MS Office Sync

[frankos72]

Does Samsung have a free MS Office Sync program like HTC? If not, what's the least expensive option for syncing my contacts with MS Office corded or wireless?

 

[sinman02]

You mean sync to MS Outlook? There's this really cool thing called the internet. On it, there's this great search tool called Google. Using this, you can look up this neat way to sync using something called Google Sync. Hope that helps...

 

[Andrew Ruffolo]

You mean sync to MS Outlook? There's this really cool thing called the internet. On it, there's this great search tool called Google. Using this, you can look up this neat way to sync using something called Google Sync. Hope that helps...

I know you didn't intentionally be mean, so I won't lecture you on it. Yes, the easiest way to sync is to just sync your outlook contacts to google, and they will pop up on the phone automatically. You can create groups if you'd like as well to make it easier to find people, like family, softball group, etc.

 

[caliskimmer]

sinman02, you have officially posted the greatest answer ever!

 

[caliskimmer]

Rufflez answered the question pretty well though. Syncing through Google would be your best bet.

 

[whippingboy]

Guys this is the WRONG answer. Seriously for MS Outlook/Office fans, they want SECURE NON CLOUD sync. Palm Pre really screwed over legacy users by providing NO 1st party solution.

If you are a hardware provider and desire to be a SERIOUS player in the smartphone market- you need to do what Old palm/Treo started- and Blackberry, iphone and yes the Evo have continued- and that's a secure local non cloud- 1st party sync solution. Supporting sync to the most popular contact management software today: MS Office is bonus.

By the way just so you don't think I'm some M$ Biased troll- I've NEVER synced to MS Office because I'm a mac guy- but if I ran a phone company- you better believe I'd offer a 1st party sync solution for both Mac and PC, and I'd support 1st party sync to MS Office as well.

Cloud computing is fine for those who like it- but is unacceptatble for MANY business users and Android will lose countless users if handset makers ignore their needs-because you better believe all WM7 handsets will have local secure sync out of the box.

On a side note- Actually WinMo products never supporting Mac is a shame- may sound wierd- but I'd have bought a zune over my ipod classic...but no mac support means I'll never buy a portable M$ product.

 

[caliskimmer]

Guys this is the WRONG answer. Seriously for MS Outlook/Office fans, they want SECURE NON CLOUD sync. Palm Pre really screwed over legacy users by providing NO 1st party solution.

If you are a hardware provider and desire to be a SERIOUS player in the smartphone market- you need to do what Old palm/Treo started- and Blackberry, iphone and yes the Evo have continued- and that's a secure local non cloud- 1st party sync solution. Supporting sync to the most popular contact management software today: MS Office is bonus.

By the way just so you don't think I'm some M$ Biased troll- I've NEVER synced to MS Office because I'm a mac guy- but if I ran a phone company- you better believe I'd offer a 1st party sync solution for both Mac and PC, and I'd support 1st party sync to MS Office as well.

Cloud computing is fine for those who like it- but is unacceptatble for MANY business users and Android will lose countless users if handset makers ignore their needs-because you better believe all WM7 handsets will have local secure sync out of the box.

On a side note- Actually WinMo products never supporting Mac is a shame- may sound wierd- but I'd have bought a zune over my ipod classic...but no mac support means I'll never buy a portable M$ product.

We know what he's talking about and there is no 1st party solution, so we resorted to whatever the heck we could to help him out, which unfortunately means, 3rd party solutions.

 

[liquidxit2]

Guys this is the WRONG answer. Seriously for MS Outlook/Office fans, they want SECURE NON CLOUD sync. Palm Pre really screwed over legacy users by providing NO 1st party solution.

If you are a hardware provider and desire to be a SERIOUS player in the smartphone market- you need to do what Old palm/Treo started- and Blackberry, iphone and yes the Evo have continued- and that's a secure local non cloud- 1st party sync solution. Supporting sync to the most popular contact management software today: MS Office is bonus.

By the way just so you don't think I'm some M$ Biased troll- I've NEVER synced to MS Office because I'm a mac guy- but if I ran a phone company- you better believe I'd offer a 1st party sync solution for both Mac and PC, and I'd support 1st party sync to MS Office as well.

Cloud computing is fine for those who like it- but is unacceptatble for MANY business users and Android will lose countless users if handset makers ignore their needs-because you better believe all WM7 handsets will have local secure sync out of the box.

On a side note- Actually WinMo products never supporting Mac is a shame- may sound wierd- but I'd have bought a zune over my ipod classic...but no mac support means I'll never buy a portable M$ product.

Cloud computing is the way of the future sadly. Sure its convenient and all but I HATE having my data "out in the cloud" for anyone to have and see. As for MS not playing well with others you should look at apple for that too. The compatibility issues I have had to deal with apple software and my wifes work macbook is just ridiculous. Her macbook, as well as many other apple computers, dont work at all with the printer we have. Itunes is a freaking joke. Why make a media software that links to one of the largest money makers for apple only work with an iphone/ipod??? If it synced with phones, zunes, misc MP3 players, etc then they would have ALOT more people using itunes for music purchasing. Apple is the worst for playing well with others, sure M$ isnt the nicest but there much fewer compatibility issues is why they have the lions share of the market. Oh and no Im not an M$ fanboy.

