[exchangemymail]

This feature is now working. When pictures are entered into outlook, it will push down and show on the Blackberry.

This doesn't seem to work the other way. We are not able to confirm at this time that this is actally supported. We will have another call with RIM tomorrow to confirm the functionality of this field.

So for right now, if you enter images into Outlook, it will sync with the blackberry.

Once we speak with RIm on this case tomorrow, we will have more details on synching from the BB to Outlook.

[Inphektion]

Yea i don't have it working the other way on my bes 4.1.4. At least not wirelessly I haven't tried with the cable and desktop manager yet.

[Knocka]

I am on Mailstreet and have put in a number of calls and sent emails asking about this issue, and sending the links tho this thread, and the RIM articles. Thus far, I still do not have the ability to synch pictures wirelessly between Outlook and BB. It does not work in either direction.

Is anyone on Mailstreet who has this working? Which server?

Thanks.

[mmoench]

@Knocka:
I am on Mailstreet and I don't have it working either. See my posts from July and August: they promissed to get it done "soon", but nothing seemed to be happend since their answer from August. I will go and ask them again.

@all:
Does anyone have it working "both ways" (meaning synching from BB to Exchange and from Exchang to BB) with other BES hosting providers. Maybe the only solution is changing...

[LarryH]

Seems like the guys at The Message Center are ready and willing to get this going. I'll keep you posted as I find out more about it.

[LarryH]

Some more info vis a vis The Message Center. First, I can't say enough good things about these guys and how much they'll work with customers. Keep in mind, I'm a one-mailbox account and hardly their bread and butter.

I'd informed them (see above) that this issue was a concern for a number of users and they've jumped onboard. This week I worked hand-in-hand with them to see if they (we) could get this working.

There still may be some bugs but here's where we are to date. They're running the latest patches of BES so they're very current. They made the changes suggested by RIM to enable photo sync'ing.

As of this writing here's what's happening on my 8300. There appears to be no sync from the BB to Outlook. If I add a pic on the phone it does not show up in Outlook. This could be with an existing or newly created contact.

Going from Outlook to the BB is "sorta" working now. But there are "issues." As you know if you've attempted to attach a photo stored on your BB to a contact on your BB, a "crop and save" box appears over the photo and can be moved to the best location for the crop. Once you do that, you have a decent photo attached.

It seems that Outlook's dimensions for photos is vastly different than the BBs. So, if you add a contact photo to Outlook, although now it will sync (reconcile?) to the BB, the photo on the BB is completely distorted. The width to height ratios are completely munged. Pretty much useless.

Now there may be more to learn from RIM about how to fix these issues (BB to Outlook and the distortion) but that's where we are right now.

To the best of my knowledge, this doesn't work at all with pre-existing photos already set-up in Outlook. Pictures don't seem to come across to the BB unless they're newly inserted.

I'm not touting Windows Mobile but in this regard it does a far superior job of sync'ing photos. If I have 100 contacts set up with photos in Outlook, I could connect a brand new WM phone and all those contacts would have the appropriate (and appropriately sized) photos on the device.

They've made an investment in time and effort with this and will continue to search for better solutions if any exist. As I stated above, if you're looking for hosted exchange The Message Center Exchange Hosting should be at the top of your list. (And, no, I don't work for them. I just pay them for the service they provide. )

[shakuyi]

yea it does sync pics i know this for a fact i have my curve and a htc apache they share the EXACT same address book except i can add birthdays under a birthday category to windows device....why cant the BB do this too?

[Knocka]

I heard back from Mailstreet. I was told that the service pack upgrade is a low priority and that it is expected to occur within a few months. At that point, the photo synching feature should work.

I looked into changing hosting providers, but i have been with Mailstreet for many years. They have been terrific. Their tech support is outstanding and they are extremely reliable. I have 8 users with mailboxes, and changing would also be a real chore. The photo synching issue is simply not that important to me, although I would like to have it.

[roverradio]

As a belated update to this: i've talked to mailstreet a couple of times within past day or two. they have correct updates in place, but looks like they have to do pim sync on some of the servers - some are working as they should. I'm sure they'll get it resolved soon.

P.S. I've been with mailstreet for a couple years now, and I have to say, they are an A++ for hosted mail! Just last week I was telling someone "out of all the people we outsource to, this is the one company that I never have issues with." I'd recommened them to anyone!

