[sadelb]

I am planning on buying a blackberry 8300 and I am looking for the best calendar / address book / To do list for syncing with the blackberry. What do you guys use and why? I am a big calendar person and would like something very easy to sync back and forth with. I love the google calendar but I dont know how well it syncs. I like outlook for contacts but do not like their calendar. (I havent seen outlook 2007 yet) Do you guys use one program for lets say a contact list and another program for a calendar? I wish google implemented a good address book. Also, is it a pain to sign onto the web everytime for the google calendar or do you just have your bb connected to GCAL all the time. (This is if you use GCAL). I have read a lot about a program called xxxxxxxxxxxxx also which seems to be working pretty good. I have also experimented with Time and Chaos 7 which is a nice program. I again, dont love their calendar though. I hear it syncs perfectly with the blackberry.

As you can see I have been looking at a lot of options. I just want something easy and stress free when syncing, etc...Do you think it would be a good idea to use a program like outlook for tasks and address book; and then use GCAL for just a calendar? Or would that complicate things. I am open for new suggestions as well. I feel like I have read every post on calendars but have yet to find a program that everybody loves. I feel like GCAL needs to go one more step to make it a little better for the blackberry.

Thanks in advnace.

Ben

[archer6]

Originally Posted by sadelb

I am planning on buying a blackberry 8300 and I am looking for the best calendar / address book / To do list for syncing with the blackberry. What do you guys use and why?

I use Outlook 2003. I have over 3,000 contacts and lots of other data in it. I also use it for tasks, notes, and the calendar. I have a very busy schedule which is very dynamic and changes daily. Sometimes from hour to hour. There a few really big advantages to using Outlook with your BlackBerry.

1) It's completely reliable.
2) It's very fast.
3) It's very easy.
4) Backups are a snap.
5) You are only using one program.
6) You have complete control over how the sync is performed.

You may set it so that the BB prevails, or Outlook prevails, or you get a true Sync with each device automatically updated according to which one has the most current information. This also includes automatic additions, deletions, and updates.

I have tried nearly every available combination of software and smartphone (Treo, Moto-@, Blackjack) and none of those can get close to the level of reliability and speed of my present combination. In the past to sync my Outlook database of contacts alone would typically take about 6 to 10 minutes.

With my BB it only takes 30 seconds! I use a laptop as I'm very mobile, and the nice feature of this is that I use the USB cable to sync, after which it will charge my BB while I'm working. The charge rate is also very fast. I have never had such a reliable stable platform which has saved me so much time and effort. After many years of seeking this goal, I finally have it.

(by the way, Outlook 2007 has some bugs that must be fixed before it will work with the BB platform)

[JSanders]

Wirelessly posted (8700g: BlackBerry8800/4.2.1 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102)

Wow, Archer said it all. So, ditto that. Syncing with Outlook is seamless. I know you can split the sync (i.e. a different calendar), I just have done it

[Dubdub]

I use Outlook because I have it and it works great with the BB.

[sadelb]

wow. thanks archer for all the information. It looks like outlook works the best. i guess I just have to get use to the calendar a little better. So you dont suggest using outlook 2007 quite yet? What are the major differences between the 2?

[coolkarim]

Originally Posted by archer6

I use Outlook 2003. I have over 3,000 contacts and lots of other data in it. I also use it for tasks, notes, and the calendar. I have a very busy schedule which is very dynamic and changes daily. Sometimes from hour to hour. There a few really big advantages to using Outlook with your BlackBerry.

1) It's completely reliable.
2) It's very fast.
3) It's very easy.
4) Backups are a snap.
5) You are only using one program.
6) You have complete control over how the sync is performed.

You may set it so that the BB prevails, or Outlook prevails, or you get a true Sync with each device automatically updated according to which one has the most current information. This also includes automatic additions, deletions, and updates.

I have tried nearly every available combination of software and smartphone (Treo, Moto-@, Blackjack) and none of those can get close to the level of reliability and speed of my present combination. In the past to sync my Outlook database of contacts alone would typically take about 6 to 10 minutes.

