Outlook calender Sync Problem FIXED!!

[abohsali]

Hello,

I went to the apple store and asked a genius about the problem with outlook calender not syncing all appointements...etc to the iphone and he told me that this problem is fixed in the new update of iTunes 7.3.1.

I updated iTunes and it is true, the bug is fixed. My Outlook 2007 Calender is completely synched to my iPhone. The new update was released yesterday I believe. The genius told me that this was the main fix in the iTunes Update. I feel good that Apple is thinking about us MS Windows users:wink:

Regars - Bohs

[Tmerf]

Sorry bud...you must have just gotten lucky...Mine Still not working with either Outlook 2003 or 2007...Still crashing outlook whenever you open it. I am running Windows XP Pro (MCE 2005)

[Popdevil]

Sorry bud...you must have just gotten lucky...Mine Still not working with either Outlook 2003 or 2007...Still crashing outlook whenever you open it. I am running Windows XP Pro (MCE 2005)

Inside of Outlook..

Click on "Help/ABOUT MS Office Outlook"

Click on "Disabled Items"

You may have the plug-in for Itunes disabled, enable it and click Ok on everything. This is how I got my contacts to work.

[Tmerf]

The problem occurs BEFORE I even get Outlook open...Outlook (03 or 07) crashes within seconds of opening the program...

I don't have the opportunity, even in safe mode, to disable the addins...

I have found a work around to get them disabled but as soon as they are enabled again the program crashes within seconds of opening it again (or trying to sync from within itunes)

Thus the problem is not that I can't sync things once Outlook is open it is that I can't even open outlook in the first place. That was not fixed by this new update...The only thing the update fixes is a library access problem...This was termed a minor issue by apple...The primary purpose of the update was to fix problems with Quick TIme and make it full screen without buying Pro.

Your Apple store guy was wrong or simply misinformed

[ColsTiger]

The problem occurs BEFORE I even get Outlook open...Outlook (03 or 07) crashes within seconds of opening the program...

I don't have the opportunity, even in safe mode, to disable the addins...

I have found a work around to get them disabled but as soon as they are enabled again the program crashes within seconds of opening it again (or trying to sync from within itunes)

Thus the problem is not that I can't sync things once Outlook is open it is that I can't even open outlook in the first place. That was not fixed by this new update...The only thing the update fixes is a library access problem...This was termed a minor issue by apple...The primary purpose of the update was to fix problems with Quick TIme and make it full screen without buying Pro.

Your Apple store guy was wrong or simply misinformed

You don't need to open Outlook when you're syncing the iphone. Just have the contacts loaded into outlook, close it, and then open iTunes. Itunes will find your outlook data without the program even opened. Try that.

[Tmerf]

unfortunately what happens when you sync your contacts through itunes is that itunes DOES have to open outlook...In my case I see it come up right away because I get the critical error message when outlook crashes right away...In either case, I have resigned myself to waiting for a new version of itunes that DOES fix this problem...

[ColsTiger]

unfortunately what happens when you sync your contacts through itunes is that itunes DOES have to open outlook...In my case I see it come up right away because I get the critical error message when outlook crashes right away...In either case, I have resigned myself to waiting for a new version of itunes that DOES fix this problem...

I use outlook and it never opens the program. It synced perfectly with all contacts and calendar appointments.

[JnC]

I use outlook and it never opens the program. It synced perfectly with all contacts and calendar appointments.

Thats interesting. With XP Pro and Office 2003, iTunes was opening Outlook in the application bar.

[TechnoDoc]

Sorry bud...you must have just gotten lucky...Mine Still not working with either Outlook 2003 or 2007...Still crashing outlook whenever you open it. I am running Windows XP Pro (MCE 2005)

Well, he's not the only one. I was having the same Outlook sync problems described by so many (error/crash when Outlook opens, sync plugin disabled, re-enabling plugin = Outlook error/crash again, no sync, no love).

I installed the iTunes update yesterday, and with no other changes to my system (XP Pro, Outlook 2003) it now works perfectly.

[Brandon!]

Hello,

I went to the apple store and asked a genius about the problem with outlook calender not syncing all appointements...etc to the iphone and he told me that this problem is fixed in the new update of iTunes 7.3.1.

I updated iTunes and it is true, the bug is fixed. My Outlook 2007 Calender is completely synched to my iPhone. The new update was released yesterday I believe. The genius told me that this was the main fix in the iTunes Update. I feel good that Apple is thinking about us MS Windows users:wink:

Regars - Bohs
Mine got fixed too! I was very happy :D

[gerald.murphy@cox.net]

Hello,

I went to the apple store and asked a genius about the problem with outlook calender not syncing all appointements...etc to the iphone and he told me that this problem is fixed in the new update of iTunes 7.3.1.

I updated iTunes and it is true, the bug is fixed. My Outlook 2007 Calender is completely synched to my iPhone. The new update was released yesterday I believe. The genius told me that this was the main fix in the iTunes Update. I feel good that Apple is thinking about us MS Windows users:wink:

Regars - Bohs

I have 7.3.1.3 and yet it still does not sync. What version of Itunes do you have for mine says it is up todate

Gerry az

[ColsTiger]

I have 7.3.1.3 and yet it still does not sync. What version of Itunes do you have for mine says it is up todate

Gerry az

It's probably something to do with your Outlook settings being disabled. Look through this entire thread and follow the instructions posted about this.

[Dan the man]

Mine got fixed too! I was very happy :D

Sounds very positive. I downloaded Outlook 2007 today and so I'm not very familiar with it. Can you direct me to where to disable and re inable that add-on?

