We can now synchronize Outlook & Android without a 3rd party app or Exchange Server!

[MPLS55415]

Razzmatazz, thank you for your reply.

I have done the first 2 steps. Installing the Connector and then adding the hotmail account. Nothing is synching, in either direction. I haven't done anything with the phone yet, because I want this part of the puzzle solved first. I don't know that I am missing here??

 

[RazzMaTazz]

Well now that I have some experience with different tools to sync Droid and Outlook I can tell you I don't like using Hotmail. And I don't like using the Hotmail Connector that I can't find a way to disable to stop the syncing when it gets weird and I need to clean up. And I hate that I can't enter info into the phone and have it sync back up to hotmail or outlook. That is terrible.
I can switch the settings from use hotmail for storage of contact info to Google but I am not sure that was syncing new items entered on the phone either because hotmail won't sync that direction.
I have not tried setting accounts to allow syncing both Gmail and hotmail at the same time yet. Concerned I would get too many more duplicates.

I'm sorry to hear that you're having trouble. It could be an issue specific to your phone or one of your settings. Many of us have no problem syncing contacts & calendar perfectly in any direction. I create contacts & calendar events on my phone all the time and they get synced up to the Hotmail server and then to Outlook on my PCs. On the phone are you creating the contact under your Hotmal account? After you create such a contact, if you go into the "Edit" screen, in the header is it listed as a "Corporate Contact" (as it should be for a Hotmail-based contact) or is it listed as a "Google Contact", "Phone-only Contact", "Facebook Contact", or something else? If it's listed as a Corporate Contact, and you've got your settings correct to sync and display contacts from your Hotmail account, I can't imagine why it wouldn't sync perfectly like it does for many of us.

If you sync (and view) both Google Contacts and Hotmail Contacts you will get duplicates, but Android kinda hides the duplicates so that only one of each contact is displayed. (I don't do this because I assume it uses up twice the phone memory.)

 

[obladioblada]

Well now that I have some experience with different tools to sync Droid and Outlook I can tell you I don't like using Hotmail. And I don't like using the Hotmail Connector that I can't find a way to disable to stop the syncing when it gets weird and I need to clean up. And I hate that I can't enter info into the phone and have it sync back up to hotmail or outlook. That is terrible. .

I do NOT use EXCHANGE and it works great for me.
My Outlook is completely in Sync with my phone in both directions.
I do not use the web-hotmail interface and it only serves to transfer info between the phone and outlook.

 

[RazzMaTazz]

I have done the first 2 steps. Installing the Connector and then adding the hotmail account. Nothing is synching, in either direction.

That's puzzling, and it's really not an Android issue so I'm a bit reluctant to become Microsoft's tech support but... Microsoft says it works and Outlook Connector certainly works well on my wife's PC with Outlook 2003. At this point (and forgive me if you've already done this basic stuff) I'd suggest the following:
1) Make sure that in the email account settings, the Hotmail account and password are correct. (Double check by going to Hotmail on the web and logging in with that password.)
2) Exit Outlook. Restart the PC.
3) When you do a Send/Receive (F9) and you view the Send/Receive Progress, do you get errors? If so, what are the errors?

 

[MPLS55415]

Ok. I did what you suggested (1. & 2.) I closed Outlook, and restarted PC. I then entered a fake contact and a fake calendar item through my hotmail. Hit Send/Receive and I get no errors. Fake Contact and Fake Calendar item did not show up in Outlook. This is so frusturating.

Also, am I supposed to have a "syncing issues" folder? If so, I don't.

 

[obladioblada]

Ok. I did what you suggested (1. & 2.) I closed Outlook, and restarted PC. I then entered a fake contact and a fake calendar item through my hotmail. Hit Send/Receive and I get no errors. Fake Contact and Fake Calendar item did not show up in Outlook. This is so frusturating.

Also, am I supposed to have a "syncing issues" folder? If so, I don't.

Please try this:

Create a new and clean profile in outlook.
Click on "

 

[MPLS55415]

Please try this:

Create a new and clean profile in outlook.
Click on "

 

[obladioblada]

When I click on send/receive the box pops up and disappear really fast, but I know I didn't not see "uploading changes to server".

Have you created a fresh new profile in Outlook?

