick. I guess the key is that when you tell those accounts to deliver to the Hotmail inbox, they become part of the Hotmail cloud - awesome. You do this Tools/Accounts/ and at the bottom there is a button (Outlook 2007) that says Change Folder - click it and select the Hotmail inbox. I'm confident it will work easily for you.

UTPiper -- does this help somewhat?

It does. I think I understand, but to clarify, do your 6 POP3 email accounts retain their "individual" status in terms of replying and unique signatures for each? If so, then I think I have a winner in terms of solutions.

One more follow up question: Do you have Outlook pull in the POP3 emails and then allow it to sync to the Hotmail Server or vice versa?

UTPiper · Dec 15, 2011

Follow up question/observation: I understand the original intent of this thread was to demonstrate a free method to natively sync Outlook contacts/calendars with an Android device. I also noticed several posters identified the desire to somehow also include Tasks and Notes in the sync process. Doing additional research I did find the "paid" version of Outlook Connector, or more accurately Hotmail Plus, ($20/year) which supposedly adds Tasks and Notes to the sync process.

Anyone have any experience/thoughts on: one, does the paid version truly sync Tasks and Notes to hotmail effectively and two, do the Tasks and Notes sync correctly with an Android device?

I am more than willing to pay $20/year to have a fully synchronized Outlook database on an Android phone (even though I get that free with my current BB). I would love to hear anyone's experiences with the paid version.

UTPiper · Dec 16, 2011

Well, I created a hotmail account and downloaded and installed the Outlook Connector. So far so good. The sample set of contacts I copied from my primary/original Outlook database show up in both my "Outlook Connector" folder and on my web-based hotmail account. New Calendar entries in Outlook also port over and appear in both (although a much longer delay for calendar entries than for contacts.

I do have a question for the group who use Outlook Connector (and perhaps a misunderstanding of how it works on my part). I had the impression that after installing and setting up Outlook Hotmail Connector I would stop using my previous .pst file (it's corresponding folder in the Nav pane) and use the Hotmail Connector folder (.ost file) exclusively? So, I sent a few test emails from my hotmail linked account from within outlook for the various POP3 emails I use and I noticed that the sent version of the emails shows up in the old .pst sent folder and the emails themselves arrive in the old .pst inbox.

So my question is, does the old .pst file still manage incoming & outgoing emails or is there something else I needed to do in order to manage my various email accounts via the new .ost file?

thegexx · Dec 16, 2011

I am reading through these posts, and I don't get why you all just don't use thunderbird? Or pay for google apps? Google apps is $50 / year per user, but has a outlook connector in it.. From that account one can import all their other pop/imap email from other things, still use it, without having to deal with hotmail (which has reliability issues on large mailboxes).

Thunderbird is free, has contact & calendar support for gmail without any connectors, if you just want to view your calender then one can also share the .ics link from gmail into outlook.

Gmail also now has offline mode for gmail, calender, and docs on the browser.

Or..... pay for exchange hosting, I think it is about 8 a month, and is really the only way that outlook should be used, it sucks at every other protocol (pop & imap) and should be avoided on these accounts unless you like to wait.

I personally don't trust keeping all my old important email on my computer in a .pst file, I've seen to many times with exchange and how it seems to mess things up.

And with the hotmail, I have a client that has about 10gb of email in live, his outlook stopped syncing, so we had to pull all the email from his live account into gmail and walla his live account started working again, so now he just has it setup for gmail to pull his live mail in and know it's just going to work.

BJBBJB · Dec 16, 2011

After reading through many google helpfile and admin pages, it appears that google apps with the outlook connector (which I believe is what Google is calling "google apps sync for microsoft outlook") is designed to sync a corporate exchange server to google apps. Although the "google apps migration for outlook" one-time migration tool will extract data from a .PST file it does not appear the ongling sync is meant to work that way is that correct?

It also looks like if you run the google apps sync for microsoft outlook it also migrates and syncs your e-mail to google which I would definitely not want...

Perhaps I have this wrong....

BJBBJB

UTPiper · Dec 16, 2011

thegexx said:
I am reading through these posts, and I don't get why you all just don't use thunderbird? Or pay for google apps? Google apps is $50 / year per user, but has a outlook connector in it.. From that account one can import all their other pop/imap email from other things, still use it, without having to deal with hotmail (which has reliability issues on large mailboxes).

