partial Outlook 2007 calendar sync
- Thread starter gmaniax
- Start date
Tried Everything and them some and still no cal sync
I am running Outlook 2003 on XP SP2 I tired everything I have read in this forum, I went so far as to create a new user account on my XP box, I installed a clean version of Outlook 2003, created a fresh brand new clean .PST file and installed iTunes 7.2.3.6. Flashed my iPhone and was ready to see magic.
I entered 4 appointments for the following day. Two recurring appointments and two one time apppointments and just as always in my case the two recurring appointments synced and the two one time appointments did not!
So in my case I have ruled out the following problems:
Too many old appointments
Too much data
Corrupt .PST
Not using .IPM Appointment
And Apple keeps telling me I am the only person in the world having this issue. I have spent more time than I care to admit trying to make this $600 paperweight work.
Without a calendar a PDA is useless to me. I actually had to go to ATT and buya Blackberry 8300 Curve, works flawlessly. If Apple does not fix this problem in the 30 day return period I have for the BB Curve, then my iPhone goes on eBay.
Has anyone out there had any success with any other approach not yet mentioned here?
I am running Outlook 2003 on XP SP2 I tired everything I have read in this forum, I went so far as to create a new user account on my XP box, I installed a clean version of Outlook 2003, created a fresh brand new clean .PST file and installed iTunes 7.2.3.6. Flashed my iPhone and was ready to see magic.
I entered 4 appointments for the following day. Two recurring appointments and two one time apppointments and just as always in my case the two recurring appointments synced and the two one time appointments did not!
So in my case I have ruled out the following problems:
Too many old appointments
Too much data
Corrupt .PST
Not using .IPM Appointment
And Apple keeps telling me I am the only person in the world having this issue. I have spent more time than I care to admit trying to make this $600 paperweight work.
Without a calendar a PDA is useless to me. I actually had to go to ATT and buya Blackberry 8300 Curve, works flawlessly. If Apple does not fix this problem in the 30 day return period I have for the BB Curve, then my iPhone goes on eBay.
Has anyone out there had any success with any other approach not yet mentioned here?
Just figured my problem out! Even though I did this before, I tried it again. If anyone is noticing that their calendars are syncing a few hours off of outlook (for me it was 5), do this:
Make sure your outlook and computer time zones are correct. Actually change the time zone and then change it back to the correct one. Now do the same thing on your iPhone. For me, even though the time was correct (I have date and time set automatically on) I had to turn time zone support off and then on again. When I did, "Houston" came on by itself (where I live). Next time I sync'd it was all perfect!
Make sure your outlook and computer time zones are correct. Actually change the time zone and then change it back to the correct one. Now do the same thing on your iPhone. For me, even though the time was correct (I have date and time set automatically on) I had to turn time zone support off and then on again. When I did, "Houston" came on by itself (where I live). Next time I sync'd it was all perfect!
I have the same problem! I checked add-in and com add-in etc. Basically Iid everything I could find on the internet. But I haven't resolved the issue yet. Right now, I cut and paste an event that syncs and modify it instead of creating a whole new event. This seems to be working....
UNINSTALLING Live Outlook add-in fixes Calendar sync problem in Outlook
Completely UNINSTALLING the LIVE OUTLOOK ADD-IN via the Control Panel in Windows XP fixes the Outlook Calendar sync problem. After doing this, Outlook 2003 finally syncs accurately with iPhone 1.0.2
Follow these steps to correct your sync problem (hopefully)
1-"CONTROL PANEL"
2-"ADD & REMOVE PROGRAMS"
3-"REMOVE"-Live Outlook Add-in (near end of list)
4-"Sync" iPhone in itunes-7.4 again & your iPhone Calendar should work accurately & match your Outlook calendar.
Good luck!
Completely UNINSTALLING the LIVE OUTLOOK ADD-IN via the Control Panel in Windows XP fixes the Outlook Calendar sync problem. After doing this, Outlook 2003 finally syncs accurately with iPhone 1.0.2
Follow these steps to correct your sync problem (hopefully)
1-"CONTROL PANEL"
2-"ADD & REMOVE PROGRAMS"
3-"REMOVE"-Live Outlook Add-in (near end of list)
4-"Sync" iPhone in itunes-7.4 again & your iPhone Calendar should work accurately & match your Outlook calendar.
Good luck!
Finally - success
I'd tried everything described on this list, and nothing was working for me. It appears that this is because my problems had a couple of different causes, and no one thing was fixing it. I let it go for a few weeks, and just now tried it again (after upgrading to iTunes 7.4 and having my hopes dashed that it would just magically start working).
