Can Android phones sync Outlook over USB?

[pm]

My iPhone 3GS just scrambled all of my recurring Outlook calendar events for the 3rd time in the last 6 months and I'm starting to really consider selling it. I count on my work calendar for pretty much everything - and the fact that recurring events have moved all over the place is really, really annoying and somewhat embarrassing, and potentially costly if I miss a key appointment.

So, can Android phones synchronize with Outlook without the use of Google Calendar, or more specifically without using the Internet at all? With my iPhone I just plug it in to USB and it syncs up... is there a similar thing like this on Android? I can't use wireless and I can't use the internet to do it - just a USB cable, or maybe moving a SD card around. I don't mind spending a bit of money.

Thanks

 

[Spoooon]

A quick google revealed a company called Companionlink working on software that will do what you are wanting. Other than that, don't know. Curious, why no internet?

 

[pm]

Curious, why no internet?

Security concerns. My company doesn't allow non-standard devices (like smart phones) on the WiFi network, and if I ported my calendar to Google and was found out I would be in for a serious and unpleasant discussion with security.

 

[gorcorps]

Hmmm, I've searched around and am surprised to learn that there doesn't seem to be a way to do it off the net. Most of the instructions I've seen involve syncing your outlook to google, then having the phone sync over the air as normal.

Have you looked in the Apple app store for a better calendar program that may not have any issues? I know there's a ton of them, but I'm not sure if any of them are worth the money as the default calendar is fine with me.

 

[bassoprofundo]

I know you mentioned that wireless wasn't an option, but I'm curious if you (or anyone else here) has tried the new Outlook Desktop sync that works with Pocket Informant. It looks like it uses a local Bonjour-based Wi-fi sync, so it looks like you could connect to it and sync from the Iphone even while connected via your corporate LAN (assuming, of course, that you don't connect to your corporate LAN via Wi-Fi). It doesn't use the same sync process as the normal iTunes one, so it may avoid this issue.

The issue you're having is the EXACT reason I've avoided switching over to an iPhone full-time. I still use my WinMo phone during the week for business because of the reliable PIM sync. I have a 2g iphone as well and was considering swapping out to a 3gs (since I can't find anything else to get excited about in AT&T's lineup), but I can't afford to have this happen again. It took me too long to restore, and I missed an important appointment as a result.

 

[pm]

Well, I called Apple, and they told me I'm out of my 90 days worth of phone support - which is a bit annoying because I never called them... ever... with any of the 5 Apple products that I've ever purchased. So I needed to pay $70 to extend my phone support... which would be fine but given that the Outlook server is changing, I have a feeling that this could be one of those issues where Apple punts me off to my Exchange support guys who will tell me that what I'm doing is not supported (it's not) and then I'll be out of $70 and my problem won't be sovled.

I've cleaned up my calendar again... but this not going to work in the future. It's too annoying and unprofessional to ask a whole bunch of people to resend meeting invitations. I may have to backup my calendar before synching and then restore it after syncing and then watch for a better solution to come out for Android, or switch to WinMo or Blackberry who seem to have this issue solved.

Have you looked in the Apple app store for a better calendar program that may not have any issues? I know there's a ton of them, but I'm not sure if any of them are worth the money as the default calendar is fine with me.

This is a great idea. Thanks. I wonder how they handle backgrounding though... I need the alert to pop up... But I'll look into it tonight.

I know you mentioned that wireless wasn't an option, but I'm curious if you (or anyone else here) has tried the new Outlook Desktop sync that works with Pocket Informant. It looks like it uses a local Bonjour-based Wi-fi sync, so it looks like you could connect to it and sync from the Iphone even while connected via your corporate LAN (assuming, of course, that you don't connect to your corporate LAN via Wi-Fi). It doesn't use the same sync process as the normal iTunes one, so it may avoid this issue.

