Sync Center does not report conflicts

Hi,

I am not sure if it is appropriate to post Vista sync center issues on the
microsoft.public.pocketpc.activesync newsgroup, please let me know if there
is a more appropriate group for this.

I have a Windows mobile PDA that I am syncing with Outlook 2007 Vista Home
Premium using the Sync center.

I notice that when I have made a change to a calendar item in both Outlook
and the PDA the conflict is not reported.
Sync Center inconvientely over writes the PDA with what is in Outlook
causing valuable information to be lost.
It does not make any difference if the PDA version was changed after the
Outlook version, Sync Center always over writes with the PC version.

I cannot find any settings that relate to automatically resolving conflicts

Is there a way to manage this?
Alternatively is there another inexpensive program that can be used to sync
a windows mobile device with Vista.

Thanks.

Sean

At 27 Sep 2009 11:58:46 +1000 Beans wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I am not sure if it is appropriate to post Vista sync center issues on
> the microsoft.public.pocketpc.activesync newsgroup, please let me know if
> there is a more appropriate group for this.

WMDC is essentially the Vista version of Activesync, so this would be the
place...

> I have a Windows mobile PDA that I am syncing with Outlook 2007 Vista
> Home Premium using the Sync center.

Just to clear up any confusion, I assume you mean Windows Mobile Device
Center- Sync center only syncs musics and photos, IIRC.

> I notice that when I have made a change to a calendar item in both
> Outlook and the PDA the conflict is not reported.
> Sync Center inconvientely over writes the PDA with what is in Outlook
> causing valuable information to be lost.
> It does not make any difference if the PDA version was changed after the
> Outlook version, Sync Center always over writes with the PC version.
>
> I cannot find any settings that relate to automatically resolving
conflicts

IIRC, you chose which device would overwrite the other in case of conflict
as part of the wizard when you first setup the sync partnership. At that
time, you get a conflict resolution option of the PC overwriting the device
(the default), or the device overwriting the PC in case of conflicts. In
the old days (pre-WinMo 5) there was a third "manually resolve conflicts"
option that no longer exists, unfortunately.


> Is there a way to manage this?


Not to be a wise guy, but yes- don't have any conflicts!

Kidding aside, it's not that hard to do- a conflict only arises when the
same item (contact, calendar, etc.) is updated on both the PC and device
between syncs. If the PC and device sync often, that isn't very likely.
(Remember, even in the "good old days" when you could resolve conflicts
manually, you still lost data- you manually picked a "winner"- either the
PC's version won, losing the changes made on the device, or vice versa- in
no scenario were both changes preserved.)

If you sync your device everytime you go into Outlook on your desktop to
poke around, conflicts are nearly impossible, since updates made on the
device sync to Outlook before you can change anything, and changes made in
Outlook on the PC sync to the device immediately as you make them. You ust
need to make syncing a habit when you sit at the PC.

Of course, if this is a business scenario where your office staff is
updating your Outlook while you're away fom the desk, that's more
problematic, but if so, I suspect Microsoft's official answer would be "if
you can afford a staff, you can probably afford Hosted Exchange!"


> Alternatively is there another inexpensive program that can be used to
> sync a windows mobile device with Vista.

Several cloud-sync services can be used. Since these can be set to sync in
real-time or near real time, conflicts are virtually impossible, since any
change made on one propagates to the other immediately.

You could use Hosted Exchange but I wouldn't consider that "inexpensive"
at $100-200 (US) or more a year. I use Funambol.com's open source Funambol
software. You install a plug-in in Outlook, and a sync client on the
mobile and they both sync over the 'net with a Funambol server. I have
three PCs and three mobiles all syncing the same Outlook data over the 'net
without alifting a finger.

Another alternative is Google; Google Mobile Sync works with the Activesync
software already on the device to sync it with Google Calendar and GMail,
then you can use Google's Calendar plug-in with Outlook to sync Outlook
with Google Calendar as well. Google has no desktop Outlook plug-in for
GMail Contacts, though- you'd need third-party software for that.

Funambol handles my PIM (Contacts, Calendar, Tasks) sync, and I use
Microsoft's Live Mesh for cloud file sync to my main PC, (unlike
Activesync/WMDC's "My Documents" folder-only limitation, I can sync
multiple folders, including my Storage Card, with Mesh,) so I haven't
synced my device physically with a PC in about a year.