Synchronizing Contacts

[wimcor]

I am using PsiWin 2.3.3 for Windows XP and REVO Plus. Synchronizing my agenda with Outlook 2000 is faultless but my contacts will not synchronize any more. I do not have a proper backup. What to do?

[Jim Cooke]

Are all your contacts that you need in Outlook? If so, then delete all the contacts on your Psion by going to File, More, Delete All Contacts. Make a backup of your Outlook file just in case there's a problem. Run the syncronization again. In most cases, this will fix the contacts sync failure.

Regards, Jim

[wimcor]

Hi Jim, thanks.

Yes, I am using Outlook 2000 Contacts only.
But there are no contacts on my Revo, so I cannot delete them.
Restoring an older backup did not restore the contacts either.

Regards

[Jim Cooke]

To repeat my earlier question, are all your contacts in Outlook? If so, delete the current syncronization you've set up in the Psion Synchonizer on your PC. Set up a new sync task for the contacts only. Sync and then see if the contacts are now on your Revo. If the sync fails, let us know what happens and any error message you get.

Regards, Jim

[wimcor]

Yes Jim, all my contacts are in Outlook 2000.
I have done a hard reset. I dont have a good PSION-bacup.
So as you sad, I deleted the earlier synch and made a new sync task. I did a new synch but my contacts are not on the Revo. There is only a empty Contactsfile! But no adressess!
There is an error message that says (in Dutch!) "De synchronisatie is niet normaal beëindigd. Er zijn mogelijk fouten opgetreden". In English I think it means: "The synchronisation ended not normally. There are probably some errrors" (sorry for that bad translation!).
I did also a new installation of Psiwin 2.3.3 and repeated the procedure but the result is the same.
What to do now?

Regards, Wim

[Jim Cooke]

Wim,

OK, things are getting a little more difficult here. There may be a problem with your Outlook file. Search your drive for a file called scanpst.exe. Once you find it, open the file and then locate your *.pst file. Run the Outlook pst file thought the scan procedure. Once again, delete your sync task in PsiWin and set up one for just for Contacts. Make sure the sync is with the normal Contacts file and not a Data file. Try syncing again and see if it works this time. If you still have a problem, write back and we'll try some other things.

Regards, Jim

[wimcor]

Hi Jim

I did your procedure. I ran the program and it made some reparations.
Then I have made a new sync for contacts only and I try to click on contacts... and I cannot do that. It is only DATA that I can choos!
Waht now?

Regards, Wim

[Jim Cooke]

Wim,

It sounds like things are going off the track here. Did you in fact sync with a Data file that DOES have your contact information? Are you saying that when you tap on the Contacts icon you get a Data file that opens? Or does the Contacts button only open an empty Contacts file?

In the Psion Synchronizer, the second tab (Applications in English) should have "Syncronize My Contacts" ticked. The field beneath this should say Contacts Program. It shouldn't have any reference to a data file. If things are set up this way, PsiWin should automatically sync with the built-in Contacts store.

BTW, if there are any Dutch speakers following this thread, it would be a great help if you could be a go-between and translate my answers to Dutch and Wim's responses to English. I have the feeling that there's a language gap here that's standing in the way of what should be a reasonably easy problem to solve.

Regards, Jim

[wimcor]

Hi Jim

Look in the attachment to see what I have done.
I cannot select "contacts" (see screendump)! The tird screen (at the bottom) apears when I brows for "my contacts"

BTW, I have placed the problem on http://www.symbian.info/forums/showthread.php?threadid=4097&goto=newpost.
It is a Dutch forum. I hope they can help me to.

At this time I am lucky... I still have all data (agenda and contacts) in Outlook 2000!

Kindly regards, Wim

[Mark Kenepp]

PMFJI Wim and Jim,

If you are synchronizing to your Contacts application, there is no way to select any specific data file. On the Screen "Contacrtprogramma kezen" (It is a little hard to read your screen shot) just click the "Contacts" radio button.

Also.

In the Microsoft Outlook section of the "Synchronization Options" (or is that Synchronisatie Opties?) you should manually enter the path to the Outlook Folder. The path should be entered exactly as it is shown in the Outlook Folder view. Typically, if all default settings are used when setting up Outlook, this would be "Personal Folders\Contacts" at least on the American English version.

In any synchronization set up with PsiWin, manually entering the locations of files and folders will help reduce synchronization problems like the one you describe. It is good practice, IMHO, to manually enter the folder location even if it is the default location.

The screen shots were helpful in describing your problem.

Cheers,

Mark Kenepp
San Francisco, CA

[Jim Cooke]

Mark and Wim,

First, there is a way to select a data file to use for syncing with Outlook Contacts. If you tap on the button with the three dots next to the contacts field, it will bring up a dialog box that gives you the option to sync with a data file. From the looks of the screen print, that's exactly what's happened, Wim. You should not be seeing anything other than the grayed out name of the Contact program in that field. You've picked a data file and it appears that one was created for you by PsiWin and that's where you're contact information should be.

First, delete the current syncronization task. Find and delete the Data file that is refered to in the current syncronization task. Next, as Mark wrote, make sure you have the correct path to the Outlook contacts folder. DON'T change anything else in the contacts field. It should just be a check mark with the contacts program greyed out. As soon as you tap on the button with the three dots, you're dead because PsiWin will set up a Data file instead of syncing with the contacts store.