This sounds great but but I don't understand it. Does the laptop set up an ad-hoc network for the iPhone to attach to? Does the iPhone set up the ad-hoc network. If a phone can't get onto the wifi network and the wifi chip in the laptop is connected to the wifi network, then how can the phone and the laptop talk? You can only join one wifi network at a time per wifi chip in the laptop (and there are usually only one of them).


Edit: nevermind. I think I understand it now.
http://www.pocketinformant.com/products_info.php?p_id=pocketinformant_iphone

About the only problem that I see is that it uses a server to store calendar "push" events and needs 100% net connectivity to be able to send alerts. I'll have the same security issue for this off-iPhone server as I would with Google Calendar and I don't have 100% net connectivity... there are plenty of dead spots around... so then I wouldn't get a meeting reminder if I was in one of these.

These are all great suggestions though, and I appreciate everyone's help and suggestions. I was a bit frustrated after talking to Amanda at Applecare support this morning.

I did do some investigation over lunch and found out that the issue has something to do with time zones. I'm in mountain stanard time, and every recurring meeting that shifted was scheduled by someone in another time zone and shifted by the offset of that time zone from mine. I think what's happening is that I'm synching from Outlook to the iPhone but the iPhone is stripping the time zone information out of the appointment. Then when I sync the next time, the Outlook appointment is updated with the time zone messed up. Then when I sync it back again to the phone (3rd sync), the iPhone is messed up too and both are messed up and this is usually when I start noticing that things are messed up.

If this isn't exactly what is happening, it's not too far off. Yesterday it looked like the calendar was scrambled with appointments going randomly all over the place, but once I looked closely, I noticed that they are shifting 1 time zone in the past (PST) or 1-2 hours into the future (CST) and then I have a couple with Israel that moved by 9 hours (IST). It depended on who originated the meeting.

Some google sites recommended turning on time-zone support in both outlook and the iPhone (on iPhone, Settings -> Mail, Calendars -> Calendars -> Time Zone Support -> On. So I'll try this... but if this happens again, I'll start writing the iPhone Ebay auction text.

 

[gsaldivar]

Whatever course you choose for the future, you can ensure that it doesn't happen again (or at least make it much easier to recover if it does) by periodically backing up your Outlook data file:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/ha010875321033.aspx

This only applies if you are not using a corporate Exchange server. If you are using Outlook with Exchange, a different method will be required.

Hope this helps!

 

[pm]

only applies if you are not using a corporate Exchange server. If you are using Outlook with Exchange, a different method will be required.

I'm using corporate Outlook. Thanks for the suggestion though - I'll look into what to do to backup my Outlook calendar. This is what Applecare suggested too - so you are thinking on the same wavelength as the geniuses at Apple - which I think is a compliment.

 

[gsaldivar]

I'm using corporate Outlook. Thanks for the suggestion though - I'll look into what to do to backup my Outlook calendar. This is what Applecare suggested too - so you are thinking on the same wavelength as the geniuses at Apple - which I think is a compliment.

Thanks for the kind words. Here is what I would do in Outlook 2007:

1. Create a new Outlook data file. This file stays on your local hard drive and is not linked to your company's Exchange server. (File menu > New > Outlook Data File).
2. Go to your Calendar. You should have two of them listed on the left toolbar now, "Calendar" and "Calendar in Personal".
3. Right click each Calendar icon on the left toolbar and select Properties > Show Total Number of Items. A green bracketed number will appear next to each icon which shows you the total number of appointments on each.
3. Click "Calendar" on the left toolbar and view all items by going to View menu > Current View > All Appointments.
4. Select all items, Copy, then click "Calendar in Personal" on the left toolbar and Paste.
5. You just backed up your entire calendar to your hard drive. You can confirm this by verifying that both calendars contain the same number of items as shown in the green bracketed number.

You can now quickly recover from any future calendar problems by simply Copy/Pasting the calendar items back to the main "Calendar" which is located on the Exchange server. Remember to update the backup periodically by Copy/Pasting new appointments to your "Calendar in Personal".

Protip: You can use a similar procedure to backup Contacts and Emails from Exchange to your local hard drive.