 

[caliskimmer]

ITunemywalkman: problem solved. MobileMe: problem solved for me.

 

[kc8flb]

I agree, the cloud doesn't work for big business because of security. We need direct, sync cable connected syncronization just like palm/Windows mobile has.

I will know better once I get my Epic. I have been on Palms for over ten years

 

[frankos72]

The topic is CLEARLY Stated MS Office Sync. Sorry, I guess I did mean MS-Outlook.

For you who didn't notice, I didn't ask about Google Sync. After all, it's a Google OS based phone, isn't that a no brainer?

So, sticking to the topic, my Treo's / Centro were the best. They would do a full sync of my contacts, notes, tasks, and calendar directly to MS-Outlook. This was via a program that was included on a CD when I bought the phone.

When I went to Pre I did a one time / one way sync, through Google, that got all my contacts into my Pre temporarily. It took a month or two before there was a third party solution that cost about $30 that would do it wirelessly for me on demand whenever both my Pre and Laptop were on the same network. I doesn't sync tasks and the notes only sync to their webOS notes app. But, it works cause it has the calendar and contacts sync. It could be better if it would sync all 4 and was FREE.

So, I tried the EVO for a while, it took me a bit of Googling and searching this forum (it was a lot harder to find than most things I look up) but I finally found out that HTC offers a free two way sync program for users of their android products. It was downloadable from their web site. It only worked with a USB cable, but it was FREE. Along they way I found out there were at least a couple different paid options for two way sync between Android and MS Outlook. They are in the app catalog, I just didn't want to pay cause I wasn't sure if I was keeping the phone or not. I eventually took the EVO back cause I didn't like not having a physical keyboard.

So, now that I've cleared everything up for all those that don't want to read the question for EXACTLY what it is, I'll ask again, does Samsung have a free MS Office/Outlook Sync program?

Ultimately, I'll probably find this answer myself with Google. So, forgive me for being lazy, but I was hoping that someone with the knowledge could step in and point me right to it (if IT exists).

 

[caliskimmer]

I'm sure you can find something in the market. I know it'll have to be 3rd party, but hey, AT LEAST you can get your secure syncing. For me, I could care less if my work was stolen. They're all just essays anyways, but in the future, I'll need something secure too.

 

[caliskimmer]

@Frankos: this is you answer (not good unfortunately):

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/android/thread?tid=6fc9c9a418bdcf2a&hl=en

 

[daThomas#AC]

Wow! What a bunch of snarky, uninformed, useless answers.

It's not cheap and I have not personally purchased it yet, but:
The Missing Sync For Android
is what I'm planning on using. Makes you, your own cloud.

 

[caliskimmer]

Um, well, I gave about 5 options in that link I posted. Please, keep the blaming outside of the Epic sub-forum. We've had too many clashes about useless answers lately.

 

[whippingboy]

As for MS not playing well with others you should look at apple for that too.

Just to clarify, I was NOT at all trying to say M$ should support- Apple- I was trying to say I wish they would. I ACCEPT the fact Apple's home installed userbase has been well under 10% of the market for decades- but I wanted to point out I'm not a mac user that hates M$ products.

Meanwhile, I feel Apple should not have to make all their products easily compatible with what is clearly their competition. Matter of fact- with Android coming up the ranks and Adobe being shut out of iphone, I'd LOVE to see a blood feud with Google and Adobe joining forces and shutting down Adobe and google services online for mobile Apple iphone ipad users if they think they don't need Google and Adobe products... we'd see smug Jobs turn into a whimpering puppy then- just like he was when he made a deal with Microsoft to get M$ Office support on mac or face the destruction of Apple.

All that aside- I don't feel 3rd party support is RELIABLE. I think it's irresponsible for a company to release a product without any desktop support BECAUSE most of these databases (memo, tasks, calendar, contacts) do NOT use a strict format. Comma/Tab seperated, VCAL, VCARD these are not field by field mandated formats that sync the same from one desktop software to another or one hardware device to another. BECAUSE of this- business users were VERY brand loyal for fear of corrupting their data. This is why my wife and I have been Palm users for over a decade. Because I'm TIRED of all the lack of support- and because I never switched to M$ Office a long time ago (which I should have done- but that would have meant buying a PC just for contacts!) I've become less attached to my history of contacts/calendar and corruption happens within some fields of data, and I just suck it up- but for my wife and YES THOUSANDS if not MILLIONS of other users- this is not acceptable.

You release a car- you better be sure it can run on the road properly. These handsets that we're downloading OUR LIFE on to... they should have the means by the manufacturer to properly run the phone without being tied to a 3rd party means which is not always reliable and they often blame the manufacturer of the device when a new firmware pushes out that breaks their fragile 3rd party app. (Missing Sync, I'm looking at you)

By the way- if Google ever overhauled their contacts/calendar online- and you had a 4year old google phone that didn't have updates released for 3 years... would that mean your product is worthless?