The issue for many of us is we don't trust Google with our data sets as Google has publicly stated they scan data to identify targeted advertising activities as well as other data mining activities. This isn't to suggest that Microsoft is a corporate alter boy by any means, but at least Microsoft's current privacy standards don't reflect an ongoing data mining operation.

That, and just like with Microsoft and it's Office suite, there is a feeling Google's penchant to tie everyone in to their platform via their Android operating system, isn't necessarily good for a competitive environment.

And, some of us have just used Outlook so long (in my case over 15 years) that it just isn't worth it to change a PIM that you have spent so long customizing to get it "just right" for your needs.

02befree · Dec 16, 2011

BJBBJB said:
After reading through many google helpfile and admin pages, it appears that google apps with the outlook connector (which I believe is what Google is calling "google apps sync for microsoft outlook") is designed to sync a corporate exchange server to google apps. Although the "google apps migration for outlook" one-time migration tool will extract data from a .PST file it does not appear the ongling sync is meant to work that way is that correct?

It also looks like if you run the google apps sync for microsoft outlook it also migrates and syncs your e-mail to google which I would definitely not want...

Perhaps I have this wrong....

BJBBJB

I appreciate the discussion on this - trust me all solutions are welcome. BUT, there are theories --- "it appears", "looks like" -- that don't carry a lot of weight until they're tried. Just like the one we're discussing. I've actually got it set up and working. I run a tech service and have spent hours trying to sync iPhones, and other phones and devices to Outlook.
So, why don't you try your theory and let us know how it worked? I think the cost is reasonable, and many users have given up so much of their privacy already, they don't care if Google knows how much lint is in there bellybutton

More later on the POP3 stuff UTPiper, but you need to specify what "Folder" you want your hotmail to load into - (see my previous post).

The comment about Thunderbird - honestly, I didn't know it had graduated into a calendar program as well, but to compare it with Outlook is weak. Certainly sounds like a great alternative though - especially since it's drinking the same kool-aid as gmail, android, etc.

I have heard of.people using Exchange Server with Outlook and paying like was mentioned $8 or so a month and loved it.

Keeping a .pst file is a must for me - so many Cloud issues in the tech news reinforces that. A backed up .pst file on a USB drive is a great tool to recreate your Outlook world, anytime, anywhere, Internet or not.

thegexx · Dec 17, 2011

UTPiper said:
The issue for many of us is we don't trust Google with our data sets as Google has publicly stated they scan data to identify targeted advertising activities as well as other data mining activities. This isn't to suggest that Microsoft is a corporate alter boy by any means, but at least Microsoft's current privacy standards don't reflect an ongoing data mining operation.

That, and just like with Microsoft and it's Office suite, there is a feeling Google's penchant to tie everyone in to their platform via their Android operating system, isn't necessarily good for a competitive environment.

And, some of us have just used Outlook so long (in my case over 15 years) that it just isn't worth it to change a PIM that you have spent so long customizing to get it "just right" for your needs.

But you trust microsoft with it, by running it through hotmail then out through another sync? Gotcha.. Microsoft tries to lock people into their platform all the time, so does apple, and so does google. I have personally experienced more issues with microsoft and email than google and email, and I won't use apple products so they are a non-discussion for me.

As with outlook, I've used it for years, with imap, pop etc in the past, now that I know exchange, I have found that outlook is meant for exchange, anything less and it can be easily replaced for free.

I use 4 different computers depending upon where I am going, and what I need, so I want to have access to all my email wherever I am, with google's 2 factor authentication, https to access it, knowing the data is safe (never had a issue with gmail since 2007). Hotmail has gone down, and stopped syncing because of to much data, exchange databases like to say there is corrupt data for no specific reason (after running database repairs for hours and having backups fail I know this), so for me, from personal experience not some story on the net, I don't trust hotmail/microsoft for important data storage.

If one is truly concerned about data security of your email, you would never let it onto your phone, ever.. That phone can become lost and your data with it. Use citrix or rdp and remote into the machine to access old email. And that should be kept on a encrypted drive using bitlocker or truecrypt.... But what happens if the machine gets knocked over, water spilled in it, stolen, burnt, flooded, whatever things can happen, one looses that data forever. The price of google possibly going through my email and looking at things for me is worth the piece of mind of knowing that if I need a email from 2001, that I can get to it.. Also.. you have heard of pgp for encryption? Use gmail for your sync, but encrypt the messages then it is still around, but totally secure..

