I just got my new iPhone 4. New devices always prompt me to examine my disorganization. I use Entourage EWS for mail, contacts, and calendar. I sync my local Entourage contacts and calendar to Address Book and iCal, respectively (which unfortunately lumps all my "categorized" events into a single "Entourage" calendar in iCal). The Entourage preference pane indicates that both Contacts and Calendar data are also synced to MobileMe.
Recently, I've set up an Exchange Server at my business. Entourage Web Services would allow me to sync my Exchange Contacts INSTEAD of my local contacts, but apparently not both. Similarly, Entourage would allow me to Sync either my personal or a shared (Public Folder) calendar from the Exchange Server to iCal and MobileMe, but apparently not more than one of these three. Because I'm using Entourage Preferences to control calendar and contacts synchronization, I DON'T sync contacts and calendars using MobileMe, and I sync my iPhone to one computer with the Contacts and Calendar sync managed by iTunes (I assume, using Sync Services), not MobileMe. So, here are my questions: 1. Is MobileMe now reliable enough so that I could use IT to do the contacts and calendar synchronization to my iPhone rather than iTunes? 2. Since Entourage syncs contacts and calendar data to MobileMe even though I don't use MobileMe itself to sync calendar and contact data between my two Macs or with my iPhone, do I still have a MobileMe contacts/calendar database somewhere "in the cloud?" 3. Is there some way I could get Entourage to sync BOTH my local Entourage calendar AND my Exchange (Public Folder) calendar to my iPhone and to iCal? 4. Failing that, is there another way to get my Exchange (contacts and public Folder calendar) data onto my iPhone? 5. What would happen if I turned on MobileMe synchronization of Contacts and Calendar data? If Entourage is doing it, and MobileMe is doing it too, wouldn't I end up with a horrible mess? IF I used MobileMe for automatic synchronization of contacts and calendar data, I ASSUME I'd NOT use sync services in iTunes for that purpose as well. Is that correct? 6. As I've mentioned on this forum many times before, I keep my contacts/calendar in Sync between my desktop and laptop Mac using a third party program (Synchronize! Pro X) to move the entire Entourage "Database" file from the most recently used Mac to the one that's not been in use. ***IF*** I converted all my mail accounts to IMAP, and ***IF*** MobileMe were now reliable enough to do the synchronization of Contacts/Calendar among my devices, perhaps I could dispense with Synchronize! Pro X. Then, I'd no longer need to worry about Microsoft's Office Mac file structure that triggers the "modification" flag (or whatever it should be called) for the entire "Database" file if I launch ANY Office application. Here's an example of how my current routine can go horribly wrong: Let's say I receive a PowerPoint slide show file as an email attachment and move the attachment to my home computer's desktop. Many days later, I come home from work with a bunch of new email on the laptop. Stupidly, I peek at the PowerPoint slideshow file on my home Mac before running Synchronize! Pro X. Then, when I run my sync routine, the sync program tells me that the newest copy of the MS Office "Database" file is on my home computer, not my laptop. It warns me that BOTH copies of the "Database" file have changed, so USUALLY I manage not to lose bunches of POP email, but there's always the risk. Sorry to be so long winded, but I bet I'm not the only one struggling with these dilemmas. Replies on/off list all appreciated, as well as pointers to helpful discussions elsewhere (I can't find any books about iOS 4 yet, but I don't know if the MobileMe engine has been made more robust as part of the iOS 4 release. (Colombo "one more thing" mode on): What do other listas who are wedded to Entourage's and Outlook's "categories" do about the absence of these in Apple's programs (I'm forced to use Apple's programs for some things that integrate directly with them, for example the Dymo address book and the fax address book for my HP all-in-one). Jim Robertson -- -- YouTalk mailing list List information: http://www.entourage.mvps.org/support_options/list.html List moderator: [email protected], [email protected] To unsubscribe: mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe
