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General discussion

Syncing multiple calendars

Aug 20, 2010 9:56PM PDT

The more I try to keep everything in sync the more confused I get. I'm curious how other people keep track of schedules, because I am not at all sure I am going about scheduling in an efficient way.
At work I use Outlook 2003 connected to Exchange Server. I have no control at all over settings.
At home I have been trying to use Outlook 2010. It does fine as a stand-alone product but I don't know about keeping contacts/calendar in sync with the work system.
I also have a Blackberry Storm2. It stays more-or-less in sync with work via the services provided by Exchange Server, though there are some idiosyncrasies that I'm still sorting out.
I would like to keep all 3 calendars and contact lists in sync. I use the Blackberry when I must, but I'd rather use my desktop PCs for email and scheduling. If I don't keep all 3 together then things get messy.
So far I have not found a satisfactory solution, possibly because I'm pretty new as a user for all of these products.
I can sync between the home PC and Blackberry using Google's sync functions or Blackberry's desktop manager but NOT if I also sync the Blackberry to the work system wirelessly using BES.
I don't know a good way to sync the home PC to the office PC.
I'm not at all sure how to go about keeping the calendars/contacts in sync.
I do not need to keep message stores synchronized, just calendar and contacts.
Any suggestions about how to go about this?
I'd obviously rather use free tools when possible. If I have to install anything on the PC at work I need IT permission, which is sometimes a challenge. They are extremely conservative about giving permissions and (unfortunately) not terribly forthcoming about suggesting solutions.

Discussion is locked

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Just so you know.
Sep 2, 2010 7:41PM PDT

This area is one where development lags. I have yet to see any ground breaking solution and where there was a solution it does not span versions or do what the next person wants. The only solution I know of is to stick with one calendar.
Bob

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PS. Why there is little incentive to solve this.
Sep 2, 2010 7:43PM PDT

1. "rather use free tools"

No money or fame but only pain for those that attempt to solve this as users (even the free stuff) tend to beat on the developers for the uneven toasting.

2. The constant changing of calendar standards doesn't help either.

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I think I understand the barriers ...
Sep 2, 2010 8:25PM PDT

And I agree that free stuff is not always an option. In this case I would be willing to pay for a product that actually worked well. I'm just surprised at the limitations and awful performance of the products I have seen thus far.

I'm also surprised at how clumsy the whole calendar/contacts process is. Surely I'm not the only person who prefers to work with desktop software but still has to use a PDA a lot of the time.

My Blackberry is, in some ways, a wonderful device, but there are severe constraints on the user interface based on form factor and such. There's no way it will ever be efficient to type stuff into the calendar. OTOH if I'm not at my desk then its superior interface doesn't help me much.

I would have thought that at the very least there would be easy solutions to keeping Outlook at work in sync with Outlook at home. I'm confident that there are a LOT of people who deal with that problem.

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Most of them deal with one calendar.
Sep 2, 2010 8:33PM PDT

As you move to two calendars you see the people that want that to be some less than 1 percent of the market so while there are a lot of folk the numbers are not there for a company to chase that market.

This is where we as programmers solve it ourselves or find ways.

I think Google Calendar might be a fine place to consolidate a few calendars but imagine the usual user. They would grill others about having to click a button or configuration options.

Yes, I've been here before and learned to finish that app and close the project.
Bob