[Knocka]

I agree with roverradio 100% about Mailstreet. I sent them an email and called over a month ago about this issue, and was told service packs were going t be applied that woujd solve it, but no ETA. Yesterday, I got an email from Mailstreet "out of the blue" telling me that many of the servers had been upgraded and asking if it was now working. It is not, but I have no doubt that it will. Their support is second to none.

[akg]

I run my own BES (4.1.4) and while I've never used it from Outlook to the BB, when I add a contact pic on the BB it does show up in my Outlook contacts OTA (instantly).

[mmoench]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8310/4.2.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/124)

Great, Mailstreet did it for me.They contacted me last week and asked me to try again. Syncing works perfect both ways now. That is what I was looking for!

[Knocka]

I am also on Mailstreet and mine is now working too. But, I am having a different problem. When I delete emails in Outlook and put them in Deleted Items folder, they never delete off the Blackberry. It works fine the other way (deleting on Blackberry does delete on Outlook). I am wondering if when Mailstreet got Picture ID working, they "broke" another setting. Can anyone on Mailstreet let me know, and also let me know which Mailstreet server you are on. I am on MSE8.

[roverradio]

Yep, Mailstreet got it working on my server (MSE5) as well. Their head of mobile (Tom) had been in contact with me since the original message I posted here, and I'd get an email about once a week after they tried something new to see if it works. Just got another email today asking me to try it again, and it works now...fantastic!

But as noted above, I'm also having the problem with email that never deletes. I'll contact Mailstreet to give them a heads-up - their service is top-notch, so I'm sure the issue will be resolved soon.

[Knocka]

Tom actually called me today about the email reconciliation issue, but I did not have a chance to get back to him. The fact that you have the same problem is making me suspect it is an issue on the Mailstreet side.

[mmoench]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8310/4.2.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/124)

After being on the road for some days I had a chance to check my Exchange mailbox today: no problem with mail sync between BB an Exchange. We are on Mailstreet server MSE8.

[Knocka]

Originally Posted by mmoench

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8310/4.2.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/124)

After being on the road for some days I had a chance to check my Exchange mailbox today: no problem with mail sync between BB an Exchange. We are on Mailstreet server MSE8.

The issue is synching deleted items FROM Exchange/Outlook to the BB. When you delete an item in Outlook, does it get deleted on the BB?

[mmoench]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8310/4.2.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/124)

Sorry for my unspecific answer: yes, that is what I ment and yes, it is working for me. I did not check our other users, but heard no complaints.

[roverradio]

Here's a message from Tom over at MailStreet re: reconciliation. In my case I move items to a personal folder (PST) in Outlook which can cause the issue I am seeing on the BB.

I recently moved over from a WinMo device, so this is very helpful. I'll have to make a slight alteration on how I move (copy then delete instead of just moving) based on this info.

Does this explain everyone's issues? I'll do some delete tests later today...

---PASTE---

It's acting normally. Here's how email reconciliation works (moves to personal folders won't reconcile):

Blackberry Email Reconciliation behavior:

Blackberry uses the deleted items folder to reconcile with. If the email doesn't show up in the deleted items folder, the blackberry won't delete the same email on the blackberry. This is different from goodlink and activesync which seem to reference the inbox more.

1. If you delete an email in outlook, and then immediately empty the deleted items folder, the deletion will not reconcile to the blackberry.

2. If you shift-delete an email in outlook, the deletion will not reconcile to the blackberry.

3. If you move an email from your inbox to a personal folder (pst file), it will not reconcile to the blackberry. (copy instead of move, then delete) 4. If you move an email from your inbox to a subfolder that isn't set to redirect on the blackberry, it will stay in the main message folder on the blackberry.

[Tom@MailStreet]

Wow! Feel the love here! Thank you so much for the kind words! I really need to spend more time over here than on ... microsoft.com, yeah, that's it! I spend waaaaaay too much time on microsoft.com! right!

Anyway, this pic-sync issue popped-up again and I'm getting my operations department to confront the problem, again. Granted these 'bells and whistles'-type issues are going to be low priority compared to email delivery delays, troublesome enterprise activations, or syncing issues, but they will get fixed eventually. Thank you for your patience all!