[gkreed]

Any idea how to fix this? I am brand new and having this problem. I have the most recent itunes. I have XP and Outlook 2003. My contacts and everything else synced without any problems. But nothing from my calendar is showing up. I have no disabled items in Outlook.

Any suggestions?

[Dan the man]

Any idea how to fix this? I am brand new and having this problem. I have the most recent itunes. I have XP and Outlook 2003. My contacts and everything else synced without any problems. But nothing from my calendar is showing up. I have no disabled items in Outlook.

Any suggestions?
I dont have any suggestions but a new observation. As I looked through the Outlook email folders on my iPhone I found some synced items in the calender folder and some synced tasks and memos in their folders. I have no idea how or why or how to move them over to the right place. Alvin at Apple suggested a couple of things. He said to change infinite outlook appts. to finite.

He also said to export the Calendar from Outlook, verify that everything is there, erase all calendar items from Outlook and then re import. He says that since I have used Blackberry and Mobile 5.0 in the past ( and still use BB) there are BB issues and field markers that iTunes doesnt understand. By exporting and reimporting, these issues will be stripped off. I have to say, I am very reluctant to go down that slippery slope. I think I'd rather wait for a newer version of iTunes which hopefully fix this problem.

[gkreed]

I dont have any suggestions but a new observation. As I looked through the Outlook email folders on my iPhone I found some synced items in the calender folder and some synced tasks and memos in their folders. I have no idea how or why or how to move them over to the right place. Alvin at Apple suggested a couple of things. He said to change infinite outlook appts. to finite.

He also said to export the Calendar from Outlook, verify that everything is there, erase all calendar items from Outlook and then re import. He says that since I have used Blackberry and Mobile 5.0 in the past ( and still use BB) there are BB issues and field markers that iTunes doesnt understand. By exporting and reimporting, these issues will be stripped off. I have to say, I am very reluctant to go down that slippery slope. I think I'd rather wait for a newer version of iTunes which hopefully fix this problem.

This may be my problem. I also have a blackberry (and plan on keeping it). Hmm. Not sure what to do next. Going to try a couple of more things.

Thanks!

[gerald.murphy@cox.net]

I gave up and bought Office 07 and then calendar synced. I don't think Outlook 93 will sync to Iphone. Is Apple and Microoft in cahoots with each other?

Hello,

I went to the apple store and asked a genius about the problem with outlook calender not syncing all appointements...etc to the iphone and he told me that this problem is fixed in the new update of iTunes 7.3.1.

I updated iTunes and it is true, the bug is fixed. My Outlook 2007 Calender is completely synched to my iPhone. The new update was released yesterday I believe. The genius told me that this was the main fix in the iTunes Update. I feel good that Apple is thinking about us MS Windows users:wink:

Regars - Bohs

[gordone]

Here's the short version: Couldn't sync Outlook Calendar to ipod. (Contacts, music, etc., synced okay.) This fixed it:
-Back up the Outlook.pst file: Open Outlook, click "File"; "Import and Export"; "Export to a File"; "Personal Folder File (.pst)"; select "Personal Folders" and click in box for "Include all subfolders"; choose where to save the exported file, and click finish. Close Outlook
- Open Outlook, open Calendar; choose "View"; "Arrange By"; "Current View"; "By Category". Click on "Start" column heading to sort by earliest date; select everything up to 2007; and hit delete. close outlook.
- Connect ipod; allow itunes (make sure its the latest version.) to open Outlook and sync. It worked. ipod now has all calendar events from 2007 on.
My wife and I have two unpoened, in the box, (!) iphones sitting on my desk. I'm a mac user. She has a WinXP Media Center with all updates, running outlook 2003. She also has a older ipod - 20Gb with the click wheel/B&W screen. She has used it extensively but has never been able to sync her outlook calendar. Itunes (7.3.1) appears to be syncing - the hard drive chugs away for a few minutes. Music, Audio Books, and Contacts come thru just fine but no calendar events. Since Outlook is hardwired into her very existence, we agreed that if we couldn't get the ipod to sync the outlook calendar, we would return the iphones untill the sync problem other iphone users were experiencing was resolved.
Since I have a Macbook that is begging to meet up with the new iphone...I have been motivated to solve her ipod sync problem!
I tried everything that has been suggested here and on the apple website to no avail - no calendar events on the ipod. The fixes didn't seem to be the problem... hmmm maybe something to do with the size of her outlook calendar.
Well, she had calender events dating back to Dec. of 1917! Many, many friend's birthdays entered as recurring events and a myriad of other stuff. I exported her outlook.pst file to the desktop of her PC as a back-up then I opened her outlook calendar and set the view to "Category View". Then, I selected all events before 2007 and deleted them. Closed Outlook, connected the ipod to her PC and itunes opened itself and began to sync. Outlook opened by itself (itunes seems to do this as a part of the sync.) The sync took far less time than before and..... THE CALENDAR SYNCED!
I didn't check every calendar event on the ipod after the successful sync. I can't say if the sheer number of calendar events was the culprit or whether the very early year dates confounded the itunes. Hope this may help someone.

[gkreed]

Gordone -

Glad this worked for you - did NOT work for me. I did try it though and will continue to try everything suggested.

Thanks!

