Sync with server (email only) and with local PC (everything else)?

[jgrnt1]

This may take a little explaining, so I apologize in advance for the wordiness of this post. Our company has supported Blackberries for a long time and has just recently added WM device support (sort of). I have an AT&T 8525. Unlike the Blackberry, WM support comes from using our webmail as the server and we set it up ourselves (enter the server in ActiveSync, set encryption and enter login/password). We just need to have a PPC phone and a data plan, both of which I have.

Currently I sync my phone with my personal PC at home, not with my company laptop, so I do not sync with a server. The company does not require me to keep a calendar on the server, so I don't, because I keep a lot of personal stuff on the calendar -- kids' games and school events, wife's meetings, etc. These are important from a family perspective, but also from a schedule perspective, since I travel a lot and try to schedule my trips around these events. I currently DO NOT sync email at all.

Since the OS upgrade on the phone, I have been using ActiveSync on the company laptop, so I could use the phone with Internet Sharing. I sync nothing with the laptop, but needed ActiveSync to enable Internet Sharing (previously, I used Cingular Connection Manager). Now for the question(s):

Can I sync only email with the webmail server and continue to sync everything else with my home PC? I would like to continue to keep my calendar, contacts, tasks, notes and files on my personal PC, but enable email on the phone from the webmail server. If it makes a difference, my personal PC is running Vista, so I use WMDC instead of ActiveSync.

If I cannot do this, is there a way to sync everything locally and with the server?

My assumption is no to both questions, but I'm hoping somebody much more clever than me has done something like this.

[jgrnt1]

This may take a little explaining, so I apologize in advance for the wordiness of this post. Our company has supported Blackberries for a long time and has just recently added WM device support (sort of). I have an AT&T 8525. Unlike the Blackberry, WM support comes from using our webmail as the server and we set it up ourselves (enter the server in ActiveSync, set encryption and enter login/password). We just need to have a PPC phone and a data plan, both of which I have.

Currently I sync my phone with my personal PC at home, not with my company laptop, so I do not sync with a server. The company does not require me to keep a calendar on the server, so I don't, because I keep a lot of personal stuff on the calendar -- kids' games and school events, wife's meetings, etc. These are important from a family perspective, but also from a schedule perspective, since I travel a lot and try to schedule my trips around these events. I currently DO NOT sync email at all.

Since the OS upgrade on the phone, I have been using ActiveSync on the company laptop, so I could use the phone with Internet Sharing. I sync nothing with the laptop, but needed ActiveSync to enable Internet Sharing (previously, I used Cingular Connection Manager). Now for the question(s):

Can I sync only email with the webmail server and continue to sync everything else with my home PC? I would like to continue to keep my calendar, contacts, tasks, notes and files on my personal PC, but enable email on the phone from the webmail server. If it makes a difference, my personal PC is running Vista, so I use WMDC instead of ActiveSync.

If I cannot do this, is there a way to sync everything locally and with the server?

My assumption is no to both questions, but I'm hoping somebody much more clever than me has done something like this.

[Mark Kenepp]

Not sure if when you say "enable email on the phone from the webmail server" but if you mean Server ActiveSync, then yes, I do this myself. There is no problem with syncing just your email over Exchange Server ActiveSync and syncing all your other data through a direct connection to the PC.

One thing that will occur is that when you are syncing to a desktop PC locally, ActiveSync will still try and connect to the Exchange Server to sync the email but it is not a problem, if it can connect then it syncs, if not, then it will just tell you it is unable to connect.

[jgrnt1]

Mark,

Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure what I mean. I'm just an amateur geek, not an IT person. The server address I'm being told to enter in ActiveSync on the PPC is the same one I use for Outlook webmail (webmail.xxxx.com). Since I have a Vista home PC, I don't use ActiveSync anymore, except for Internet Sharing with my company laptop.

If I go into ActiveSync Options on the PPC and uncheck everything but email (as I'm being instructed to do), will it still sync everything else when I sync with my home PC? If so, dos that mean the ActiveSync or WMDC settings on the PCs override the settings on the PPC?

[Mark Kenepp]

Originally Posted by jgrnt1

If I go into ActiveSync Options on the PPC and uncheck everything but email (as I'm being instructed to do), will it still sync everything else when I sync with my home PC? If so, dos that mean the ActiveSync or WMDC settings on the PCs override the settings on the PPC?

First, I am assuming that you are using a Windows Mobile 5.0 device (though the process would be similar if not the same for any other version of Windows Mobile).

Second, I don't know anything about WMDC so I can't say if any of this is possible, if you are using it

on My HTC TyTN, I open ActiveSync, select Menu>Options...

Here I see two sets of items that can be synchronized. The first is labeled Exchange Server, the second is labeled Work Desktop (If I am not mistaken, this name was given when I set up the partnership so it could be named anything and I don't remember what the default name would be).

Under Exchange Server, I have checked only E-mail, under Work Desktop, I have checked everything else.

I don't understand how it would be different if you are using WMDC but I guess it could be.

I think, if you have not set up the server settings for ActiveSync, then you will not see the Exchange Server section in this options window.