Terrible Mapping of Outlook Contacts
doyling
Enthusiast - Level 3

I am not sure if I am going in the wrong direction here. I have many contacts in Outlook sorted by company name, person name. I use Gsynct to send this to Gmail, and Gmail to send it to my phone. Honestly, this is not working nearly right.

 

I end up with many contacts with parts in the wrong place. Company name in the person first name part, person last name missing. Many times contacts will not display properly and so forth. I am wondering if I should stop using gsynct and instead use the USB and HTC sync to send over my contacts, then let the phone update gmail.

 

When I was on Pocket PC, this was bulletproof, now on my HTC Inc this is a disaster. I have spent more time trying to get something simple like this sorted out.

 

I want my contacts listed as:

 

Bank of America, John Doe

Bank of America, Jane Doe

Sears, Loading Dock

Sears, Security

 

Instead I get:

America, Bank Doe

Security

 

Odd stuff like that. I love this phone but it appears Google is not ready for the business environment. I can't believe how many steps it takes to enter a compnay name on the phone, or how it insists on sorting by person name. I can't believe you can not edit the filed where the phone asks how to list the name, only a drop down of what it things is right. Come on.

 

So, is there an app or something that would work for me? I am going nuts.

0 Likes
Re: Terrible Mapping of Outlook Contacts
mitbol
Newbie

I use Outlook exclusively for business. Download Touchdown from the app store. There is a free version and a paid version. After using the free version, I was happy to pay. You will not need Google for anything unless you want to back up your Outlook contacts there. Touchdown shows your contacts just as they are in Outlook. You can also sync your task list and calendar from Outlook. It saved my life.

0 Likes
Re: Terrible Mapping of Outlook Contacts
doyling
Enthusiast - Level 3

Thank you. I am not running Exchange though, will this still work with good old fashoned Outlook? I am running Outlook 2010, any thoughts on that either?

0 Likes
Re: Terrible Mapping of Outlook Contacts
doyling
Enthusiast - Level 3

I wrote to Touchdown and got a replay. Unfortunately, they only work with Exchange servers, and therefore will not work with my home Outlook. I can't believe more people are not upset about contact mapping. I am ready to send this rotten thing back because of it. Maybe I should have waited for Windows 7 Pocket.

0 Likes
Re: Terrible Mapping of Outlook Contacts
johnM356
Contributor - Level 1

I feel your frustration but after all, we're talking about syncing detailed records between two entirely different OS's.

Fact is, its amazing that it can be done at all.

 

Check out CompanionLink at http://www.companionlink.com/

It will sync a home PC Outlook Account (non-Exchange) with Droid.

Everything - Calendar, Contacts, Task & Notes.

You can sync directly with a USB cable (manually) or have your content pushed to Google, then to your phone (totally automatic and two-way sync).

And it will also handle your "sort" options while doing so...

 

I've had the exact same problem you described when syncing my Dell Axim PDA via ActiveSync, and those strange entries could almost always be traced back to Outlooks inconsistent handling of "File As" in each entry...  That seems to be an issue that's existed in every version of Outlook I've ever had.

 

Have you run your MS Outlook Inbox Repair Tool lately?

( you didn't mention which version you;re running but for Outlook 2007 it's usually in "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\SCANPST.EXE" )

 

I run this tool at least weekly, and every time I do, I have to run it multiple times until it stops finding errors to repair.

I really believe the issues you're having are more MS's fault than the Droid...  Outlook has NEVER been bulletproof.

 

0 Likes
Re: Terrible Mapping of Outlook Contacts
doyling
Enthusiast - Level 3

Hi John. I have had the exact opposite luck with Outlook and my Dell Axim, it was flawless. Currently I am running Office 2010 32bit. I am also using Gsynct to sync between Outlook and gmail. Recently I have tried having HTC sync connect my droid to Outlook for contacts, and let gsynct handle everything else.That was a bad move, as now on my device, nearly everything is sorted first name, last name. My brain does not function that way:

 

When I am on a job site, I know the company I need to reach, I like to have all persons at a company in the same place, not scattered by their first name.

 

I might try Companion Link, gsynct is already into me for $15, but maybe Companion Link will work better. At this point, price is no object.

0 Likes
Re: Terrible Mapping of Outlook Contacts
dx9100
Newbie

Please update us on your testing of companion, as I contractor I agree, need to be able to sort on company name

0 Likes
Re: Terrible Mapping of Outlook Contacts
jdgretz
Newbie

I am using Companion Link - USB with my Droid.  I'm moderately happy but not thrilled.  My old Treo 650 sync'd correctly with Outlook - unfortunately when 2010 came around I had to find another phone.

 

If you have ever sync'd with Google - like the Verizon store ported your old contacts into your Droid for you - then you are going to have problems for a while.  Google likes First Name, Last Name and sorts your contacts that way.  Companion Link will allow Last Name, First Name, but when it syncs, the Google sort overrides the first time - that and you get Email3 filled by Google.  Go into Outlook and re-sort your contacts, then tell Companion Link to purge and load from Outlook.  This "should" fix it.  Then on the Droid Contacts, check the display settings,  (open Contacts, Menu, Display Options), then select  Sort List by (pick Last Name),  and View contact names as (select Last Name First).  That should fix Contacts.  Double check what you have in Deja Office since that's where Companion Link puts it's data.

 

Good Luck,

 

John

0 Likes