Sync Shared Folder contacts to On My Computer contacts

[Allen]

I work in a small company that uses an Exchange hosting service to provide
shared calendar and address books, which we all access through Entourage.
This way we all get the updates anyone else makes, and they are available
when we are offline.

My problem is that all the routes to sync addresses with my iPhone seem to
be blocked from the shared address book. Even if I set up our Exchange
account as my primary (which I can't because of the mail size limits; the
provider gives us 100mb, I need at least 2gb), the shared contacts aren't
syncable with Address Book. (Which is how I currently get my local contacts
synced: Entourage local address book -> Sync with Address Book -> Sync with
iPhone.)

Right now my solution is completely manual: I have to look periodically for
new or changed contacts and make the corresponding changes in my local
contacts. Yuk.

I've searched every imaginable source of Applescripts, third-party apps,
alternative hosting services, and I just can't seem to find a decent
solution.

Ideas?

Allen

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Hi Allen,

My problem is that all the routes to sync addresses with my iPhone seem to
be blocked from the shared address book. Even if I set up our Exchange
account as my primary (which I can't because of the mail size limits; the
provider gives us 100mb, I need at least 2gb), the shared contacts aren't
syncable with Address Book. (Which is how I currently get my local contacts
synced: Entourage local address book -> Sync with Address Book -> Sync with
iPhone.)

What do you mean by "they aren't syncable"??

You set the contacts to be shared through SyncServices through the
Entourage preferences and they never show up in the System address
book???

You might want to try unchecking this option, and checking it over again
to trigger a fresh new "fisrt sync".

Also, make sure Entourage is up to date,


Corentin

 

[Allen]

{Allen}:

Sorry, more specifically: as far as I can tell, Public Folders, including my
Public Folder calendar and contacts, cannot be selected as a source for
syncing. Under Preferences > Sync Services, the dropdown list of address
books that can be synced includes my local contacts, my Exchange account,
and my Exchange account again - the same name is listed twice, like so:

Address Book [On My Computer]
Contacts [My Exchange Account]
Contacts [My Exchange Account]

.... where [My Exchange Account] is my Exchange provider and the name I gave
my Exchange account when setting it up.

At first I hoped that one of these two Contacts [My Exchange Account]
listings would be my Exchange account contacts and the other would be the
Public Folder contacts for that Exchange account Note that in Address Book
view of Entourage, the address books show up like:

Address Book [On My Computer]
Contacts [My Exchange Account]
Contacts [Public Folders]

So I thought maybe the Sync Services prefs dropdown list simply wasn't
presenting a proper name for the Public Folders contacts. However, when I
choose the third item in the list (the second Contacts [My Exchange
Account]) as the source for syncing, nothing gets synced at all.

By "nothing gets synced," I mean: When changing sources, I choose to replace
Sync Services data with the new Entourage source I picked. Then, after Sync
Services clears out my Apple Address Book as expected, no new contact
information is brought in from the selected Entourage contact source. Just
an empty Apple Address Book. I've switched sources in Entourage many times
in my testing, and if I use the Address Book [On My Computer] contacts as a
source, the Apple Address Book is cleared of contacts by Sync Services as
expected and then it starts in right away bringing in the ones from the
newly selected contact source. Not so when choosing the suspected Public
Folders contacts.

Thanks!

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

{Allen}:

Sorry, more specifically: as far as I can tell, Public Folders, including my
Public Folder calendar and contacts, cannot be selected as a source for
syncing. Under Preferences > Sync Services, the dropdown list of address

They sure can't/ It's only your address book or calendar.

books that can be synced includes my local contacts, my Exchange account,
and my Exchange account again - the same name is listed twice, like so:

Address Book [On My Computer]
Contacts [My Exchange Account]
Contacts [My Exchange Account]

... where [My Exchange Account] is my Exchange provider and the name I gave
my Exchange account when setting it up.

If your Exchange account is the default one, then the Exhcange calendar
and address book will sync. If it is a POP or IMAP account, then the
local address book and calendar will.
You can only sync one.



[...]

So I thought maybe the Sync Services prefs dropdown list simply wasn't
presenting a proper name for the Public Folders contacts. However, when I
choose the third item in the list (the second Contacts [My Exchange
Account]) as the source for syncing, nothing gets synced at all.

The only way tyou can sync public folder contact is by copying them to
the default account and allowing this one to be synched.



Corentin

 

[Allen]

{Allen}:

They sure can't/ It's only your address book or calendar.

And apparently not even the address book or calendar from Public Folders.

books that can be synced includes my local contacts, my Exchange account,
and my Exchange account again - the same name is listed twice, like so:

Address Book [On My Computer]
Contacts [My Exchange Account]
Contacts [My Exchange Account]

... where [My Exchange Account] is my Exchange provider and the name I gave
my Exchange account when setting it up.

If your Exchange account is the default one, then the Exhcange calendar
and address book will sync. If it is a POP or IMAP account, then the
local address book and calendar will.
You can only sync one.

Not trying to do more than one, sorry if it sounded like that's what I
meant. I only need to sync to the Public Folder contacts and calendars,
which it sounds below like you are confirming can't be done.

Do you know if this is by design, limitation, or shortcoming?

And any idea what that second Contacts [My Exchange Account] item is about?

[...]

So I thought maybe the Sync Services prefs dropdown list simply wasn't
presenting a proper name for the Public Folders contacts. However, when I
choose the third item in the list (the second Contacts [My Exchange
Account]) as the source for syncing, nothing gets synced at all.

The only way tyou can sync public folder contact is by copying them to
the default account and allowing this one to be synched.

Thanks, that confirms what seemed to be my experience. It's really too bad
that the Public Folder contacts and calendar are isolated in this way though
- Manually deleting all 1100 of my contacts and copying the Shared Folder
contacts is an operation that takes quite a while and defeats the nice
"Automatically sync my iPhone" feature.

I would think that others would like to have some sort of sync access to
their Public Folder contacts and calendars - are these simply unavailable to
AppleScript?

Thanks,

Allen

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Not trying to do more than one, sorry if it sounded like that's what I
meant. I only need to sync to the Public Folder contacts and calendars,
which it sounds below like you are confirming can't be done.

Do you know if this is by design, limitation, or shortcoming?

Difficult to say. Since only one source can be synched, I suspect they
decided it made more sense to syn your own address book and calendar
than public resources you might not have control over.

And any idea what that second Contacts [My Exchange Account] item is about?

One local calendar ofr POP and IMAP accounts (that don't store any of
this on a server) and one Exchange calendar and address book (that are
stored on the server and accessible from any computer)

Thanks, that confirms what seemed to be my experience. It's really too bad
that the Public Folder contacts and calendar are isolated in this way though
- Manually deleting all 1100 of my contacts and copying the Shared Folder
contacts is an operation that takes quite a while and defeats the nice
"Automatically sync my iPhone" feature.

Yeah, I fear it really wasn't deisnged to use a public repository.

I would think that others would like to have some sort of sync access to
their Public Folder contacts and calendars - are these simply unavailable to
AppleScript?

I haven't tried, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were indeed
ApleScript accessible.

Corentin

 

[Allen]

{Allen}:

Thanks for taking the time to reply, Corentin...