Questions on Contacts and E-mail sync with ActiveSync

[Kestrel]

I'm a new user for the Pocket PC platform (I moved over
from Palm OS) and I have a couple of questions about
contacts and e-mail synchonization.

E-Mail:
When I synchronize my e-mail with MS Outlook, it seems
like ActiveSync doesn't try to retrieve new mail before
it copies it over to the handheld. I have to open OUtlook
and hit Send/Receive to get my mail, then re-sync to get
new mail. Is there a way to make ActiveSync get new mail
during sync?

Contacts:
My contacts are syncing fine, but the information seems
to have no order to it. Information shows up in a jumble
with e-mails mixed in with addresses and phone numbers
and birthdays versus, say, e-mails then phone numbers
then street address. and I know on Palm OS systems, there
was a way to dictate what order and priority contact
information fields show up on the handheld. Is there a
way to do this with ActiveSync?

Also, is there anyway to specify what phone number shows
up in the list view for Contacts? I want certain peope to
show their home number and others to show their mbile
number. It seems to be picking phone numbers at random to
display.

Thanks for any help you can give!

[dMores]

well, a.f.a.i.k. you cannot tell activesync to get email for you. it just does the synchronisation. so starting outlook is just something you need to do. no need for the "send/recieve" button, upon starting outlook should get mails by itself. once those emails are downloaded, AS (activesync) notices a change and starts syncing emails automatically.

so, unless you're in a hurry, no need to tell the programs what to do.

regarding the contacts problem: no idea :)
you might want to have a look at 3rd party PIM applications like Pocket Informant (http://www.pocketinformant.com), they usually offer better, nicer and more features than the standard apps.

here's (http://motorola.handango.com/entertainment/ProductHome.jsp?siteId=522&jid=7D5FD1AX4DD828143CAB5D368DED742X&javaDevice=T720GSM) an activesync troubleshooting guide, just i case AS gives you even more headaches :)
(upgrade to 3.7 unless you haven't already done so, it'll save you a lot of "what the ..." experiences!)

oh, and welcome to the ppc platform :)

[ux4484]

contacts:

*sigh* A sad truth of converting from Palm desktop......
You'll have to go into Outlook and re-order your data fields, if you used any of the "custom" fileds in POS, you have to cut/paste that info into one of the fields that Pocket Outlook displays. On your PC, open Outlook, you'll need to open the card for each contact, go to the "All fields" tab, select "All post fields" from the drop down list to see what is where.....and then put it where you need it to be. You could export/import your data from Palm desktop, but unless you were VERY consistant with what field you put where in POS (most POS'ers don't, as POS finds a way to display everything no matter where you put it) you won't do any better than what you have now.

If nothing else, it's an excercise in becoming more organized :roll:

email: I don't know how you set it up, but initially I set mine to access my POP3 server directly so Outlook does not be to be updated or even running to access your most current email either via Vsync or wirelessly. After using the email feature for about two weeks, I realized I really didn't need it so I don't even use it on my PPC anymore.