Synchronizing with Agenda

[Jackie Dietrich]

Has anyone experienced problems synchronizing the Series5mx Agenda with Outlook 2000 Calendar? Each time I synchronize I get the dame appointment duplicating over and over.

Also, the Psion doesn't seem to be able to handle recurring or repeating appointments. Anyone have any ideas?

JD

[Jim Cooke]

Jackie,

What version of Windows and what version of PsiWin? I suspect you're running Win2K or WinXP. If this is the case, you must run PsiWin 2.3.3, Build 149, as earlier versions will give you the types of errors that you've been seeing. You can download PsiWin 2.3.3 from the Software section here. It's about 25 Mb so it helps if you have a high speed connection. You'll have to uninstall your current version PsiWin and then run the attached Registry Cleaner to remove the leftover bits that the uninstall program leaves behind before installing 2.3.3.

Let us know if you still see a problem with repeating appointments after upgrading PsiWin. My experience is that most types of repeats are handled fine except for a few of the more exotic types.

[Jackie Dietrich]

Hi

Yes, I am running Windows XP. But I have 2.3.3 installed. Should the errors still occur?

Jackie

[Jackie Dietrich]

Hi

Well, I've installed the latest PsiWin software but I still have the problem of Outlook entries multiplying themselves when I synchronize. I've got the added problem of entries I made in Dec 2002 appearing as December 2003!

Where do I go from here?

Jackie

[Jim Cooke]

Jackie,

I'm assuming that you have all your Agenda data in Outlook. If this is the case, create a new Agenda file after backing up your current file. Set up a new sync task in PsiWin to only sync this new Agenda file with Outlook. This should get all the data from Outlook into Agenda. Once that's done, amend and add some entries in Agenda and then sync again. If this all goes well, reverse the process by adding and amending to the data in Outlook and sync again. This should now be working both ways. If so, you can start using the new file as your standard Agenda file.

I've seen instances where PsiWin simply gets confused about an entry and then begins to do things like duplicate or delete data for no apparent reason. Rather than twiddle around trying to figure out how to fix the problem, I've found the above process is the easiest and surest way to fix the problem.

[Jackie Dietrich]

Hi Jim

Yes, all the agenda data is appearing in Outlook but not only is it multiplying, so that I might have someone's birthday listed four times instead of once, it is changing its settings during synchronization. For example, an entry that isn't recurring suddenly becomes recurring. An item that appears for one day suddenly appears across two days i.e. it changes the setting to recur for two days. An untimed entry suddenly becomes timed - always at 8.00 am or 2 pm.

I will set up a new agenda and try again. Thanks for all your help. It's been driving me nuts!

Jackie

[gmichael]

I posted the same kind of open question regarding agend duplicates before reading your's and others' similar question. What I do to get around this, sort of, is to go into the "Entry" menu in agenda under "Agenda synchronization" and put a tick in "Private on synchronized agendas box". This will keep Outlook from beaming back its records to your Revo. The way the software is setup is that first the Revo will upload its agenda upon syncing and will merge its new entries with what's already in Outlook and then its Outlook's turn to download its entries to your Revo at whick point you will get an error message saying "unable to complete synchronization" Don't worry it's because the "private" feature you ticked did not allow Outlook to infiltrate its garbage on to your virgin Revo. Although this eliminates duplicate entries on your Revo you will find Outlook littered with them so this is only a half solution. I can only guess the reason for this "bug" being overlooked is that Symbian or who ever assumes that we all work in Ivory towers as CEO's using Outlook as our primary agenda (YUK!) and then occasionally during the week when the chain is cut loose and we are alowed to leave to go see a customer or something we all beam our Agendas on Outlook to a stupid Palm for viewing only at the luncheon later on, - and that's only to impress the customer! So if anyone has a complete solution I'd like to hear it.

[Jim Cooke]

I have been successfully syncing my 5mx with Outlook 2000 and then 2002 for several years with very minimal problems with dupes. Most of the problems I've seen here can be solved with the suggestions I've outlined. In addition, there are a few other things that help with setting up a stable sync:

1. Always do the first sync with either an empty Outlook file or an empty Agenda file, depending on where your best data is stored. Never try and do the first sync using two exisiting files.

2. Sync ALL the appointments in Outlook or Agenda when you're doing the first sync. If you have too many entries, archive them off in Outlook or Agenda first. By syncing all the entries, you're making it much easier for Psiwin to follow changes made to both Agenda and Outlook. Syncing a date range that's less than the full range of entries for the first sync always leads to trouble. Once you've got that first sync out of the way, you can then reduce the date range without a problem.

3. Don't change the same appointment in Agenda and Outlook between syncs. If you need to amend an appointment, do so on one platform and let the other get updated by a sync. This makes duplicates much less of a problem.

