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How To Former Palm Users Transition to Droid Guide

Corvus said:
Hey guys new here, as I was reading regarding note pad I came across the note everything post and decided to try it. Works good, it opened my note pad text list I have for medications and whatnot. My question is,is there a search function so I can find indivual items?
Thx to any1 who answers this
Click to expand...

Sorry this is so late! Note Everything (my favorite Droid program) has a built-in search function. Tap on the MENU key (horizontal lines) and Search is right there.

There's another app in the Market called Power Search (free) that will search your whole phone for something, including Note Everything notes.

Hope that helps.
 
tjoebgen said:
SWYPE - A great way to ease your transition from Palm to Droid.

Okay - I saw.....

.....SWYPE FTW!

Terry
Click to expand...


Yeah, we can all tell you can be a tough customer, so I'm impressed!

I've been using Mobile Write since December, since I'm an old Palmy I'm pretty addicted to graffiti. I tried Swype just a little and was frustrated, so I'm wondering; do you have a screen protector? There are sure a lot of swype fans so I'm wondering if my screen protector was messing it up.

The Mobile Write developer has been a slight disappointment. I thought he was going to release an update that would at least offer a smaller input area like the old Palms and Clie's used to be, but nothing yet. That's really my only gripe about MobileWrite; it's fullscreen, hiding whatever app you're actually entering your data into. Seems pretty counter-intuitive. Even then I still prefer it to any of the keyboards most of the time!

I hate to say it right out loud, but as far as keyboards go, the Blackberrys may rule when it comes to pocket-able devices.

Hey! This is 2010! Keyboards should be obsolete and we should have rock-solid voice recognition and handwriting recognition by now!!!
 
I just purchased a Droid and have been successful in getting most of the data from my Palm to the Droid, primarily via Google. I am now looking at ways to keep my Palm and Droid in sync. (This is both for continued use of the Palm along with syncing with Ecco Pro which I use on my notebook and desktop. If I can sync with the Palm I can use it as a way to sync with Google and Droid.)

How does companionlink work for such continued synchronization? I note some have had to fix information after transferring. This might be ok for a one time transfer, but not for continued synchronization. I'm wondering if this is a case of isolated problems or if synchronization is buggy.

Any other products anyone is using for such synchronization?

I used GooSync to transfer the data last night. It worked well for the contacts and calendar (limited to one year before or after present which is ok) but no sync for notes or tasks. The big question here will be whether it works reliably for syncing the two systems when there are changes on one or the other.
 
Companionlink USB works like a charm now, there have been many bumps and updates, but I now continue to use Palm Desktop and my Droid. Lovin' it. No cloud.
 
I might give it a try as long as the problems which some say messed up their data are fixed. (Obviously I'd back up first). I don't mind using the cloud since I normally sync the Palm with Ecco Pro.

I do have Palm Desktop installed on one computer and could sync that with the Palm, and then sync the Palm on the other computer with Ecco Pro and ultimately this would sync everything with the Droid. All other things being equal it might be easier for me to sync the Palm with Google (avoiding the need to also use the computer with Palm Desktop) but I also wonder if a hardware program might give me more control over the syncs.

Are there any limits in which calendar items Companion Link can sync. The limit with GooSync is tolerable (one year before and after) but I would prefer not to have to bother with this.
 
The biggest concern I have is that I simply *cannot* allow my Contacts and Memos to leave my control--too much sensitive client information. And I've been around long enough to know I'm not buying into the Cloud for other data, even my schedule. What's the most *private* and reliable way to transfer data from the Palm to the 'Droid, and then *keep* it private but still be able to back up locally to either Linux or Windows?
 
When I go to the Market and search for GDocs, several apps appear with that in their name, but are obviously from different sources. Which one are you all using?

Thanks,

James
 
wow, seriously I think the A855 "droid" is a poor choice for you if you need to keep your contacts and calendar off the 'net. I doubt that's the kind of answer you want to hear, but I really think you'll get more and more irritated with the device.