Also about thunderbird calender being weak, or gmail's calender being weak. How so? One can share it out to other people, share appointments, do most of what outlook can do. What things can it not do? Unless one is running the business contact manager, it works for most people. I find that gmail, the contacts, and calender work for 90% of the people out there.

The moral of this story is, don't do this and that, then this and that, one will run into issues.. Kiss always prevails (keep it simple stupid). If you staying with outlook is super important and you want to keep your data secure, if you like android, pay for exchange hosting, it is how outlook is really meant to be used, or get a windows phone and plug it into your computer. But what happens if that computer goes bad? ......

I keep all my texts and call logs backed up on gmail also, sure the private data is there from my texts, I can delete what I want, but there have been more times then not that by me having it backed up to the cloud has saved my ass.

There is a price to be paid for privacy, that is ease of convience and use. But privacy in this world is dead anyways. Every time one does a bank transaction it is monitored, cameras on light poles, shopping habits, shoppers cards, email it's self, data going across networks, cell phone calls being tracked, etc. I just assume that at anytime a government agency can be monitoring my cell phone calls, debit card transactions, or whatever.

UTPiper · Dec 18, 2011

Update on Success/Failure:

As outlined in RAZZ's very detailed original post, I downloaded the Outlook Hotmail Connector ("Connector") and created a new hotmail account. The Connector installed without issue within my existing Outlook 2007. The anticipated file folders appeared as expected. I, however, ran into unexpected issues when trying to copy contact records into the new Connector contacts folder.

When trying to copy the .pst contacts folder and paste it into the Connector contacts folder, I received an error indicating I could not create a sub-folder in the Connector contacts folder. I somewhat understood this as I was attempting to copy the entire .pst folder and it would have been treated as a sub-folder if the paste operation was permitted. So, I simply highlighted and copied the records from the .pst contacts folder and copied them into the Connector contacts folder. Everything seemed to copy correctly except categories and contact pictures did not copy over (still within Outlook 2007). What didn't happen was any contact record population in the hotmail web-based contact database. I initially attributed this to the number of records (just under 2300) and that it would take some time to complete.

I then waited several hours and went back to check and still no records showing up on the web-based database. All of the connectors were showing as active within Outlook. So, I thought, OK, let's delete the copied records and create a csv extract that I can upload directly into the web-based application. I first tried the entire 2300 record extract and that failed as I was limited to 1500 records. No problem (I anticipated that issue based on this thread) so I broke the data into three pieces. Two of the pieces uploaded without difficulty and within minutes those uploaded records appeared in my Connector contacts section within Outlook. Happy times!

I could adjust records in either Outlook or the web-based data and they would sync almost immediately. Like it so far. Knowing I had a third of my contact database pending import, I have not yet attempted to connect to my new Android phone (didn't want to complicate matters bringing another data device into the equation until I had the primary sync fully loaded). As I reviewed the contact data, I noticed I was missing some key contacts so I tried copying the key missing contacts from the .pst contact folder into the Connector contact folder. They appeared to copy over just fine but never synced with the web-based data (I was under the 1500 threshold).

So I thought it might be the copy process, so I opted to "move" the contact records (about 10 of them) from the .pst to the Connector folder. Again, no joy. They never synced to the web-based application. I then created a separate extract file of those 10 records and uploaded them directly into the web-based application (after deleting the copied/moved records first). The uploaded files synced back to Outlook within seconds.

So, it appears I can upload directly into the web-based application and everything works as intended. However, simply copying or moving records from the .pst contact folder into the Connector folder doesn't work. Have no clue as to why (left messages in the hotmail forums but no responses). As test I added contact records manually within the Connector folder in Outlook and they synced immediately to the web-based version. I then added manual contact records in the web-based version and they too immediately synced.

So overall, it appears to be working. The only issue I need to address is the 1500 record limit. I've tried the SMS confirmation process (to show I'm human and not a bot) but still no lifting of the import record limit. So just have to wait and see on that one.

Now on to the set up on the Android phone and see how that process works. Will post results later.

RazzMaTazz · Dec 18, 2011

Raines30 said:
I have a rather large amount of emails in outlook. When this all syncs to the phone will it take up a lot of space and will it slow down the phone?

Not all of your email is stored on your phone. Only the recent emails are saved to your phone, and as you scroll back in time, more email is downloaded on the fly. On Android, you can go into your Hotmail settings and change the amount of mail that's cached on the phone.