This is important and will help to isolate your issue and to understand what is causing it.

 

[MPLS55415]

Have you created a fresh new profile in Outlook?

This is important and will help to isolate your issue and to understand what is causing it.

What do you mean by fresh new profile? If you mean deleting Connector and Hotmail from Outlook and reinstalling it, then yes. But....not sure what you mean??

 

[RazzMaTazz]

When I click on send/receive the box pops up and disappear really fast, but I know I didn't not see "uploading changes to server".

Before going through the hassle of creating a new profile, let's see if we can figure out why it's not syncing.

From the Oulook Inbox:
1) Go to the top menu and select, Send/Receive--> Send/Receive Setting --> Show Progress. (The Send/Receive Progress window will appear.)
2) Do a Send/Receive (F9).

A) Under the "Tasks" tab of the Send/Receive Progress window, does it show your Hotmail account sending and/or receiving? (If not, then Outlook isn't even trying. You may need to go into the "Define Send/Receive Groups" and add the Hotmail acccount to the list of accounts that will sync upon a Send/Receive. Alternatively you could choose Send/Receive and, in the drop down menu, select the Hotmail account, which should be one of the listed accounts to send/receive.)

B) Under the "Errors" tab, does it show any errors? If so, what are they?

I also want to make sure the you have the same expectation of where you'll see the contacts appear. From the Outlook Inbox you should have a Navigation Pane on the left side of Outlook. (If not, please turn on the Navigation Pane.) If you do Ctrl+6, your Navigation Pane will be in the "Folder List View". On the left you should see your Hotmail account, as well as your Outlook data file, and any other accounts that you may have (like Gmail). If you don't see you Hotmail account, then it didn't get created in Outlook.

You should be able to see your Hotmail contacts folder under your Hotmail account in the Navigation Pane. That's the folder that will get synced through Hotmail's servers-- not the Outlook Data File, where you were probably keeping your contacts previously. (I apologize if that was too obvious, but I don't know exactly what you're seeing. If you have problems, please describe in detail, exactly where you're seeing what.)

 

[obladioblada]

What do you mean by fresh new profile? If you mean deleting Connector and Hotmail from Outlook and reinstalling it, then yes. But....not sure what you mean??

I do not mean deleting the Hotmail connector.
Outlook is a multiuser application that enables different people to use their own and private Outlook on the same PC. This is done by creating a separate ""profile" for each user.

It is very easy!

You need to open the Windows Control Panel and select the Mail option.
Then select Profiles and Add. Follow the on screen instructions to create a new profile. Next time you open Outlook, you will be asked to select the profile you want to use. Use this new profile to test your Outlook-Hotmail Sync.
Once you are done and do not need the new profile anymore, go back to where you have created it and just delete it from the profiles list.

 

[Zenstrive]

bookmarked

 

[MPLS55415]

Ok...

I did your Steps 1. and 2. When I did Step 2.(hit F9), nothing happened.

When I did Step A., it did show my hotmail account and my outlook account as sending/receiving.

When I did Step B., under the "Errors" tab, it did not show any errors.

I did the Ctrl+6, and saw all of the folders in "Folder List View". I saw all of my Outlook folders that I should be seeing, and I saw my hotmail folders. I also now see the "Sync Issues" Folder. When I clicked on that, I see that I have about 10 hotmail emails with the Subject Line "Synchronization Log" and with the "!" in them. Each of them contain a bunch of error gimmerish. Do you want to see them? They are long, and I'm not sure what the character limit is on the forum.

Also, when I went to send/receive settings - define send/receive groups, I then double-clicked on the highlighted "All Accounts". Another small screen pops up with both an Outlook tab, and underneath that, a Hotmail tab. Under "Folder Options" in both of them, there is only an Inbox folder and it is checked. There is no Contact, Calendar, etc. folders. (I assume there should be?"

 

[RazzMaTazz]

MPLS55415: It sounds like Hotmail wasn't included in in your Send/Receive settings and therefore wasn't Sending/Receiving (i.e. syncing).

