rebuilding my laptop - effect on ppc?

[zilla31]

i have to totally rebuild my laptop - what effect will this have on my ppc? obviously active sync will be wiped out... What`s the easiest way to get back to where I am now?

I also would like to ask if there is a way to keep everything "as is" on my ppc and not reinstall any apps on the laptop? I was never real happy having like 100 ppc apps cluttering up my laptops add remove programs...

help!!!

[Ed Hansberry]

Yeah, no problem. :-) I've done this many times.

First, do a FINAL sync, then make sure you keep your PST file from Outlook *AND* you PPC's MY docs folder on your PC. You should save your whole MY Docs structure but that is another thread.

Rebuild your PC. Install Office/Outlook and get it working. Now, Open your old PST file and tell Outlook to use it as your primary mail store. You can probably close the “new” PST file that the install created and delete it. You may have to close and open Outlook several times during this. Verify your contacts, appointments, etc. are all there and OK.

Now, download ActiveSync 3.7.1. Sync and tell AS to purge your PPC and copy everything from your PC.

Now, undock, copy your old files to the new PPC My Docs folder and sync again. don't worry about things that don't sync. just undock and dock again. they will clear up. Usually folders cause this.

finally, all of your PPC apps are untouched! :-) You can only uninstall them from your desktop. you'd need to fully reinstall them on your PC if you ever need to install them on your PPC again.

[Pony99CA]

First, do a FINAL sync, then make sure you keep your PST file from Outlook *AND* you PPC's MY docs folder on your PC.
If all of the appointments, contacts and tasks are synchronized to the Pocket PC, and either all mail is synchronized or you don't use Outlook for E-mail, you can probably avoid saving the PST file at all, right? When creating a partnership in ActiveSync, you can use the Combine entries from the PC and Pocket PC (or whatever it's called) selection. As the PC has no entries, you'll basically be using your Pocket PC as the PST backup.

Obviously, if you don't keep old appointments or completed tasks on your Pocket PC, or only synchronize some categories, that won't work. I use my Pocket PC as a complete repository for my PIM data and only use Eudora for E-mail, though. If zilla works similarly, it can save some effort.

That said, Ed's method is certainly safer. Only use mine if you synchronize everything and want to get up and running as quickly as possible.

Another thing to remember after installing ActiveSync again is to set your settings the way you like. As I mentioned, I keep all my old appointments and completed tasks on my Pocket PC, but those are not the defaults.

Steve

[Ed Hansberry]

First, do a FINAL sync, then make sure you keep your PST file from Outlook *AND* you PPC's MY docs folder on your PC.
If all of the appointments, contacts and tasks are synchronized to the Pocket PC, and either all mail is synchronized or you don't use Outlook for E-mail, you can probably avoid saving the PST file at all, right?
This method you can:
• Risk losing all kinds of email, including items in the SENT ITEMS folder.
• Risk losing contact data that are in fields not supported by the Pocket PC - "Company Phone Number" for example.
• Risk losing all attachments in the notes field of appointments, tasks and contacts.
• Risk losing your "completed" tasks as very few people sync those, but like to keep a record of what was completed when.

If you save your PST and do a combine, it may work, and you may get duplicates. :|

The way I listed is not the easiest way, but in 5 years, I have not found another way that guarantees no data loss and no duplicate info.

[Pony99CA]

First, do a FINAL sync, then make sure you keep your PST file from Outlook *AND* you PPC's MY docs folder on your PC.
If all of the appointments, contacts and tasks are synchronized to the Pocket PC, and either all mail is synchronized or you don't use Outlook for E-mail, you can probably avoid saving the PST file at all, right?
This method you can:
• Risk losing all kinds of email, including items in the SENT ITEMS folder.
• Risk losing contact data that are in fields not supported by the Pocket PC - "Company Phone Number" for example.
• Risk losing all attachments in the notes field of appointments, tasks and contacts.
• Risk losing your "completed" tasks as very few people sync those, but like to keep a record of what was completed when.

You can probably tell that I only use my Pocket PC for most of my PIM stuff. :-) I didn't even know (or had forgotten) about attachments in the notes fields and most of the extra fields.

For company phone numbers, I either use the Work 2 phone number or create a separate Contacts entry for the company (which I can use Pocket Informant's linking capability to access easily if I want).

As for E-mail, I don't use Outlook, so I didn't know that Sent Mail didn't get synchronized. However, for people who don't use Outlook E-mail, they won't lose anything. :-D

Regarding completed tasks, you could activate that option in ActiveSync (and turn off category synchronization and turn on all appointments) before that final sync.

It all depends on how you use Outlook and the Pocket PC. If you don't use the features of desktop Outlook beyond what Pocket Outlook offers, you should be OK with my method. I wasn't saying that you were wrong or anything (in fact, I said your method was safer), and I'm glad you pointed those pitfalls out. I just wanted to point out a way that might be more efficient for some people.

If you save your PST and do a combine, it may work, and you may get duplicates. :|
Yes, if you do save the PST file, there's not much reason to do a combine. You'd probably waste more time eliminating the duplicates than you'd save by doing what I suggested. :?

It sure would be nice if ActiveSync would prompt you for probable duplicates when combining data (and not for each individual entry; keep a list and display them all at the end).

Steve