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terrypin
05-14-2004, 09:05 AM
Cryptic subject header I suppose, but what I'm asking is whether the program OUTLOOK.EXE has to be running for ActiveSync to work?

What prompted this was that I was trying (eventually unsuccessfully) to install Microsoft PhotoDraw (part of Office 2000 Premium) again on my XP PC. At one stage I had message saying it couldn't continue because Outlook was running. I certainly didn't have Outlook 2000 open in a window on my PC, so presumably this was because my PPC was cradled. Anyway, I used Crl-Alt-Del, found OUTLOOK.EXE, and stopped it.

But, after I'd given up on the PhotoDraw installation (it's incompatible with XP), ActiveSync was still running OK. I removed and replaced the PPC and it went through its 'Connected...syncing procedure. When I looked at Task List again, OUTLOOK.EXE was back.

Does OUTLOOK get loaded automatically? When PPC is placed in cradle?

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK
Using iPAQ 2210 with WM2003.

PR.
05-14-2004, 09:24 AM
Yup, it needs it to synch your calendar, inbox, tasks and notes.

Outlook 2003 handles it a bit better by always showing the system tray icon (if enabled) when it is running so its clear to see what going on :)

terrypin
05-14-2004, 10:57 AM
Thanks PR.

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK
Using iPAQ 2210 with WM2003.

Pony99CA
05-14-2004, 01:34 PM
Yup, it needs it to synch your calendar, inbox, tasks and notes.

Outlook 2003 handles it a bit better by always showing the system tray icon (if enabled) when it is running so its clear to see what going on :)
I just ran some experiments, and I'm not sure that last point is true. The Outlook 2003 tray icon does not display for me when Outlook.exe starts when I dock my Pocket PC; it only displays if I actually start Outlook by running it myself.

Killing Outlook.exe does kill the icon, though, so I suspect that the tray icon is tied to the Outlook user interface. If Outlook starts hidden (by docking a Pocket PC, for example), the system tray icon doesn't show, either.

Steve

PR.
05-14-2004, 02:45 PM
You may be right, I only noticed it when I ran outlook and then synched then closed outlook the icon remained until I uncraddled my iPAQ. I have outlook running all the time anyway :)

Jason Dunn
05-14-2004, 09:18 PM
If ActiveSync is running AND your Pocket PC is connected, Outlook.exe needs to be running in the background. When you un-dock your Pocket PC the process should end by itself.

Pony99CA
05-15-2004, 07:07 AM
If ActiveSync is running AND your Pocket PC is connected, Outlook.exe needs to be running in the background. When you un-dock your Pocket PC the process should end by itself.
I didn't think that Outlook.exe terminated when you undocked, but I just checked and it does. I guess I had never checked the process list after undocking, just after synchronizing.

Steve

Jason Dunn
05-15-2004, 06:51 PM
I didn't think that Outlook.exe terminated when you undocked, but I just checked and it does. I guess I had never checked the process list after undocking, just after synchronizing.

Yeah, if you don't have Outlook running when you dock your Pocket PC, it starts headless and is supposed to terminate when you un-dock. That doesn't always happen though - Outlook 2003 has a nasty habit of staying around until I manually kill it. :evil:

Janak Parekh
05-15-2004, 07:34 PM
Outlook 2003 has a nasty habit of staying around until I manually kill it. :evil:
I had this problem when I upgraded to Outlook 2003. I "fixed" it by deleting the Outlook profile completely and recreating it from scratch.

--janak

Pony99CA
05-16-2004, 10:27 AM
Outlook 2003 has a nasty habit of staying around until I manually kill it. :evil:
I had this problem when I upgraded to Outlook 2003. I "fixed" it by deleting the Outlook profile completely and recreating it from scratch.
Hmmm, I upgraded to Outlook 2003 from Outlook XP and Outlook.exe seems to terminate for me just fine. However, I don't use Outlook for E-mail, if that matters.

I'd think you'd actually want part of Outlook running at all times to get reminders, though. If Outlook.exe isn't running, reminders don't seem to fire. I know that I could just put Outlook in my Startup folder, but I never did because it took a lot of resources (although since I upgraded from Windows 98 to Windows XP -- and a faster laptop :-) -- that's probably not an issue anymore).

Steve

Janak Parekh
05-16-2004, 09:20 PM
I'd think you'd actually want part of Outlook running at all times to get reminders, though. If Outlook.exe isn't running, reminders don't seem to fire. I know that I could just put Outlook in my Startup folder, but I never did because it took a lot of resources (although since I upgraded from Windows 98 to Windows XP -- and a faster laptop :-) -- that's probably not an issue anymore).
Correct -- the resources aren't an issue anymore, and I utilize Outlook XP's ability to "run in the tray" and I run it on startup.

--janak