If (like me) you want to include your Hotmail account in the "All Accounts" group synchronization then:
1) Go into Send/Receive--> Define Send/Receive Groups. Under "When Outlook is Offline" check the box to "Include this group in send/receive (F9)". And if you want it to automatically synchronize periodically, check the box "Schedule an automatic send/receive every X minutes" where you fill in X depending on your preference. (I use 5 minutes.) As a side note... Outlook's use of the term "offline" is VERY misleading. By "offline", Outlook means "not connected to a corporate Exchange Server". If you're connected to the Internet (but not a corporate Exchange Server) Outlook considers you "offline". Basically any communication with Hotmail's servers (or any other Internet email server) is done "offline". It makes no English sense.

2) Double-click the All Accounts Group. In the Send/Receive Settings window for "All Accounts" select the Hotmail accont and make sure all boxes are checked. You'll only see an Inbox for Hotmail (not a calendar or contacts folder). Check it. I also set it to download the whol email, but that's a personal preference. While you're in there, you may want to make sure that your other (POP, Gmail, Exchange, etc.) email accounts are included (or not) in the "All Accounts" group. It's a matter of personal preference how and what you sync.

I THINK this will solve the problem.

You don't need to worry about any error messages in your Hotmail "Sync Issues" folder. I've got tons of emails in there. I never even look at them. Outlook reports errors for all types of stuff, like being offline or the server going down, or you killing the sync part-way through.

Let us know how it goes.

 

[MPLS55415]

Ok, I went and did Step 1., and everything you told me to check was already checked.

Step 2. I made sure everything was checked, and it already was. Same with my outlook email.

 

[MPLS55415]

There was also only an inbox folder for my outlook email. No contact or calendar folder.

 

[MPLS55415]

Just not understanding what the missing part of this puzzle is!! Argh.

 

[RazzMaTazz]

There was also only an inbox folder for my outlook email. No contact or calendar folder.

As I mentioned in step 2 above, "You'll only see an Inbox for Hotmail (not a calendar or contacts folder). Check it."

Ok, I went and did Step 1., and everything you told me to check was already checked.

Step 2. I made sure everything was checked, and it already was. Same with my outlook email.

So are you saying that if you go into the Send/Receive Progress Window (mentioned above) and do a Send/Receive, that: (A) In the Tasks tab it shows that Hotmail (and other accounts) are sending/receiving fine (with green check marks) and (B) under the "Errors" tab there are no errors? If so, then Outlook must be synchronizing with the Hotmail servers. I don't know if you have any email or contacts or anything on the Hotmail servers and I don't know what you're looking at or what you're expecting to see or why you think it's not working. If you send your self a test email does it show up in your Hotmail Inbox in Outlook? Does it show up in your webmail-based Hotmail Inbox? If you add a contact or email to Outlook does it (after an F9 Send/Receive) appear to the web-based Hotmail account? If you add a contact to the web-based Hotmail account, does it sync to your PC?

Are you operating in a corporate environment where your IT people may have placed restrictions on Internet access or Internet-based mail-server access? Are there IT people who could help you set up a Hotmail account on your PC? I expected the Outlook/Hotmail part of this to be easy as pie, and didn't mean for this to become a Microsoft Outlook support thread. If you're having trouble with the Outlook/Hotmail part of this setup, it probably makes more sense for you to check out the Microsoft/Outlook forums where many people (including Microsoft professionals) can help you.

 

[MPLS55415]

As I mentioned in step 2 above, "You'll only see an Inbox for Hotmail (not a calendar or contacts folder). Check it."




So are you saying that if you go into the Send/Receive Progress Window (mentioned above) and do a Send/Receive, that: (A) In the Tasks tab it shows that Hotmail (and other accounts) are sending/receiving fine (with green check marks) and (B) under the "Errors" tab there are no errors? If so, then Outlook must be synchronizing with the Hotmail servers. I don't know if you have any email or contacts or anything on the Hotmail servers and I don't know what you're looking at or what you're expecting to see or why you think it's not working. If you send your self a test email does it show up in your Hotmail Inbox in Outlook? - YES - Does it show up in your webmail-based Hotmail Inbox? -YES- If you add a contact or email to Outlook does it (after an F9 Send/Receive) appear to the web-based Hotmail account? Do you mean if I add a contact or send an email from my outlook email, does it appear in my web-based Hotmail account? If so, then No. If you add a contact to the web-based Hotmail account, does it sync to your PC? It syncs to my Hotmail contacts in Outlook, but not into my Outlook contacts.