Please try these steps exactly as outlined and see if you can get the sync to work.

Regards, Jim

[wimcor]

Hi Jim and Mark
Sorry for the delay: I was away for a couple of days (without the psion!)
How do I find the correct path to the Outlook Contacts folder?
Regards, Wim

[Jim Cooke]

Wim,

The path to your Outlook contacs folder should be a non-issue assuming that you're using the original contacts folder, haven't created a new contacts folder, or are not operating in an Exchange environment. The correct path will always be Personal Folders\Contacts. The folder can't be deleted or renamed so, as long as the use Calendar field is blank and "Use Default Contact folder" is ticked, PsiWin will always sync to your default Outlook Contacts folder.

Please re-read my previous message as well to make sure that you're syncing to the Psion contacts store and not to a Psion Data file.

Regards, Jim

[wimcor]

Hi Jim
I am not syncing to a data file: I did everything you said but the problem remains. I then uninstalled psiwin completely and did another hard reset of the revo, then reinstalled everything: same problem! Could there be a problem with Outlook instead of with psiwin?
I am getting pretty desperate...
Help!
Wim

[Jim Cooke]

Wim,

In the screenshot you sent, the setup was using a data file and not the Contacts application. However, if you've done a reinstall and hard reset and followed all the my instructions, I'm at a loss as to why your contacts wouldn't sync. There are a few other thoughts that come to mind:

1. Are your contacts marked private in Outlook? This might cause a problem when syncing if they are.

2. You've already done the ScanPST procedure that should have removed any corruption in Outlook. There's always a small chance that there are some non-breaking spaces or something else that's not easily visible in the contacts section that could cause problems. Try this:

A. Go to File, Import and Export, Export to a file.

B. Choose Comma Separated Values (Windows)

C. Click next and make sure the Contacts folder is selected

D. Click next and choose a location and file name for the exported file.

E. Click finish.

F. Put your Contacts into the Phone List View (View, Current View, Phone List)

G. Highlight the first entry and then scroll to the last entry

H. While holding down the shift key, click on the last contact. The entire contact list should now be highlighted in blue.

I. Hit the delete key and answer OK to delete all the contacts.

Reverse the above procedure to import the CSV contacts file that you just exported. This should add all the contacts back that you just deleted but the CSV export wil have stripped any non-breaking spaces or other junk that might be causing a problem.

Try syncing again and we'll hope for the best.

Regards, Jim

[wimcor]

Hi Jim

I did all the procedures that you wrote... without a positiv result!
Perhaps you can tell what to do to start all over again?
All data in Outlook are correct. I even used "scanpst"!
I have uninstalled and installed PSIWIN... no way!
Just my Agendadata are synching perfectly.
Can you tell me how I can delete all data of Psiwin, in the registry to? And then how I can start from scretch?

Thanks for folowing me so long.

Regards, Wim

[Jim Cooke]

Wim,

You can uninstall PsiWin and use Mike McC's registry cleaner to get rid of all traces of PsiWin and then reinstall. I don't have a copy handy but it's been posted here many times so a search should find it.

There's still something happening here that you're doing wrong. I've given you so many suggestions that don't work that I'm just about out of ideas. Have you gotten anything from the Dutch forum?

Regards, Jim

[wimcor]

Jim (and Mark to)

At last, there was no other way then start allover again.
So I followeg your advises, used Mike McC's registry cleaner, used scanpst and then I did a format c: and reinstalled all programs...!
So my good old Revo is back again!
The real problem, I think, is a error that I had in Word 2000 when I was working with in HTML, scanning text (OCR) and a lot of other documents were open. Word crasches and I solved this problem by removing NORMAL.DOT in Word. A very short period later the problem started in Outlook... and while synching to!
I didn't have an explanation but I'm happy that everyting is goig fine now!!!
Many thanks for trying to help me!

Kindly regards, Wim

[Jim Cooke]

Wim,

Aha! As usual, you've pinpointed the problem in the last post rather than the first, as things usually seem to go.

When you have problem in Word and have to close down Word from the task manager because it's not responding, it's likely that you'll also corrupt the normal.dot file. When you next open Word, it creates an new normal.dot file but that file contains references to the now corrupted original normal.dot, which continues to grow in size every time you open Word. Eventually, you won't be able to open a Word file at all. The way to recognize that this has happened is to search in Windows Explorer for normal.dot. You'll find at least two occurances instead of only one and one of the files will be in the 200 to 300k range rather than the normal 25 to 50k range. Deleting all occurances of normal.dot and rebooting fixes the problem.

Now, what does this have to do with syncing? When you open Outlook, the normal.dot file also opens since you can use Word objects in the notes field in most Outlook folders. For whatever reason the corrupted normal.dot didn't cause a problem with the Agenda part of the sync but fell over on Contacts. By deleting all occurances of the normal.dot file right at the beginning, we probably could have solved the problem straightaway. As it is, without your mentioning the problem with Word, I would never have thought of this linkage. So, in the future, I'll remember to ask questions about the normal.dot file for anyone else in your predicament.

Computers are strange beasts :rolleyes: !

Regards, Jim

[wimcor]

Jim

I did not think that Word was the problem. After deleting normal.dot everyting went normal and I noticed the synchproblem just after a week or so.
Now I am shure that your describing of the problem with normal.dot will help many others.

Thanks again for helping me so long!

Regards, Wim