That said, you may get more / better help if you start a new thread for that question. This one's getting long and broad.

I joined this forum back when the droid was still fairly new to me, and I had high hopes and expectations. Well, the honeymoon is over here. I'm seriously considering buying another Treo 755 on ebay and going back to it. My car has a good GPS, and I'm not seeing anything in particular that the Droid does beyond the Treo, that I really value. Verizon doesn't actually support the droid any better.
 
I used to love my Palm -- guess we all did. Hung onto that last Palm
Treo until it froze so much I just couldn't stand it. Took me almost
two years to find a way to get my data onto a contemporary system.
Finally did it! Google is the answer, people. I can't recommend which
"smartphone" is the best one to use to sync with Google, but there
are more and more of them out there. I'm on the Droid now and almost there with it, but first things first. The point is that Google's Gmail
system has enough flexibility to handle all the "extra" fields that
former Palm users have in our data -- like multiple mobile tel no's
for a contact, etc. I haven't found anything else. (Yes, I was also reluctant to send my sensitive private data to a cloud server; and I went that route kicking and screaming, but it is password protected -- and again, I cannot find any other option after searching for years and the Palm freezes too often, both on the destop and the handheld.)


Whatever you do, don't get a Blackberry and don't try WinMobile.
You risk losing lots of data because there just aren't enough fields
to handle everything. You have to get your data over to Gmail. Just
set up a free Gmail account. It wasn't easy to find the applications
to get my data from Palm to Gmail because most of the app's leave
some data fields out. I am happy to share the info that I finally
nailed it. You just have to buy a couple of inexpensive programs, but
it's well worth it. Here's what to do:


First, tranfer your data out of the Palm Desktop into Outlook using
the Chapura PocketCopy Software. Look, I am not suggesting actually
using Outlook. (Outlook hides many fields, like that 2nd mobile tel
no for a contact, into obscure locations where it's very hard to
find. Yuck.) Outlook is just a conduit for getting your data onto
Google. Read on.


To transfer all your data (contacts, calendar, notes, and tasks)
including all fields from Palm Desktop go here:


http://www.chapura.com/pocketcopy.php


Then, back up all your data for safekeeping from Outlook into PST
files. You have to do that separately for each of Contacts, Calendar,
Notes, and Tasks. Just go to File, Export, etc.


Now, here's the gold -- The one and only program that I have found
which will actually copy 100 percent of all your Contacts, Calendar,
and Notes fields from Outlook onto Google's Gmail is Gsyncit. Works
great. You can get it here:


http://www.daveswebsite.com/software/gsync/index.shtml


Just read through all the Settings in Gsyncit very carefully. (You
can even use it to periodically back up all your data from Google
onto Outlook on your hard drive, which is way more convenient than those awkward CSV files.) Here are some settings that I highly recommend in Gsync for your initial upload to Gmail, and then it works like a charm:


CONTACTS:
-Check Automatically continue synchronizing on failure (in case your
internet goes down)
-Check to sync everything -- and especially User Defined Fields at
the very end of the list
-Uncheck "allow contacts to be deleted"
-Uncheck "removing duplicates when syncing" (Trust me -- you can
merge duplicates in Gmail after uploading.)
Read the other options and do what you want, but I strongly advise the above.


CALENDAR:
Read the Settings options and do what you want, but here's a taste of
what I did and I was happy:
-Check Automatically continue synchronizing on failure (in case your
internet goes down)
-Check to sync or not what you want - read carefully
-Uncheck "allow events to be deleted"
-Uncheck "removing duplicates when syncing"


NOTES/Memos:
You can upload by Category (hooray!!!) to Google Docs using GSyncit.
There are detailed instructions on the GSyncit support page. I did it
and was very delighted. I have almost 500 Memos from my Palm Treo
which are all organized by category and I was very concerned about this.