[impaler]

I'm having a similar issue to many that have posted here. iTunes latest (as of July 29), latest Outlook 2003 (with all patches), Windows XP with all patches, syncs contacts beautifully, and music/movies, etc., but calendar is a no-go. Tried everything in this post. The COM add-ins are there, and are checked. Nothing is listed in the disable dialog. It states it's synching but only takes a second and moves on, so I know it's not really reading anything. Both my contacts and my calendar are stored on the Exchange server, yet one works and the other doesn't. I hope someone finds a solution here, as it's annoying. We're also not planning on rolling out Outlook 2007 any time soon.

[ciaran00]

Yeah I am also on Exchange @ work, using OL 2007. Nothing syncs, even though sync takes time.

Do not have the luxury to delete items of course, so I am plugging stuff in manually.

Hope an update fixes it :)

[Dan the man]

I gave up and bought Office 07 and then calendar synced. I don't think Outlook 93 will sync to Iphone. Is Apple and Microoft in cahoots with each other?

Interesting! For my Blackberry, I use the BES at Exchangemymail.com (excellent service) and from them, I was able to download Outlook 2007 and it didnt make a difference. Did not get any further.

[JnC]

Folks, there was a new version of iTunes that just came out today: 7.3.2 (http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/). It's supposed to fix some bugs. Install it and see if it addresses any of your sync issues with Outlook.

[morpheus]

Folks, there was a new version of iTunes that just came out today: 7.3.2 (http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/). It's supposed to fix some bugs. Install it and see if it addresses any of your sync issues with Outlook.

I downloaded and installed 7.3.2.6. No changes in the calendar sync problem. I'm seeing only one of my dozens of appointments. :embarrassed:

[StarBand Guy]

With outlook 2002, I'd tried every suggestion here and from Appl with spotty results. This update fixed all calendar and contact issues for me. WHOOOhoo!
Even reoccuring appointments are correct.

[ElectraGlide]

I have been experiencing the calendar sync problem with Outlook 2007 on a Vista Business setup. The new software (iTunes) and firmware 1.0.1 did nothing to solve the problem.

My big puzzlement, is that when I first got the phone and set it up and synced, it worked perfectly. Only recently does it not bring over calendar items to the phone. And worse...it wipes out recurring appointments at will with no pattern!

In my 30 year IT carreer, I have had almost every phone/pda device I could get my hands on: 9 including the iPhone. And here's the rub...NOT a SINGLE ONE of the devices had a sync program that worked without some problem. Almost ALWAYS it was losing appointments, which gave my peers much pleasure in ridiculing PDA boy being late or missing a meeting.

Some of the worse would double or triple contacts requiring massive amounts of time to fix. Utilities are available to solve the duplication problem today.

Now retired, the calendar update is not as critical, but I will never have complete confidence in the iPhone sync function. Sad, because I thought the long running history of buggy sync software had come to an end with the iPhone.

I am sad that I have the same issues today that I had 10 years ago with the first Palm Pilots. Software development and QC today is crap. That's why I'm a retired CIO.

[gkreed]

The new itunes version fixed everything for me. Sorry to hear it didn't work for some of you.

[ElectraGlide]

Did you do a clean instal or install over previous version?

[StarBand Guy]

What worked for me was a clean install.

[ElectraGlide]

Apple is aware of this problem. Does anyone know the reason for this update? Was it supposed to fix the sync problem?

Bueller...Ferris Bueller?

[ElectraGlide]

I just looked at the addins in Outlook after the update to 7.3.2 and lo and behold only one of the addins is there...iTunes addin is there but the outlook syncetc. is missing. I'm going to do a clean install of the new iTunes with a registy cleanup between clean and installl.

Stand by kids...back in a while.

[ElectraGlide]

Stand back...no autographs...security, please keep the crowd at bay!

THE SYNC PROBLEM IS DEAD! (crossed fingers)

Here's what I did:

1) Remove iTunes
2) Remove Apple software updater
3) Remove Quicktime (just do it)
4) Make sure any trace of Apple USB devices are gone in the Device Manager
5) Reboot
6) Find a registry cleaner. I use Registry Mechanic and run it at this point. It found 17 suspicious dll's remaining and I zapped 'em. I had just cleaned the Registry so it was almost a given that installing the first try of iTunes and then removing it left these pests hanging around.
7) Reboot. For some reason this restart took 10 minutes.
8) Search your drive for "iTunes". You should only find your songs, playlists, album art etc. USE YOUR HEAD, but get rid of or rename anything that looks like it is trash and may be a loose end.
9) At this point you should be "de-Appled". Feels Good huh?
10) Download and install the most recent version of iTunes 7.3.2 I believe.
11) WHEN ITS DONE---->REBOOT (just do it. DO NOT start the newly installed app first as it asks)
12) Open up iTunes and let normalize and your system aquiesce.
13) Make sure all your content is present
14) Plug in the iPhone. Wait until windows installs the drivers again. If you do not get a reinstalL of the driver as an Apple Mobile Device USB Driver, something else is wrong.
15) When the phone is ready to use...SYNC!!!
16) Mine worked perfectly except for one small problem with a recurring appointment that I easily fixed in Outlook and the sync fixed the iPhone.

I tried to break it, but I have not been successful. It seems to work!

There may be other methods, but I have been working on this for 5 days and this worked. YMMV.

I am a skeptic, but also an optimist. Time will tell.

Good luck kids and don't forget to set you decoder rings properly.


"Don't crush that dwarf, hand me the pliers!"- Firesign Theatre circa 1970

Out.

[impaler]

Stand back...no autographs...security, please keep the crowd at bay!

