Outlook calendar sync problem fixed!
- Thread starter abohsali
- Start date
Interesting! For my Blackberry, I use the BES at Exchangemymail.com (excellent service) and from them, I was able to download Outlook 2007 and it didn't make a difference. Did not get any further.
Finally - fixed all sync issues for me
With outlook 2002, I'd tried every suggestion here and from Appl with spotty results. This update fixed all calendar and contact issues for me. WHOOOhoo!
Even reoccuring appointments are correct.
With outlook 2002, I'd tried every suggestion here and from Appl with spotty results. This update fixed all calendar and contact issues for me. WHOOOhoo!
Even reoccuring appointments are correct.
Same old nothing
I have been experiencing the calendar sync problem with Outlook 2007 on a Vista Business setup. The new software (iTunes) and firmware 1.0.1 did nothing to solve the problem.
My big puzzlement, is that when I first got the phone and set it up and synced, it worked perfectly. Only recently does it not bring over calendar items to the phone. And worse...it wipes out recurring appointments at will with no pattern!
In my 30 year IT carreer, I have had almost every phone/pda device I could get my hands on: 9 including the iPhone. And here's the rub...NOT a SINGLE ONE of the devices had a sync program that worked without some problem. Almost ALWAYS it was losing appointments, which gave my peers much pleasure in ridiculing PDA boy being late or missing a meeting.
Some of the worse would double or triple contacts requiring massive amounts of time to fix. Utilities are available to solve the duplication problem today.
Now retired, the calendar update is not as critical, but I will never have complete confidence in the iPhone sync function. Sad, because I thought the long running history of buggy sync software had come to an end with the iPhone.
I am sad that I have the same issues today that I had 10 years ago with the first Palm Pilots. Software development and QC today is crap. That's why I'm a retired CIO.
I have been experiencing the calendar sync problem with Outlook 2007 on a Vista Business setup. The new software (iTunes) and firmware 1.0.1 did nothing to solve the problem.
My big puzzlement, is that when I first got the phone and set it up and synced, it worked perfectly. Only recently does it not bring over calendar items to the phone. And worse...it wipes out recurring appointments at will with no pattern!
In my 30 year IT carreer, I have had almost every phone/pda device I could get my hands on: 9 including the iPhone. And here's the rub...NOT a SINGLE ONE of the devices had a sync program that worked without some problem. Almost ALWAYS it was losing appointments, which gave my peers much pleasure in ridiculing PDA boy being late or missing a meeting.
Some of the worse would double or triple contacts requiring massive amounts of time to fix. Utilities are available to solve the duplication problem today.
Now retired, the calendar update is not as critical, but I will never have complete confidence in the iPhone sync function. Sad, because I thought the long running history of buggy sync software had come to an end with the iPhone.
I am sad that I have the same issues today that I had 10 years ago with the first Palm Pilots. Software development and QC today is crap. That's why I'm a retired CIO.
Apple's explanation?
Apple is aware of this problem. Does anyone know the reason for this update? Was it supposed to fix the sync problem?
Bueller...Ferris Bueller?
Apple is aware of this problem. Does anyone know the reason for this update? Was it supposed to fix the sync problem?
Bueller...Ferris Bueller?
AhHaaa!
I just looked at the addins in Outlook after the update to 7.3.2 and lo and behold only one of the addins is there...iTunes addin is there but the outlook syncetc. is missing. I'm going to do a clean install of the new iTunes with a registy cleanup between clean and installl.
Stand by kids...back in a while.
I just looked at the addins in Outlook after the update to 7.3.2 and lo and behold only one of the addins is there...iTunes addin is there but the outlook syncetc. is missing. I'm going to do a clean install of the new iTunes with a registy cleanup between clean and installl.
Stand by kids...back in a while.
Please hold you applause...Its fixed (I think)
Stand back...no autographs...security, please keep the crowd at bay!
THE SYNC PROBLEM IS DEAD! (crossed fingers)
Here's what I did:
1) Remove iTunes
2) Remove Apple software updater
3) Remove Quicktime (just do it)
4) Make sure any trace of Apple USB devices are gone in the Device Manager
5) Reboot
6) Find a registry cleaner. I use Registry Mechanic and run it at this point. It found 17 suspicious dll's remaining and I zapped 'em. I had just cleaned the Registry so it was almost a given that installing the first try of iTunes and then removing it left these pests hanging around.
7) Reboot. For some reason this restart took 10 minutes.