TASKS:
Apparently, Google has made it impossible for any developer to get
access in any way to upload into their Tasks system on our Google
Gmail accounts, despite the fact that people have been asking for
over a year. GSyncit has a way of uploading to a separate calendar,
but it's not ideal because you lose your categories from Palm. I'm
about to try a separate app called GTasks, but I don't know if it
works or not -- I don't think that the GTasks app works with Google -
I think it's maybe a standalone. So, if you don't have a lot of
tasks, and you want everything on Google, the GSyncit workaround
might work for you.
 
It really kind of sucks that we have to jump through hoops just to get contacts onto the Droid. In my opinion (for what it's worth), google should offer a desktop like the old Palm that doesn't require going to the internet. It is much more convenient. I was able to bring all my Palm contacts over using vcf, but I couldn't do it in bulk.
I tried companion link. It synchronizes well, but does not use the native contacts application, so when someone calls, I just get the number, not the name and picture. It also replaced the native calendar. I thought the downside outweighed the upside, so I uninstalled.
Still would like a nice desktop sync of calendar and contacts, but I don't think Google is interested in making life that easy.
 
katahdin said:
I accepted the google non privacy issue for the calendar & gmail. I am not sure about how to handle memos/ notes which normally sysns with your pc if using a pDA.
Click to expand...
Good point. Coming from a Centro to a Droid, it was nice to sync memos and tasks to the desktop. In fact there were a lot of things the Centro did better. If Palm had been smart enough to allow the Pre Plus to sync with their own desktop, I would probably be using the Pre now. Once I realized they didn't, I started looking at the Android phones.
The only app I have actually paid for is Documents to Go. I'm now using Word to go for memos. I'm putting tasks directly on my calendar. Not as elegant as the old Palm solution but it works.
 
As a former Palm user (12 years, starting with a III and ending with a Treo 755p), I've also read extensively wonderful posts like the above post and other forums where Palm devotees have migrated to Android and have reached slightly different conclusions.

First of all, if you have Outlook Exchange running on the PC, you are in better shape than if you are coming directly from Palm Desktop.

Outlook Exchange offers a seamless path for synchronization of Contacts, Email and Calendar, so that part's easy.

More problematic for me were the following databases/apps:

1. Notes
2. Tasks (absolutely critical for me)
3. Shopping (via Handyshopper) and
4. Passwords.

My password software, SplashID is now available on the Android platform with a desktop program as well. Transfer was as easy as exporting from SplashID for Palm and importing into SplashID for Android. Synchronization with the Droid is via wifi and is very simple, if not automatic.

Shopping was done by getting ToMarket Android which, while not as robust and all-powerful as HandyShopper, is a good second place choice. Don't ask Chris about an Android port. He's not interested.

Notes can be done a handful of ways: (1) synchronization of Notes to Gdocs; (2) CSV export and import into Noteworthy, and Android application; (3) Products liked Gsyncit, Companionlink, or Markspace. I used both Gdocs (for the Droid) and Noteworthy, and prefer the latter.

For tasks, I have only just solved this problem to my satisfaction. Markspace does not yet sync tasks. Gsyncit and Companionlink do sync tasks, but require you to create or use your Google calendar to do so. Basically, the software floods your calendar with "all day events" that are your tasks.

There is also a great todo application for Android called Todo Task Manager which will, with a little data manipulation, import Outlook tasks very nicely and, if you aren't syncing with a desktop app any more, would be my first choice for Android to-do managers. There are also a handful of other options with third party sites for synchronization such as Evernote and Astrid, with Remember the Milk.

My choice for tasks, and again, remember that I am synchronizing with Outlook tasks via Activesync exchange, is Dataviz' Roadsync, which is the only product running on Android that directly syncs Outlook tasks. It also handles email, contacts, and calendar, but I don't require the redundancy.

So, to repeat:

Database/Palm/Android
1. Notes/Notes/Noteworthy Pro
2. Tasks (critical for me)/To-do list/RoadSync
3. Shopping/Handyshopper/ToMarket
4. Passwords/SplashID/SplashID

Like I said, there's no one way to skin a cat (sorry PETA people) and one other constraint I particularly face is another layer of synchronization between Outlook and Timematters, my firm's practice management software, but after 6 weeks with an HTC Incredible, my Treo 755p's in the box and I don't power it up any more.