THE SYNC PROBLEM IS DEAD! (crossed fingers)

Boy, I was really enthusiastic about this being fixed, once and for all, but although I did EVERYTHING, step by step, as you indicated, I have a worse problem now. When I sync the calendar (both with Outlook 2003 running and with it not running), I get a serious error, that states "
OutlookSyncClient.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close.". UGH. At least before it would complete the sync with no changes. Now the actual sync client crashes! Also, I don't know if this is an issue, or the iTunes folks changed it with 7.3.2, but there is only one COM add in now, rather than two, called "iTunes Outlook Addin". It's both listed in the COM add ins, and not disabled. I really am at a loss. Contacts--beautiful. Calendar--disaster. Any other ideas?

[gkreed]

Did you do a clean instal or install over previous version?

I installed over the previous version and it fixed everything for me.

[ibaneye]

First off, I want to thank all you guys for the many great tips, most all of which I think I tried, unfortunately to no avail. My issue was the same as many of yours'. Contacts were fine, but Calendar would not sync. I did not experience the crashing of Outlook, nor disabling of add-ins, but the syncing would never actually do anything. My final solution, which I got the idea from the AT&T forum, believe it or not, was to uninstall the "Outlook Live Search Maps Add-In." Disabling it was not enough, it needed to be removed altogether. All other add-ins remain installed and checked. The calendar now syncs perfectly. Events created on either side sync to the other. I highly recommend trying this, if you have that add-in installed. As I said before, I'd previously tried almost every suggestion, even the new pst file and uninstall/re-install type solutions. In the end, for me, it was just this one add-in.

Interestingly, I have not read others complaining about another issue I've had since the beginning, which is that, if an iPhone is connected to my PC (either my laptop, or desktop), and iTunes is running, upon eject, or closing of iTunes, iTunes freezes. I have to kill it with Task Manager. Anyone else experience this? Despite this issue, the sync does work just fine now.

I'll cross-post this, so all can see; sorry if you see this post multiple times, I'm just anxious to spread my success :laugh2:.

Oh yeah: Win XP, Outlook 2007, newest iTunes & iPhone s/w.

[ElectraGlide]

Ibaneye...I'm sorry I forgot to mention that I at one point, which I can't remember in this mess, also removed the particular addin you reference. That in and of itself did not fix the issue though.

The registry cleaner I used removed 17 dlls that could have only been installed by my previous update instead of clean install. I really made sure my system was returned to a virgin (pre iPhone) state.

Impaler, it sounds like the Outlooksyncaddin in 2003 may have a permissions issue...just a guess. Are you logged as an administrator?

You know, its amazing that Apple and Microsoft programs play together as well as they do. As a (retired) CIO with 850 people using Outlook, I can tell you it is one MAJOR source of problems. The .pst file is a momolithic mess containing so many different types of data structures.

Be ablsolutely sure when you install iTunes your system looks squeaky clean as far as Apple installs. Also, I'm sure you are up to date on all patches etc. with Outlook 2003.

One more observation, if I may...don't quit and move to 2007 just to fix the problem. It'll make you crazy for along time. Especially the calendar functions.

Also, we can really expect more sync problems in the future I believe. I don't know if you caught on of my other posts where I describe the problems I'v been through in the last 9 years with almost every PDA/phone device. Syncing with Outlook is tricky, even for Microsoft mobile phones.

Keep trying and don't quit, you are probably closer than you think.

[connie]

My Outlook syncs contacts fine and then when it tries to sync the calender I get a message that says Calender could not sync because iphone is not connected when it still is, I have to click ok or cancel and then it just stops syncing. Has anyone gotten this message?? is there a fix for this????

[impaler]

Impaler, it sounds like the Outlooksyncaddin in 2003 may have a permissions issue...just a guess. Are you logged as an administrator?

Sure am. Good point--could be. My system was very clean. Years of install/uninstall of software left the registry a mess. Paid $40 for the Registry sweep program and got rid of all of it. Removed every trace of Apple software I could find...iTunes, QuickTime, Apple Software Update. Reinstalled Office 2003, did all patches through Service Pack 2, and beyond, iTunes/QuickTime new updates, and the Apple Software Update. I'm definitely the admin, as it let me do all that stuff. Plus I checked. :-)

I think I'm close too. Maybe 7.3.3 will do it??? Who knows. Your insights have been great; my friends who swear everything Microsoft don't get what a pain this proprietary system is; everyone else is standards-based...if only Outlook would support iCalendar standards! Although you've talked about troubles with Outlook sync and Windows Mobile devices, I've found them to be very smooth. I've also used BlackBerry extensively over the years, and that has been the most flexible and accurate sync I've experienced. Going from BB to Apple, I KNEW, would require pateience on my part. So for now, I'm using iCal and Mac OS X address book for my sync...and if I have updates, I'll make them on the iPHone...if I have mass updates, I'll do them that night in iCal. Not ideal but that sync works for sure.

You know, my sense of it is that the sync plugin is trying to read from the Outlook calendar and it craps out and hits a brick wall and doesn't know what to do. Would it make a difference if I am in Exchange cached mode or I leave everything on the server?

[Glenn C]

:frown:
v. 7.3.2.6 also failed on my system.
Contacts fine.
Calendar only recurring events sync.
New error messages not only during s/w install, but also during every sync event, not seen before and mentioned above. Terrible s/w version, not ready for release (it seems).

Many thanks to all for help/comments.

As I have mentioned in the past, I am seeing, still, OLD events, long gone since the first attempts to sync were attempted, showing BACK up with the new version. I am sure there is a cache file somewhere that is not updating with the current Outlook calendar.pst.

I hope this is fixed soon.

It is terrible that we who are not CIOs and IT experts would have to do things like clean registry or "use your head" while manually deleting information in files... That is not what this is all about. The common/everyday user should have this function correctly, just like those of us who know a little bit more.

I am amazed, still, that Bill Gates has not had the MS team chime in here. He owns so much of Apple.... It has to matter to him.

[Glenn C]

Thanks for all the comments/methods above.
Unfortunately, sync is still not working to Outlook Calendar.
Details below:
Win XP, SP 2, Outlook 2003, all updates, add-ins valid.
Downloaded new firmware for iPhone. Installed w/o error on prior version of iTunes.
Then, went here:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93698,

to painstakingly remove iTunes. Only the automated s/w updater would not remove.
Downloaded a Reg cleaner. Removed, specifically, all references to Apple components.
Cleaned.
Defrag'd.
Rebooted.
Downloaded and successfully installed the NEW iTunes posted this week, without any installation errors.

Sync'd to iPhone, telling it to "clear the phone contents".

Error encountered during sync:

OutlookSyncClient.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close.
Error Signature: outlooksyncclient.exe, ModVer: 7.3.440.39 Offset: 00082687
AppVer: 0.0.0.0 Mod Name: corefoundation.dll

iPhone and iTunes continued to sync after closing this error message.

When complete, contacts, music, pictures all sync perfectly.
Calendar only syncs recurring appts. No others. Modifications in one calendar do NOT appear after sync in the other calendar.
:frown:

[impaler]

Error encountered during sync:

OutlookSyncClient.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close.
Error Signature: outlooksyncclient.exe, ModVer: 7.3.440.39 Offset: 00082687
AppVer: 0.0.0.0 Mod Name: corefoundation.dll


Yep, exactly what I got.

[jaz0450]

Just purchased iphone...very cool and syn w/outlook contacts but refuses to syn calendar...talked to genius and they were stumped...keeps disconnting when I try to download the calendar...all else works and I have update version of itunes and ipod...outlook is 2003 xp



Hello,

I went to the apple store and asked a genius about the problem with outlook calender not syncing all appointements...etc to the iphone and he told me that this problem is fixed in the new update of iTunes 7.3.1.

I updated iTunes and it is true, the bug is fixed. My Outlook 2007 Calender is completely synched to my iPhone. The new update was released yesterday I believe. The genius told me that this was the main fix in the iTunes Update. I feel good that Apple is thinking about us MS Windows users:wink:

Regars - Bohs

[kwc2325]

I was having the same problem as everyone else here - and had given up. Didn't even try to do a clean install because I was so frustrated. Magically, I installed 7.3.2 this morning and my calendar synched. No issues at all - not even with infinite recurring appts.

[YadenSamsara]

Syncing with Outlook 2003 has been a real joy for me here at work. One guy has it working great now with the new version of iTunes. Another guy has nothing but problems...

Calendar will only sync some few random events. Contacts will run and never finish, so I cancel the sync, and close iTunes and I will find OutlookSyncClient.exe running in WinXP's background. I have to kill that process else it hangs and runs at 50% CPU. Before I updated iTunes on his computer he was able update the contacts.

I've reinstalled iTunes but that didn't change anything. I haven't done any reg cleaning tries yet. I loaded a different profile in Outlook, put 2 appointments in the Calendar and it would sync that calendar just fine. I didn't try syncing the contacts for that login because I didn't want him to lose all his current contacts in his iPhone. He said he deleted some contacts in Outlook the other day but I don't know if that is causing the sync to hang. (and I tried reseting the sync history button as well)

Running out of ideas, going to try calling Apple but I have my doubts since they will probably just blame M$.

[carehart]

I'd just like to share some observation on all this, for the benefit of others who do seem to be in the same boat as me. I 've been suffering the loss of Outlook 2003 on XP for a couple of days now. The tragedy for me (and I fear, for many) is that I don't even have an iPhone! I have only an iPod.

Even more curious, while I'd gotten a prompt to install an update a couple of days ago (which I generally take when offered), I was busy and said "no", so I did not do any recent updates to iTunes when this hit me. The machine had been up for at least a couple of days before I had to restart it, and on my attempt to launch Outlook, it crashed as others have explained.

Someone pointed me to the "outlook /safe" switch, and at least then Outlook had a message pop up saying the problem was an itunes add-in, and it offered to disable it. That didn't do it, even after a restart. At least it did lead me to find this and other forums where people are reporting the same problem.

I've also tried various other outlook switches, created a new profile, removed psts to force it to recreate them, and all other options mentioned here and elsewhere. Still, I'm dead in the water.

The sad thing is that many point out the problem is "solved", in that they're able to 'synch again'. For me and others, we're not even trying to sync, not an iphone, nor even our ipod.

And where many propose we can fix this by "just disabling the addin", that's not possible if you can't open Outlook. (Sounds like 2007 has an upper hand with its feature to do that outside the tool.) I'll add that I did find a registry entry listing add-ins, and at this point it does not list the itunes one any more.

Sure, I suppose one may argue then that the problem is no longer Apple's, but at this point I'm not even concerned about blame. I just want to be able to open Outlook again. I can install a new email client (and have, Thunderbird), but that doesn't help with the tens of thousands of emails tracked in Outlook, and their status as unread (to get to), or important, or the notes, tasks, and calendar entries.

