FYI: You can sync your PIMs via local USB with your Android phone using Deja Office

[Hook]

I pulled this out of another thread and decided to highlight and expand it with it's own thread. Debatably, it is not earth-shaking news (except that it has been working without a hitch for over a week-- never gone longer than 3 days before).

I have figured out finally how to get full Outlook USB sync using Companion Link with Deja Office. I've been experimenting with it for over a week and it seems to be very stable and reliable. There are up sides and down sides but it works. If you use Outlook and you do not want to use the cloud at all this should work. It presumably also works with Palm Desktop and any number of other PIM/CRMs on the desktop. However, as I only use Outlook, I can only speak to Outlook.

I've tried Deja Office several times previously and had less than stellar results. It always messed up. This time, I finally realized my mistake. I should have known. The key is not even trying to use the Android data bases. Inevitably, that is always what has screwed up-- the communication between Deja Office's data bases and the much more limited data bases. They are horrible, even for native Android apps. Pocket Informant and Pimlical/A are moving to their own data bases. CalenGoo already has. Actually, you can use the Android Contacts database and keep that in sync, it is the calendar that screws up.

So I finally just set up Deja Office to not include the option to sync with the Android data bases. Boy howdy, I have all of my Outlook stuff on my Android Phone, as good as Beyond Contacts ever was on my TX. I no longer seem to have to grimace when I tell it to sync. Deja Office doesn't have the prettiest or even most efficient interface, and it is even a little slow sometimes, but it's all there and quite usable. With a black background and small fonts, I get things looking pretty reasonable.

The down side is, having it's own data bases, the Android widgets can't read it and it is very handy having a widget on your home screen showing your agenda. DO has a couple of widgets, but they are pretty underdeveloped. So, for the moment, I am maintaining my Google Calendar to use the widgets and Pocket informant. I will go to the trouble to use both in parallel for Calendar, because DO gives me all my Outlook stuff. The nice things is, with the data bases walled off, I can OTA sync with Google and USB sync with Outlook and nothing gets messed up.

When Pocket Informant finally is able to sync fully and directly with Outlook, I will drop Deja Office quite happily. Pocket Informant is a much better program. However, for now, I really like being able to use Outlook to its full potential with my Android handheld.

Keep in mind that this is not free. DO is free, but Comapnion Link, which honestly is nothing more than a conduit control panel, costs $50. There is a 14-Day free trial. If you want local sync without Google as much as I do, it's worth it. When I realized PI was probably going to be another year, I just got impatient. Deja Office is not without it quirks, but none of them are so terrible that I mind dealing with them. Just do not let it sync with the Android Calendar data base!!!

Why my obsession with Outlook? Just like folks who don't want to stop sing their Palms. It is the best desktop PIM I have ever used. I synced with it from my first Palm on. It has never lost or messed up my data (at least not without trying to sync with Google being involved). It works the way I want and like to work, it is reliable, I want to be able to use it's features. I would give up handhelds before I gave up Outlook.

The other thing that sometimes gets left off in the discussion about how we have lost our PIMs is, it really isn't the PIMs so much. There are good Calendar apps, good contacts apps, good task apps, good notes. And this task app syncs wit that cloud and this calendar syncs with another cloud and... right! What we have lost is the integration of the PIM apps and their sync. That is another key thing I have wanted back. I almost returned to my TX to get it I was so frustrated that I was being asked to step backwards from a capability that is 10-15 years old.

There are a lot of people who really like Google. It's two key features, real-time OTA push and sharing are hard to beat if you need to use them. I personally have never had a problem with Google Calendar, though I find it under-featured for my uses (I hate multiple calendars in lieu of categories).

The only big news here is simply that if you want to have local USB sync with Android, using Outlook, Palm Desktop or any number of other PIMs/CRMs, YOU CAN! I am actually thinking of forgoing the agenda widget and dropping Google (would probably require at least 30 days reliability before I would let myself).

Many at Brighthand will think we're nuts (we may be, but that isn't relevant). For those of us who want it, this is great news!

Have it your way, baby!

[JRakes]

This is, indeed, great news - Thanks for the work and sharing, Hook!

When / if the time comes for me to move on, assuming Android is still the predominant "pocket OS" at that time, at least I'll have the option. I've tentatively planned to give up on "pocket computing" altogether if I can't have what I want the way I want it. That doesn't include managing half a dozen cloud services w/ 10 year old feature sets - Just as I want all my PIM data in one nice, neat package in my pocket, I want it in the same form anywhere else. I manage it all w/ OL and have no intention of managing it anywhere else.

Good job!

[weegie]

Can't see myself ever spending $50 on a desktop syncing client when I still have 3 perfectly working winmo devices that cost nothing, this software has extremely varied reviews as well which concern me, especially when i read about it wiping contacts.

I'm more interested if this functionality will ever be added to android at it's core level without relying on hit and miss third parties who charge money for functionality that has previously been free, android is supposed to be the model of open, cheap, versatile and configurable, syncing without Google seems to prove it's anything but.