Harold
 
I am a former PALM user and loved to synch my OUTLOOK to my Palm - especially the NOTES feature. With my new Droid, I'm looking for an appl that will replace that and synch with my desktop. GooMemo? NoteEverything? GDocs? what application allows me to save personal important info that I want ez access to?
I see that you are mentioning the use of Noteworthy Pro...I don't find that in the Market? Can you help me understand exactly what I need to do to get my desktop's OUTLOOK Notes to synch with my Droid? I'll love you forever!


I just read another post to use gsynch so I think I'll try that...
 
roseb said:
I used to love my Palm -- guess we all did. Hung onto that last Palm
Treo until it froze so much I just couldn't stand it. Took me almost
two years to find a way to get my data onto a contemporary system.
Finally did it! Google is the answer, people. I can't recommend which
"smartphone" is the best one to use to sync with Google, but there
are more and more of them out there. I'm on the Droid now and almost there with it, but first things first. The point is that Google's Gmail
system has enough flexibility to handle all the "extra" fields that
former Palm users have in our data -- like multiple mobile tel no's
for a contact, etc. I haven't found anything else. (Yes, I was also reluctant to send my sensitive private data to a cloud server; and I went that route kicking and screaming, but it is password protected -- and again, I cannot find any other option after searching for years and the Palm freezes too often, both on the destop and the handheld.)


Whatever you do, don't get a Blackberry and don't try WinMobile.
You risk losing lots of data because there just aren't enough fields
to handle everything. You have to get your data over to Gmail. Just
set up a free Gmail account. It wasn't easy to find the applications
to get my data from Palm to Gmail because most of the app's leave
some data fields out. I am happy to share the info that I finally
nailed it. You just have to buy a couple of inexpensive programs, but
it's well worth it. Here's what to do:


First, tranfer your data out of the Palm Desktop into Outlook using
the Chapura PocketCopy Software. Look, I am not suggesting actually
using Outlook. (Outlook hides many fields, like that 2nd mobile tel
no for a contact, into obscure locations where it's very hard to
find. Yuck.) Outlook is just a conduit for getting your data onto
Google. Read on.


To transfer all your data (contacts, calendar, notes, and tasks)
including all fields from Palm Desktop go here:


http://www.chapura.com/pocketcopy.php


Then, back up all your data for safekeeping from Outlook into PST
files. You have to do that separately for each of Contacts, Calendar,
Notes, and Tasks. Just go to File, Export, etc.


Now, here's the gold -- The one and only program that I have found
which will actually copy 100 percent of all your Contacts, Calendar,
and Notes fields from Outlook onto Google's Gmail is Gsyncit. Works
great. You can get it here:


http://www.daveswebsite.com/software/gsync/index.shtml


Just read through all the Settings in Gsyncit very carefully. (You
can even use it to periodically back up all your data from Google
onto Outlook on your hard drive, which is way more convenient than those awkward CSV files.) Here are some settings that I highly recommend in Gsync for your initial upload to Gmail, and then it works like a charm:


CONTACTS:
-Check Automatically continue synchronizing on failure (in case your
internet goes down)
-Check to sync everything -- and especially User Defined Fields at
the very end of the list
-Uncheck "allow contacts to be deleted"
-Uncheck "removing duplicates when syncing" (Trust me -- you can
merge duplicates in Gmail after uploading.)
Read the other options and do what you want, but I strongly advise the above.


CALENDAR:
Read the Settings options and do what you want, but here's a taste of
what I did and I was happy:
-Check Automatically continue synchronizing on failure (in case your
internet goes down)
-Check to sync or not what you want - read carefully
-Uncheck "allow events to be deleted"
-Uncheck "removing duplicates when syncing"


NOTES/Memos:
You can upload by Category (hooray!!!) to Google Docs using GSyncit.
There are detailed instructions on the GSyncit support page. I did it
and was very delighted. I have almost 500 Memos from my Palm Treo
which are all organized by category and I was very concerned about this.