Are you operating in a corporate environment where your IT people may have placed restrictions on Internet access or Internet-based mail-server access? Are there IT people who could help you set up a Hotmail account on your PC? I expected the Outlook/Hotmail part of this to be easy as pie, and didn't mean for this to become a Microsoft Outlook support thread. If you're having trouble with the Outlook/Hotmail part of this setup, it probably makes more sense for you to check out the Microsoft/Outlook forums where many people (including Microsoft professionals) can help you.

It is my understanding that when this is all set up correctly, when we put an entry into our Hotmail Contacts/Calendar in Outlook, that when we do a F9, it will sync, and it will then also be in our Outlook Contacts and Calendars. Do I have this correct?

 

[JonDeutsch]

I'm sure it's not intentional, but this is a surprising confusing thread considering how simple the instructions are on Post #1!

Maybe this solution isn't going to work for me in the end, but I'm going to ask anyway:

I used to be able to use SEVEN's Outlook Redirector and "redirect" my Outlook email, calendar and contacts to my Android phone. It was fantastic. But they stopped supporting it and now I'm left with no way to access my work email assets. Why? Because our IT dept. won't expose Outlook Web Access online outside of the corp. Firewall. So, my only real solution is to access my mail via my PC directly.

I've downloaded the Hotmail Connector Plugin for Outlook 2007, and installed it. I see my Hotmail account mailbox in my left pane, below my Corporate Email mailbox.

What I'd like to do is essentially replicate what SEVEN did for me -- gain access to all my email and calendar information in my Corp Email account on my Android phone. But if I merely "copy" folders from my corp. account to the Hotmail account in Outlook, wouldn't that simply give me a one-time copy and not keep me live in sync?

What are the steps I need to take to gain "live" access on my phone to my corp. inbox and calendar that I currently use on a daily basis?

Any info/clarification appreciated!
Thx.
Jon

 

[RazzMaTazz]

It is my understanding that when this is all set up correctly, when we put an entry into our Hotmail Contacts/Calendar in Outlook, that when we do a F9, it will sync, and it will then also be in our Outlook Contacts and Calendars. Do I have this correct?

No! Your Outlook Hotmail contacts & calendar folders will sync with your phone's Hotmail contacts & calendar, not with your Outlook Data File's contacts & calendar folder. You should stop using the contacts & calendar folder in your Outlook Data File. As I wrote in my original post...

From that point on, stop using the "contacts" folder and "calendar" folder in your "Outlook Data File" on Outlook, and start using the "contacts" folder and "calendar" folder under your Hotmail account (which you'll find on the left-side Navigation Pane of Outlook). Your Outlook/Hotmail contacts & calendar will be synchronized between your Outlook-PCs and your Android devices. You may even want to collapse your "Outlook Data File" so that you don't have to look at it or accidentally use it.

I think that's pretty clear, but I'll add another sentence to my original post to clarify even further.

When you ask for tech support (here or elsewhere) please be VERY specific about EXACTLY what you're seeing, EXACTLY where, and EXACTLY what you're expecting to see, EXACTLY where, when you do EXACTLY what. You wrote, "Nothing is synching, in either direction," and "Fake Contact and Fake Calendar item did not show up in Outlook." Not syncing between where and where? Where in Outlook? We could have both saved a lot of time if you had written one precise sentence like, "When I enter a new contact into the contacts folder of my Outlook Hotmail account, and do a Send/Receive (F9), the new contact doesn't appear in the contacts folder of my Outlook Data file."

 

[RazzMaTazz]

Why? Because our IT dept. won't expose Outlook Web Access online outside of the corp. Firewall. So, my only real solution is to access my mail via my PC directly.

But if I merely "copy" folders from my corp. account to the Hotmail account in Outlook, wouldn't that simply give me a one-time copy and not keep me live in sync?

What are the steps I need to take to gain "live" access on my phone to my corp. inbox and calendar that I currently use on a daily basis?

