thinking of switching my companies blackberry out for an active sync phone HELP!

[chugg]

I have been using the blackberry a little over a year now and think it is the best business phone on the market with the exception of one thing. In my business I keep a lot of contacts in my outlook and when I speak to clients or employees I type notes in the contacts section of outlook and am used to having them on my phone while on the go because with active sync which is what I had with my previous phone used to wirelessly sync my phone while I am running around town and I was able to conduct business while on the move. With blackberry 8130 I need to have an enterprise server which I don’t or I believe I could buy software that does it but I don’t believe in doing this because all other pda’s that I know of is free. Now I find myself making a decision of going back with a phone that uses active sync for myself and my employees if there is not a solution. And getting rid of my blackberries. I was told by blackberry that unite solves this problem but from what I see I would have to manually type each entry in. I have hundreds of contacts and cannot do this. My business revolves around outlook. Is their a solution to this problem? If so I would be very happy.

[dakatone]

Ok here goes, I hope this is easy to follow and it is what you need.

In Outlook 2007 when I open a contact's entry or make a new entry, I have a box in the lower right (large box) specifically labeled as "Notes" and I too frequently use this to list pertinent information about certain contacts.

Start you Blackberry Desktop Manager up and plug your phone in to your PC. Now go to the "Synchronize" icon on the main screen and highlight the "Synchronization" tab (on the left) under "Configuration". This will bring up a screen where you have three tabs: Synchronization, Reset Configuration, and View Log. You want to click on Synchronization as this will bring up the options this service.

Now in the resulting window you should have a number of check boxes for Calendar, MemoPad, Address Book and Tasks. I just have all selected, but the important ones are to make sure Address Book and MemoPad are selected.

With those selected in my synchronization options all my notes about each contact is transferred to my Blackberry and are displayed under the appropriate contact in "Address Book".

I am not sure how this works precisely, all I know is that with at minimum the Address Book and the MemoPad checked off I get my notes transferred to my Blackberry.

I hope this helps you.

NOTE: You might check with your version of Blackberry Desktop Manager as well. I am using the latest version which is 4.6 and have the Blackberry OS v4.3.0.115 on the 8120 with T-Mobile.

[chugg]

Originally Posted by dakatone

Ok here goes, I hope this is easy to follow and it is what you need.

In Outlook 2007 when I open a contact's entry or make a new entry, I have a box in the lower right (large box) specifically labeled as "Notes" and I too frequently use this to list pertinent information about certain contacts.

Start you Blackberry Desktop Manager up and plug your phone in to your PC. Now go to the "Synchronize" icon on the main screen and highlight the "Synchronization" tab (on the left) under "Configuration". This will bring up a screen where you have three tabs: Synchronization, Reset Configuration, and View Log. You want to click on Synchronization as this will bring up the options this service.

Now in the resulting window you should have a number of check boxes for Calendar, MemoPad, Address Book and Tasks. I just have all selected, but the important ones are to make sure Address Book and MemoPad are selected.

With those selected in my synchronization options all my notes about each contact is transferred to my Blackberry and are displayed under the appropriate contact in "Address Book".

I am not sure how this works precisely, all I know is that with at minimum the Address Book and the MemoPad checked off I get my notes transferred to my Blackberry.

I hope this helps you.

NOTE: You might check with your version of Blackberry Desktop Manager as well. I am using the latest version which is 4.6 and have the Blackberry OS v4.3.0.115 on the 8120 with T-Mobile.

Yes this method does work for me but I am looking to get my address book to sync wirelessly. The desktop manager does not do this. The unite software is supposed to but it is not syncing my address booke.

[dakatone]

Ah I got you, somewhere I must have missed or forgot that. Oh well we tried.

I do not use the Unite software, but there is a forum here dedicated to it now, might try in there.

Good luck.

[hazardfree]

I am a newbie, but set up my BB Pearl using free software from Blakberry, They have freeware for small companies that allows up to ten users. Not sure if this is your solution, and for me, I continue to have trouble Activation my business e-mail. Good luck with your solution.

[chugg]

I have tried everything short of getting an enterprise server which is very expensive. All the 3rd party apps that I can find still require an exchenge server. I dont want to get rid of my blackberry for an active sync phone because of all of the great biz features it has. If someone knows a way please help. I am losing too much money not being able to sync my contacts wirelessly.

[msblueline]

Originally Posted by chugg

I have tried everything short of getting an enterprise server which is very expensive. All the 3rd party apps that I can find still require an exchenge server. I dont want to get rid of my blackberry for an active sync phone because of all of the great biz features it has. If someone knows a way please help. I am losing too much money not being able to sync my contacts wirelessly.

I know it is a little expensive, but for a business, it could also serve as a write off.

I use a Microsoft Exchange Server (which also serves as a BES) I pay 14.99 a month for this service and it syncs everything I put in it. Calendar, Contacts, and Tasks.

I am sure many have heard of it... mail2web. Just goto mail2web.com and presto, sign up. It can give your a free account or you can pay like 1.99 a month or something for an account without commercials. If you need more info just PM me and I'd be glad to help.

You can always go and check it out, and then decide...

msblueline

[chugg]

I assume that there is no answer for this? I dont know how blackberry can claim to be the best business phone when they are the only pda that doesnt offer this. Looks like i am going back to an activesync phone and giving up my blackberr. I have had countless friends, family and business associates give up their blackberry for the same reason and it looks like i will be doing the same.

[manderpsi]

I believe that Google has a software app that could solve your problem. I saw a post somewhere on CB recently about someone who had their Outlook synchronize with a Google app that stores your Outlook info their website. Maybe it's Google Calendar or something like that? Anyway, I got the impression that the Google app has the capability of wirelessly synching with your BB. The only reason I haven't done it yet, is that I don't want all of my contact info floating out on a website somewhere - even if it is secure.

Sorry for all the "maybe's" and "I believe's", but I'm sure you could do a search on the forums for this. I was in the Bold forum when I saw it.

[hasta]

Chugg, are you able to get your outlook business email pushed to your blackberry without the enterprise server? Seems like I have to forward my work address email to my gmail account to get it.