TASKS:
Apparently, Google has made it impossible for any developer to get
access in any way to upload into their Tasks system on our Google
Gmail accounts, despite the fact that people have been asking for
over a year. GSyncit has a way of uploading to a separate calendar,
but it's not ideal because you lose your categories from Palm. I'm
about to try a separate app called GTasks, but I don't know if it
works or not -- I don't think that the GTasks app works with Google -
I think it's maybe a standalone. So, if you don't have a lot of
tasks, and you want everything on Google, the GSyncit workaround
might work for you.
Click to expand...
Roseb THANK you for taking the time to clearly spell out a perfect solution for us old-school Palm users who want to synch Outlook to our Droid. I just purchased gsynchit and downloaded it and pressed synch. Now I'm at a loss. Pardon my ignorance but where will I see these notes on my Droid? My office prohibits the use of gmail on our office laptops - which is why I bought a
Droid - so I'd be able to access personal yahoo and gmail stuff at work. This is why I was so keen to find a way to synch those beautiful NOTES that I have on my work laptop, with my Droid. I am unclear on how to find these notes on my droid .... on gmail. Help?
 
The easiest (but not necessarily my preferred) way to get Outlook Notes to sync with Android is to copy the notes into Google Documents and use Gdocs (all freeware) to sync.

You will still manually have to sync your Outlook Notes with their equivalent Google docs unless you purchase paid software such as gsyncit or Companionlink. I'm not sure but Mark/Space might also work.

Another way with which others may have more experience, is to use Evernote (which is also free). It has an Outlook plug in, and an Android app which enables you to sync Outlook <-> Evernote (in the cloud) <-> Android.

I didn't particularly like Evernote, but that's just me. Many think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Harold
 
Hi all. Been using Palm PDA's since the original Pilot and currently own 3 TX's (spares)
Trying out an Evo, but the biggest problem I have at the moment is the silly stock calendar app..
Is there an alternative calendar / to-do app that will let me enter times and dates directly instead of endlessly flicking at simulated mechanical number wheels?

Also, backup. Looking for a way to save everything to my PC and restore to a new unit if needed, like Palm sync did. I really don't want my data, contacts, passwords on some cloud server.
Any way to do this yet? (Been searching)
 
stephejo said:
Another former Palm Centro to Droid Switch Experience.

One word... CompanionLink. Agree with the OP. Use the Free Trial. You will only need to do this once. Use the specific palm to Google product. It sent my 1000+ Contacts and Calendar over in a snap. I had flawless data transfer! No errors!! Even the Notes went to the right place and were not truncated.

Palm to Droid:
Contacts & Calendar Events using CompanionLink

For Memos:
I also used GDocs Notepad syncing with Google Docs. I am having to copy and paste them to Google Docs though.

For Calendar:
Use google calendar; love it and I used Palm Cal for 10 years.

For Contacts:
Use Gmail contacts

Bravo!
Click to expand...

I would concur, companion link seemed flawless for contacts and calendar, however, I found that some of my calendar items did not go through? Also had a problem with duplicate contacts, google has a great feature under account settings tha allows you to combine duplicates very nicely, flawlessly!!!! Still trying to figure out the missing calendar items. Anyone has the same problem, let me know.
 
LoKoLady1 said:
Roseb THANK you for taking the time to clearly spell out a perfect solution for us old-school Palm users who want to synch Outlook to our Droid. I just purchased gsynchit and downloaded it and pressed synch. Now I'm at a loss. Pardon my ignorance but where will I see these notes on my Droid? My office prohibits the use of gmail on our office laptops - which is why I bought a
Droid - so I'd be able to access personal yahoo and gmail stuff at work. This is why I was so keen to find a way to synch those beautiful NOTES that I have on my work laptop, with my Droid. I am unclear on how to find these notes on my droid .... on gmail. Help?
Click to expand...

