PPC Contacts Sync Disaster

[varaonaid]

Please Help!

I've ended up with a disaster and am not sure the best way of going about fixing it.

I have a lot of contacts and I've seperated them into different folders for organization. I realized that there are limitations to ActiveSync and that it cannot sync subfolders of contacts. So, I did a trial of Intellisync which adds that functionality to ActiveSync. Problem is, the instructions that came with the Intellisync trial didn't fully explain what you need to do to make it work properly. So this is what happened: all my contacts from cthe main contacts folder and all the subfolders were synced to my PPC into a single folder, then were dumped back to my desktop into my main contacts folder during the syncing process. This has resulted in thousands of duplicate contacts and a real mess. I've tried to search for software to help and haven't been very successful. So far, I've had to manually search using outlook's search feature and compare all the contacts one by one. It's VERY tedious and I'm only a very small way through the process. Until I get it resolved, I've stopped syncing the contacts between the desktop and PPC. To make matters worse, I've realized that new contacts have been added to my PPC that DO need to get to my desktop so I can't even delete all the contacts from my PPC when I get everything fixed on my desktop.

Does anyone have any ideas how I can fix this mess? Is there an option other than manually searching for each contact one-by-one? What do I do to only get the new contacts off of the PPC on to the desktop - is that even possible?

I'd really appreciate any help you can give. Thanks so much in advance!

Sincerely,
Rachel
Setup details: Dell Axim x3i 400mHz processor, 64mb ram, Windows Mobile 2003, Outlook 2000, WinXp home, ActiveSync 3.8.0

[Mark Kenepp]

Ouch...

First things first, I would create a backup of all your contact folders by creating a new Outlook Data Store (pst file) and copying all your contacts and sub-folders to the new store. If you end up screwing up and deleting some contacts you did not want to, then at least you can get them back.

How many contacts are we talking about here?

I have had duplicate contact problems in the past but since I have less than 200 contacts, I did not have a problem deleting them manually.

There is a field called created found in the field chooser under All Contact fields that might make it easy to figure out which contacts are duplicated. If the duplicates all have the creation date/time when the duplication occurred, than it might be easy enough to get rid of them all.

Getting the contacts off your handheld may be tricky since I don't know a good way to back them up other than using a backup utility which I use but have no experience in selective backups and restore.

I know this will not solve your current problem, but have you thought about using categories instead of contact sub-folders to organize your contacts?

[tabenate]

There's a number of good utilities programs that have the functionality to remove duplicate contacts. I recommend SKTools.

[varaonaid]

Thanks for the replies so far!

In answer to your question, my best estimate is around 3000 contacts...

Yeah, ouch!

I've thought about using catagories and do use them some but not to a large degree. I like folders in particular for archived contacts that I need to keep but don't necessarily use on a regualr basis. I found more info later regarding intellisync and I have to use categories in order to properly sync using folders.

I'll look into the options you all have shared. I really appreciate your feedback. Hopefully, one of them will help me sort all this out. Right now, it seems like one of those projects that will never get completed! Just too overwhelming...

Thanks again! If you (or any one else) has any other ideas hit them - I'm open to other suggestions.

[caubeck]

Could the PC's "system restore" utility help, or would that only affect programmes? I never use it myself.

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Try this:

http://www.slipstick.com/files/ODR5.EXE

It runs on the desktop - I've found it very effective. But I'd do what Mark suggested and back everything up first.

[varaonaid]

Thanks so much for all the recommendations. I'm sure with the advice you've given (and some work...) I'll get this all sorted out.

I wanted to run a crazy thought that I had by you guys and help me see the flaws that might be present:

As I mentioned before (I think) I still have all of my contacts in there appropriate folders on my desktop and most of those contacts have been dumped via an activesync disaster into the main contacts folder. What if I were to use categories to differentiate all the contacts in each of the folders then dumped all of those categoried contacts into the main contacts folder allowing the new categoried contacts to overwrite any existing duplicates. Then, couldn't I just search for contacts via category and them move them all back to their original folder? Could this work?

The dificulty I can see is how to sort it out with any new contacts I've added on my PDA in the meantime. I think they are few enough that I could simply pick them out and then overwrite everything on the PDA.

What do you guys think? Do I have a huge blind spot in this idea that I can't see?

Thanks again!

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Go for it...I've always catagorised all my PIM info - it makes things so much easier to view and search with Pocket Breeze or Pocket Informant.

[Constant Caffeine]

In answer to your question, my best estimate is around 3000 contacts...


OMG! 8O Just curious, how much storage do you use for your contacts?