[niceguymr]

I keep experiencing during synchronization with my BB Desktop that it keeps deleting past calendar entries from my MS Outlook. I realize I can just 'reject' the changes however it slipped passed me a couple of times already and I keep finding my MS Outlook missing huge amounts of past appointments. I only need my BB to have the calendar current for the past 6 months but I don't want it to ever delete history beyond that from my MS Outlook. What do I do?

[Reed McLay]

You can configure the synchronization so that Outlook always wins, that should prevent it from writing changes back from the BlackBerry.

[niceguymr]

You can configure the synchronization so that Outlook always wins, that should prevent it from writing changes back from the BlackBerry.

Yeah, but what about when I want to create or modify stuff on my Blackberry, then how will the changes ever be reflected in MS Outlook?

[Reed McLay]

That is why it defaults to Two Way sync. That leaves you with the manual accept button to resolve the difference.

[niceguymr]

That is why it defaults to Two Way sync. That leaves you with the manual accept button to resolve the difference.

But why does it keep wanting to delete past entries and how do I get it to stop deleting old stuff off my MS Outlook while still giving me the ability to make changes/additions on my Blackberry? I never had this problem with my Windows devices - they wouldn't wipe out my MS Outlook just b/c the items weren't on the device.

[Crapberries]

Please tell me that this isn't the best solution for this. This is very frustrating and unacceptable, what's the point of having a PDA if it doesn't assist to maintain any personal data?

[statdoc#CB]

This is not a real solution (I have searched all over this forum and elsewhere on the net for one), but I did create a workaround.

In Outlook, you have the option to Autoarchive. I set mine to archive all items 2 months old or more, and to do it every 30 days. You will still have the Calendar items disappear from your regular Outlook calendar and from the BB, but you will now have another calendar available in Outlook that is the "Calendar in Archived Folders", that has all the old appointments. This is at least useful for reference when you need to see when you had a meeting last year, or whatever.

[Card Storm]

i think that may be a rim products natural reaction to a windows product. lol

[niceguymr]

I'm having a tough time believing that there isn't a simple (but perhaps unobvious) solution to this problem. How could RIM/BB have overlooked such a fundamental necessity of NOT DELETING calendar entries on the PC desktop software that go back beyond what is stored on the portable device, especially when the PC software is MS Outlook which is one of the most popular/common used for this application?

What's somewhat upsetting about this is that I've been a PDA user for nearly 15 years and have always had both digital and hard (printout) copies of my calendars for as long as I've been using PDAs. I could just look back in my files and tell you who/what/where/when/why of nearly any period of time during the last 15 years of my life. I've had a BB for 6 months now and this is the first time that I've ever experienced any loss of data like this. Prior I was with Palm for about the first 8 years or so and then switched to Windows Mobile as soon as that came out. This is a major disappointment with my Blackberry.

[niceguymr]

Bump for the PM crew. Somebody please tell me there's a real solution to this problem.

[Reed McLay]

But why does it keep wanting to delete past entries and how do I get it to stop deleting old stuff off my MS Outlook while still giving me the ability to make changes/additions on my Blackberry? I never had this problem with my Windows devices - they wouldn't wipe out my MS Outlook just b/c the items weren't on the device.

The problem is, your BlackBerry has a space conserving feature that defaults to 60 days. When it deletes your BlackBerry Calender entry, it is writing that change back to Outlook.

Calender / Options / General Options. Keep Appointments can be set to Forever. That will prevent them from deleting the corresponding Outlook entry when you press a wrong button.

The the real issue, you are being presented with an Accept or Deny dialogue box. The default is to Accept the changes. It is up to you to Deny the changes that will mess things up.

I realize loosing information is painful, do you backup your Outlook data?

[statdoc#CB]

The problem is, your BlackBerry has a space conserving feature that defaults to 60 days. When it deletes your BlackBerry Calender entry, it is writing that change back to Outlook.

Calender / Options / General Options. Keep Appointments can be set to Forever. That will prevent them from deleting the corresponding Outlook entry when you press a wrong button.

The the real issue, you are being presented with an Accept or Deny dialogue box. The default is to Accept the changes. It is up to you to Deny the changes that will mess things up.

I realize loosing information is painful, do you backup your Outlook data?

Unfortunately, even when you set the Device to "Forever", apparently the BB/DM ignores that setting. You still lose the appointment off the calendar that are older than 60 days. Clearly a "feature" that I would like to fix.

