Wp8 Sync Contacts And Calendar In Both Directions With Outlook

[schoondoggy 771]

My wife is getting ready to make the hop from Android to WP8. She uses Outlook 2007 on her PC for calendar and contacts, no she is not on a exchange server. It has been an issue getting the items to sync with Google and back down to her Droid Razr. I had assumed this would not be an issue with WP8. I have done a good deal of research on the recommended Microsoft solution using the HotMail connector to get contacts and calendar up to Microsoft and down to the phone. This appears to be a manual process and I cant tell if it syncs in both directions. 

Anyone have experience with this?

[schoondoggy 771]

This seems to be a bit more complete than other descriptions;

http://frommypocket.pocketprimer.com/2010/11/11/outlook-hotmail-connector.aspx

[schoondoggy 771]

It sounds like Office 365 may be a way to make this work as well.

Any one running Office 365 and syncing to a WP8 phone? 

[FinsUpDNC 0]

I have Office 365 w/exchange for work which obviously works.  What is she using for email service? 

[kylejwx 28]

I am using hotmail/outlook.com to sync email, calendar, and contacts with Outlook
2010 and WP8. Everything works fine (including shared calendars, calendar
invites, and reminders). I am pretty sure I had to use the outlook connector as
well, but once I set it up I haven't had to mess with it. My understanding is
that Outlook 2013 has built in support for outlook.com and you don't need the
connector. I believe that I also used outlook connector with Outlook 2007 and
it worked fine there as well.

 

 

 

[schoondoggy 771]

I have Office 365 w/exchange for work which obviously works.  What is she using for email service? 

Comcast pop3.

Email works fine on WP, as does Exchange, but contacts and calendar in Outlook with no Exchange is a issue.

I should note it has been a issue with Android as well.

[FinsUpDNC 0]

Comcast pop3.

Email works fine on WP, as does Exchange, but contacts and calendar in Outlook with no Exchange is a issue.

I should note it has been a issue with Android as well.

 

setup an outlook.com account, add it to outlook 2013 (download connector if you have previous version). In Outlook move the contacts and cal onto the outlook.com account..........she won't know the difference as they are in the same place, just now backed up to the microsoft cloud . On phone, add the comcast pop3 and outlook accounts, and just turn off e-mail sync on the outlook account. 

 

I would think about forwarding her mail to outlook too as you can now reply as from any account anyway.  This way she gets push on mail/cal/contacts and has her mail backed up off of a pop3 server.

[schoondoggy 771]

Thanks for the input!

[schoondoggy 771]

My wife finally made the jump to Windows phone. Everything is working well and she likes it but I have learned a lot about this app note:

http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/how-to/wp8/people/sync-contacts-and-calendars-from-outlook-on-my-pc-to-my-phone

 

I'm a stickler for the words we use and to put it bluntly this note does not show you how to sync your contacts and calendars from Outlook to your phone. It does show you how to set up a new calendar in your Microsoft account and use that with Outloook, instead of the traditional calendar built into Outlook. This is fine unless you have other devices syncing, truly syncing, off that original calendar. I know this is a small segment of the market that actually would use Outlook without Exchange, but I do believe this app note listed above is very very misleading. I spent hours on the phone with Microsoft having them explained to me how the Hotmail connector actually works and it finally struck me that it doesn't sync it just connects you to a new calendar in your Microsoft account.

[schoondoggy 771]

update on this post, everything is working very well once I made Outlook.com the center of her e-mail system. Her pop3 feeds e-mail directly to her Outlook.com account and all of her other devices sync e-mail and calendars with Outlook.com. The Outlook.com app for android even works with their calendar. Embrace Outlook.com for these types of solutions.