8) Search your drive for "iTunes". You should only find your songs, playlists, album art etc. USE YOUR HEAD, but get rid of or rename anything that looks like it is trash and may be a loose end.
9) At this point you should be "de-Appled". Feels Good huh?
10) Download and install the most recent version of iTunes 7.3.2 I believe.
11) WHEN ITS DONE---->REBOOT (just do it. DO NOT start the newly installed app first as it asks)
12) Open up iTunes and let normalize and your system aquiesce.
13) Make sure all your content is present
14) Plug in the iPhone. Wait until windows installs the drivers again. If you do not get a reinstallL of the driver as an Apple Mobile Device USB Driver, something else is wrong.
15) When the phone is ready to use...SYNC!
16) Mine worked perfectly except for one small problem with a recurring appointment that I easily fixed in Outlook and the sync fixed the iPhone.
I tried to break it, but I have not been successful. It seems to work!
There may be other methods, but I have been working on this for 5 days and this worked. YMMV.
I am a skeptic, but also an optimist. Time will tell.
Good luck kids and don't forget to set you decoder rings properly.
"Don't crush that dwarf, hand me the pliers!"- Firesign Theatre circa 1970
Out.
Stand back...no autographs...security, please keep the crowd at bay!
THE SYNC PROBLEM IS DEAD! (crossed fingers)
Here's what I did:
1) Remove iTunes
2) Remove Apple software updater
3) Remove Quicktime (just do it)
4) Make sure any trace of Apple USB devices are gone in the Device Manager
5) Reboot
6) Find a registry cleaner. I use Registry Mechanic and run it at this point. It found 17 suspicious dll's remaining and I zapped 'em. I had just cleaned the Registry so it was almost a given that installing the first try of iTunes and then removing it left these pests hanging around.
7) Reboot. For some reason this restart took 10 minutes.
8) Search your drive for "iTunes". You should only find your songs, playlists, album art etc. USE YOUR HEAD, but get rid of or rename anything that looks like it is trash and may be a loose end.
9) At this point you should be "de-Appled". Feels Good huh?
10) Download and install the most recent version of iTunes 7.3.2 I believe.
11) WHEN ITS DONE---->REBOOT (just do it. DO NOT start the newly installed app first as it asks)
12) Open up iTunes and let normalize and your system aquiesce.
13) Make sure all your content is present
14) Plug in the iPhone. Wait until windows installs the drivers again. If you do not get a reinstallL of the driver as an Apple Mobile Device USB Driver, something else is wrong.
15) When the phone is ready to use...SYNC!
16) Mine worked perfectly except for one small problem with a recurring appointment that I easily fixed in Outlook and the sync fixed the iPhone.
I tried to break it, but I have not been successful. It seems to work!
There may be other methods, but I have been working on this for 5 days and this worked. YMMV.
I am a skeptic, but also an optimist. Time will tell.
Good luck kids and don't forget to set you decoder rings properly.
"Don't crush that dwarf, hand me the pliers!"- Firesign Theatre circa 1970
Out.
Boy, I was really enthusiastic about this being fixed, once and for all, but although I did EVERYTHING, step by step, as you indicated, I have a worse problem now. When I sync the calendar (both with Outlook 2003 running and with it not running), I get a serious error, that states "
OutlookSyncClient.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close.". UGH. At least before it would complete the sync with no changes. Now the actual sync client crashes! Also, I don't know if this is an issue, or the iTunes folks changed it with 7.3.2, but there is only one COM add in now, rather than two, called "iTunes Outlook Addin". It's both listed in the COM add ins, and not disabled. I really am at a loss. Contacts--beautiful. Calendar--disaster. Any other ideas?
(My) Successful Sync Solution
First off, I want to thank all you guys for the many great tips, most all of which I think I tried, unfortunately to no avail. My issue was the same as many of yours'. Contacts were fine, but Calendar would not sync. I did not experience the crashing of Outlook, nor disabling of add-ins, but the syncing would never actually do anything. My final solution, which I got the idea from the AT&T forum, believe it or not, was to uninstall the "Outlook Live Search Maps Add-In." Disabling it was not enough, it needed to be removed altogether. All other add-ins remain installed and checked. The calendar now syncs perfectly. Events created on either side sync to the other. I highly recommend trying this, if you have that add-in installed. As I said before, I'd previously tried almost every suggestion, even the new pst file and uninstall/re-install type solutions. In the end, for me, it was just this one add-in.