The problem was as described by many people above: When I synced my iPhone with my Outlook 2007 calendar, it would bring over a few random recurring events - some of them from 2003 - and nothing else. Entries I created on the iPhone calendar would sync back to Outlook, but not the other way around.
Here are the steps I took to finally get my calendar to sync up.
1. Exported my calendar to a new PST file, then cleared out my main calendar (as described above).
2. Created a new test event in my otherwise empty calendar. This did not sync up. Not good.
3. Uninstalled Windows Live Map Add-in (as described above). Now my test event synced up. Good.
4. I opened the PST file containing the exported calendar, and dragged a single (real) event from there onto my main calendar. Now there were two events in my main calendar - the real one I'd dragged over and the test one I'd created. But when I went to sync, still only the test one showed up on the iPhone. Hmm. Not good. I tried various permutations of this, and basically it wouldn't sync any of the events from my old calendar when I dragged and dropped them into the new, empty calendar, but it would sync newly created calendar events. I took this as an indication that there was something really bothering iTunes about the way events in my old calendar were encoded. So:
5. I re-exported my calendar again, this time to a Windows CSV file, in order to strip out whatever issues it was having from the PST format. It converted all recurring entries to individual entries (so if there was an entry that recurred 10 times, it created 10 distinct entries). It asked me for a date range for expanding recurring events in this manner, and I gave it a range that encompassed the entire time I'd been using this calendar (over 7 years).
6. I closed my exported PST file. I created a new empty PST file, created a new Calendar folder in the new PST file, and re-imported my calendar from the CSV file into this folder.
7. I then started copying entries from the new re-imported folder into my main calendar. Lo and behold, they appeared normally on the iPhone! Little by little, I brought over all of the events from my old calendar, and sync continued to work normally.
So: my advice to someone having this problem is to (1) Make sure you can get to the point where a blank calendar with a single event on it syncs up. If you can't get this to happen try uninstalling/disabling plugins, etc. until it syncs up (2) If you still can't get events from your old calendar to sync, try the round-trip through CSV format to clean your calendar data.
Hope this helps someone.
I'd tried everything described on this list, and nothing was working for me. It appears that this is because my problems had a couple of different causes, and no one thing was fixing it. I let it go for a few weeks, and just now tried it again (after upgrading to iTunes 7.4 and having my hopes dashed that it would just magically start working).
The problem was as described by many people above: When I synced my iPhone with my Outlook 2007 calendar, it would bring over a few random recurring events - some of them from 2003 - and nothing else. Entries I created on the iPhone calendar would sync back to Outlook, but not the other way around.
Here are the steps I took to finally get my calendar to sync up.
1. Exported my calendar to a new PST file, then cleared out my main calendar (as described above).
2. Created a new test event in my otherwise empty calendar. This did not sync up. Not good.
3. Uninstalled Windows Live Map Add-in (as described above). Now my test event synced up. Good.
4. I opened the PST file containing the exported calendar, and dragged a single (real) event from there onto my main calendar. Now there were two events in my main calendar - the real one I'd dragged over and the test one I'd created. But when I went to sync, still only the test one showed up on the iPhone. Hmm. Not good. I tried various permutations of this, and basically it wouldn't sync any of the events from my old calendar when I dragged and dropped them into the new, empty calendar, but it would sync newly created calendar events. I took this as an indication that there was something really bothering iTunes about the way events in my old calendar were encoded. So:
5. I re-exported my calendar again, this time to a Windows CSV file, in order to strip out whatever issues it was having from the PST format. It converted all recurring entries to individual entries (so if there was an entry that recurred 10 times, it created 10 distinct entries). It asked me for a date range for expanding recurring events in this manner, and I gave it a range that encompassed the entire time I'd been using this calendar (over 7 years).
6. I closed my exported PST file. I created a new empty PST file, created a new Calendar folder in the new PST file, and re-imported my calendar from the CSV file into this folder.
7. I then started copying entries from the new re-imported folder into my main calendar. Lo and behold, they appeared normally on the iPhone! Little by little, I brought over all of the events from my old calendar, and sync continued to work normally.
So: my advice to someone having this problem is to (1) Make sure you can get to the point where a blank calendar with a single event on it syncs up. If you can't get this to happen try uninstalling/disabling plugins, etc. until it syncs up (2) If you still can't get events from your old calendar to sync, try the round-trip through CSV format to clean your calendar data.
Hope this helps someone.