Raines30 said:
Or do I have to use the hotmail as my email client and set up folders and such on that? I would prefer to continue to use outlook for that... I am probably making this too confusing. I just would like to know if I can somehow include my pop3 accounts in this and also the previous asked question about taking up space on the phone or slowing it down because of all the email.

You can choose whether or not you want to access your POP mail through Hotmail. I don't.

You can have multiple (POP, IMAP, & MAPI) email accounts on Outlook and on Android. Unlike IMAP & MAPI (Hotmail) POP doesn't truly sync. (You can accesss your POP mail from multiple devices, but if you delete, reply, or store in a saved-mail folder on one device, it won't be deleted, the reply won't be in the "sent mail" folder, and store emails won't be in saved-mail folders on other devices. IMAP and MAPI (Hotmail) truly sync.

If you like, most POP mail services allow you to forward your POP mail to other accounts. Or if you like, you can go into the Hotmail (or Gmail) web-based account settings and pull your POP mail into Hotmail (or Gmail). There are several ways to skin the cat. But I don't do it at all.

RazzMaTazz · Dec 18, 2011

UTPiper said:
I currently have six POP3 email accounts being managed within my desktop Outlook (Outlook 2007 for reference) each with its own name identifier and separate signature blocks. Let me clarify I really don't need to live sync my email with the Android device as I have used POP3 on my BB and leave messages on the respective servers until my desktop Outlook pulls them in... Given that, do I need to re-create/set up those six POP3 email accounts (can I?) within the Hotmail Connector folder and use that going forward for all incoming and outgoing email? Or will the Hotmail Connector force me to use the Hotmail account (in some fashion) to aggregate those six email accounts? My concern is what will appear as the return address for emails sent via the Hotmail Connector account? If its the hotmail account I set up, this won't work.

In Outlook you can have multiple POP, IMAP, & Hotmail accounts. (I do.) Each of those accounts appear separately on the left navigation pane (if you're in folder list view, Ctrl+6). In Android, you can have multiple POP, IMAP, & Hotmail accounts, each with its own Inbox and subfolders. (I don't care about my old ISP-based POP accounts so I only have IMAP & Hotmail on my phone.) On both Outlook and Android, your return address will be that of the email/inbox from which you're replying.

RazzMaTazz · Dec 18, 2011

UTPiper said:
Doing additional research I did find the "paid" version of Outlook Connector, or more accurately Hotmail Plus, ($20/year) which supposedly adds Tasks and Notes to the sync process.

Anyone have any experience/thoughts on: one, does the paid version truly sync Tasks and Notes to hotmail effectively and two, do the Tasks and Notes sync correctly with an Android device?

I wasn't aware of that and haven't tried it. If you try it, please let us know how it works.

RazzMaTazz · Dec 18, 2011

UTPiper said:
...I had the impression that after installing and setting up Outlook Hotmail Connector I would stop using my previous .pst file (it's corresponding folder in the Nav pane) and use the Hotmail Connector folder (.ost file) exclusively? So, I sent a few test emails from my hotmail linked account from within outlook for the various POP3 emails I use and I noticed that the sent version of the emails shows up in the old .pst sent folder and the emails themselves arrive in the old .pst inbox.

So my question is, does the old .pst file still manage incoming & outgoing emails or is there something else I needed to do in order to manage my various email accounts via the new .ost file?

I only use Hotmail to sync my contacts, calendar, and Hotmail email with Android. My Gmail & POP accounts remain in their own separate PSTs.

You could forward (or pull) all of your other mail accounts into a single Hotmail inbox. I don't do that. If you do that you may want to set up your Outlook preferences such that your replies appear to come from the email address to which the email was sent. I think you're "sent mail" will end up in the sent mail folder of the account from which you replied.

In Outlook, you may want to go into your "Account Settings" and change your default "Data File" to your Hotmail account. (In Outlook 2010, go to File/Account Settings --> Data File tab, then select your Hotmail account and clicked "Set as default".) That way if you add a contact from within an email or create a draft mail, etc, it will end up in your Hotmail account.

