Perfectly Syncing Entourage with a Palm Handheld - a Myth?

[Nick]

Is it possible to perfectly sync a Palm handheld with Entourage? I
have tried but without success. I have checked the technical databases
of both Microsoft and Palm for advice on syncing but having followed
the advice given, it doesn't seem possible to do it. One major
obstacle is resolving the 'reoccurring dates' problem where events in
Entourage's calendar must not be set as having no end date. Apart from
the effort of changing every event this does not seem logical (think
of Easter, for example) and appears to mess up the functioning of the
calendar. Why can't Palm handle this and is there any way round it?

I notice there is an article dedicated to syncing Entourage and a Palm
handheld on Microsoft's website. However this seems to have
mysteriously disappeared. Is this because Microsoft have realised that
proper syncing is not possible? If someone from Microsoft is reading
this, please could you repost it.

I would really like to get Entourage to work with my Palm. I am
currently running Microsoft Entourage 2001 (with all the latest
service packs and patches) on Mac OS 9.2.2 and am trying to sync it
with a Palm m130 handheld using the latest version of the Palm Desktop
and Hotsync software using the Hotsync Cradle to transfer the data. I
have the latest Entourage Conduit installed. Although Palm Desktop is
a good program it seems silly to have two separate programs on the go
as you lose the tight integration of information in Entourage.

I guess those with a PC and a Pocket PC are more likely to have
success in syncing information. Can anyone confirm that they have got
Outlook and a Pocket PC to sync perfectly? (I have heard about
PocketMac but do not want to have to buy a Pocket PC.)

Hope you can help,

Nick

 

[Mickey Stevens]

Is it possible to perfectly sync a Palm handheld with Entourage? I
have tried but without success. I have checked the technical databases
of both Microsoft and Palm for advice on syncing but having followed
the advice given, it doesn't seem possible to do it. One major
obstacle is resolving the 'reoccurring dates' problem where events in
Entourage's calendar must not be set as having no end date. Apart from
the effort of changing every event this does not seem logical (think
of Easter, for example) and appears to mess up the functioning of the
calendar. Why can't Palm handle this and is there any way round it?

I don't know why it doesn't work, but as far as I know there is no
workaround. The problem is documented on the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

I notice there is an article dedicated to syncing Entourage and a Palm
handheld on Microsoft's website. However this seems to have
mysteriously disappeared. Is this because Microsoft have realised that
proper syncing is not possible? If someone from Microsoft is reading
this, please could you repost it.

It's still there:
<http://www.microsoft.com/mac/otherproducts/office2001/using.aspx?pid=usingo
ffice2001&type=howto&article=/mac/products/office/2001/entourage/Palm/Synchr
onizing.xml>