And I may well be able to move the PST to a new machine and access it from there, but it won't be the same. Such a move never keeps the rules right, so I'll be having to edit a couple hundred rules that moved list messages to folders, etc. Same with removing and reinstalling Outlook, which of course also means all of Office since you can't remove just one.

And yes, I did go ahead and do the update (to 7.3.2.6, up from what I had before which was 7.3.1.something). Still no go, even after a restart.

At this point, it seems my last resort is removing and reinstalling iTunes, as some have proposed above. Honestly, with the many annoyances of iTunes (for managing the iPod), it may be time to jettison it as well and use a 3rd party tool.

Shame on Apple for foisting this problem on us. The lost productivity must be in the millions of $. I wouldn't be surprised to see a class action suit come out of all this--unless it can be shown that it was not indeed Apple at the core (pardon the pun. Trying to keep my spirits up.)

Just wanted to share all this for others who do seem (here and elsewhere) to be in the same boat.

/charlie

[FrankMcL]

Mine got fixed too! I was very happy :D

I down loaded the update, still no luck using 2007 via Vista

[musiccity]

I have followed each suggestion offered in this thread over the past two days. I really have nothing additional to offer other than to reinforce that for some of us, everything, including a full reinstall of iTunes and Quicktime, registry cleaning, etc., doesn't resolve the calendar synch issue with Outook 2003.

I too have spoken with Apple tech support. I was able to synch a sample contact and calendar event from a newly created test account on my XP Pro box, but my calendar (which did synch successfully to my Treo 700W prior to my switch), consistently generates the noted, OutlookSync.exe error documented here. This forces closing down Oultook and iTunes before regaining access to the associated PST file. (I suppose I should be grateful for the fact my data hasn't yet been damaged!)

I hope this thread continues and additional remedies are discussed.

[tc2000chartreader]

Go to the following discussion and try uninstalling Outlook Live Search plug in. I installed it a few months back from a windows update suggestion. Well I have been trying to get my calendar to sync for over a month. Just uninstalled the program, restarted the computer and my calendar now syncs. Try it before doing all the other software installs, deletes and driving yourself crazy like I did.

http://www.everythingiphone.com/forum/windows-pc-and-iphone/another-calendar-sync-solution-8308.html

[YadenSamsara]

I have iTunes syncing now with the Outlook 2003 calendar after removing something like "Windows Live Local" from the add/remove programs. Was something like that and it did the trick for the calendar.

His contacts still won't sync, even after uninstalling all apple products and re-installing iTunes. If I change to a different profile user (we run Exchange 2000 and AD) in Outlook, then it will sync, but not with him for some reason. Must be some strange permission bug deep within one of the programs.

[FrankMcL]

I have iTunes syncing now with the Outlook 2003 calendar after removing something like "Windows Live Local" from the add/remove programs. Was something like that and it did the trick for the calendar.

His contacts still won't sync, even after uninstalling all apple products and re-installing iTunes. If I change to a different profile user (we run Exchange 2000 and AD) in Outlook, then it will sync, but not with him for some reason. Must be some strange permission bug deep within one of the programs.

Sheila at Apple tech support walked me through the process: Go to this link for the article:
Link: http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n305409 (http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n305409)
1st thing to check is for USB conflicts....if you have a camera or printer connected via a USB port that may be the problem. So remove those 1st to see if that’s an issue then follow the instructions at the above link. Mostly you have to uninstall ALL Apple programs....I had 4 on my computer. The Remove Apple from the Program folder, then reinstall iTunes.
Admittedly the iPhone is not a business tool and does not come close to the functionality of Mobile 6 but if it can sync the Outlook calendar and contacts I can live with it.

[YadenSamsara]

Sheila at Apple tech support walked me through the process: Go to this link for the article:
Link: http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n305409 (http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n305409)
1st thing to check is for USB conflicts....if you have a camera or printer connected via a USB port that may be the problem. So remove those 1st to see if that’s an issue then follow the instructions at the above link. Mostly you have to uninstall ALL Apple programs....I had 4 on my computer. The Remove Apple from the Program folder, then reinstall iTunes.
Admittedly the iPhone is not a business tool and does not come close to the functionality of Mobile 6 but if it can sync the Outlook calendar and contacts I can live with it.

I unistalled all Apple/Quicken products (was 4 for me) and reinstalled iTunes, but I did not go through deleting folders it leaves behind. For now he still has his old contacts on his iphone (from when it did work) and is happy with that. If I need to resync contacts I may try those steps or the work around with using Window's Address Book.

[adampirg]

I had tried Electra Glide's 16-step fix a couple times, but to no avail--was still getting "outlook sync add-in" errors every time (contacts always synced fine but calendar always failed, after having worked fine for a few weeks initially). I tried a couple additional fixes--got rid of recurring appointments in Outlook and deleted event notes that contained paragraph/line breaks. Still no dice though.

Finally, I got it working tonight after I did three things:
--uninstalled iTunes using Electra Glide's method (which is mostly the same as Apple's method but a little more thorough)
--deleted repeating and multiday appointments on my iPhone (i.e. converted them to individual appointments lasting no more than one day) and deleted appointment notes that had paragraph/line breaks
--installed the new version of iTunes (7.4.0) from scratch.

And it works! I'm not sure whether iTunes 7.4 is the real solution (it may be, as I suspect the problem began for me when I installed iTunes 7.3.2), or whether the other steps above were important too. But I'm relieved nonetheless.

