problems with activesync between 2 PCs

[apidya]

I've recently moved from using a Palm device to a Pocket PC (iPAQ), and i have to say i'm quite impressed!

However I've recently started having a problem with ActiveSync.

As with the palm before it, i'm trying to sync the PDA with both my work PC (Outlook 2003 to an exchange server), and my home PC (Outlook 2003, straight PST file as far as i can tell).

All was well until a few days ago when i tried to move the PST file on my home PC to my documents partiton (for easier backup). It seemed to be ok, I pointed Outlook to the new location and it found all my PIM data.

However now everytime I sync, either at work or home, ActiveSync finds the device and partnership ok, but seems to think that ALL my data needs syncronising. It asks if I want to combine items or replace the device items. So far I've selected 'replace device items'. Apart from this being time consuming, I'm noticing that it's wiping out entirely, anything that's on the PDA but not in outlook.

Thus, an appointment or contact created at work, and synced to the PDA will never make it into my home outlook profile, as it's destroyed when I sync at home!

My data is being found in it's new location by ActiveSync though. once I'm synced up ok at home, new entries on either desktop or PDA sync fine.
This is pretty annoying! I've avoided the other option (combine items on device and desktop), as I have a horrible feeling I'll end up with double _everything_ on the PDA and desktop!

Sorry if this is the wrong forum to post in. I'm just getting to grips with PocketPCs and activesync.

thanks for any advice.

[Nurhisham Hussein]

I'd actually go ahead and combine the items rather than suffer through that every time - and yes it will definitely cause duplicate records. The key thing is to be prepared for it beforehand - I've got a duplicate remover app that's 95% effective in getting rid of dupes.

[apidya]

Thanks for that. I think that's what I'm going to try, although I'll backup my original .PST file first.

I think it's probably some quirk like activesync has lost the link between the items on my desktops and the items on my device, so every time I sync, it can't match them up (as you can see I have no idea what I'm talking about here!). I'm hoping that if I blank the home desktop data (easier than the work system thats hooked up to exchange), then sync the stuff from the device onto the desktop at home, it'll solve the problem.

Otherwise, i'll be looking for that duplicate remover!

Thanks again for the advice.

[Nurhisham Hussein]

I'm hoping that if I blank the home desktop data (easier than the work system thats hooked up to exchange), then sync the stuff from the device onto the desktop at home, it'll solve the problem.


8O

Now I feel like an idiot - I just did that yesterday! Yes, I can confirm that it works. In my case, I'd just gotten my new PDA, synced at home, and of course immediately had a problem with my laptop which had slightly older data. Deleting the laptop data worked for me. :)