Duplicates, Triplicates...when syncing iCal and Entourage

[dercliand]

I use an iPhone that I love. I must sync it with iCal, which I don't like as much as Entourage. In theory I thought I could sync Entourage and iCal, and then sync iCal and my iPhone. I'd like to be able to sync both ways, ie from my iPhone to Entourage and from Entourage to my iPhone. So I selected merge info when given the syncing choices for iCal and Entourage. Trouble is...everytime I do this I eventually end up with duplicates, then triplicates, then quadruplicates, then .... and so on. So I've erased my calendars and started over several times to to the same end. The only way I've been able to avoid this is by selecting the options that replaces everything in iCal with the Entourage info. But now I can update Entourage with appointments I enter into my iPhone. Any suggestions on how to accomplish this?

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Trouble is...everytime I do this I eventually end up with duplicates, then
triplicates, then quadruplicates

it's unfortunately a known issue. We are all waiting for a fix :-\

Corentin

 

[susanorlean]

I use an iPhone that I love. I must sync it with iCal, which I don't like as much as Entourage. In theory I thought I could sync Entourage and iCal, and then sync iCal and my iPhone. I'd like to be able to sync both ways, ie from my iPhone to Entourage and from Entourage to my iPhone. So I selected merge info when given the syncing choices for iCal and Entourage. Trouble is....everytime I do this I eventually end up with duplicates, then triplicates, then quadruplicates, then .... and so on. So I've erased my calendars and started over several times to to the same end. The only way I've been able to avoid this is by selecting the options that replaces everything in iCal withthe Entourage info. But now I can update Entourage with appointments I enter into my iPhone. Any suggestions on how to accomplish this?

i'm having the same problem -- triplicates, quadruplicates... i'm
trying to sync my Treo to Entourage & iCal and i'm having a horrible
time. i never had a problem when I had my good old palm pilot & used
palm desktop -- ages ago. i'd switch to an iPhone but the ATT coverage
isn't good in my area, and i worry that i'll just have more trouble. i
don't even know who to ask -- treo? verizon (my carrier)? apple? i
bought MarkSpace missing sync and that doesn't seem to help at all.
can anyone???

 

[mschool]

""it's unfortunately a known issue. We are all waiting for a fix""

It is unbelievable to me how they MSFT could have released this product with such ridiculous synchronization bugs. The work-arounds users are performing, to have iCal and Entourage sync, and THEN not have the iPhone sync is crazy. I have spent too many countless hours jerry rigging sync scenarios, and now I have to wait for a fix??!! MSFT put off this release for an extra year, only to put this half-baked product in users' hands.

 

[macadict]

I, too, am suffering the same problem. I have quadruplicates in Entourage Contacts after syncing with my iPhone!!!!!!

Unfortunately, I need to use Entourage because of the Exchange Server in my office or else I would happily go back to using just Address Book and iCal with my iPhone.

Will we see a fix soon?

 

[Nick]

My problem with Entourage is duplicates to septuplicates (sp?)of email messages from my .Mac account and the most frustrating is Entourage will not let me delete them.

 

[susanorlean]

I use an iPhone that I love. I must sync it with iCal, which I don't like as much as Entourage. In theory I thought I could sync Entourage and iCal, and then sync iCal and my iPhone. I'd like to be able to sync both ways, ie from my iPhone to Entourage and from Entourage to my iPhone. So I selected merge info when given the syncing choices for iCal and Entourage. Trouble is....everytime I do this I eventually end up with duplicates, then triplicates, then quadruplicates, then .... and so on. So I've erased my calendars and started over several times to to the same end. The only way I've been able to avoid this is by selecting the options that replaces everything in iCal withthe Entourage info. But now I can update Entourage with appointments I enter into my iPhone. Any suggestions on how to accomplish this?

I have another question -- if i want to just get rid of Entourage
because of all these problems, how can i do that? if i drag it into
the trash, all the calendar items seem to stay there on my iCal. if i
want to clean it out and rebuild my iCal from scratch without all
these duplicates, how do i do that? thanks for the help on this...

 

[Kidbonz]

Wait until you get quintruplicates (sic). Has anyone tried to go back to 2004?

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

I have another question -- if i want to just get rid of Entourage
because of all these problems, how can i do that? if i drag it into
the trash, all the calendar items seem to stay there on my iCal.

You can use the uninstaller to remove Office. You could probably just
drag ENtoruage to the trash if you want to keep the other apps.

The events in iCal are easy to eliminate. Simply delete the Entourage
calendar in iCal...

Corentin

 

[spem54]

DO NOT DO THAT!!! If you delete the Entourage Calendar in iCal the
calendar would disappear for good ALSO in Entourage! You will have an
empty calendar in Entourage. Scare!

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

DO NOT DO THAT!!! If you delete the Entourage Calendar in iCal the
calendar would disappear for good ALSO in Entourage! You will have an
empty calendar in Entourage. Scare!

Hum.... the previous post was asking *how to get of Entourage* and
eliminate all the duplicates Entourage created in iCal......

It seems quite appropriate to me.
Of course the Entourage data will be gone. That's precisely the point
here.