I'm using a Palm 755 as a backup after my 4th Pre died and Sprint won't replace it. I'm using Palm Desktop which is well over a decade old app- and it's NEVER failed me to sync with every Palm device ever released. This USED to be how you supported and created a userbase... sadly those days seem to be slipping away.

 

[liquidxit2]

Palm desktop is AWESOME. I miss being able to sync everything when I connect my phone. Honestly this type of software is still required and Im surprised that most OS makers dont implement it.

I wish I could contribute more then just say sync with google and convert to a vcard. But alas thats how I syncd mine and my wifes contacts. For now the cloud will just have to do for me.

 

[caliskimmer]

Just to clarify, I was NOT at all trying to say M$ should support- Apple- I was trying to say I wish they would. I ACCEPT the fact Apple's home installed userbase has been well under 10% of the market for decades- but I wanted to point out I'm not a mac user that hates M$ products.

Meanwhile, I feel Apple should not have to make all their products easily compatible with what is clearly their competition. Matter of fact- with Android coming up the ranks and Adobe being shut out of iphone, I'd LOVE to see a blood feud with Google and Adobe joining forces and shutting down Adobe and google services online for mobile Apple iphone ipad users if they think they don't need Google and Adobe products... we'd see smug Jobs turn into a whimpering puppy then- just like he was when he made a deal with Microsoft to get M$ Office support on mac or face the destruction of Apple.

All that aside- I don't feel 3rd party support is RELIABLE. I think it's irresponsible for a company to release a product without any desktop support BECAUSE most of these databases (memo, tasks, calendar, contacts) do NOT use a strict format. Comma/Tab seperated, VCAL, VCARD these are not field by field mandated formats that sync the same from one desktop software to another or one hardware device to another. BECAUSE of this- business users were VERY brand loyal for fear of corrupting their data. This is why my wife and I have been Palm users for over a decade. Because I'm TIRED of all the lack of support- and because I never switched to M$ Office a long time ago (which I should have done- but that would have meant buying a PC just for contacts!) I've become less attached to my history of contacts/calendar and corruption happens within some fields of data, and I just suck it up- but for my wife and YES THOUSANDS if not MILLIONS of other users- this is not acceptable.

You release a car- you better be sure it can run on the road properly. These handsets that we're downloading OUR LIFE on to... they should have the means by the manufacturer to properly run the phone without being tied to a 3rd party means which is not always reliable and they often blame the manufacturer of the device when a new firmware pushes out that breaks their fragile 3rd party app. (Missing Sync, I'm looking at you)

By the way- if Google ever overhauled their contacts/calendar online- and you had a 4year old google phone that didn't have updates released for 3 years... would that mean your product is worthless?

I'm using a Palm 755 as a backup after my 4th Pre died and Sprint won't replace it. I'm using Palm Desktop which is well over a decade old app- and it's NEVER failed me to sync with every Palm device ever released. This USED to be how you supported and created a userbase... sadly those days seem to be slipping away.

One thing I hate about Apple when they release something is that they sometimes market the product as a business-friendly enterprise-ready product. Yeah, and when was the last time someone used MobileMe for a big company? Yeah, I thought so.

 

[whippingboy]

Well I feel Mobile Me should be free and part of ilife- but that's another topic. And I don't think they ever tried to say Mobile Me is a replacement for M$ Exchange either.

The PHONE itself however does work quite well with MS Exchange- so much so- that some very large companies are allowing official iphone use as a business phone alongside Blackberry support. This is something Android has yet to do largely due to a lack of full Exchange support options that aren't part of the OS- some argue Froyo 2.2 finally addresses this- others say it's still not enough. I'm not enough of an IT geek to know.

While I'm not into the iphone or it's lack of keyboard after all these years- if you dig into the email / exchange/ server list of options- there's a LOT more options you can dig into on the handset itself to configure than on some 1year old blackberries! Now THAT does say something- and if you want to compete with that- you need to follow that path or be relegated to being kept outside the ONLY way RIM ever got their userbase- through addressing business users needs FIRST.

 

[caliskimmer]

Well I feel Mobile Me should be free and part of ilife- but that's another topic. And I don't think they ever tried to say Mobile Me is a replacement for M$ Exchange either.

The PHONE itself however does work quite well with MS Exchange- so much so- that some very large companies are allowing official iphone use as a business phone alongside Blackberry support. This is something Android has yet to do largely due to a lack of full Exchange support options that aren't part of the OS- some argue Froyo 2.2 finally addresses this- others say it's still not enough. I'm not enough of an IT geek to know.

While I'm not into the iphone or it's lack of keyboard after all these years- if you dig into the email / exchange/ server list of options- there's a LOT more options you can dig into on the handset itself to configure than on some 1year old blackberries! Now THAT does say something- and if you want to compete with that- you need to follow that path or be relegated to being kept outside the ONLY way RIM ever got their userbase- through addressing business users needs FIRST.

True, but Apple is all about implications. Steve Jobs doesn't go parading around bashing Android, but he shows it through his actions. Take the antennagate problem.