Synchronization did not finish normally

[thureh]

Sync of my Revo Plus works fine on my work computer, but not on my home ditto! I get the message: "The synchronization did not finish normally. There may be errors". The calender syncs, but not contacts. So I assume that the fault is not in the revo itself, since it works on my work computer.
I recently upgraded my home computer from scratch from Win98 (where sync worked fine) to Win2K sp4 and outlook 2K. Since then it has gone wrong.
I am running PsiWin 2.3.3 build 149, and have upgraded with the ContactsRevo. I have tried to delete the old sync task (I am using one task for both calender and contacts) and make a new without result. I have also tried to sync with the default contacts folder or another newly created. I have also tried only to sync with the contacts - no results so far.
Can you help me?

Thure

[Jim Cooke]

Thure,

I'm not sure if you've done this exact thing yet. Assuming that your contacts in Outlook are current, delete all the contacts on the Revo by going to File, More, Delete all contacts. Now sync with Outlook and the contacts shoudl transfer from Outlook ro the Revo correctly. There seems to be a slight difference in the Revo Contacts app compared to the 5mx that causes the sync task to get corrupted in the contacts file itself. Deleting all contacts and re-syncing usually fixes the problem.

[thureh]

Dear Jim

I tried what you suggested on my home computer, but without result: I first transferred my contacts from my work computer into my home computers contacts folder by a normal outlook export (at work) to a .pst file that I then imported to my home outlook (to be sure to sync at home with a contacts file that syncs well at my work. After deleting all contacts on the psion, only about five of the contacts were transferred after which it gave the usual message ("sync did not finish normally").

So any other suggestions?

Thure

[thureh]

Dear Jim and others
I just realised:
Everytime I have tried to sync with my home computer, there is an exe file, psconsv.exe, that continues running in the background evem after the sync attempt has stopped. When I shut down the computer the usual way, there is a message coming up that the file is running, and I then have to stop it "manually".
Does this give a clue? I have never experienced that before.

Thure

[MikeMcC]

Everytime I have tried to sync with my home computer, there is an exe file, psconsv.exe, that continues running in the background evem after the sync attempt has stopped That is the PsiWin connection server (the wiggly line in the System Tray) which has to run for the Psion and PC to communicate.

[Jim Cooke]

Thure,

As Mike said, PSCONSV.EXE is what allows your Revo to connect to your PC. It's throwing up a an error when you shut down because the connection server failed to properly disconnect. The next thing to try is deleting all the synchro tasks on the PC. Go to C:\Psion\YourUserName\Synchro and delete all the files in that folder. Connect your Revo to your PC, start PsiWin, and delete any remaining sync tasks that exist. Set up a new sync task only for contacts. Once again, delete all existing contacts in the Revo Contacts application. Try syncing again and let us know how you get on.

[thureh]

I tried to delete all sync tasks on the PC and in PsiWin, and first sync my Revo contacts to an empty outlook contacts folder. Didn't work. I then deleted all sync tasks again, and this time sync'd from my outlook to revo, with only three contacts in the outlook folder. This worked!!!
I then tried to add contacts one at a time to the outlook folder to see if it sync'd with revo. Some did and others not. The ones that didn't were of three types: 1) some that were "file as" "last, first". When changed to "first last" it transferred. 2) a contact with links in the large text field. When I deleted the links it transferred. 3) a contact with "Charlotte and John" in the name field. When last name was added, it transferred.
But all along, I got empty contacts inserted, lost contacts that had already transferred ok, and contacts from outlook that were not sync'd even though I got the message that "synchronization finished successfully" .
By the way, the sync process is sometimes halted by a menu asking if I want to give access to my outlook mail addresses???

Any idea what is happening?

[Jim Cooke]

<<1) some that were "file as" "last, first". When changed to "first last" it transferred.>>

I've never seen this as a problem before. Do you have Outlook set so the default File As is "First, Last"? How are Contacts set to sort on your Revo? I've always used "Last, First" in both places but I suppose having the two apps set differently may cause the problem you're seeing.

<< 2) a contact with links in the large text field. When I deleted the links it transferred.>>

This will always be a problem. The links programming in Outlook confuses not just PsiWin but Palm HotSync and even MS's own ActiveSync. The problem is less in OL 2002 and 2003 but hasn't disappeared altogether. The only thing I can suggest is not to use OLE objects like embedded links in the Notes field.

<<3) a contact with "Charlotte and John" in the name field. When last name was added, it transferred.>>

This is a bug in PsiWin. Any contact with a blank last name field gets ignored. As a workaround, you need to put "Charlotte and John" in the last name field or, more logically, simply put their actual last name in the field.

<<But all along, I got empty contacts inserted, lost contacts that had already transferred ok, and contacts from outlook that were not sync'd even though I got the message that "synchronization finished successfully">>

Until you've solved the issues that you've already found, you're not going to get a good sync. Each time PsiWin fails to transfer ALL the records from Outlook to Contacts on the first, empty sync, it will have built in errors that will affect all the subsequent syncs. You've done some good detective work so far but each time you sync, you need to delete all the existing contacts on the Revo. This will create a new sync task that's clean. You will, at some point, get PsiWin transfer all the records without error and from then on, the contacts sync will work correctly. For some reason, Win2k, compared to either Win 98 or WinXP, seems to cause more contacts syncing problems but it will work.

<<By the way, the sync process is sometimes halted by a menu asking if I want to give access to my outlook mail addresses???>>

This is a Microsoft "feature". Any program trying to access the contacts in Outlook will cause this message to appear. Microsoft added this to Outlook 2000 and above to alert you that another program is trying access the contacts records in the hopes of stopping worms and trojans that were using Outlook to spread. The concept is good but Microsoft forgot to add a "trusted programs" option so you can't turn this off.

[thureh]

Thanks a lot for your efforts, Jim

Yes, I am filing and sorting "First Last". This works fine on my work computer (the one where sync works), so that is not a problem in itself. But perhaps I have had another file and sort order at my home computer (the one where sync doesnt work), which may have created problems. But again, before upgrading my home computer, this was no problem..... I will check again and go through my contacts to sort the ones that have problems.