bmurphy

Hi, anyone NOT use outlook to sync with contacts and calendar? What happens if you have hotmail as e-mail program? Outlook really wants you to set up an email account to be used when opened. I have a friend that is constantly on the road, and wants to instead of calendar dates, use the area he is headed for and then link the contacts in that area to be phoned and set up appointments when he gets there. He used to do this in word with his palm, and now has an x50v. When he syncs now, only partial word comes through. and since he doesn't use outlook for mail, his contacts don't sync. Any ideas on a program to use?
Thanks for any help
Barb

rdff41

I actually use Mozilla thunderbird. I would like to figure out if its possible to sync with this, doubt it though. :-/ If anyone knows anything about that I'd appreciate it.

auntbeckymac

Try a spreadsheet with the contact info. Your friend can then sort them by location, name, or whatever, and the file can be used in Excel on both his desktop and his Axim. Excel and Pocket Excel spreadsheets can also be password protected.

bmurphy

I've been playing with excel, and I think I would have to spend a lot of time figuring out how to set-up and use the program, and how easily does it sync? He only has a limited time to set up the computer (in other words- a newbie!) and not a lot of time to figure out programs. That is why I was wondering if there was a third party program that didn't need to sync with outlook. I've looked at Pocket Informant, but it also wants outlook on the host computer doesn't it?

auntbeckymac

hmm..if his contact info changes a lot, I can see that Excel wouldnt'work. Check Handango and PocketGear. They might have something that will work. You can also download trial versions so you can check it out before you buy it.

in those pograms, check for an option to change the default PIM from outlook. the prob is that outlook does tasks, notes, etc which is why many PPC PIM's use it to sync on the desktop. I have Office XP at home so I use outlook only to backup my axim's info, and I use outlook express for email and addressbook.

bmurphy

You must have your address book and contacts duplicated then? I thought that outlook express email and address book won't sync over. I've been searching with both sites but it is time consuming, and I'm sort of doing trial and error. The problem is that he bought my second x50v and outlook 2002 (on the Dell CD) won't activate. I had a problem with it when I tried to install it, and backed down to my former 2000 program that was running nicely. Now the CD program says that it was activated on another computer and won't run. I have two computers...and I'm thinking of a mini-mac! (another instance of MS frustration!) I'd like to get him up and running before he starts another series of trips, and the time is short. thanks for the tip about the default PIM, I'll look for that.
Barb

auntbeckymac

Yea. i have it duplicated, but that works out well for backups.

Now that i think about it, there may be a way to use Outlook Express instead of outlook if you arent' worried about syncing tasks, notes, calendar, etc. I'll do a search thru the forums and see if anybody has posted something about that. might be some kinda reg hack?

As for outlook saying its already on another computer, i had that issue, too when I tried to install Office on another computer i bought. I just called MS, told them that i bought a new computer, and they gave me a key to enter as i installed it...the number is on one of the Office installation screens when it bombs because of that.

auntbeckymac

Somebody suggested a program called SyncExpress? dunno if it works or not, but its an idea. Here's a link to the thread.

http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showthread.php?t=66372

Good luck!

bmurphy

Thanks for that tip.. I'll get him to try to install it again and call, I know how to get him to setup the catagories in contacts to associate them with each leg of the trip, and then the contacts only have to be entered once. I don't think that outlook will move e-mail from hot-mail but if it did that would be the absolute best.