A Curious Calendar Sync Problem

[Jason Dunn]

The only thing worse than running into a Pocket PC problem that I can't solve right away is when it happens on a Pocket PC that isn't mine (like a client's), and I have to say "I don't know what's going on." For someone like me, that's a painful admission. So here's what's got me stumped:<br /><br />The problem is that appointments created on the desktop PC in Outlook XP don't sync over to the Pocket PC unless they have a category applied (either Personal or Business). I know what you're going to say "The ActiveSync Calendar settings are set to only sync those two categories" - they're not. I double-checked the settings, and it's set to sync all future appointments and four weeks of past appointments. I could create an appointment on the desktop computer without a category, and ActiveSync would do nothing - no sync. As soon as I assign a category, the appointment syncs over. 8O Also, Outlook XP was somehow configured to create every single new appointment as a full day event, and I can't seem to find the setting that controls that.<br /><br />Now here's where it gets even more odd: there was an appointment on the Today screen of the Axim, but when I opened the calendar application, that appointment wasn't shown on that day. Wait, you're thinking calendar was set to only display appointments from certain categories? I checked that - it was set to display all categories (Personal and Business). And, no, they weren't all invisible because they were full day events - I changed them to normal appointments. So how can you have an appointment displayed on the Today screen that doesn't exist in the database?<br /><br />I'm totally stumped - I've never seen anything like this before, or even heard of it, and I can't figure out the twisted logic of what Outlook XP and the Pocket PC are doing. Help? :?

[Ed Hansberry]

Something is screwy with Outlook XP on the desktop. I'd run a detect and repair on it. Appointments shouldn't default to all day.

Once that is done, try syncing again. If they still don't sync without categories, change your preferences in ActiveSync to only sync some categories. Then reboot a Win9x/ME box or log off/on a WinNT/2K/XP box. Now open ActiveSync and change the settings back to your preferences. Sometimes those AS settings in the options and what is actually in the registry don't always match.

[rlobrecht]

Is his Outlook XP mail in a PST? If so, I'd try running scanpst.exe against it. Something sounds corrupted somewhere. Thry this after Ed's Detect and Repair Suggestion.

[John Cody]

I had that same problem when generating SATALERT reminders - I had to assign a category (any category) to the reminder calendar item before it would sync over to my Pocket PC.

But I may be wrong... maybe the problem I had wasn't that it didn't sync over if there was no category, maybe the reminder did sync over even without a category, but the problem I saw was that the calendar item wasn't visible in the built-in pocket calendar app unless it had a category. You might want to experiment with Pocket Informat (or another calendar app) and see if it sees the non-category calendar appointments.

UPDATE: It seems the only way to see an appointment with no category is to uncheck all of the categories in the "view" list of Pocket Outlook. So, even if you have all of your categories checked (i.e. "Personal" and "Business"), it won't display any appointments without a category.

[Kati Compton]

UPDATE: It seems the only way to see an appointment with no category is to uncheck all of the categories in the "view" list of Pocket Outlook. So, even if you have all of your categories checked (i.e. "Personal" and "Business"), it won't display any appointments without a category.

That would seem to make sense... Perhaps adding an option for "No Category" should be put on the ActiveSync wishlist on that other thread.

So unchecking syncs all appointments, checking only syncs those appointments with the given categories.

[Janak Parekh]

I agree with the ideas of nuking (renaming) the PST and resetting the Axim, and trying again. Nothing like working with a clean slate. As long as he's not running Exchange, this should be OK.

Also, he's not using multiple data files, is he? Just making sure, because I think ActiveSync will only work with the primary data file. (Although, if he is, you shouldn't be able to succeed, category or not.)

--janak

[C Brandt]

On a similar topic, if I try to import a number of calendar appointments from a .vcs file, they get copied to the PocketPC as all day appointments. If I import the same appointments from a tab-delimited file, they transfer over fine...

Any ideas on this one?

Chris

[Ed Hansberry]

On a similar topic, if I try to import a number of calendar appointments from a .vcs file, they get copied to the PocketPC as all day appointments. If I import the same appointments from a tab-delimited file, they transfer over fine...

Any ideas on this one?

Chris
Sounds like a VCS issue with whatever created those. I import .VCS files all of the time into Outlook and they sync to the Pocket PC correctly.

[Chris Spera]

This is what I would do: (You may want to rearrange the order of these)

1. Detect & Repair (Ed's Suggestion)
1.a) Try Syncing
2. Run ScanPST (rlobrecht's Suggestion)
2.a) Try Syncing
3. Rename the existing PST and create a new one
3.a) Try Syncing
4. Delete the PPC Partnership and Recreate it
4.a) Try Syncing
5. Hard Reset the Device
5.a) Try Syncing
6. Uninstall and Reinstall Office XP
6.a) Try Syncing
7. Nuke the PC and Reinstall the OS, and Office XP and ActiveSync (in that order)
7.a) Try Syncing

I've noticed that Office XP (more than Office 2000) ties itself very tightly to the OS (more so with WinXP than Win2000). Also, if you're using Win2K and Office XP, consider switching to Office 2000. Office XP is problematic on Win2K. Office XP really wants to live on Windows XP (either Home or Pro). In the long run, you'll be happier with the results.

If after wiping the device, you still have problems, then its obvious to me that there is corruption in the PST or Information Store.

I've trouble shooted (??) a lot of problems like this for every company that I've worked for. No one that I know personally is a PPC MVP, and as I write for now 3 different Pocket PC sites, I am the defacto GTG (go to guy) for PPC problems.

Let me know if I can be of help. If you need to chat, Jason, give me a shout via e-mail or on my cell phone. You should have the number.