The above procedure seems a little to drawn out. I was able to sync from palm desktop (access) to outlook by the same program that syncs my centro to the palm desktop. The program comes with a feature to choose syncing to outlook. Not sure why the above guy used chapura (whatever works). I then used the companion link to upload to google, again, this was seemless. Just my suggestion.
 
I use the Palm application Strip to maintain all my passwords and software registration codes. I have at least 100 items in here.
Assuming I don't return my Evo and stay with Palm, is there any way to transfer the Strip DB to something like SplashID?
 
SplashID for Android (now up to version 5.3.4) imports the following file formats:

vID5
SplashID vID file (from earlier versions)
CSV
1Password TXT
eWallet TXT
Yaps TXT
Cryptinfo TXT
MobileSafe TXT
TopSecret CSV

If your Garnet software can export to any of those formats, you should be good to go. Generally, SplashID is more robust than many others, having several more fields and offering further customization.

Harold
 
I've just moved from using Tungsten T3 for contacts and calendar to HTC Desire - something I was hoping would be a good experience, especially as it's gonna cost me an arm and a leg over the coming 18 months !

I'll skip over the fact that it took me a lot of hours of sweat & swearing even just to move contacts to the droid, I seemed to hit every problem there is and more - even the one about my version of IE on my desktop not being able to run GMail as it complains about a non-existent popup blocker every time I try to add a contact, so have to use laptop or different browser. The main issue was that I was really tied into the palm desktop which I thought was just so much cleaner than outlook, plus I'd got contacts just on my old phone and I'd also some in Yahoo and Outlook - just for good measure.

My main point here however is that whilst the syncing between gmail & the standard calendar is great, the actual functionality of the calendar on the mobile is just so far behind the palm calendar, that I do need to find a replacement app. I've trawled around a bit ad there are various suggestions each that have some fixes for my problems, but can any of you come up with a suggestion of a single app that covers the following gripes:-

  • No colour coding of categories of entries. i.e. provisional and confirmed.
  • I know you can use different calendars to provide the above, but you then can't move events between calendars, you have to delete then re-enter
  • The calendar screen is always portrait - doesn't auto-rotate
  • If you add a birthday in the contact details - it doesn't show in the calendar
  • You can enter a repeating task, but you can't put an end date on it i.e. Monday mornings 1 hr meeting for the next 4 weeks.
  • Week view does not show what the appointments are for - just that you're doing something.
  • You can't set a default of no alarm when you add an event - you can only go to minimum of 5 minutes before.
  • If you want to move an event, when you edit it, there is no calendar lookup facility to assist you to where it has to move to, you just spin the wheels - it doesn't even tell you which day the date it !
As the days have moved on, I am seeing the great potential this device has (google sky map - brilliant !), but cannot understand why no one has matched the palm app that's been out for years - can anyone help ?
 
Yep.. For this reason, I'm still carrying my Palm TX with Datebk5 for all reminders, appointments, etc. I can only hope that Pimlico ports Datebk to Android..

For any devs watching:
Wanted: A reminder app that has:
1. Fast time entry with keypad, (No silly roll wheel simulations or +/- buttons.
2. Set an alarm at the time of the event, not just before it (with any sound, not just ringtones.)
3. The initial alarm sounds a specified number of times, then STOPS.
4. A second alarm that repeats at a specified interval and number of times, until the event is acknowledged (with a different sound)
5. When the event fires, it turns on the screen, and pops the event to the front. (with a privacy option if desired)
6. Repeating to-do events that fire every day at the same time, until checked off.
7. Repeating events that run a specified number of days or events then stop.
8. Repeating events with any repetition, hours, days, months, etc.
9. Hidden events, not visible unless you enter a password, or at least go to a menu and opt to see them.
All of these, and more are present in the Datebk apps for PalmOS. Currently, Android has nothing that's even close.
10. Full backup of all events to local PC or SD card if I don't want Google to have them.
 
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