[impaler]

Finally, I got it working tonight after I did three things:
--uninstalled iTunes using Electra Glide's method (which is mostly the same as Apple's method but a little more thorough)
--deleted repeating and multiday appointments on my iPhone (i.e. converted them to individual appointments lasting no more than one day) and deleted appointment notes that had paragraph/line breaks
--installed the new version of iTunes (7.4.0) from scratch.

And it works! I'm not sure whether iTunes 7.4 is the real solution (it may be, as I suspect the problem began for me when I installed iTunes 7.3.2), or whether the other steps above were important too. But I'm relieved nonetheless.

Do you keep your appointments on Exchange or in a .pst?

[musiccity]

I had tried Electra Glide's 16-step fix a couple times, but to no avail--was still getting "outlook sync add-in" errors every time (contacts always synced fine but calendar always failed, after having worked fine for a few weeks initially). I tried a couple additional fixes--got rid of recurring appointments in Outlook and deleted event notes that contained paragraph/line breaks. Still no dice though.

Finally, I got it working tonight after I did three things:
--uninstalled iTunes using Electra Glide's method (which is mostly the same as Apple's method but a little more thorough)
--deleted repeating and multiday appointments on my iPhone (i.e. converted them to individual appointments lasting no more than one day) and deleted appointment notes that had paragraph/line breaks
--installed the new version of iTunes (7.4.0) from scratch.

And it works! I'm not sure whether iTunes 7.4 is the real solution (it may be, as I suspect the problem began for me when I installed iTunes 7.3.2), or whether the other steps above were important too. But I'm relieved nonetheless.


Thanks for the feedback! I decided to take the brave step of simply updating from 7.3.2 to the newest version which I believe as of this writing is 7.4.1. My thinking was, if the update resolves the issue, I saved at least a half hour's time doing the uninstall/reinstall sequence. I'm no worse off than I've been for a month.

Well.... I can hardly believe I am saying this but my calendar synched! This is a first! I am almost afraid to put the iPhone back on the cradle for fear of a new error message. However, it does appear to work. Thanks much for the feedback. Your post inspired me to try this out today. (Now if I could only get my inbox folder structure to synch.....)

Have a great day!

[Doodler]

Thanks for the feedback! I decided to take the brave step of simply updating from 7.3.2 to the newest version which I believe as of this writing is 7.4.1. My thinking was, if the update resolves the issue, I saved at least a half hour's time doing the uninstall/reinstall sequence. I'm no worse off than I've been for a month.

Well.... I can hardly believe I am saying this but my calendar synched! This is a first! I am almost afraid to put the iPhone back on the cradle for fear of a new error message. However, it does appear to work. Thanks much for the feedback. Your post inspired me to try this out today. (Now if I could only get my inbox folder structure to synch.....)

Have a great day!

I was it were that simple. I got the sync to work very well with the prior version, but today I downloaded 7.4.1 of Itunes and tried to sync the Outlook 2007 calendar (twice) and got error messages from Itunes. No sync. None of the new appointments showed up. It looks like it's back to square one or maybe three.

[Glenn C]

I also upgraded to the current version of iTunes and also performed the new firmware update to my iPhone.
Outlook 2003 now syncs flawlessly.
On the fly testing with "test" events in both Outlook and iPhone demonstrated correct immediate sync.
It seeeeeemmms to be fixed....
Still skeptical after all of these weeks of problems.
However, this is a good sign.
:2cool:
G

[adampirg]

Do you keep your appointments on Exchange or in a .pst?

I keep my appointments in an Outlook PST file (Outlook 2003).

[PapaST]

My issues seems to be similar but not exactly the same. I have a client running Outlook 2003 (on EXCHANGE) w/ XP Pro. Their Outlook calendar seemed to synch fine when she first got the phone. But after awhile it didn't synched anymore. But it appears the phone (afte searching her phone) that the icon for Calendar on the main screen holds all the calendar events from when it used to synch. But now any new calendar events gets thrown into the CALENDAR folder within her MAILBOX. Also they all show as an email in the CALENDAR folder and you cannot change the view to day,week,month etc. Any suggestions as to why it does this?

[impaler]

Eureka! I finally got it. iTunes 7.4.1 on XP seems to have done the trick...also reloaded XP completely. Not ideal but all my calendar entries work without it crapping out. yesss!!!

[rasputinj]

Go to the following discussion and try uninstalling Outlook Live Search plug in. I installed it a few months back from a windows update suggestion. Well I have been trying to get my calendar to sync for over a month. Just uninstalled the program, restarted the computer and my calendar now syncs. Try it before doing all the other software installs, deletes and driving yourself crazy like I did.

http://www.everythingiphone.com/forum/windows-pc-and-iphone/another-calendar-sync-solution-8308.html

I was having a problems where only my older calender appointments, after thinking about it I remember I installed Live Outlook plugin I tried to just uncheck the plugin, it still did not work. After seeing a discussion at Apple.com where you see the Live Icon on appointments of mine that were not syncing. I uninstalled the Live Outlook plugin and I was off and running, syncing my calendar again.

Great tip.

[mayerg]

I have not read this entire thread so forgive me if somebody has posted this, but my sync works much better after I upgraded my pst file to 2003. I've been running office 2003 for a while with sync problems coming and going. The only way it would occasionally work is if outlook was closed, then I could sync my contacts and calendars. Since I've switched to using a 2003 pst file (after upgrade from office 2000 default is to use 97-2002 format pst) I can keep outlook open and sync is working fantastic!
Here is one link showing how to move to 2003 pst if interested.
http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_upgrade_my_outlook_pst_to_2003_format.htm l

[KPSK]

my calendar was working fine at work when i would sync but since i updated itunes i get no supported calendar. Works fine at home but not at work.