4. Try to avoid clashing or overlapping appointments in Outlook. Outlook has a continuing bug that causes clashed appointments to be read as one appointment when accessed by syncing software (including ActiveSync) and the sync software then tries to resolve the clashing appointments, creating duplicates.

5. For repeating appointments created in Outlook, have the recurrence range end in 2100. Outlook has another known bug with repeating appointments with no end date. An end date is exposed programatically and PsiWin is able to read the recurrence range correctly. When the recurrence range has no end, Outlook internally sets the end date in the year 4499. Since this date isn't exposed to PsiWin, it attempts to set the end date in the year 2100, that being last year of the 5mx Agenda calendar. Any amendment to this repeating event is then likely to cause a duplicate.

[Jackie Dietrich]

Hi Jim

It's been a while since we last posted comments to one another about syncing Outlook with Agenda but I have another question. How do I create a blank/new agenda on my psion? I can't find any instruction on how to perform this action.

Jackie

[netBookBabe]

Originally posted by Jackie Dietrich
How do I create a blank/new agenda on my psion? Assuming you are working directly on the Psion, from within your existing Agenda file use Ctrl+N to create a new file, name it and choose a location. It can be in the same folder as your original providing it has a different name.

If you wish to open both files at once, use Fn+Enter to open the second one, then tapping the Agenda silkscreen icon will toggle between the two.

NB: Fn+Enter is the default - there's an option to change it to just "Enter" on the system Preferences menu.

Julie

[Jackie Dietrich]

Thanks Julie. That was a very speedy reply!

Here's another question. Do you know why agenda can't handle recurring appointments in Outlook?

Regards

Jackie

[netBookBabe]

Originally posted by Jackie Dietrich
Here's another question. Do you know why agenda can't handle recurring appointments in Outlook? Well, as far as I was aware it could, but it's a long time since I've done any synchronising with Outlook, so maybe my memory is failing me. I think we might have to wait for Jim on this one!

Julie

[Jackie Dietrich]

This could be for Jim or Julie

Jim told me to change the end date on recurring items in Outlook calendar to 2100 to eliminate problems when syncing with agenda. How do I do this?

Regards

Jackie

[netBookBabe]

Originally posted by Jackie Dietrich
Jim told me to change the end date on recurring items in Outlook calendar to 2100 to eliminate problems when syncing with agenda. How do I do this? Jackie

Open the series of appointments and click "recurrence". Change the radio button selection from "no end date" to "end by" and enter the required date.

I'm looking at Outlook 2002 here, but I assume the procedure will be very similar in 2000.

Julie

[Jackie Dietrich]

thanks Julie. I didn't realize I had to do it for each individual appointment.

Jackie

[netBookBabe]

Jackie

It seems that you will have to set an end date to resolve the synchronisation problem you have - I don't think there's any way of setting a default for this to cover all appointments, but I may be wrong.

Julie

[Jackie Dietrich]

Julie

You've explained how to create a new agenda file in my Psion. Is there a way I can make this new file the default file. So that when I tap the Agenda Icon next to system, it will open the correct agenda?

Jackie

[netBookBabe]

Jackie

The silkscreen icon will work on whichever Agenda file you used most recently, so if you don't want to toggle between two, just close down the one you don't require.

The icon will then work to open and close your chosen file.

Julie

[Jackie Dietrich]

Message for Jim

Jim, I've followed your advice when syncing Outlook 2000 calendar with Psion agenda AND I've changed the end date of recurring calendar items to 2100 BUT ...


When I sync with the recurring outlook items, like birthdays that come up once a year, the recurrence settings in Outlook automatically select start time 00 and end time 00 when I choose 1 day duration. When I sync with the psion, presumably because of the 00 - 00 issue, the birthday appears across two days in agenda

Do you know how I can stop the error from occurring?

Cheers
Jackie

[Jim Cooke]

Jackie,

Please make sure you mark your birthdays and such as All Day Events in Outlook. If you don't, the 00:00 start time that transfers to Agenda will always strectch arcross two days since you can't have 00:00 end time in Agenda-The latest is 23:59. PsiwWin then thingk you have a two day event that begins at midnight the first day and ends at 11:59 the next day. By setting the entry in Oulook ot an All Day Event, you remove the time adn it comes across to Agenda as an untimed event.

[Jackie Dietrich]

Hi Jim

I made sure the birthday was an all day event in outlook. The trouble is, when I do this Outlook automatically makes it a 00 start and finish time which I assume is causing the problem?

Jackie

[Jim Cooke]

Jackie,

Something's wrong here. When you check the "All Day Event" box in Outlook, it should automatically grey out the the time selection fields. The event should show up at the top of your daily shedule but not in a time slot. PsiWin will always transfer an all day event from Outlook as a non-timed event in Agenda. I'm away from home right now and don't have Outlook so I'm doing this from memory but I'm pretty sure of the details. If there's anyone else out there that's sees something I don't have right, please jump in.