Interestingly, I have not read others complaining about another issue I've had since the beginning, which is that, if an iPhone is connected to my PC (either my laptop, or desktop), and iTunes is running, upon eject, or closing of iTunes, iTunes freezes. I have to kill it with Task Manager. Anyone else experience this? Despite this issue, the sync does work just fine now.
I'll cross-post this, so all can see; sorry if you see this post multiple times, I'm just anxious to spread my success
.
Oh yeah: Win XP, Outlook 2007, newest iTunes & iPhone s/w.
First off, I want to thank all you guys for the many great tips, most all of which I think I tried, unfortunately to no avail. My issue was the same as many of yours'. Contacts were fine, but Calendar would not sync. I did not experience the crashing of Outlook, nor disabling of add-ins, but the syncing would never actually do anything. My final solution, which I got the idea from the AT&T forum, believe it or not, was to uninstall the "Outlook Live Search Maps Add-In." Disabling it was not enough, it needed to be removed altogether. All other add-ins remain installed and checked. The calendar now syncs perfectly. Events created on either side sync to the other. I highly recommend trying this, if you have that add-in installed. As I said before, I'd previously tried almost every suggestion, even the new pst file and uninstall/re-install type solutions. In the end, for me, it was just this one add-in.
Interestingly, I have not read others complaining about another issue I've had since the beginning, which is that, if an iPhone is connected to my PC (either my laptop, or desktop), and iTunes is running, upon eject, or closing of iTunes, iTunes freezes. I have to kill it with Task Manager. Anyone else experience this? Despite this issue, the sync does work just fine now.
I'll cross-post this, so all can see; sorry if you see this post multiple times, I'm just anxious to spread my success
.Oh yeah: Win XP, Outlook 2007, newest iTunes & iPhone s/w.
Outlook search add-in
Ibaneye...I'm sorry I forgot to mention that I at one point, which I can't remember in this mess, also removed the particular addin you reference. That in and of itself did not fix the issue though.
The registry cleaner I used removed 17 dlls that could have only been installed by my previous update instead of clean install. I really made sure my system was returned to a virgin (pre iPhone) state.
Impaler, it sounds like the Outlooksyncaddin in 2003 may have a permissions issue...just a guess. Are you logged as an administrator?
You know, its amazing that Apple and Microsoft programs play together as well as they do. As a (retired) CIO with 850 people using Outlook, I can tell you it is one MAJOR source of problems. The .pst file is a momolithic mess containing so many different types of data structures.
Be ablsolutely sure when you install iTunes your system looks squeaky clean as far as Apple installs. Also, I'm sure you are up to date on all patches etc. with Outlook 2003.
One more observation, if I may...don't quit and move to 2007 just to fix the problem. It'll make you crazy for along time. Especially the calendar functions.
Also, we can really expect more sync problems in the future I believe. I don't know if you caught on of my other posts where I describe the problems I'v been through in the last 9 years with almost every PDA/phone device. Syncing with Outlook is tricky, even for Microsoft mobile phones.
Keep trying and don't quit, you are probably closer than you think.
Ibaneye...I'm sorry I forgot to mention that I at one point, which I can't remember in this mess, also removed the particular addin you reference. That in and of itself did not fix the issue though.
The registry cleaner I used removed 17 dlls that could have only been installed by my previous update instead of clean install. I really made sure my system was returned to a virgin (pre iPhone) state.
Impaler, it sounds like the Outlooksyncaddin in 2003 may have a permissions issue...just a guess. Are you logged as an administrator?
You know, its amazing that Apple and Microsoft programs play together as well as they do. As a (retired) CIO with 850 people using Outlook, I can tell you it is one MAJOR source of problems. The .pst file is a momolithic mess containing so many different types of data structures.
Be ablsolutely sure when you install iTunes your system looks squeaky clean as far as Apple installs. Also, I'm sure you are up to date on all patches etc. with Outlook 2003.
One more observation, if I may...don't quit and move to 2007 just to fix the problem. It'll make you crazy for along time. Especially the calendar functions.
Also, we can really expect more sync problems in the future I believe. I don't know if you caught on of my other posts where I describe the problems I'v been through in the last 9 years with almost every PDA/phone device. Syncing with Outlook is tricky, even for Microsoft mobile phones.
Keep trying and don't quit, you are probably closer than you think.
My Outlook syncs contacts fine and then when it tries to sync the calendar I get a message that says Calender could not sync because iPhone is not connected when it still is, I have to click ok or cancel and then it just stops syncing. Has anyone gotten this message? is there a fix for this?
