C
Cameron
Hi
I use a Entourage 2004 as my main PIM and have until recently been
using Apple iSync to synchronise the calendar and contacts data over to
my Palm OS Tungsten T5 (using Paul Berkowitz's Sync Entourage Address
Book and Sync Entourage iCal scripts as intermediaries). But the Apple
iSync Palm conduit is, shall we say, quirky and I had been growing
increasingly frustrated by its limitations. When I discovered that
iSync 2 (included in Mac OS Tiger) had not fixed any of these problems
(and what's more, does not support my new mobile/ cell phone) I decided
to abandon it and try direct sync'ing via the Entourage Palm conduit,
which I have used before but not for a few years. However, having once
erased my entire Entourage calendar via a screwed-up hotsync, I decided
to proceed with caution for the time being have set the conduit to
*'Entourage overwrites handheld'* to protect my database from
accidental damage.
In general I am pleased with the results but there are a few irritating
quirks (and yes, I have searched but they don't seem to have been
addressed elsewhere):-
1/ The E conduit correctly syncs the default address for each contact
onto the Palm, but for some reason always labels this address 'work'
even when the default is the contact's HOME address. Yes, I can go
through my Palm Contacts database and alter the addresses manually, but
why should I have to? Why doesn't the conduit correctly label the
default address? And anyway, won't the addresses be set back to 'work'
the next time I sync over from Entourage?
I am aware that there is an option to set 'home' or 'work' as the
default in the conduit settings, but this only seems to apply when
syncing from the Palm to Entourage, not the other way round as in my
case. And anyway, why does this have to be all or nothing - why can't
contact addressed be labelled 'work' or 'home' on an individual basis?
2/ I notice that birthdays don't sync, even though there is a
'birthday' field in Palm contacts. Is this because the Entourage
conduit simply doesn't support this field? I know the E conduit, rather
disappointingly, still has issues with some of the enhancements added
to the Palm OS PIM apps in (I think) 2003 (!), although it certainly
does a better job than iSync.
Given that neither the Apple iSync or Entourage conduits seem to fully
support the current versions of the Palm PIM apps (whether they will
ever be updated is anyone's guess), I suppose the ideal world solution
would be to sync to my Tungsten T5 from the Palm Desktop suite (at
least there is a Mac version!). But how would I get my data from
Entourage into Palm Desktop? I am not aware of any scripts or apps
which synchronise Entourage and Palm Desktop, in the same way Paul B's
scripts sync the big purple E with Apple Address Book and iCal...
Any thoughts, suggestions or insights would be much appreciated
Cameron
I use a Entourage 2004 as my main PIM and have until recently been
using Apple iSync to synchronise the calendar and contacts data over to
my Palm OS Tungsten T5 (using Paul Berkowitz's Sync Entourage Address
Book and Sync Entourage iCal scripts as intermediaries). But the Apple
iSync Palm conduit is, shall we say, quirky and I had been growing
increasingly frustrated by its limitations. When I discovered that
iSync 2 (included in Mac OS Tiger) had not fixed any of these problems
(and what's more, does not support my new mobile/ cell phone) I decided
to abandon it and try direct sync'ing via the Entourage Palm conduit,
which I have used before but not for a few years. However, having once
erased my entire Entourage calendar via a screwed-up hotsync, I decided
to proceed with caution for the time being have set the conduit to
*'Entourage overwrites handheld'* to protect my database from
accidental damage.
In general I am pleased with the results but there are a few irritating
quirks (and yes, I have searched but they don't seem to have been
addressed elsewhere):-
1/ The E conduit correctly syncs the default address for each contact
onto the Palm, but for some reason always labels this address 'work'
even when the default is the contact's HOME address. Yes, I can go
through my Palm Contacts database and alter the addresses manually, but
why should I have to? Why doesn't the conduit correctly label the
default address? And anyway, won't the addresses be set back to 'work'
the next time I sync over from Entourage?
I am aware that there is an option to set 'home' or 'work' as the
default in the conduit settings, but this only seems to apply when
syncing from the Palm to Entourage, not the other way round as in my
case. And anyway, why does this have to be all or nothing - why can't
contact addressed be labelled 'work' or 'home' on an individual basis?
2/ I notice that birthdays don't sync, even though there is a
'birthday' field in Palm contacts. Is this because the Entourage
conduit simply doesn't support this field? I know the E conduit, rather
disappointingly, still has issues with some of the enhancements added
to the Palm OS PIM apps in (I think) 2003 (!), although it certainly
does a better job than iSync.
Given that neither the Apple iSync or Entourage conduits seem to fully
support the current versions of the Palm PIM apps (whether they will
ever be updated is anyone's guess), I suppose the ideal world solution
would be to sync to my Tungsten T5 from the Palm Desktop suite (at
least there is a Mac version!). But how would I get my data from
Entourage into Palm Desktop? I am not aware of any scripts or apps
which synchronise Entourage and Palm Desktop, in the same way Paul B's
scripts sync the big purple E with Apple Address Book and iCal...
Any thoughts, suggestions or insights would be much appreciated
Cameron