But anyway, please do let us know how it goes

[Hook]

Can't see myself ever spending $50 on a desktop syncing client when I still have 3 perfectly working winmo devices that cost nothing, this software has extremely varied reviews as well which concern me, especially when i read about it wiping contacts.

I'm more interested if this functionality will ever be added to android at it's core level without relying on hit and miss third parties who charge money for functionality that has previously been free, android is supposed to be the model of open, cheap, versatile and configurable, syncing without Google seems to prove it's anything but.

But anyway, please do let us know how it goes

Yes, that's a lot. <shrug> I guess after supporting Symbian for a year, everything seems cheap to me. I guarantee that 98% of the problems raised come from trying to use the Android Database. However, I'm not trying to sell this. That's why I put FYI in the title. I simply want people to know it is possible, nothing more. It works great for me so far.

Pocket Informant will do it and it will be cheaper and probably better functionality, but it will take them time to get there. I will switch when they do.

Android will NEVER have it as core functionality. They want you to sync with Google, not your desktop. Duh.

[Hook]

Heh. I found this amusing. This was just posted in the Deja Office forum by the guy they put in charge of fielding questions there. He apparently worked somewhere in support for Palm for 5 years. I get the feeling there are a number of former Palm people at CompanionLink, though I'm not sure.

I feel ya man! One of our biggest challenges here designing an app that works efficiently for business users. Bottom line IMHO Android and iOS is designed for consumers, not business people. Working inside their sandbox is tough sometimes and designing an app on for Android,with all the different device, OS, and Carrier variables is a daunting task to say the least. We do our best and often run into a situation that if we tweak a feature, we make as many people upset as we make happy. Bottom line is, we are here, we are listening, and we are doing our best with the wide array of tools and limitations we have to work with.

Sad when you have to say that about the platforms you develop for.

[weegie]

I figured that Google would probably have no interest the basic PIM functionality of old, maybe they will have a change of heart at some point down the line, hard to see that though when they're selling like hotcakes.

Your quote from the forum go-to guy pretty much confirms that open and free is a figment of peoples imagination, I'm annoying myself thinking about the closed and "tied to" nature of everything now, so will leave it there.

[guywolffe]

Thanks again Hook. Great info. My addiction to PIM and Outlook is what keeps me using a Blackberry. Still sync my TX every week though.
Blessings

[lskohn]

I still sync Outlook to my dying Treo via KeyContacts and Datebk6, sigh. Sync Outlook calendar to google and sync my Captivate that way. Double sigh.

I have been following Hook's forays through calendar and contact "solutions" with great interest, ever since I acquired a Captivate and discovered the drawbacks of Pimlical and the difficulties of syncing with Outlook (I don't use Exchange). So a couple of questions from someone who knows nothing about the mechanics of the various conduits/sync functions:
1. Does the DO/Companion Link combo permit the syncing of MULTIPLE Contacts folders, the way KeyContacts does?
2. Can you maintain the desktop-sourced databases and the google-sourced databases (from Android sync) side by side? I like some of the apps that transfer travel info, for example, directly to the Google calendar.

(Finally, and completely OT, does anyone out there have extra a couple of the screws that hold the back of the Treo 650 together? Somehow I have lost enough that the keyboard is getting flaky on one side...two would fix it fine. A PM would be fine.)

Signed, the dogged retainer (the opposite of an early adapter)

[Hook]

I still sync Outlook to my dying Treo via KeyContacts and Datebk6, sigh. Sync Outlook calendar to google and sync my Captivate that way. Double sigh.

I have been following Hook's forays through calendar and contact "solutions" with great interest, ever since I acquired a Captivate and discovered the drawbacks of Pimlical and the difficulties of syncing with Outlook (I don't use Exchange). So a couple of questions from someone who knows nothing about the mechanics of the various conduits/sync functions:
1. Does the DO/Companion Link combo permit the syncing of MULTIPLE Contacts folders, the way KeyContacts does?
2. Can you maintain the desktop-sourced databases and the google-sourced databases (from Android sync) side by side? I like some of the apps that transfer travel info, for example, directly to the Google calendar.

(Finally, and completely OT, does anyone out there have extra a couple of the screws that hold the back of the Treo 650 together? Somehow I have lost enough that the keyboard is getting flaky on one side...two would fix it fine. A PM would be fine.)

Signed, the dogged retainer (the opposite of an early adapter)

1. Unfortunately, no. You have to jump to their very expensive Pro version to get that. I really think they ought to back that one feature down out of the pro version, the regular version is expensive enough, but no one listens to me. Luckily, I use extensive category filtering instead of folders.

2. Yes. The advantage of not syncing Deja Office with the Android data bases is that you can have Google sync turned on and sync with Google fine. Just don't let those two data bases talk to each other.

[lskohn]

Thanks Hook! The real lesson for me is that switching platforms too far requires a rethink of my basic database routines. Grr. Shouldn't be that way, but there it is.