Problems syncing TH55's Clie Organizer with Mac, Entourage 2004 and Missing Sync

[SirAlien]

I have a new TH55, OS X 10.3.4 and Missing Sync installed.

While the sync process does seem to work I have a big problem with the CLIE Organizer app.

If I create an entry in this and sync, it will be transfered to the deskop and M$ Entourage without problems.

If I create an entry in Clie Organizer, add a colour and/or icon then sync, the entry is transfered to the desktop and Entourage, then removed from the Clie. It's gone. AWOL. Not there.

Sync once more and the item is returned to the CLIE Organizer from the desktop but without it's colour and icon I set for it originally.

Mark/Space say it's a probably a M$ problem with their Palm conduit, but as the entry is being delivered into Entourage and back again to the CLIE on the next sync, this appears to be fine to me. I would expect the extra data for the colour and icon to be stored seperatly as Agendus does and the Entourage conduit doesn't strip those so I'm skeptical there.

Does anyone else have the same problem and/or suggestions to solve?

Marky :(

[kp*]

For one thing I will say that Missing Sync is very VERY buggy. It won't even run half the time for me (thankfully there's a thread on PIC where other people confirm this, so I know I'm not losing my mind). Something to do with corrupt preferences. Anyway, I've had all kinds of crashes, quits and graphical glitches with this app (on two machines), so immediately blaming it on M$, while convenient and possible, doesn't seem like a sure thing.

Unfortunately I tried it and can't reproduce your problem. I don't normally use CO, so this was just a one-time test, but the appointments went into Entourage fine, and retained their color and icon settings on the Clie through two syncs.

Hope we get some answers from Mark-Space about all of this. And more important, a patch!

[SirAlien]

Clie Organizer seems to work as an interface to the database programs on the handheld, in a similar way that Agendus and others do. The regular Address Book and Date Book apps don't allow the extra colours and icons that the CO uses, so it's not possible to test without it. :-(

I decided to try again with my PowerBook G4 rather than my main computer, my iMac G4 so removed all the Hotsync stuff, install the new v4 software from Mark/Space and tried again WITHOUT Entourage. The colours and the icons remained in the entries within CO. This adds weight to the M$ argument put forward by Mark/Space but still leaves me with a problem.

M$ are unlikely to update their conduit as they see it working fine with the normal address book/date book etc. Also as CO is only available on the TH55 at present and we have to wait a few more months to see if Sony return to the organiser market I am stuck. I have the latest patch from Sony for CO and the latest Missing Sync software. There must be a reason why the sync process decides to remove the item from the organiser and then return it minus colours and icons on the next sync.

Unhappy and stuck :-(

Marky

[kp*]

It works for me with Entourage 2004, so there must be a way to get it to work. I have no idea what it is, but at least we know it's not impossible.

[SirAlien]

...and wwhat are your settings for the Entourage Conduit?

It might help me track down which one is tripping me up.

Marky

[kp*]

...and wwhat are your settings for the Entourage Conduit?

It might help me track down which one is tripping me up.

Marky
I have everything set to synchronize (w/ private records checked). All my settings beyond that are the defaults (all dates, all contacts, etc.). One thing that might make a difference is that I have turned off the other PIM conduits besides Entourage (calendar, contacts, tasks). I think you can leave them on, but I've found it to cause problems in the past, so I disable them. That's the only thing I can think of right now.

[SirAlien]

Usually I have my settings set to syncronise the past 8 weeks and the 8 weeks coming up.

This is the bug!

If I set to syncronise everything, then there is no problem anymore. The colours and the icons remain on each sync thereafter.

I have tried it many times and it all works beautifully now.

It's a good job this CLIE has a lot of memory. I have 5 years worth of data in the Entourage calendar.

I am once again a happy bunny!

Thanks for your help and advice!

Marky
:D :)

[kp*]

What a random bug! Well I'm glad you found a (sort of) solution. :)

[SirAlien]

What is very odd about this bug is that if I sync while having the Entourage conduit set to all, the colours and icons remain as I said.

If I decide to change back to a fixed period as before then sync again, those elements that were synced under the old setting remain with their colours and icons???!!!! Those I created post conduit change disappear.

Change back to sync all again and now I can keep the new entries intact too.

This is just silly!

Guess I'll keep it on sync all from now and on and let Mark/Space know.

:-)

Marky

[iclie2]

How are you using clie organizer with mac and th55?? I thought we couldn't? So are you able to sync entourage with mac/th55?? I would like to do this?

[SirAlien]

iclie2, I use Missing Sync 4 to sync data from Entourage 2004, with the conduit supplied on the Office 2004 CD, to the standard Palm databases on the CLIE.

Clie Organizer is a front end-app, like Agendus. One doesn't sync with this. It simply uses the standard databases below.

One odd quirk which Agendus doesn't have is the 'dual-alarm' bug from both the DateBook and Clie Organizer. Just need to wait on Sony for another CO update to resolve that one.