[jgrobertson]

I have found generic methods to sync Desktop Outlook Contacts & Calendar (not mail) with Android phones - using standard built in Android Contacts and Calendar apps.

Do those methods still work for syncing with the Blackberry Contact and Calendar apps on the Priv?

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

It should.... but it would help to know what "generic methods" you are using.

Best "generic method" I have found is using accounts that use activesync, so that information is synced between my phone, tablet, desktop, laptop....

[jgrobertson]

It should.... but it would help to know what "generic methods" you are using.

Best "generic method" I have found is using accounts that use activesync, so that information is synced between my phone, tablet, desktop, laptop....

By generic, I am referring to the stock Android stuff in the phone. The Priv has BlackBerry calender and contacts.

I use Outlook 2016 on my desktop, local pst files - pop not imap at this time. per MS this can be synchronized to Android phones by using Outlook.com for one of the accounts on Outlook. I have thee email accounts on Outlook to my own URL. This providing that I convert from POP to IMAP on my desktop. I am not synching Email only contacts and calendar.

So, on my Priv, if I followed the MS instructions would it work with the BlackBerry replacement for the stock Android apps.

I don't know what active sync is or if that is what MS uses for their synchronization..

This all made necessary because BlackBerry has not provided a replacement for Link.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[rthonpm]

There are three main ways of doing email:

POP: the oldest format still in use where your mail is downloaded from a mail server. It was made for a very different era and with most people accessing their mail on multiple devices, POP has no way of consolidating read mail or any kind of folder structure over multiple devices.

IMAP: your mail stays on the server and changes you make are synchronised with the mail server so your mail and folders are identical across multiple devices.

ActiveSync: this is really a modified version of Microsoft's Exchange platform. Outlook in Office was made to take advantage of the features offered by Exchange. With ActiveSync and Exchange, your mail, contacts, calendar, notes, and even rules for filing or deleting messages are synced across any device that supports the protocol. Office began supporting ActiveSync with Office 2013 and most mobiles support it as well. It's also what's used for outlook.com emails so in essence the recommendation for getting your information onto your Priv is ActiveSync.

Even the old Outlook sync in BBOS was just a crutch for the lack of a better protocol. Time has moved on and ActiveSync offers all of the same features, and more.

Posted via CB10

[jgrobertson]

There are three main ways of doing email:

POP: the oldest format still in use where your mail is downloaded from a mail server. It was made for a very different era and with most people accessing their mail on multiple devices, POP has no way of consolidating read mail or any kind of folder structure over multiple devices.

IMAP: your mail stays on the server and changes you make are synchronised with the mail server so your mail and folders are identical across multiple devices.

ActiveSync: this is really a modified version of Microsoft's Exchange platform. Outlook in Office was made to take advantage of the features offered by Exchange. With ActiveSync and Exchange, your mail, contacts, calendar, notes, and even rules for filing or deleting messages are synced across any device that supports the protocol. Office began supporting ActiveSync with Office 2013 and most mobiles support it as well. It's also what's used for outlook.com emails so in essence the recommendation for getting your information onto your Priv is ActiveSync.

Even the old Outlook sync in BBOS was just a crutch for the lack of a better protocol. Time has moved on and ActiveSync offers all of the same features, and more.

Posted via CB10

That helps to understand. I am ONLY interested in syncing my contacts and calendar. I have my own URL with about 20 mailboxes that sync fine with Priv as they did with OS10 phones. My ISP, ipage.com, only supports POP and IMAP for mailboxes as does web.com. I use Thunderbird for my primary email client on my desktop and Outlook 2016 for two mailboxes and for my Calendar and Contacts. I use POP mailboxes because I keep the email in separate .pst files on drive D which I can not do with IMAP. That way, I can back them up and complete control of my email history etc. and not depend on some 3rd party's server in cyberspace.

The KB on MS does address this situation and what I understand is that with outlook.com set up on the phone, and with my Office 365 2016, they can sync the Calendar and Contacts to stock Android Calendar and Contacts application (without the email part). I think it requires one dummy mailbox associated with Outlook.com (MS specifies IMAP for it BTW). So my initial questions is: Does the Blackberry Calendar and Contacts application look to Outlook.com the same as the stock Android equivalents? What I am deducing is that it does but I guess I will have to try it and see.

The active sync you speak of must be handled inside the MS cloud connection to office 365 without any awareness of or involvement by me. It is not an option on any ISP I have looked at or any mail handling application either. On Outlook I only see the option for POP or IMAP email since I am not on an exchange server.

[rthonpm]

If your use Outlook.com or even an old live.com or hotmail.com address, you're using ActiveSync. If you add an Outlook.com email to your device, it will automatically configure it as ActiveSync. Office365 also uses ActiveSync, but also works with Exchange as well.

For IMAP mailboxes, you can 'cheat' syncing your calendar appointments by sending them as an email invite to yourself. The invite will sync to any other devices you use and allow you to import it into the local calendar on that device. Contacts however, there's no such workaround.

If you're relying on an ISP provided email address, you're generally not going to get more than IMAP since it's cheap to integrate.

I made the change from an IMAP hosted domain email to an Office 365 business account with hosted Exchange. I license the individual members of my company, and use group email accounts for things like the info@domain or department@domain email addresses and add those as IMAP addresses on my BlackBerry. It costs a few dollars more a month, but I not only get contractual retention of the company's emails, but also a few compliance based assurances as well through some of the management tools.

As for your PST solution, I've spent far too much time repairing (or failing to repair) customer PST files that I don't trust them in any way. If you're keeping them relatively small, or using them to transfer from one backend provider to another, then they're stable enough. I've seen too many people rely on them to keep their mail archives only to find out that the file corrupted itself years ago and the messages they need are gone. Be sure to keep backups of them regularly.

[anon(9607753)]

This is one reason having BBlink for the Priv would be extremely useful...especially to help people transition from BB10 to BlackBerry Android. The current workarounds for contacts and calendar are extremely frustrating for first time Android users.

Posted via the BlackBerry Priv

[ubbulls]

Try akruto.com. I use it to sync my calendar and it works perfectly when both are on the same wifi to system.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android