link between contacts and business contacts?

[TimH]

I am in trial version of Outlook 07 w/business contact manager. Love it so
far, but.....I have personal contacts and business contacts. I want to sync
to iPhone but cannot get the business contacts to link in with the regular
contact book. If I copy, then I have the issue of changing one business
contact and having to do it on duplicate records? Plus we have multiple users
on the account. I an frag the business contact folder to the same area as the
contacts but it will not show up in iTunes as an option to sync

We are new to Outlook and are trying it out. Coming from ACT.

Thanks

 

[Dave J. (Scoop0901)]

I am in trial version of Outlook 07 w/business contact manager. Love it so
far, but.....I have personal contacts and business contacts. I want to sync
to iPhone but cannot get the business contacts to link in with the regular
contact book. If I copy, then I have the issue of changing one business
contact and having to do it on duplicate records? Plus we have multiple users
on the account.

Tim, the contacts in your address book and the business contacts in
Business Contact Manager are two separate sets of data. The contacts
list from your address book is maintained with Outlook; the business
contacts list, tied to Business Contact Manager, is stored in the BCM
database.

I've only need to add one person that was a business contact to a
regular contact in my address book. I think a copy-and-paste did the
trick.

 

[Dave J. (Scoop0901)]

I am in trial version of Outlook 07 w/business contact manager. Love it so
far, but.....I have personal contacts and business contacts. I want to sync
to iPhone but cannot get the business contacts to link in with the regular
contact book. If I copy, then I have the issue of changing one business
contact and having to do it on duplicate records? Plus we have multiple users
on the account.

Tim, the contacts in your address book and the business contacts in
Business Contact Manager are two separate sets of data. The contacts
list from your address book is maintained with Outlook; the business
contacts list, tied to Business Contact Manager, is stored in the BCM
database.

I've only need to add one person that was a business contact to a
regular contact in my address book. I think a copy-and-paste did the
trick.

 

[Brenda]

The copy paste works great - I only needed to go in and link the accounts and
set a few other things - but saves tons of time

 

[TimH]

Yes I did that but the reason I am having to put the contacts is for syncing
purposes. I am using itunes with iphone and itunes only syncs the default in
outlook. So I am having to copy from BCM to contacts and if I change one it
does not change the other. Hence the problem of invalid data especially with
10 people using the data base. Is there a way for iTunes to sync the BCM book
instead w/o having to copy and paste here and there?

 

[Luther]

Yes I did that but the reason I am having to put the contacts is for syncing
purposes. I am using itunes with iphone and itunes only syncs the default in
outlook. So I am having to copy from BCM to contacts and if I change one it
does not change the other. Hence the problem of invalid data especially with
10 people using the data base. Is there a way for iTunes to sync the BCM book
instead w/o having to copy and paste here and there?







- Show quoted text -

Have you tried asking Apple to allow the user to select which Contacts
folder to sync?

 

[TimH]

According to them, it syncs the defualt contacts book. You can create sub
groups and choose which one of those but they are still under defualt
contacts. To me it is a little ridiculous to not be able to at least "link"
instead of copy the items. Now you wind up with being able to have duplicate
records and information not being correct, especially when you throw other
users into the mix.

 

[Buck]

This is UTTERLY ridiculous. Not having ALL of one's contacts in ONE database
is klugey and stupid - adds problems with syncing, problems with data
duplication, problems with data integrity, problems with data safety - having
to back-up multiple databases...

 

[Nigel Freeney]

Hi Buck,

I'm pleased for you that you are able to completely separate your business
life from your personal life - lots of people can't, myself included.

BCM and separate Outlook contact databases are a real barrier to
productivity:
1. Can't sync more than one contact database with my mobile phone - personal
or work but not both
2. Syncing with BCM and mobile devices is not robust
3. Backing up integrated data i.e. reminders is not simple so that when you
restore a copy of BCM
4. Restoration of BCM into Outlook leaves many holes n the data
5. It should be possible to define which contacts are displayed by default
including a coombination of several address books.
6. My pet favourite - you should be able to right click on an email address
from an email and have the option to create a new business contact - I can't
I only get the option to create a new contact

So in my opinion BCM is integrated enough to be complex and potentially
useful but not stable or flexible enough to be really practical for small
businesses like mine

Thanks,

Nigel