Removing Windows Live Map Add-in Works for me
I removed Windows Live Map Add-in completely from my computer (using Add/Remove programs) and ... YIPPIEE ... all my appoinments are syncing properly.
Thanks for the suggestions.
I removed Windows Live Map Add-in completely from my computer (using Add/Remove programs) and ... YIPPIEE ... all my appoinments are syncing properly.
Thanks for the suggestions.
I cant seem to find Live Maps for Outlook in my programs Add/Remove list...might it be called something else?
Did you look under the Microsoft Office category in Add/Remove? I don't recall exactly but I think it was something like Microsoft Office Live Maps...
I know this sounds odd - but I had to go to the Microsoft download page to do a fresh install - and then de-install Live Maps using Add/Remove Programs.
The link to download it is http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=7a0bce98-eabefore-40a3-b7ec-43c09d6ae8cb&displaylang=en.
Good luck.
It works!@
It works just great using this fix!@ iTunes should look into doing what you guys do. and by the way i'm a Geeksquad Agent!@ and first time i read this and tried ......and i will use again.
What if you have some inactive ones?
1.Calendar Gadget for Windows SlideShow
2.Microsoft Access Outlook Add-in for Data Collection and Publishing
3.Microsoft VBA for Outlook Add-in
I have not been able to get my calendar to sync with my iPhone. I see a drop down at the bottom, manage add-ins. I am not literate about this type of thing and am scared to click anything. Any advice would help a lot . I'm lost w/o my calendar. I don't care that I can't add to it from my phone but I need to be able to see it at will.
Thanks for any help, SRC
I checked the Trust Center and I have 3 inactive add-ins.
1.Calendar Gadget for Windows SlideShow
2.Microsoft Access Outlook Add-in for Data Collection and Publishing
3.Microsoft VBA for Outlook Add-in
I have not been able to get my calendar to sync with my iPhone. I see a drop down at the bottom, manage add-ins. I am not literate about this type of thing and am scared to click anything. Any advice would help a lot . I'm lost w/o my calendar. I don't care that I can't add to it from my phone but I need to be able to see it at will.
Thanks for any help, SRC
Microsoft .... again !
I'd tried everything else and this was what finally fixed all my ipod-touch sync issues. For me, the problem manifested itself as new items added to my ipod-touch wouldn't sync to Outlook whereas new Outlook events would sync ok to my ipod-touch. After running scanpst.exe (there were errors), any new (that point is important - previously entered items don't appear to count) entries sync in both directions.
Thanks - this fixed many frustrating lost appointments and it was all down to another Microsoft screwup.
Always amazes me how Microsoft has become so pervasive in businesss.
I'd tried everything else and this was what finally fixed all my ipod-touch sync issues. For me, the problem manifested itself as new items added to my ipod-touch wouldn't sync to Outlook whereas new Outlook events would sync ok to my ipod-touch. After running scanpst.exe (there were errors), any new (that point is important - previously entered items don't appear to count) entries sync in both directions.
Thanks - this fixed many frustrating lost appointments and it was all down to another Microsoft screwup.
Always amazes me how Microsoft has become so pervasive in businesss.
Outlook 2007 Syncing Problem Solved?
Thanks to everyone for some great posts and brainstorming. I'm glad to see that some people have resolved the issue with Outlook 2007 and their iPhone. I've tried everything mentioned in this forum for my Outlook 2007 (scanpst, IPM.Appointment , etc), none of which have worked. Here is what finally worked and this is what I did to get there. From my conclusion the problem (for me) was a Microsoft Outlook issue.
My configurations
iPhone 3G
iTunes 7.7.0.43
Windows XP SP 3
Outlook 2007
My Diagnosis
I’ve used Outlook for years and have gone through upgrades as far back as Office 2000. Every time I upgrade, as part of the upgrade process, Outlook converts the previous PST file for me. According to this solution, it may be a better idea to export info and then bring it back in to an empty file to best insure no damage to the records – Recurring events in old files seemed to be the issue here (birthdays, anniversaries, etc). Contacts were syncing fine, but Appointments to and from the iPhone were not. From what I’ve read, files from older versions of Outlook retained properties not compatible with Outlook 2007 or the iPhone for that matter, but are readable by Outlook 2007 and look the same as all other records within the program.
1. Export your Outlook 2007 calendar data “to a file” for backup. Check the file size to make sure you collected the data to be sure. YOU NEED TO EXPORT AS A WINDOWS TAB FILE. – But I would also save as a PST for backup purposes. Only IMPORT THE TAB FILE IN THIS PROCESS.