With my BB it only takes 30 seconds! I use a laptop as I'm very mobile, and the nice feature of this is that I use the USB cable to sync, after which it will charge my BB while I'm working. The charge rate is also very fast. I have never had such a reliable stable platform which has saved me so much time and effort. After many years of seeking this goal, I finally have it.


does your BBcalendar sync properly with your outlook 2003 calendar? mine doesnt, its a known issue


(by the way, Outlook 2007 has some bugs that must be fixed before it will work with the BB platform)

does your BBcalendar sync properly with your outlook 2003 calendar? mine doesnt, its a known issue

[greggebhardt]

I use Outlook 2003 at the office and 2007 at home. I have no issues with either and they both work without flaw.

I hate Outlook and only use for backup purposes. I have set up the sync to have the handheld over rule Outlook at I enter most my data in the field directly into my device.

[coolkarim]

thanks, youre lucky

have a look at this thread discussing the problem

can you assisst?

http://www.blackberryforums.com/gene...ok-2003-a.html

[fkjr2]

I use Outlook 2007 - nice. My gripe is with RIM and the lack of a powerful full featured PIM program!

I came from a Palm and Agendus was great! I miss that highly.

I guess one can't get everything in a smartphone :(

I have to admit though, syncing RIM and Outlook IS flawless

[archer6]

Originally Posted by greggebhardt

I use Outlook 2003 at the office and 2007 at home. I have no issues with either and they both work without flaw.

I hate Outlook and only use for backup purposes. I have set up the sync to have the handheld over rule Outlook at I enter most my data in the field directly into my device.

The problem I encountered with Outlook 2007 was when I had it setup to perform a two way sync. After reading your post, I set it up to have the handheld over rule Outlook and it works perfectly. Now if they will fix the problem with a complete sync I will be set to move everything over to Outlook 2007.

For now I'm staying with Outlook 2003 as it's performing perfectly.

Thanks for the info!

[archer6]

Originally Posted by coolkarim

have a look at this thread discussing the problem

http://www.blackberryforums.com/gene...ok-2003-a.html

After reviewing the link, it appears that the problem is primarily if not completely with the 8830 models. However that said, I have experienced a problem once in awhile that displays the same behavior no matter which of my BB models I'm using.

Here is what I experience:

When performing a two way sync, a window appears that asks me to manually choose one of two choices (columns) as to what I want to have happen with that particular calendar event. After I make that choice, again another window appears just like the previous one, only involving another calendar event with the same request of me. And on and on it goes. Since I have a very full calendar there can be 25 items that it wants me to act on.

Now I should also mention that this only happens once in approx every 100 sync procedures. After much work, here is the solution that works perfectly and has eliminated this problem from returning.

With my BB connected via USB to my computer:
1) I launch desktop manager & double click on Backup & Restore
2) From the Backup & Restore choice I click on the Advanced button
3) From the Backup & Restore window I now see two windows side by side, on the left it says: Desktop File Databases, on the right it says: Device Databases, this is the window I work in at this point.
4) I highlight (or select) Address Book & then click the Clear button. Then I proceed to repeat this "Clearing" by highlighting Contacts, Calendar, and Notes.

Now my BB is empty of any of that data. I then perform a sync and everything from Outlook is loaded into my BB and I'm all set to go. While I do not know why this occurs from a technical standpoint, I can't help but think that something is getting corrupted or causing something to trigger this series of windows to appear. Since this clearing process is so easy I've begun to just do it every 2 weeks and since then the problem has not reoccurred.

Cheers....

[sadelb]

so it seems that everybody here uses outlook for their contact list and calendar. I will most likely use this for address book and contacts. I will still go with google for the calendar. Their third party programs are just getting better and better for the sync anyways. For those that use google apps, do they have a good contact / address book? I heard google apps works pretty well with the 8300. just curious.

[madds007]

Can Outlook 2003/07 have multiple calenders like Google Calender, coz I have 3-4 calenders on that that I want to sync with outlook

[sadelb]

Originally Posted by madds007

Can Outlook 2003/07 have multiple calenders like Google Calender, coz I have 3-4 calenders on that that I want to sync with outlook

why are you syncing it with outlook? Gcal not working well on the blackberry?