Corentin

 

[David Wrubel]

I have two computers that sync with dotmac. On one of the computers, I have
Office 2008 installed and Entourage 2008 has enabled Sync Services. EVERY
time that I have completed a sync with dotmac, Entourage 2008 ADDS ALL
contacts as though they were NEW contacts. So I start out with around 2500
contacts and after a sync with dotmac, I have 5000 contacts. One more sync
with dotmac: 7500 contacts and so on. The only way to reset, is deactivating
and then activating Sync Services in Entourage prefs, and choose to let
Apple Address Book overwrite Entourages addresse database. This works... but
the next time I sync with dotmac, the issue comes again. NOTE: Apple's
Address Book has NO problems and ALWAYS stays at the original count of
addresses: 2500. My other computer, that syncs with dotmac is fine and never
has more than the 2500 addresses.There are no issues with the calendar.

David

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

The only way to reset, is deactivating
and then activating Sync Services in Entourage prefs, and choose to let
Apple Address Book overwrite Entourages addresse database. This works... but
the next time I sync with dotmac, the issue comes again.

Same thing here. THa'ts why I gave up on SyncServices for Entourage.
Considering how much work cleaning up the mess is, I haven't re-tested
this under 10.5.2 though. There might be some improvements.

Corentin

 

[Guest]

Does anyone have trouble undoing a delete in entourage? If I delete a task by mistake and go to "undo" it does not offer the option to undo the delete I just did. Ical allows for this but Entourage does not. This situation concerns me in that if I accidentally delete something and I don't know what it was...it's gone forever! Not Good!

 

[Kerry]

""it's unfortunately a known issue. We are all waiting for a fix""
It is unbelievable to me how they MSFT could have released this product with such ridiculous synchronization bugs. The work-arounds users are performing, to have iCal and Entourage sync, and THEN not have the iPhone sync is crazy. I have spent too many countless hours jerry rigging sync scenarios, andnow I have to wait for a fix??!! MSFT put off this release for an extra year, only to put this half-baked product in users' hands.

I couldn't agree more. I use a Palm TX and a Treo with Missing Sync.
In 2004 they had a conduit which was fast and reliable. They didn't
include one in 2008 rather they chose to use sync services. I'll get
it going and in some short time-frame it will break. I have to reset
everything and hope it works and sometimes it takes three attempts and
away it goes. I have spent an inordinate amount of time on something
that just worked so reliably before. I've talked to various people at
Microsoft who started pointing the finger at Apple so I contacted
Markspace (Missing sync). They described what was going on and most of
the problem rests with Entourage's data architecture and the
compromises they made to make it work through sync services.
Unfortunately sync services itself is flaky and has been from the
beginning. So I called Apple this morning and talked to a fellow in
their sync services team. Although he did admit that sync services is
not mature yet and will improve, he said that it is open source code,
well documented (Markspace confirmed this) and that Microsoft is not
used to working with open source code. The problem primarily rests
with the client addressing sync services (in this case Entourage).

I feel I've gone way back in time instead of forward (everything is
going mobile). Microsoft has somehow really botched this, especially
for us Palm users who, like in my case was working without issue using
2004, and I don't get the impression those that use Blackberrie's,
Winmob, or the iPhone are any better off as these all use sync
services with Entourage just, unfortunately like the Palm does now.

 

[Kerry]

Same thing here. THa'ts why I gave up on SyncServices for Entourage.
Considering how much work cleaning up the mess is, I haven't re-tested
this under 10.5.2 though. There might be some improvements.

Corentin

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I have 5.0.2 and there are no improvements to this at all.

Can I ask - are you using 2004 or 08. If you're using 08 and you say
you gave up on sync services, did you just give up on 08, revert to 04
or gave up entirely on sync'g.

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Can I ask - are you using 2004 or 08. If you're using 08 and you say
you gave up on sync services, did you just give up on 08, revert to 04
or gave up entirely on sync'g.

I am on 08. I don't want to go back to 2004 since beside SyncService
issues, I still see Entourage 08 as a nice improvement over 04.
If anything, the embeded Spotlight searches are enough to make me never
want to go back to 04.

I just stopped syncing Entourage with my Palm. I can live without having
my calendar there.

Corentin

 

[dercliand]

Here's the only workable solution I've found so far. Turn of syncing. Clean up your Entourage calendar and make sure it is current. Delete your iCal Entourage calendars. Set to sync again, but this time make sure the preference is for Entourage to overwrite iCal data. Then you can sync your iPhone as necessary. This way I don't get duplicates, but the downside is that I can't upload data from my iPhone back to Entourage. It's a one way street. They really need a fix for this one so data can be exchanged both ways!

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

This way I don't get duplicates, but the downside is that I can't upload
data from my iPhone back to Entourage. It's a one way street.

Only the first sync is one way. It will (should) eventually sync both
ways to iCal and the duplicates will come back (I tried that many many
times unfortunately),

Corentin

 

[jiajia]

I have just installed Entourage 2008, replacing Entourage 2004. On install, my mail and contact information transferred over but my Entourage 2004 calendar items did not import -- or rather they did momentarily and then disappeared before my eyes. I have tried to manually export the calendar items from Entourage 2004 and then reimport them into Entourage but the same thing keeps happening and I get an "unknown error 16008" message and the MSFT Daemon then advises that it has encountered a problem and shuts down my calendar, and/or freezes all Entourage applications. Possibly related, prior to installing Entourage 2008, I was cleaning up iCAL which I don't use, and deleted a calendar called "Entourage" that I had set up long ago in hopes of syncing both calendars and my handheld. I gave up because of all the duplicate/triplicates and turned off the sync but I'm wondering if something is still trying to sync. Any suggestions?