vB Easy Archive - Active Sync problem with Contact Categories

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Active Sync problem with Contact Categories
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Posted by: Ice9

So I used to have an Mpx220 (until it crapped out last week) and Active Sync 3.7. I have 5 or 6 different contact categories. With my old setup I could go into options for my contacts and select the 2 categories that I actually wanted to sync with my phone.

Today I got a new Cingular 2125 and installed Active Sync 4.1. After finally getting it to work, I could not find a way to only sync the contact groups I wanted to sync. Instead I had to sync all 270 of them. (Ugggh!) The settings tab is greyed out when you click contacts.

Is there something I am missing? Is there a way to only sync a categoty of contacts versus them all? Is there another program that will work with my phone and outlook to do this?

Thanks in advance!

Posted by: SHoTTa35

wow, that's weird. must be something wrong there. i don't have a WM 5 phone (still my trusty 220, sorry yours died) but i currently sync only my "Phone" category. Most of the people in the phone also have other categories but i only want people in the phone category on my phone. That would be a bummer if i can't do that when the QTEK 8500 comes out (HTC Star100/Trek)

I think tho something isn't right there, i'm sure MS wouldn't take them out. Check your phone and see in the contacts if there's still the option of categories there on your smartphone. If so you should be able to choose them.

Posted by: Ice9

My new phone still has categories under contacts. I just don't know of a way to select the right ones on sync. I have scoured the MS mobile site and am stumped.

Is anyone else having this problem with the new Active Sync?

Posted by: rkpunojr

i am also witnessing an issue where none of my contacts are syncing to my device.... I have tried importing and exporting different pst's and csv's that contain pretty much the same contacts and sometimes I will get less than half of my contacts to sync to my device. But this just doesn't cut it. And i am stumped as to why I cannot sync my contacts at all right now... I've also attempted reinstallation of activesync.

Posted by: gatorgrad84

I found the same problem. I keep multiple categories in Outlook, and ALL were sync'ed. Spent a whle cleaning it up. The settings are greyed out in activesync. Sucks...

Posted by: NeuroJoe

I had the same problem with ActiveSync and my MDA, the "contacts" box was greyed out and would not sync from Outlook on my laptop to the MDA. I tried reinstalling Outlook from the activesync CD and voila!, it works now. It seems like ActiveSync didn't recognize my original install of Outlook and it needed to be done again to activate the "contacts" box.

Hope this helps,

Joe

Posted by: Ice9

I tried to install the version of Outlook that came with the phone and still no luck.

Thanks for the suggestion!

Posted by: lesterw

So has anyone been able to filter contacts using categories and ActiveSync 4.1 with a Cingular 2125 phone? As in the original post, the "Options" for Contacts is greyed out completely. Now its syncing all my contacts which I don't want. Any helpful suggestions would be great. Thanks.

Posted by: conan_troutman

im told it is not possible todo so with WM5 there is also limitations on the calendar and tasks where on wm2003 you could synch via catagories on wm5 you can not

lets all pick on activsync developers until they re evaluate it

and just to make sure i have installed and reinstalled the program several times but get this

no category filter for activesync 4.1 and WM5 but when i attach my wifes MPX220 with WM2003 guess what category filters are re enabled.

maybe it's a reg edit in the phones them selves we need to be looking at

Posted by: phillykish

I finally got my SDA working with my company's Microsoft Exchange Server and now I can synch wirelessly without having to connect my SDA to my laptop directly. That's the good news.
Now, I have the same problem where ALL my contacts are being downloaded to the phone, not just the contacts labeled PHONE. Since I'm not using ActiveSynch from my laptop, is this an issue involving WM5?

Thanks.
-Kish

Posted by: lesterw

I posed the question about: having ActiveSync 4.1 and upgrading from an AudiVox SMT5600 to the Cingular 2125 SmartPhone. I have a lot of contacts and only want certain ones downloaded to the phone. With the SMT5600, ActiveSync 4.1 allows me to right-mouse click over Contacts and choose "Settings…" where I can select the Categories that I want downloaded to the phone. With the Cingular 2125, the "Settings…" dialog is greyed out. I *really* want to filter the set of Contacts I download to the phone (for security and space reasons). How can I get the "Settings…" option un-greyed?