Kind Regards,


Christopher Spera

[tcrossey]

In the first version of Office XP that I installed I found similar problems (every appointment was a full day) I installed using a more up to date CD and the problem went away. I was not connected to my PocketPc at the time so I did not see the effect on it. Check the SR patch or try another install of Office with different CD.

[Kirkaiya]

So how can you have an appointment displayed on the Today screen that doesn't exist in the database?

On my HP iPaq 1910, roughly 3 times in the past month, going to my Calendar for some reason showed NO activities at all - even though I knew I had dozens of calendar items entered, and even though some of those APPEARED on the today-screen! (I use a today-screen plug-in, Calendar+ ).

I did a soft-reset, and everything worked fine again. Before doing the soft-reset, i had tried closing the calendar (not "smart minimize, but a full tap-and-hold close - I have WISbar, of course), but that didn't work either.

I figured it was just some bug in the calendar app.. hmm...

[DarkHelmet]

I had not seen this "problem" before - but it seems to be closely tied to the ActiveSync Options...

There appears to be a relationship between the:
Synchronize All...
Synchronize only...
Synchronize ... Categories

Settings. By playing with these a bit - I was able to drop "No Category" appointments by unchecking the No Category checkbox and re-selecting the Synchronize only... choice. When I rechecked the "No Category" appointments and re-selected the Synchronize only... choice - the items re-appeared...

In sum - I think that an ActiveSync user must check/uncheck the Categories they want to synch first - then select the Synchronize only period to narrow the number of items kept on the PPC - in order to control this better.

In the alternative, I suppose selecting Synchronize All first - then narrowing to Synch Only would ultimately have the same effect.

Hope this helps!

[Wiggin]

Couple of quick thoughts
1. It is a "feature" in Outlook XP to be able to create All Day Tasks quickly. For those who haven't noticed, if you have your Calendar View set to Weekly or Monthly, a "New" appointment will default to an All Day Task. Work Week and Daily Views do not default to All Day.

2. In addition to a potential PST corruption problem, and an Outlook sw problem, it could also be a glitch in ActiveSync. I have had to reinstall ActiveSync twice in the past to get rid of a "strange" behavior.

In sequence, I would suggest
- Scan Outlook for sw prob... if prob still occurs, then
- Create a new PST that is clean/fresh, and test... if prob still occurs, then
- Reinstall ActiveSync

Good Luck, and be sure to let us know the root cause if you find it.
Cheers

[deich]

Office XP is problematic on Win2K. Office XP really wants to live on Windows XP (either Home or Pro). In the long run, you'll be happier with the results.

Chris offered some great advice, but I disagree with this one point. We run some pretty heavy VBA apps under Word. They are definately more stable with Word XP than with Word 2000, no matter whether using Windows 2000 or Windows XP.

[Chris Spera]

Office XP is problematic on Win2K. Office XP really wants to live on Windows XP (either Home or Pro). In the long run, you'll be happier with the results.

Chris offered some great advice, but I disagree with this one point. We run some pretty heavy VBA apps under Word. They are definately more stable with Word XP than with Word 2000, no matter whether using Windows 2000 or Windows XP.

You're right about one thing... Office XP was pretty solid. However, one of the things we saw on the Beta Team was that the 2 XP's (Office & Windows) we're better bed fellows. In other words, MS developed Office XP for Windows XP. There were more bugs filed in Win2K environments than in WinXP environments.

However, yes, Office XP is an improvement over Office 2000, so I'm not surprised that you're experiencing better stability/ performance; BUT :wink: , I think you'll find that Office XP functions better and is much more stable under Windows XP.

Just MHO...

Thanks!

Christopher Spera

[ctmagnus]

In a similar but unrelated vein, I've discovered that if I have a recurring task that starts on the first of every month and is due on/by the fifth, that task will not sync over to the PPC. Whether I use (a) category(ies) or not does not affect it.

I'm using Office XP SP2 on Windows 2000 Pro SP3.

[Ed Hansberry]

In a similar but unrelated vein, I've discovered that if I have a recurring task that starts on the first of every month and is due on/by the fifth, that task will not sync over to the PPC. Whether I use (a) category(ies) or not does not affect it.

I'm using Office XP SP2 on Windows 2000 Pro SP3.
Is it a recurring task or one that regenerates itself after the first is completed? If recurring, it should sync. I have similar tasks. You may need to delete and recreate it or run ScanPST on the data file.

If it is the regenerating kind, those won't sync over. :(

[ctmagnus]

Is it a recurring task or one that regenerates itself after the first is completed? If recurring, it should sync. I have similar tasks. You may need to delete and recreate it or run ScanPST on the data file.

If it is the regenerating kind, those won't sync over. :(

It's a recurring task. I discovered it will synch if I choose to synchronize only incomplete tasks. As soon as I apply a date range to synchronize, however, it kicks that one (or any with similar date criteria) out. And it works fine with tasks that have no start date, only a due date.

One other thing: This pst was created in Outlook 2000 and opened in Outlook 2002. Outlook 2000 hasn't touched it since. It may even date back to Outlook 98 but I can't remember that far back.

[ctmagnus]

Scanpst finds no errors with it.

After several deletions and re-creations, the task finally took with all the criteria I want. It was ~ the eighth time I created it, though, before it would accept it. :?:

[ctmagnus]

I shut down Outlook and re-opened it. Now that task has no start date. :?:

I set it to the criteria that it just worked with and it stops synching again. :evil:

It appears that no matter what options I use, it will not sync with a date range specified and a start date set on a task. It works with a start date if I sync all tasks or incomplete tasks, and it syncs with a range specified if I ditch the start date. The start and due dates fall well within the range.

Update: This happens with any task I set a start and due date for, regardless of reccurance.