2. From within a list view, select all your data and then delete all of the calendar data so there are no more events. This is a pain, because you will most likely have to cancel some events, notifying attendees (oh well @ this point no gonna care)
3. Now that you have a blank calendar, create an appointment on your iPhone and one in Outlook and then sync.
Test to see if it works. This worked for me. If it does, you are on your way there.
4. Now import the TAB file with all your appointments. This should do it. NOTE: When I imported the TAB file it worked,, but I tried importing the PST backup I made (even after running SCANPST) and I was back to the same problem
Hope this works for you!
Thanks for everyone’s contribution. This only took me ALL DAY! I hope this helps!
Thanks to everyone for some great posts and brainstorming. I'm glad to see that some people have resolved the issue with Outlook 2007 and their iPhone. I've tried everything mentioned in this forum for my Outlook 2007 (scanpst, IPM.Appointment , etc), none of which have worked. Here is what finally worked and this is what I did to get there. From my conclusion the problem (for me) was a Microsoft Outlook issue.
My configurations
iPhone 3G
iTunes 7.7.0.43
Windows XP SP 3
Outlook 2007
My Diagnosis
I’ve used Outlook for years and have gone through upgrades as far back as Office 2000. Every time I upgrade, as part of the upgrade process, Outlook converts the previous PST file for me. According to this solution, it may be a better idea to export info and then bring it back in to an empty file to best insure no damage to the records – Recurring events in old files seemed to be the issue here (birthdays, anniversaries, etc). Contacts were syncing fine, but Appointments to and from the iPhone were not. From what I’ve read, files from older versions of Outlook retained properties not compatible with Outlook 2007 or the iPhone for that matter, but are readable by Outlook 2007 and look the same as all other records within the program.
1. Export your Outlook 2007 calendar data “to a file” for backup. Check the file size to make sure you collected the data to be sure. YOU NEED TO EXPORT AS A WINDOWS TAB FILE. – But I would also save as a PST for backup purposes. Only IMPORT THE TAB FILE IN THIS PROCESS.
2. From within a list view, select all your data and then delete all of the calendar data so there are no more events. This is a pain, because you will most likely have to cancel some events, notifying attendees (oh well @ this point no gonna care)
3. Now that you have a blank calendar, create an appointment on your iPhone and one in Outlook and then sync.
Test to see if it works. This worked for me. If it does, you are on your way there.
4. Now import the TAB file with all your appointments. This should do it. NOTE: When I imported the TAB file it worked,, but I tried importing the PST backup I made (even after running SCANPST) and I was back to the same problem
Hope this works for you!
Thanks for everyone’s contribution. This only took me ALL DAY! I hope this helps!
thanks Ken for this.
My Outlook Calendar had also been through many upgrades as well as a couple of export/import migrations to move my Mailbox.pst onto other computers.
Alas it turns out that the scanpst.exe solution appears to have been just a temporary fix for me - the problem (with exactly the same symptoms) has since reoccurred three times but could not be fixed with scanpst.exe.
The first recurrence was fixed by reinstalling iTunes (believe it or not, that was an Apple's recommendation), the second time by resetting the Sync history in iTunes preferences and the last reccurrence couldn't be fixed by scanpst or resetting Sync history but I was too worn out on the issue to attempt a further reinstall of iTunes.
Reinstalling iTunes every other week wouldn't have been an acceptable long term solution for me - your suggestion seemed to be a good way of cleaning out my Outlook calendar of all the Microsoft proprietary nonsense it probably contains
So I just wanted to say thanks very much and that this worked for me - I didn't know you could export/import just Outlook's calendar alone like this.
There are a couple of caveats that people should be aware of.
The first is that for any Calendar entry that includes attachments (yeh, great idea Microsoft), those need to be saved off to disk otherwise they'll be lost.
It seems people enjoy including large powerpoint and pdf files when they make calendar appointments - fortunately I routinely save those before accepting appointments.
The second is that certain calendar updates or cancellations that you receive for appointments created prior to this export/import will need to be handled manually.
For example, recurring appointments may not be automatically deleted when a meeting cancellation has been sent out since recurring appointments get converted to individual entries during this process.
If people can deal with these two issues, then I think this is a great way to clean up Outlook's calendar database in Mailbox.pst.
It seems scanpst.exe more commonly finds errors which are related to mail and unrelated to calendar entries.
cheers, dave
My Outlook Calendar had also been through many upgrades as well as a couple of export/import migrations to move my Mailbox.pst onto other computers.