The answer I received on another forum (www.pocketpcone2one.com):

You can't. The category filtering was removed in ActiveSync 4.1 when
they moved to the new sync engine (ActiveSync 4.1 uses the old sync
engine for older devices - it's essentially ActiveSync 3.8 rather than
4.1 when synchronizing with older devices). You'll need to use a
product such as XTNDConnect PC
(http://www.extendedsystems.com/web/...B953A55AA64851B)
or IntelliSync
(http://www.intellisync.com/pages/Pr...r-Individuals/)

Typical Microsoft... gee NO ONE needs THAT feature. Well I have 1,500 Outlook contacts and I definitely don't want them all downloaded to my phone for privacy and other reasons. *sigh*

Way to go Microsoft!

Posted by: conan_troutman

i am about to try installing 3.8 on my pc then i am going to use an applet called usb killer on my WM5 devicethis will alow me to connect using the serial port rather than the virtual port WM5 uses as standard

will report back if it works

Posted by: conan_troutman

well i am affraid the devicwe will not let me do it it keeps telling me to install4.1

Microsoft give yoiu a great feature then rob you of it just to piss you off

Posted by: CokaChoka

An option that works is PocketMirror. Yes, activesync 4.1 bites and in my opinion so does the organization of Outlook contacts by category. I keep my contacts "categorized" if you will in seperate folders which is much more organized yet Outlook/activesync refuses to deal with that as well as ignoring the option to be selective on categories. PocketMirror takes care of business and allows me to sync what I do(n't) want with my iPaq and my 2125.

The end result may just be that you will have to toss your (un)desired into specific folders, whip out the coin for PocketMirror and enjoy the ease and simplicity. That may/not be true, but I don't write source code, don't know of any other rabbit in the hat tricks, and have used PocketMirror for some time, so take it for what it's worth.

Posted by: conan_troutman

pocket mirror doesn't appear to work with the qtek 8310/sp5 nor does xtnd connects microsoft shut just give us the function back and have done with it

Posted by: Bugwart

I had the same problem with my i600 (WM for Smartphone 2003) and now with my Q. It is Activesync 4.1, not WM 5.

Posted by: conan_troutman

cant see it beeing activesynch 4.1 becouse I have active synch 4.1 installed on my laptop and I using to sync a MPX220 (WM2003SE) and a Qtek 8310 (WM5)

the 8310 has no setting options available as to what I do and do not want to sync apart from the calaendar that has the option of 2 weeks 6months 12 months and all

yet the MPX 220 has all the settings options for tasks calendar and contacts

I can sync just X contacts or just X categories in contacts tasks and calendar

so it ahs to be a WM5 limitation

Posted by: mbrin

Has anyone been able to find a fix for this without going to Intellisync? Per one of the pieces of advice above, I am using Outlook 2003, and therefore can not use the version that came on the CD when I purchased my 2125.

Thanks,
Mitchell

Posted by: conan_troutman

nope but if you complain to the right people they may bring back the option as AS4.2 is in beta and they are wanting feedback

you need to send an email to astell@microsoft.com hopefully with enough coplaints about the lack of this feature they will bring it back

Posted by: ruindpzzle

Quote:

Originally Posted by CokaChoka

An option that works is PocketMirror. Yes, activesync 4.1 bites and in my opinion so does the organization of Outlook contacts by category. I keep my contacts "categorized" if you will in seperate folders which is much more organized yet Outlook/activesync refuses to deal with that as well as ignoring the option to be selective on categories. PocketMirror takes care of business and allows me to sync what I do(n't) want with my iPaq and my 2125.

The end result may just be that you will have to toss your (un)desired into specific folders, whip out the coin for PocketMirror and enjoy the ease and simplicity. That may/not be true, but I don't write source code, don't know of any other rabbit in the hat tricks, and have used PocketMirror for some time, so take it for what it's worth.

Are you able to sync categories for appointments as well? that's my biggest frustration with my Q and WM5. I downloaded pocketmirror, but it didn't seem to be able to calendar dates, and that's what I really need. I only want certain categories of calendar dates to sync.

Posted by: Sebastus

I don't know what to say about the calendar entries, but you can create a new folder in outlook under contacts, move the items that you don't want sync'd into the new folder (or folders - maybe named by category?). Only those items in the folder called "Contacts" will sync to the handheld (phone).

Cheers!