RazzMaTazz · Dec 18, 2011

thegexx said:
I am reading through these posts, and I don't get why you all just don't use thunderbird? Or pay for google apps? Google apps is $50 / year per user, but has a outlook connector in it.. From that account one can import all their other pop/imap email from other things, still use it, without having to deal with hotmail (which has reliability issues on large mailboxes)...
Or..... pay for exchange hosting, I think it is about 8 a month, and is really the only way that outlook should be used, it sucks at every other protocol (pop & imap) and should be avoided on these accounts unless you like to wait.

Outlook is so infinitely superior to Thunderbird that I don't know where to begin. Outlook has far, far more capabilities, including its integration of email, calendar, contacts, and Microsoft Office products (like Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Publisher, OneNote, SharePoint, etc.) and being able to do things like Mail Merge of a Word document). It's ridiculous to even try to compare Outlook and Thunderbird. I could write pages. If Thunderbird works for you, I'm happy for you. My original post is targeted at Outlook users who want to automatically sync contacts and calendar with Android- and do so for free.

If money is no object and you want to pay $50/year and/or $8/month for Google Apps and/or Exchange hosting, great. I don't want to. Microsoft Office & Outlook are far, far superior in my opinion. Not even close. Hotmail works much like Exchange-- and is plenty good enough for my syncing needs. Hotmail has been working perfectly for me and has been very reliable. All of my contact and calendar data is in my OST file (not PST) and all of my data is essentially always backed up to Hotmail's server farms. All of my emails are essentially always backed up to Gmail's (or Hotmail's) server farms. So I have no concerns whatsoever about losing or corrupting a PST file. I could throw all of my PCs and Android devices in the ocean, buy new ones, input my Hotmail & Gmail accounts into them, and then all of my data would magically appear on my new PCs and phones from the Hotmail and Gmail clouds. It's a beautiful thing.

Again, this thread is targeted at people who want to sync Outlook with Android.

RazzMaTazz · Dec 18, 2011

thegexx said:
But you trust microsoft with it, by running it through hotmail then out through another sync? Gotcha.. Microsoft tries to lock people into their platform all the time, so does apple, and so does google.

They all want to lock you in. But Google has publicly announced that they will use your contact data to better target you and your contacts with their money-making schemes. Microsoft has publicly announced that they won't. Microsoft could change its mind at some point, but at this point Microsoft seems like the safer bet. And Microsoft has a long history of not abusing people's data.

thegexx said:
As with outlook, I've used it for years, with imap, pop etc in the past, now that I know exchange, I have found that outlook is meant for exchange, anything less and it can be easily replaced for free.

I strongly disagree with that opinion. In my opinion (whether or not you use Outlook with an Exchange Server) Outlook is infinitely superior to any other PIM out there-- especially for Microsoft Office users. There are other basic free solutions (like Open Office & Thunderbird) that work fine if you're just doing basic stuff, but those solutions don't even comes close to Outlook and MS Office (including Excel, Word, PowerPoint, SharePoint, OneNote, & Publisher). Not even close-- especially their integration with each other.

But again, I meant for this thread to be for people who want to sync Outlook with Android, not to be a debate about Outlook versus Thunderbird or MS Office versus Open Office versus Google apps.

UTPiper · Dec 22, 2011

Contact Limit Update

I've been working with the Outlook Hotmail Connector and have been able to work around a few of its syncing quirks to the point I really like the functionality. However, big pothole was just encountered. I have been unable to increase the original 1,500 contact record limit which was discussed elsewhere in this thread inspite of the examples put forth that it was just a matter of time and the cap would be increased.

I contacted Hotmail support regarding this issue and here is the pertinent components of the thread and the very disappointing conclusion at the end:

Windows Live Marra L.
Hi XXXX,

I've made necessary adjustments to your account. Please try adding more contacts and confirm if it's already working.

Thanks,
Windows Live Marra L.

My Response

Not yet. I received the same error as previously:

"You can only have a total of 1,500 contacts. Please delete some contacts and try importing the file again."

Here is a screen shot just to confirm the message I receive after attempting to import the csv file:

<edit> apparently the screen shot picture doesn't show up on these posts. If you'd like, we can take this discussion offline and I can send screen shots to you directly.

Windows Live Marra L.

If you're using Hotmail on the web, I have confirmed that the limit for contacts is up to 1,500 only. Therefore, you cannot add any contacts anymore.

If you wish to add more contacts to your account, using a mail client would be the best solution.