[mayerg]

by the way, here is how you find out what format your pst file is.
Pulled direct from outlook>help
1. On the Tools menu, click Options.
2. Click Mail Setup, and then click Data Files.
3. Click the data file you want to check, and then click Settings.
4. Check the Format field to see if it contains the string Personal Folders file or Personal Folders file (97-2002). Personal Folders file indicates the new format that supports multilingual Unicode (Unicode: A character encoding standard developed by the Unicode Consortium. By using more than one byte to represent each character, Unicode enables almost all of the written languages in the world to be represented by using a single character set.) data and offers greater storage capacity for items and folders. A file with the Personal Folders file type is not compatible with earlier versions of Microsoft Outlook. Personal Folders file (97-2002) indicates the earlier format that is compatible with earlier versions of Outlook. Personal Folders file (97-2002) does not support Unicode and offers the same storage capacity for items and folders that was available in earlier versions of Outlook.

[mayerg]

I have not read this entire thread so forgive me if somebody has posted this, but my sync works much better after I upgraded my pst file to 2003. I've been running office 2003 for a while with sync problems coming and going. The only way it would occasionally work is if outlook was closed, then I could sync my contacts and calendars. Since I've switched to using a 2003 pst file (after upgrade from office 2000 default is to use 97-2002 format pst) I can keep outlook open and sync is working fantastic!
Here is one link showing how to move to 2003 pst if interested.
http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_upgrade_my_outlook_pst_to_2003_format.htm l

spoke too soon. Back to same old BS.

[bigmac]

I'm having a similar issue to many that have posted here. iTunes latest (as of July 29), latest Outlook 2003 (with all patches), Windows XP with all patches, syncs contacts beautifully, and music/movies, etc., but calendar is a no-go. Tried everything in this post. The COM add-ins are there, and are checked. Nothing is listed in the disable dialog. It states it's synching but only takes a second and moves on, so I know it's not really reading anything. Both my contacts and my calendar are stored on the Exchange server, yet one works and the other doesn't. I hope someone finds a solution here, as it's annoying. We're also not planning on rolling out Outlook 2007 any time soon.

I am still having this problem. Apple tech support wants me to 'restore' my phone, but I am concerned this wont work either. Anybody else have suggestions?

[gmarshalljr]

unfortunately what happens when you sync your contacts through itunes is that itunes DOES have to open outlook...In my case I see it come up right away because I get the critical error message when outlook crashes right away...In either case, I have resigned myself to waiting for a new version of itunes that DOES fix this problem...

Just an idea. Could you export your contacts from Outlook and import them into Outlook express which is also supported by the iPhone. That way you could sync strictly from Outlook Express and only use Outlook for normal email functions.

-In Outlook, on the File menu, click Import and Export.
-Click Export to a file, and then click Next.
-Click Comma Separated Values (Windows), and then click Next.
-In the folder list, click the Contacts folder, and then click Next.
-Browse to the folder where you want to save the contacts as a .csv file.
-Type a name for the exported file, and then click OK.
-Click Next.
-Click Finish.

Pretty much reverse that for importing in outlook express.

Then all you have to do is change Outlook to Windows Address book under the contacts tab in iTunes and you should be good.

Outlook Express is shipped with every Microsoft OS. So it's kind of a nice backup for syncing in case your first choice in email clients is unsupported.

Plus this way you always have a backup set of contacts(outlook) in case you ever have a bad syncing experience (Outlook Express)...like if you click delete instead of merge.


:)

[glass]

This is what worked for me. After trying all the things everyone suggested and spending over 3 hours with apple and not getting a resolution I figured I would try something nobody mentioned. I reinstalled outlook 2007. This is how I did it, I selected repair from the menu not install. Then I went and looked at all the calender items in the phone.....there was one event that should of had writing in it instead there were three little boxes, I deleted this event. I then synced my phone and it works great. It is syncing both ways and I have done it about 10 times and no problems at all. Maybe this could work for some of you, keep in mind before this I did uninstall itunes and restored my phone then repaired outlook then went through events in calender and removed events that had boxes then synced. I have xp.Good luck

[iPhone8801]

:angry:Can apple just send an update already?!?!

[kiwicomposer]

Hi..
After reading all the posts I was experiencing some of the issues that others had with ITunes not syncing Outlook Calendar entries to my IPOD
It kept crashing outlook everytime it attempted to sync the calendar.
Everything elese sync'd just fine

Well what I did I checked my calendar items and found that some historical items has duplicate entries from previous sync activities I had done with a HP IPAC palm device.

By deleting the duplicates so that all entries were single entries (regardless of whether they were recurring entries or not..leftrecurring entries alone unless they were duplicated) Solved my issue and all now OK.. Contacts and Calendar are fully sync'd

To me hours of playing to work out what it was and also reading advice here.

What I did was:
-Open outlook (2003)
-Went to Calendar
-Selected Tools Menu
Organize Submenu
-Went to using views option
-Selected by category
I found a number of entries had an orange icon with an "!" in it.
Either opened each one at a time and deleted one of the duplicates that were listed. or if an unimportant historical entry simply deleted it completely.

Checked and when all items simply showed a blueish calendar looking icon on the left side backtracked out of the Organbize screen so that I was back at the normal calendar screen.

Resync'd with the IPOD and all worked brilliantly. :2cool:

[iPhone8801]

Just wondering if anyone uses outlook 2002?? Thanks!