Sure am. Good point--could be. My system was very clean. Years of install/uninstall of software left the registry a mess. Paid $40 for the Registry sweep program and got rid of all of it. Removed every trace of Apple software I could find...iTunes, QuickTime, Apple Software Update. Reinstalled Office 2003, did all patches through Service Pack 2, and beyond, iTunes/QuickTime new updates, and the Apple Software Update. I'm definitely the admin, as it let me do all that stuff. Plus I checked.
I think I'm close too. Maybe 7.3.3 will do it? Who knows. Your insights have been great; my friends who swear everything Microsoft don't get what a pain this proprietary system is; everyone else is standards-based...if only Outlook would support iCalendar standards! Although you've talked about troubles with Outlook sync and Windows Mobile devices, I've found them to be very smooth. I've also used BlackBerry extensively over the years, and that has been the most flexible and accurate sync I've experienced. Going from BB to Apple, I KNEW, would require pateience on my part. So for now, I'm using iCal and Mac OS X address book for my sync...and if I have updates, I'll make them on the iPHone...if I have mass updates, I'll do them that night in iCal. Not ideal but that sync works for sure.
You know, my sense of it is that the sync plugin is trying to read from the Outlook calendar and it craps out and hits a brick wall and doesn't know what to do. Would it make a difference if I am in Exchange cached mode or I leave everything on the server?
v. 7.3.2.6 also failed on my system.
Contacts fine.
Calendar only recurring events sync.
New error messages not only during s/w install, but also during every sync event, not seen before and mentioned above. Terrible s/w version, not ready for release (it seems).
Many thanks to all for help/comments.
As I have mentioned in the past, I am seeing, still, OLD events, long gone since the first attempts to sync were attempted, showing BACK up with the new version. I am sure there is a cache file somewhere that is not updating with the current Outlook calendar.pst.
I hope this is fixed soon.
It is terrible that we who are not CIOs and IT experts would have to do things like clean registry or "use your head" while manually deleting information in files... That is not what this is all about. The common/everyday user should have this function correctly, just like those of us who know a little bit more.
I am amazed, still, that Bill Gates has not had the MS team chime in here. He owns so much of Apple.... It has to matter to him.
Upgraded, and still failed
Thanks for all the comments/methods above.
Unfortunately, sync is still not working to Outlook Calendar.
Details below:
Win XP, SP 2, Outlook 2003, all updates, add-ins valid.
Downloaded new firmware for iPhone. Installed w/o error on prior version of iTunes.
Then, went here:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93698,
to painstakingly remove iTunes. Only the automated s/w updater would not remove.
Downloaded a Reg cleaner. Removed, specifically, all references to Apple components.
Cleaned.
Defrag'd.
Rebooted.
Downloaded and successfuly installed the NEW iTunes posted this week, without any installation errors.
Sync'd to iPhone, telling it to "clear the phone contents".
Error encountered during sync:
OutlookSyncClient.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close.
Error Signature: outlooksyncclient.exe, ModVer: 7.3.440.39 Offset: 00082687
AppVer: 0.0.0.0 Mod Name: corefoundation.dll
iPhone and iTunes continued to sync after closing this error message.
When complete, contacts, music, pictures all sync perfectly.
Calendar only syncs recurring appts. No others. Modifications in one calendar do NOT appear after sync in the other calendar.
Thanks for all the comments/methods above.
Unfortunately, sync is still not working to Outlook Calendar.
Details below:
Win XP, SP 2, Outlook 2003, all updates, add-ins valid.
Downloaded new firmware for iPhone. Installed w/o error on prior version of iTunes.
Then, went here:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93698,
to painstakingly remove iTunes. Only the automated s/w updater would not remove.
Downloaded a Reg cleaner. Removed, specifically, all references to Apple components.
Cleaned.
Defrag'd.
Rebooted.
Downloaded and successfuly installed the NEW iTunes posted this week, without any installation errors.
Sync'd to iPhone, telling it to "clear the phone contents".
Error encountered during sync:
OutlookSyncClient.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close.
Error Signature: outlooksyncclient.exe, ModVer: 7.3.440.39 Offset: 00082687
AppVer: 0.0.0.0 Mod Name: corefoundation.dll
iPhone and iTunes continued to sync after closing this error message.
When complete, contacts, music, pictures all sync perfectly.
Calendar only syncs recurring appts. No others. Modifications in one calendar do NOT appear after sync in the other calendar.