Thanks,
Windows Live

Back to the beginning....perhaps I will have to accept my fate and <gulp> use gmail as my primary contact/calendar repository........

neil154 · Dec 22, 2011

You could try using Funambol or Google Calendar Sync along with Go Contact Mod and still use Outlook

BJBBJB · Dec 24, 2011

02befree said:
I appreciate the discussion on this - trust me all solutions are welcome. BUT, there are theories --- "it appears", "looks like" -- that don't carry a lot of weight until they're tried. Just like the one we're discussing. I've actually got it set up and working. I run a tech service and have spent hours trying to sync iPhones, and other phones and devices to Outlook.
So, why don't you try your theory and let us know how it worked? I think the cost is reasonable, and many users have given up so much of their privacy already, they don't care if Google knows how much lint is in there bellybutton

02BFree,
Please mentally replace my "appears" and "looks like" to "per google online documentation". I was prepared to give it a shot but nothing that I found on Google admin documentation said it would do what I wanted to. I did not have a theory and was not weighing in on what solution was best. I was just asking what specific google program was working for users.

Anyway I installed MyPhoneExplorer and it has worked fine for me so far. I can confirm that it has worked. I just experienced the "+signs" on out of local area code phone numbers which I can fix and live with.

I just need to determine if I can also sync calendar/contact/tasks from a corporate exchange server using native android (without any 3rd party sync utility)...and still keep the MPE sync intact for a local PST-based sync.

BJBBJB

RazzMaTazz · Dec 26, 2011

UTPiper said:
...I have been unable to increase the original 1,500 contact record limit which was discussed elsewhere in this thread inspite of the examples put forth that it was just a matter of time and the cap would be increased.

--------------------
If you're using Hotmail on the web, I have confirmed that the limit for contacts is up to 1,500 only. Therefore, you cannot add any contacts anymore.

If you wish to add more contacts to your account, using a mail client would be the best solution.

Thanks,
Windows Live

I think the representative from Windows Live is wrong about there being a 1500 contact limit. Above on this page, Bruedas mentions syncing 3000 contacts (but complained about not being able to sync more than 3000). On page 3 of the comments here, GeoM reports syncing over 1700 contacts. Elsewhere on the web people are reporting syncing over 2000 contacts. Syncing more than 1500 contacts may require validation.

mikepala85 · Dec 27, 2011

I can see the discussion here give ideas more on syncing outlook mails to android. This shows how we can use our android mobile more advanced too.

UTPiper · Dec 29, 2011

RazzMaTazz said:
I think the representative from Windows Live is wrong about there being a 1500 contact limit. Above on this page, Bruedas mentions syncing 3000 contacts (but complained about not being able to sync more than 3000). On page 3 of the comments here, GeoM reports syncing over 1700 contacts. Elsewhere on the web people are reporting syncing over 2000 contacts. Syncing more than 1500 contacts may require validation.

Razz - thanks again for the follow up. I have a new update. I kept going back to those posts you mentioned above about people being able to load/sync significantly more records than the 1,500 so I figured there must be a way. BTW - I tried the validation/authentication process at the beginning of this process and confirmed everything via their SMS process but no joy in terms of additional import capacity within hotmail.

So, rather than import my remaining contact data (above the 1,500 limit) into my hotmail contacts directly, I opted to import it into my Outlook hotmail contacts - just to see if it would work in reverse. This seemed to work as I was able to load the additional contact records into Outlook (with some issues - will discuss in a moment) and they then synced nearly immediately with the hotmail contacts. I now have fully synced hotmail and outlook contacts which exceed 2,000 contact records.

To the issues mentioned earlier. When importing the data (.csv file exported from my Outlook .pst file) into the Outlook Hotmail contact folder, it would only load a portion of the file (about 800 total records). I couldn't identify why the import process would stop and why it would sometimes accept only 5 or 6 records and other times over 200.

After confirming which records loaded, I deleted them from the .csv file and tried to import again. The import would always fail at this point. I would then go into the .csv file and delete the first record in the file. It would then (for reasons unknown) allow the import process to continue until stopping again at some indiscriminate point. I repeated the delete first record process until, after seven iterations, I successfully loaded the remaining records.

It wasn't the smoothest process, to be sure, but it eventually worked and I have a fully synced contact database between Outlook and my phone without the use of cables or manual sync processes. Now on to email and how best to utilize hotmail to sync (or not to sync) my multiple POP3 email accounts.