Alas it turns out that the scanpst.exe solution appears to have been just a temporary fix for me - the problem (with exactly the same symptoms) has since reoccurred three times but could not be fixed with scanpst.exe.
The first recurrence was fixed by reinstalling iTunes (believe it or not, that was an Apple's recommendation), the second time by resetting the Sync history in iTunes preferences and the last reccurrence couldn't be fixed by scanpst or resetting Sync history but I was too worn out on the issue to attempt a further reinstall of iTunes.
Reinstalling iTunes every other week wouldn't have been an acceptable long term solution for me - your suggestion seemed to be a good way of cleaning out my Outlook calendar of all the Microsoft proprietary nonsense it probably contains
So I just wanted to say thanks very much and that this worked for me - I didn't know you could export/import just Outlook's calendar alone like this.
There are a couple of caveats that people should be aware of.
The first is that for any Calendar entry that includes attachments (yeh, great idea Microsoft), those need to be saved off to disk otherwise they'll be lost.
It seems people enjoy including large powerpoint and pdf files when they make calendar appointments - fortunately I routinely save those before accepting appointments.
The second is that certain calendar updates or cancellations that you receive for appointments created prior to this export/import will need to be handled manually.
For example, recurring appointments may not be automatically deleted when a meeting cancellation has been sent out since recurring appointments get converted to individual entries during this process.
If people can deal with these two issues, then I think this is a great way to clean up Outlook's calendar database in Mailbox.pst.
It seems scanpst.exe more commonly finds errors which are related to mail and unrelated to calendar entries.
cheers, dave
Follow-up Maintenance
Dave,
Thanks very much for contributing to the notes I posted and I am glad they were helpful to you. Everyone who attempts this should take note of what you said, because there are certainly side effects to the process. As long as you have a backup PST to reference (if needed) then you are in good shape.
Some other things to note, that wasn’t mentioned in my previous post and are in addition to Dave’s advice.
If you follow this process and import your items from the tab file, and you have reoccurring events (weekly meetings, birthdays, etc.) after you import these items I found out that I needed to access these specific appointments and reassign their recurring properties, because they were not saved. Not sure if this could have been avoided at all, but nevertheless, this is what happened to me.
Also, the more recurring events you have, the more deleting you will need to do from your calendar once the records have been replaced, because when you saved them as a TAB file each appointment that had multiple occurrences was split into a record for each occurrence.
So, combining the two items above this is an example of some post maintenance I had to do once I got my events loaded again. I saw that back in May I setup a recurring meeting. First, when it came back into Outlook, there was an appointment record for every meeting since my first one. So I deleted all of the meeting records, except for one, because they all had the same agenda, instructions etc. Second; I had to open up the meeting record again and reassign its occurrence. You will have to do this for all your recurring meetings.
Don’t overlook what Dave pointed out; if your appointments have agendas, minutes, etc. you need to download them first and then reattach them later.
Tedious? Could be, but like I said earlier, I spent 10 times the time doing everything else. At least this process was making progress and got the job done.
Good luck and thanks to Dave for the additional advice!
Dave,
Thanks very much for contributing to the notes I posted and I am glad they were helpful to you. Everyone who attempts this should take note of what you said, because there are certainly side effects to the process. As long as you have a backup PST to reference (if needed) then you are in good shape.
Some other things to note, that wasn’t mentioned in my previous post and are in addition to Dave’s advice.
If you follow this process and import your items from the tab file, and you have reoccurring events (weekly meetings, birthdays, etc.) after you import these items I found out that I needed to access these specific appointments and reassign their recurring properties, because they were not saved. Not sure if this could have been avoided at all, but nevertheless, this is what happened to me.
Also, the more recurring events you have, the more deleting you will need to do from your calendar once the records have been replaced, because when you saved them as a TAB file each appointment that had multiple occurrences was split into a record for each occurrence.
So, combining the two items above this is an example of some post maintenance I had to do once I got my events loaded again. I saw that back in May I setup a recurring meeting. First, when it came back into Outlook, there was an appointment record for every meeting since my first one. So I deleted all of the meeting records, except for one, because they all had the same agenda, instructions etc. Second; I had to open up the meeting record again and reassign its occurrence. You will have to do this for all your recurring meetings.
Don’t overlook what Dave pointed out; if your appointments have agendas, minutes, etc. you need to download them first and then reattach them later.
Tedious? Could be, but like I said earlier, I spent 10 times the time doing everything else. At least this process was making progress and got the job done.
Good luck and thanks to Dave for the additional advice!