from my pocket: Recent Comments

Comment on Use Windows Live to handle tasks on a Windows Phone

Prof Julie — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:34:54 GMT

Despite the syncronization error you're getting, is your data syncing from Outlook to your Windows Live account? I get syncronization errors sometimes too, more so lately, but my data still syncs to Windows Live. The errors are annoying but don't seem to be fatal and then they'll go away for a while. I don't really know what's happening with the error message, but it usually happens after I've moved some things around in Outlook.

As you've already learned for yourself, Windows Phone 7.5 is not a version of Windows Mobile. It is a completely new mobile OS and so functionality is slowly being added to it. I like what I see of it so far, and it is far more stable and faster than any version of windows mobile that I ever used - going all the way back to windows mobile 2002 (called pocket pc back in those days) to windows mobile 6.5. I still carry one of my windows mobile devices with me, mostly now to serve as a dedicated GPS for my car, but I'm also waiting for some richer apps to be developed for windows phone that comes close to SPB Time, PhatNotes and Listpro (three windows mobile applications I really love and use every day).

My employer recently migrated over to Office 365, so now I'm able to sync tasks to my phone, although I still use the 2 methods of handling tasks on my phone that I've documented in this blog for certain kinds of tasks. I really like what I see of Office 363, so If I ever leave my employer, I'll probably start subscribing to the individual version of Office 363 which only costs $6 a month. If this is important to you and you don't want to use my tasks syncing workarounds, you might want to check out Office 365.

I believe we'll see some enhancements in future windows phone updates that will provide more flexibility around ringtones, but you might think about adding your vote (or creating a thread) for this functionality in the uservoice forum that is owned and operated by Microsoft just for the purpose of capturing and prioritizing windows phone enhancement requests.

There are ways to filter contacts in windows phone. You can filter your contacts by

Source: go to settings > swipe over a screen to the applications screen > tap people > "filter my contact list" button > choose the source that you want to filter out
Company, last name, first name, nickname (or anything you input into this field): Go to the people hub, tap the search icon on the bottom of the screen (looks like a magnifying glass) > input company name in the dialogue box. I use the nickname field as a user defined field just so I can search for items by type (like restaurants, doctors, etc.)

Comment on Use Windows Live to handle tasks on a Windows Phone

Mike — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:45:13 GMT

Well, so far I am NOT impressed. Every time Outlook Connector syncs with the cloud, I get unintelligible errors. Here's a very SMALL sample:

6:37:25 Synchronization error.
6:37:25 Folder Collection Sync Key: 0{f1632bd2-e859-412e-b4bb-394c677a154f}1
6:37:25 Message Collection Sync Key: 0{939e584b-9d7a-488c-990c-d7e56b3e2275}2
6:37:26 Error with Send/Receive.
6:37:26 There was an error synchronizing your folder hierarchy. Error : 80041004.
6:37:26 Synchronizing server changes in folder 'xxxxxx's calendar'
6:37:26 Synchronizing server changes in folder 'Contacts'
6:37:26 Error with Send/Receive.
6:37:26 There was an error synchronizing a contacts folder. Error : 80041004.

Seriously considering returning this phone which I bought yesterday.

And Windows Phone 7.5 LACKS several features that were present in my 6 year old Windows Mobile 5 phone:

1. Syncing tasks
2. Ringer Profiles (Home, Office, Car, Silent, etc.)
3. There appears to be NO WAY to filter contacts (just show me restaurants, doctors, etc.).

Comment on Manage Your Tasks on a Windows Phone with Remember The Milk

Paul — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 19:39:20 GMT

Thanks for posting this solution. I stumbled on the same one, with RTM at the center. Interesting how a year + later, RTM is still the only game in town if you don't use Exchange.

I worked at MSFT, at one point on the office team, years ago and I can tell you that it isn't rocket science to get Windows phone to talk to Windows Live to talk to Outlook tasks. In fact I believe the missing link is Windows Live to Outlook tasks.

At the end of the day it's a matter of MSFT getting organized and making it happen. I think this is Apple's strength--I bet middle management at Apple tried to pull the same BS and were laughed (screamed?) out of the room by Steve Jobs. I miss the days of Bill at the helm--he "got it" and didn't settle for less. Ballmer has sales people running MSFT--dangerous.

Comment on Using the Outlook Hotmail Connector

Prof Julie — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 23:41:37 GMT

When I enable that option on my computer everything in the delete or trash folders for all of my email accounts get deleted permanently. It's all or nothing with that option - there isn't an option to selectively purge only a specific email account's delete folder.