Thanks again to everyone who participated in this thread. It was quite helpful and useful as I went through the process (kept going back and revisiting it). Great resource and kudos to Razz for pulling it all together and keeping up with the ongoing discussion.

jflower · Jan 1, 2012

For several months now, I have been happily using this system to keep outlook on two computers and my android blissfully in sync for calendar and contacts. On my android I use the calengoo calendar app, and all is well. Hooray! The only things that could be better would be:

1. If there is a way to sync outlook tasks with my android as well. Does anyone have solutions for that? I saw mention about a hotmail plus option for a fee, but can't find information about that. I have tasks assigned to most days, and right now I just enter them into Calengoo on my android, which syncs with gmail). But, I really want to be able to see my tasks in outlook, not just on my phone.

2. On one of my laptops, the outlook connector failed. That one computer just can't sync the calendar (oddly the contacts sync fine I think). I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling the connector and resetting everything up. There is an "error" message for the hotmail calendar in outlook. If someone has advice about that it would be great.

****
Edited to include what I hope may be a temporary problem...

In July I downloaded outlook connector to keep outlook calendar and contacts synced with my Live.com account. (I also sync the account with my android phone.)

As of today, Jan 1, 2012, all past events from July-now are no longer visible anywhere (outlook or live web view). My previous calendar events (pre-setting up the outlook connector in July, are still viewable in Outlook).

I checked my husband's phone and outlook, which are set up the same way, and the same thing is true for him. Is this happening to anyone else? We have live.com addresses rather than hotmail.com addresses, if that's relevant...

RazzMaTazz · Jan 3, 2012

UTPiper: I'm glad you got it figured out. In my original post, I think I only recommended moving contacts into the Outlook Hotmail account by dragging and dropping (not by importing a CSV). I hadn't tried importing a CSV so I wasn't aware of that CSV-import issue.

RazzMaTazz · Jan 3, 2012

jflower said:
...On my android I use the calengoo calendar app, and all is well. Hooray! The only things that could be better would be:

1. If there is a way to sync outlook tasks with my android as well. Does anyone have solutions for that? I saw mention about a hotmail plus option for a fee, but can't find information about that.

The Hotmail Plus web page doesn't mention Task sync.

MyPhoneExplorer (free) now offers task synchronization. It's not automatic and you have to run it either over USB or on the same WiFi LAN. You have to run an app on your phone and a program on your PC. And I haven't tried this newer version. (The old version screwed up my contacts, but I'd trust it to sync Tasks only-- which I'd imagine is possible.)

jflower said:
2. On one of my laptops, the outlook connector failed. That one computer just can't sync the calendar (oddly the contacts sync fine I think). I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling the connector and resetting everything up. There is an "error" message for the hotmail calendar in outlook. If someone has advice about that it would be great.

Sorry. I have no idea.

jflower said:
In July I downloaded outlook connector to keep outlook calendar and contacts synced with my Live.com account. (I also sync the account with my android phone.) As of today, Jan 1, 2012, all past events from July-now are no longer visible anywhere (outlook or live web view). My previous calendar events (pre-setting up the outlook connector in July, are still viewable in Outlook).

I just double checked mine. This is not happening to me. I can't think of anything helpful. Sorry.

jflower · Jan 4, 2012

Thanks for the reply, RazzMaTazz. That's good to know about task sync using MyPhoneExplorer. I will keep that in mind, and would love to hear from anyone who has tried it for syncing tasks only. The task part of the android experience is what is most disappointing to me. I really liked having tasks and calendar items together back in the palm days, and am trying to recreate that. In Calengoo there is an agenda widget that lets me see the day's calendar and tasks. I love that except for not being able to see the tasks on my computer in outlook (Calengoo tasks syncs with gmail, which I don't think is helpful to me. Unless I figure out a way for those gmail tasks to also show up in my Outlook).

But, right now I'm distracted by my calendar items completely disappearing. It's really disconcerting. All calendar items from the time I installed the outlook connector in July are gone. I posted a question on it in a microsoft support forum, but haven't received any replies. I wish I knew what the problem was. Is it that I'm using a live.com address instead of a hotmail.com address? Is it some setting on my android? In calengoo? Some combined issue? I just have no idea what the problem is. It's making me think I should maybe pay a fee for an exchange server service. It stresses me out to have my records disappear. Wish it would just work!! Thanks.

We can now synchronize Outlook & Android without a 3rd party app or Exchange Server!

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