Sync to Outlook is such a hassle!

[jrb2969]

I am not a newbie at Outlook, Android or smartphones. Given the frustration level, I had to lean on Companionlink to get the product working in a letter.

Wayland and fellow professionals,

I have been a client of your since 2004 and in IT/high tech for 30 years. While it is clear that you are market leaders with an opportunity to sell in an inexplicable vacuum Android

 

[Marvintheparanoid]

http://androidforums.com/android-ap...id-without-3rd-party-app-exchange-server.html

 

[RazzMaTazz]

I think Jeff's letter should be directed at Google. It's maddening that Google refuses to write an app that syncs Outlook contacts with Android. Of course Google has no intention of doing that because they want Google Apps to replace Microsoft Office, and they want to force you to put your valuable contacts database on Google's servers.

Because Google, Samsung, Sprint and Microsoft are essentially absentee players in the business of sync,

Microsoft has two good solutions for sync on Android. For corporate users, Exchange Servers are an excellent, albeit pricey solution. For those without access to Exchange Servers, Outlook contacts and calendar can be automatically synchronized to Android, for free, without any 3rd party apps, from anywhere in the world, through Hotmail servers-- and you don't even have to use Hotmail for email. (That's what I do. Works great.)

 

[macgiobuin]

I don't know if this helps, but I just moved all my contacts from 3 different accounts (including an Outlook account with tight security) by simply exporting them to My Documents and then importing the files to gmail. All 700+ are now on my phone and backed-up at gmail.com. Only a few needed tweaking/merging (the actual number was 18 total). It was almost too easy....felt like I was doing it wrong, but so far all seem to have synched with no data loss.

 

[takeshi]

I only use it for contacts sync between Outlook and my Google account but gsyncit works very well in my experience.

For corporate users, Exchange Servers are an excellent, albeit pricey solution.

I use hosted Exchange for a personal account (and have done so for years). It's a frequently overlooked option. ActiveSync is far less hassle than any wired sync solution or any solution that relies on a desktop software install. It's also much more reliable than relying on a desktop software solution. I only use gsyncit because I need my Exchange contacts somehow synced to my Google account for Google Voice. Otherwise, I wouldn't even use gsyncit.

It's maddening that Google refuses to write an app that syncs Outlook contacts with Android.

Why would they? Their apps and services favor a cloud-based approach. Don't forget what their core business is. They need to get data from their users and making their users rely on the cloud benefits them.

 

[spile]

I had lots of issues with HTC Sync but find that MyPhoneExplorer is much more relaible and works fine for syncing Outlook contacts with Android for me. That said syncing between two different manufacturers is never going to be as straight forward as syncing between Google <> Google or Microsoft <> Microsoft.

 

[RazzMaTazz]

I use hosted Exchange for a personal account (and have done so for years). It's a frequently overlooked option.

... because it involves a pricey recurring fee.

Don't forget what their core business is. They need to get data from their users and making their users rely on the cloud benefits them.

Google's core business is search & targeted advertising. I get all of the same cloud-based services from Google without putting any of my contacts on Gmail servers. So Google doesn't need access to your contact info to provide services that benefit their customers. Google just wants that information because it makes Google more valuable if they know EVERYTHING about you, your friends, family, etc, and can better target you and your contacts with advertising and services.

 

[felice]

I agree with jrb! I can't believe how much time I have wasted on trying to get a reliable sync with more than just basic data on my Evo. I love this phone, but long for the blackberry calendar and contacts sync and the instant email that BB provided. Don't understand why droids can't do the same. I now have duplicate contacts in my database (a lot), don't get all the calendar info or tasks and have to spend more money to purchase an app to do what my BB did for free. So maybe iPhone is the answer? I feel like Google is holding me hostage - didn't want or need a google account, already have 2 email addresses I use, don't really want another place to put calendar info, I could go on and vent some more, but I think you get the message. Anyone else feel this way?

 

[companionlink]

...If anyone should be able to do it, it should be Companionlink. Give us the tools and information needed to succeed so that we can go out and focus on our own business, please. By the way, I will submit a support ticket, again...

Jeff -

I just wanted to follow up to ensure you had heard back from Support. We work hard to bring sync to a variety of setups and I want to make sure we're doing everything we can to get your setup running properly!


- David Z.