I don't know why this is not working correctly in your computer. You might try disabling the option, exit Outlook, the open Outlook back up and enable the option, exit Outlook and see what happens

Comment on Using the Outlook Hotmail Connector

Robert — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:07:35 GMT

I have these settings checked, but ever since I added the Windows Live email account, that is the only account it is deleting from. It does not delete any items from my deleted items folder under my routine AT&T email account. I can't find anywhere to specify to delete from multiple email accounts or to designate one folder as the default.

Comment on Using the Outlook Hotmail Connector

Prof Julie — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:59:23 GMT

Open up Outlook on your computer, select File > Options > Advanced > place a checkmark in the box next to "Empty Deleted Items folders when exiting Outlook" (found under the "Outlook start and exit" heading.

Comment on Using the Outlook Hotmail Connector

Robert — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:05:12 GMT

Thanks for all your help. I have concentrated primarily on Outlook 2007 and all appears to be working well, although I have not added that much data at this point. One thing is annoying but by no means catastrophic. When the connector added the Windows Live email account to Outlook, it treats the deleted items folder in Windows Live as the default. I have the settings to clear the deleted items on exit. It is not deleting the items for my primary email account (AT&T) and I cannot find any commands or settings where you can change the default folders. The same thing is happening with the Outbox. Do you know if this can be corrected?
Thanks

Comment on Using the Outlook Hotmail Connector

ProfJulie — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:10:16 GMT

I'll try to answer your question in the order presented:

1) That sounds about right. The Outlook Hotmail Connector can be used to sync multiple computers to a single windows live account. When you use the Outlook Hotmail Connector, you'll stop posting Contacts and Appointments to your local PST database and only post items to the Windows Live account, which uses an OST file (this is so you can work with the data locally when you are not connected to the internet). Since you are syncing this data to Windows Live, the data will be synced up to all connected computers. If you want to maintain tasks & email on all your machines, copying the PST file should work the way it has worked in the past.

2) I've never used a 64 bit version of Outlook and Office, so I can't speak from first hand knowledge, but I don't think the 32 bit version of the Outlook Hotmail Connector will work with the 64 bit version of Outlook. You'll probably need to either

uninstall the 64 bit version of Office 2007 (and Outlook) from your computer and then install the 32 bit version of Office 2007 before you can use the Outlook Hotmail Connector. Apparently the installation CD contains both versions of Office on it and you can specify at time of installation the version to install on the computer; or
upgrade Office to Office 2010. This option is preferable to the other option because you will be able to maximize your use of windows phone by doing so. That is, windows phone is tightly integrated with Office 2010 - you can sync OneNote 2010 notebooks, Excel 2010, Word 2010, and PowerPoint 2010 directly to your SkyDrive account and then the files can be synced to your phone via the Office hub. This works very well (it's really quite amazing) and I upgraded to Office 2010 just so I could enjoy all this great integration with SkyDrive & Windows Phone.

3) None of your formats will change when you sync to Windows Live via the Outlook Hotmail Connector. However you will have to re-create any views you may have created for your Contacts and Appointments since the views are not sharable with the new Windows Live account in Outlook. It's been a while since I synced multiple computers to a Windows Live account, so I don't think you'll lose any data, but you might want to check a few records carefully to make sure all data elements synced from one computer through Windows Live to another connected computer. Users have complained about lengthy notes in Contacts and Appointment records that were truncated when they synced the records to Windows Live, but I've never used the notes feature of either enough for it to make any impact on my data (I keep all my lengthy notes in OneNote Notebooks)

4) If you've already imported a csv file of your contacts and appointments into your Windows Live account, then you can skip the part of my blog article that describes how to copy this data from your personal Outlook account to the newly created Windows Live account and then you shouldn't have to worry about any duplication in the new Windows Live database.

5) I don't understand this belief that using the Outlook Hotmail connector requires a continous manual syncing for it to work. Just be sure you set up the Send/Receive options for the windows live account so it will sync in regular intervals - even though you won't be sync any email, you still need to set this option - and things should be fine.

Good luck! If you run into any problems, please let me know.

Comment on How to Cancel a Zune Pass

ProfJulie — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:52:00 GMT

On the "My Account" page do you see a pink "Get Zune Pass" button or do you see a pink "Manage Zune Music Pass" button? If you see a "Get Zune Pass" button, you'll only have options to sign up for a Zune Pass. If that's the case, make sure you are logging into the Zune.net website using the same Windows Live ID and Password you used when you signed up for the Zune Pass.

What options do you see on that page? Can you take a screenprint of that screen and post a link where I can go view the screenprint

Comment on Using the Outlook Hotmail Connector

ProfJulie — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:50:26 GMT

Well. the Business Contact Manager is another add-in to Outlook so users don't get it unless they need it.