The easiest solution would be for you to wipe out your incompetent IT department and hire some people who actually know their heads from their butts. For many years I've worked for several high-tech, Silicon Valley companies that have multi-billion-dollar crowned-jewel intellectual property (even a high-security defense contractor) yet none of them were stupid enough to diminish employee productivity by preventing cell phone access to corporate email. The employees, managers, and execs would have revolted. Ask your genius IT folks if they they think Microsoft, Intel, Apple, & Google prevent their employees from having cell phone access to corporate email and then ask if they're smarter or if your company has more valuable intellectual property. Seriously, if you care about your company, escalate to your execs, if necessary, and solve the real problem-- your IT department's lameness. I can't believe your execs have no interest in getting their email on their smartphones. It's freaking 2012! Please let me know the name of your company so that I can short their stock.

It's hard for me to know what capabilities or restrictions you're working under, but I'll toss out some thoughts.

1) Doesn't your company have an Exchange Server? In Android, you can enter an Exchange account. Are you saying that they won't let you securely access Exchange from your phone? I guess maybe that's what you're saying, but it's just so hard to believe.

2) This isn't a great solution but (depending on what other stupidity your IT department may have implemented) you could set up a "rule" in Outlook, whereby Outlook would send a copy of your corporate Inbox emails to your Hotmail account so that you could acess them via Hotmail by phone (or by web browser). That would at least allow you to read your work emails as long as you leave your work-PC & Outlook running with Outlook set to automatically synchronize periodically. Your Hotmail Inbox wouldn't sync with your corporate Inbox, and if you tried to reply from your phone, the reply would come "from" an account on your phone. Not a great solution. I don't know if there's a similar "rules" solution for the calendar. I don't think so. I skipped from Outlook 2003 to Outlook 2010 so I can't tell you exactly how to access rules in Outlook 2007, but from you Inbox it should be in the ribbon under your "Home" tab.

3) This is really clunky but... maybe you could use some kind of remote desktop software to control your PC from you phone. I use Team Viewer. You may want to try Imperio which works with XP, Vista, or Seven (but not the Home versions because they don't employ RDP).

I'm sure your IT people would be mad about any of the above solutions and perhaps it would be a violation of some asinie corporate policy that would lead to your firing, so be careful. (Kinda ironic since your IT people should be fired.)

 

[JonDeutsch]

The easiest solution would be for you to wipe out your incompetent IT department and hire some people who actually know their heads from their butts.

Ha! As this is a public forum and I'm using my real name, let's just say that this is an interesting approach to solving my little email problem. In all reality, I'm in no position to do anything such as hiring or firing IT people. Rather, I'm more or less at the whim of the corporate culture.

For many years I've worked for several high-tech, Silicon Valley companies that have multi-billion-dollar crowned-jewel intellectual property (even a high-security defense contractor) yet none of them were stupid enough to diminish employee productivity by preventing cell phone access to corporate email.

OK, to be fair (and I like to be fair), employees of my company can certainly access their Outlook/Exchange info via Corporate-provided Blackberry phones. And most people are perfectly happy with this... I am not. I don't want 2 phones, and I'm not going to just give up my personal superphone for a Corporate Blackberry. Again, most people in my company are content with this very old-school environment, so there's nothing really pushing the state of the art.

It's freaking 2012! Please let me know the name of your company so that I can short their stock.

I guess it's a good thing that we're not publicly traded!

1) Doesn't your company have an Exchange Server? In Android, you can enter an Exchange account. Are you saying that they won't let you securely access Exchange from your phone? I guess maybe that's what you're saying, but it's just so hard to believe.

Yes, Exchange Server runs Outlook. There's just no exposure of it outside the firewall (except via Blackberry server, obviously, to the blackberry devices)... and... there is OWA, but only via RSA encryption key. Like, via a RSA dongle that changed the key every few minutes.

Yes, IT thinks we work for the CIA. No; we don't.

2) This isn't a great solution but (depending on what other stupidity your IT department may have implemented) you could set up a "rule" in Outlook, whereby Outlook would send a copy of your corporate Inbox emails to your Hotmail account so that you could acess them via Hotmail by phone (or by web browser). That would at least allow you to read your work emails as long as you leave your work-PC & Outlook running with Outlook set to automatically synchronize periodically. Your Hotmail Inbox wouldn't sync with your corporate Inbox, and if you tried to reply from your phone, the reply would come "from" an account on your phone. Not a great solution. I don't know if there's a similar "rules" solution for the calendar. I don't think so. I skipped from Outlook 2003 to Outlook 2010 so I can't tell you exactly how to access rules in Outlook 2007, but from you Inbox it should be in the ribbon under your "Home" tab.