[niceguymr]

Unfortunately, even when you set the Device to "Forever", apparently the BB/DM ignores that setting. You still lose the appointment off the calendar that are older than 60 days. Clearly a "feature" that I would like to fix.

This is correct. I HAVE had it set to 'Forever' from the beginning and I still keep losing my calendar appointments from the past on my desktop. How the heck did they overlook this?!?!?!

[cavingjan]

Set the calendar to keep events forever as mentioned above. Next go into the DM calendar sync settings and set it to confirm prior to deletion.
Now when your blackberry does a massive purge due to low memory, it will warn you and you use the Resync option to restore them.

For the long term, you really need to free up some memory on your device.

[niceguymr]

Set the calendar to keep events forever as mentioned above. Next go into the DM calendar sync settings and set it to confirm prior to deletion.
Now when your blackberry does a massive purge due to low memory, it will warn you and you use the Resync option to restore them.

For the long term, you really need to free up some memory on your device.

I have always had my settings as you have described (keep events 'forever' and 'confirm' prior to deletions, changes, or additions). This does not help at all. It still keeps deleting all my past appointments. I just did a sync and it asked me to delete 200 something calendar entries from my MS Outlook while adding only a handful of recent changes to my device. If I don't choose accept, it will not update my device with any new appointments. This is really screwed up.

[cavingjan]

IF you chose ReSync (button towards the left of the dialog box) it will combine the two sets of data. I use it about once a week.

[statdoc#CB]

OK, I figured out something else tonight. If you have auto-archived the info in your Outlook Calendar, you can then put it back into the main Outlook calendar, and then back into your BB. While looking at the Archived Calendar in Outlook, change View to "Category". Then, "Select All", Copy.

Then, change to the regular calendar, change view to "Category", and Paste. All your old Calendar items will be put back in your calendar. Next time you sync your BB, here they come.

Only time will tell if they will stay.

[cavingjan]

Which Outlook are you using? Outlook 2003 would archive the calendar. Outlook 2007 does include the calendar. Foudn that out the hard way. I had it set up to archive things older than 6 months. That explained all of the missing dates from my old Treo too.

[brentlaw]

I have read all the forums and have come to the conclusion that Blackberry just does not get the idea of having a calendar. Blackberry must primarly be a phone that happens to have a destructive defect of deleting all of a personal computer's calendar. I have read the snide comments from the moderators like 'Don't you backup your Outlook'. Outrageous for a company to continue to produce a defective product.

After my two years are up and I qualify for another phone I will definately trash this Blackberry Storm. This is the most worthless piece of equipment I have owned in 10 years. My wrist watch is smarter than my blackberry.

I am going back to a Treo. My Treo never deleted my computer sync items.

[LuvMyBB]

I've been syncing my BlackBerry with Outlook for nearly three years now and have never had this problem. I went back to the first of this year and all of my appointments are still there in Outlook. My configuration for Desktop Manager is to keep appointments for 60 days in the past, and to ask me on any conflicts.

I'm not sure what the OP or the previous poster's specific problems are, but I can say with certainty that my BB has not deleted any prior Outlook calendar entries.

You might check the AutoArchive settings in Outlook to make sure the old entries haven't been saved to a backup file. It could simply be that Outlook has removed these from the active calender for backup purposes. (I didn't read every word of the entire thread, so if this was already suggested, I apologize.)

I seriously, seriously doubt that RIM would make a device that permanently deletes calendar entries from another app, especially one as ubiquitous as MS Outlook.

In contrast to poster brentlaw's and the OP's issues, I find the Calendar functions on my BB to be more than adequate. Not as robust as something like Outlook, but certainly serviceable. There has to be something else going on here.

[niceguymr]

I've been syncing my BlackBerry with Outlook for nearly three years now and have never had this problem. I went back to the first of this year and all of my appointments are still there in Outlook. My configuration for Desktop Manager is to keep appointments for 60 days in the past, and to ask me on any conflicts.
...

This problem still persists and I'm really fuming mad. Everything that I've ever kept electronic records of on my Outlook older than a year or so is gone. There is no archive file in Outlook where these files are magically hiding in. I don't have anything set on MS Outlook to delete or archive anything. I've been using Outlook for over 10 years and never have I had any problem like this until I got my Blackberry. This really sucks b/c the data is already gone and there's nothing I can do about it now. I think I'm finally starting to give up on the idea that there's not a design flaw - clearly it is. The stuff just keeps disappearing.