HTC Sync Manager

[TimGriff6]

Since the recent update to HTC Sync Manager, my Outlook contacts folder has become corrupted.  Most of the contacts (but not all) have lost their postal addresses.  The postal addresses still show up on the phone but do not sync over.  Also, on the phone, most of the addresses now appear under 2 headings (eg Home & Other) as identical copies when previously they were single entries.
Has anyone else noticed this?

I can't work out whether it is an HTC sync problem or an Outlook problem.  When I was using the old version of HTC sync, I know that it wouldn't talk to Outlook 2013 and I had to use 2010 but up until now, I haven't had problems with Sync Manager & 2013 and I can't see any other areas where it isn't working.

I may remove Sync Manager but wanted to check here and the HTC forums first.

[redpages]

I actually saw something similar to this on an HTC forum not so long back but can't can't for the life of me find the original topic now. That post tended to suggest a problem with the HTC Sync. Either way if you're on the HTC forums as well as this one then you're in a good place for someone to pick it up. 

[hrym]

Personally, I never let anything sync with Outlook for precisely this reason.  If you do need to, take a backup of the .pst file first.

[DaveCD]

@TimGriff6 

We may need to remove and reinstall the software.

To find out what you need to do in order to get this sorted take a look at our Vodafone Repairs Thread. This can be found here.

DaveCD

[TimGriff6]

Matt

I have already done that as well as removing and re-installing Outlook.  The problem is exactly the same.  However, I can see what has happened from a non-technical point of view.

If I open a contact, there are no addresses listed under home, business or other.  One of these addresses is ticked as a default.

If I click on the box business/home/other for which the default mailing address is ticked, I get a pop-up which identifies an error in the way that the address is formatted.  I can either accept the erroneous format or change it, save it and then the address appears in the contact details.  The error can be all sorts of minor things from a missing Country or County entry to a double space between words on the first line of the address but it looks like Sync Manager is corrupting the entries and Outlook is then flagging the eror and refusing to display them until the error has been corrected.  Unfortunately you have no idea that this has happened unless you list the contacts with a column to identify mailing address when you can see a mailing address but not a home, business or other.

It's strange that Outlook displays mailing  addresses with errors in them but not home/business/other addresses so maybe it is Outlook that is wrong.

I am not sure whether to turn on contact syncing again with HTC Sync Manager - I have around 1000 entries and it is a pain going through them all to put the problem right - Perhaps that's something to do after Christmas dinner!!

[hrym]

As I said, I don''t let anything sync with Outlook.   When I add a contact, I export it as a vcard and import it into Gmail.  However, I always have to edit the new contact in Gmail and correct the field names as it never picks them up correctly from what Outlook has passed it.  I think the issue is that Outlook and Gmail use different field names (Gmail calls it Work, Outlook calls it Business, for example), though they do both use Home.

I was recently testing a Nokia device running Windows phone amd syncd that with Gmail.   The contacts list simply ignored any of Gmail's custom field names and there was no way of persuading it to do otherwise.

All of which basically some down to the fact that there's no standard for layouts and file structures and even small differences can cause havoc.  Running two separate systems is a right faff, but in the long run, less than having to sort out a whole corrupted file!

[jeffkinn]

I use Outlook exclusively with a hosted Exchange account and have had it syncing with a variety of Android, Windows and iOS devices and never had a problem with addresses or anything else. They all sync perfectly because, although the titles are different, the layouts are essentially the same.

[TimGriff6]

My problem really is that for over 18 months, everything has synced perfectly and then, all of a sudden, it doesn't.  Outlook and Android use completely different ways of storing the data (folders vs fields) as well as using different names, and so it must be difficult to deal with.  However, I wonder why someone has to 'fix' it when it isn't broken because that is so often really irritating.

I'll be interested to see whether it works when I get round to trying a full sync again.

[hrym]

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@TimGriff6 wrote:

However, I wonder why someone has to 'fix' it when it isn't broken because that is so often really irritating.

I'll be interested to see whether it works when I get round to trying a full sync again.

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I'd certainly make a backup before trying that!   Yes, it is infuriating when someone fixes something that appparently isn't broken, but of course HTC or Google will only have considered their own software.  Google doesn't offer Outlook synchronisation any more (I don't think even the business suite is available now), so they wouldn't consider the issue.

[Nabs]

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@hrym wrote:

As I said, I don''t let anything sync with Outlook.   When I add a contact, I export it as a vcard and import it into Gmail.  However, I always have to edit the new contact in Gmail and correct the field names as it never picks them up correctly from what Outlook has passed it.

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@hrym the OP is not using Gmail, they are using Outlook.

Personally I have a lot of contacts synced with my works Exchange server (indirectly outlook)

@TimGriff6 do you know what type of mail server you are connecting to? If you ar eusing exchange you could cut out the HTC Sync manager altogether and sync directly with the server.

Nabs