Right. So, I do this now to an extent: I have rules setup to send me emails from my manager and other execs to my Hotmail mail account, which is setup separately on my Android phone, so I get alerted distinctly when "important" emails are sent to me at work when I'm not tethered to my work laptop.

And you're 100% right - it's not great because any kind of interaction I need to have while remote will come from my live.com ID and not the corporate email account. Which is just not ideal. It sends the wrong message (heh).

3) This is really clunky but... maybe you could use some kind of remote desktop software to control your PC from you phone. I use Team Viewer. You may want to try Imperio which works with XP, Vista, or Seven (but not the Home versions because they don't employ RDP).

Yup.. I do this too! I use LogMeIn and Teamviewer. Teamviewer has problems working with our firewall/proxy server, so I default to the sluggish LogMeIn. But this interface is almost impossible for me to effectively and efficiently field and respond to emails. It's great for remote admin, but not great for fielding emails. Y'know? I'll check out Imperio -- never heard of that tool.

So it sounds like this solution (Post #1) is not a solution for me? If not, then why not? Why wouldn't a Hotmail connector for Outlook help me escape the IT Alcatraz that I live in?

Also, let me share what else I've tried:

- OutlookReflex. Seems like a Seven replacement, but it just doesn't work. It won't connect to their servers no matter what I try. At least in my IT environment.

And here's something I haven't tried because I don't think it'll work:

- MapiLab's Redirect (MAPILab - Redirect for Outlook- redirect messages instead of forwarding them). I would actually need to install this on my work PC and install Outlook on my home PC, and then figure out how to setup a Sync between my home (no IT restraint) PC and my Android phone. Also, it's not clear to me that I could respond and do a two-way redirect. Thoughts on this idea?

Thanks for your commitment to connectivity excellence, and great responses and care around this topic!

Jon

 

[RazzMaTazz]

OK, to be fair (and I like to be fair), employees of my company can certainly access their Outlook/Exchange info via Corporate-provided Blackberry phones. And most people are perfectly happy with this... I am not.

Oh I see. So your company is not operating in the stone age. Your IT folks are just taking modern-day bribes from RIM even though RIM's market share is in a tailspin while Android's is skyrocketing at RIM's expense. Good for for your IT guys and the RIM sales guys. They gotta pay the bills.

I guess it's a good thing that we're not publicly traded!

Too bad. Shorting sounded like a sure thing.

Yes, Exchange Server runs Outlook. There's just no exposure of it outside the firewall (except via Blackberry server, obviously, to the blackberry devices)... and... there is OWA, but only via RSA encryption key. Like, via a RSA dongle that changed the key every few minutes.

Yes, IT thinks we work for the CIA. No; we don't.

It's nice to see that your IT guys are getting kickbacks from RSA too. What ridiculous overkill by IT guys who take themselves too seriously.

So it sounds like this solution (Post #1) is not a solution for me? If not, then why not? Why wouldn't a Hotmail connector for Outlook help me escape the IT Alcatraz that I live in?

Because your company doesn't use Hotmail for their corporate mail. You can make your mail escape Alcatraz, but your replies sneak back into the prison wearing street clothes, which raises some eyebrows.

And here's something I haven't tried because I don't think it'll work:

- MapiLab's Redirect (MAPILab - Redirect for Outlook- redirect messages instead of forwarding them). I would actually need to install this on my work PC and install Outlook on my home PC, and then figure out how to setup a Sync between my home (no IT restraint) PC and my Android phone. Also, it's not clear to me that I could respond and do a two-way redirect. Thoughts on this idea?

I have no idea, but if you find a great solution, please let us know. There was at least one other poster here who lived in a similar prison. I'm sure that there are many thousands more.

Good luck!

 

[MPLS55415]

Razzmatazz,

I certainly did not mean to waste your time. We (my boss and myself) read and understood your intitial post wrong.

I do thank you for taking the time to help me. I do greatly appreciate it.


-MPLS55415
(Heather)