Sync Outlook 365 (email, contacts, calendar and notes) with android phone

Hello folks,

Back to an August 2013 post in this long discussion where Karl Timmerman recommends Companionlink.com as a 3rd party solution to sync Outlook contacts, calendar, notes, and tasks with an Android phone. Note: Companionlink does not sync or have anything to do with email messages, only Contacts, Calendar, etc.

It was about 3 yrs ago when I paid a one time ($50, I think) fee to Companionlink (the desktop app) and Deja Office (the phone app) to sync contacts and calendar, etc between Outlook on desktop and phone. It worked extremely well once you get over the fact that Companionlink really gets confused over the alphabet. Forget, trying to find a contact by "last name first" alphabetical order.

Other than that, I could find any contact or calendar date in seconds by pulling my Samsung Galaxy Note smartphone out of my pocket. And, I could enter a new contact, edit a contact, or enter a new calendar appt in seconds on my phone, and by the time I got home, the date would already be on my desktop. All the PIM (personal information) syncs including categories, color codes, etc.

The $50 was well worth the instant gratification of something actually working, (mostly.) Since getting a new desktop and laptop (Dell and Thinkpad) I am starting over with the sync issue, but I think I'll stick with Companionlink for a while.  There's a reason they exist and have over a million subscribers.

I have spent weeks on this forum exploring alternatives like Outlook.com and Google, and it is very confusing. My brain turns to spaghetti after about an hour of reading this forum.  It shouldn't be this hard, and for those of us who are not "geeks" it is actually "not fun." But, one of my goals for 2016 is to finally find a solution for synchronization of email, contacts, calendar, notes, and tasks for three devices: desktop, laptop, and smartphone. (and enjoy it!! :)

Best regards,

Bill Phillips

Durham, NC, USA

I have spent weeks on this forum exploring alternatives like Outlook.com and Google, and it is very confusing. My brain turns to spaghetti after about an hour of reading this forum.  It shouldn't be this hard, and for those of us who are not "geeks" it is actually "not fun." But, one of my goals for 2016 is to finally find a solution for synchronization of email, contacts, calendar, notes, and tasks for three devices: desktop, laptop, and smartphone. (and enjoy it!! :)

Well - here we are back again commiserating some 2 yrs later :-) - hopefully this will help crystalize things in a little less time.

What you want: have 3 devices access (sync) with the same data running the gamut of email, contacts, calendar etc without worrying about having to connect one device to another to accomplish that task

What you need: Ability to access an email account configured with the correct protocol that will enable that to be accomplished

For the sake of this reply and simplicity

#1 - This is not going to involve/address a mish-mash of info maintained on a mixture of accounts requiring their own addins to sync their data (primarily contact/calendar info)

#2 - You already have an email address that you're not going to want to change which is not an Outlook.com account or a hosted Exchange account. There are all kinds of potential options available to you but not going to cover them all - just going to start with one scenario based on the assumption listed below

#3 - You just want the stuff to work but unfortunately that is going to take a few minutes to get at least a minimal understanding of how things work (time I assure you will be well spent going forward in time)

#4 - Going to go on the premise that a "free" option would be preferred over having to get (subscribe to) a hosted Exchange email account

Assumption: Your current email service provider supports the Imap protocol (which these days is virtually a given)

Would be real good idea to have a basic understanding about "email protocols" (or how an <email account> is accessed by an <email client>). Have 2 articles that you can review at your leisure if and when desired but will distill the contents of those articles into "sound bytes" below 

Understanding Email Accounts and Email Clients

http://www.contactgenie.info/understanding-email-accounts-email-clients/

Understanding Email Protocols (POP, Imap, MAPI, EAS)

http://www.contactgenie.info/understanding-email-protocols-pop-imap-mapi-eas

Protocol definition sound-bytes

POP3 - only involves <Inbox> in a one-way direction (server to device)

IMAP - Only involves <email folders> - is bi-directional - every device connects to email data stored on the server. Delete something on one device - reflected on all the next time there's a connection to the account

Exchange ActiveSync / Exchange - bi-directional and includes all data, email, contacts, calendar etc

<Email Client> summary

Whatever is used on any device to connect to an email account no matter who the email service provider is - is an <email client> whether on a PC, tablet or phone and each <email client> has to be configured to use an <email account> via an <email protocol>

So what do you need?

Going on the basis that you don't want to change your email address (note there Outlook apps for mobile devices - for this response, just sticking with a generic solution but you can refer to the following for more info

Mobile Outlook.com

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ca/windows/outlook/to-go

#1 - Configure your email account on each of your devices using IMAP. That takes care of your devices seeing the same email info

#2 - If you want to have a common repository for contacts/calendar etc. Create a free Outlook.com account and connect your devices to it via Exchange ActiveSync or Exchange if you get an account on the new platform (all Outlook.com accounts will eventually be on the new platform - just a matter of time).  

In Outlook, make sure that you set the data file as the "default for the profile" after the account is configured (File --> Account Settings --> Data FIles tab --> select the data file for the Outlook.com and set it as the default). That will result in the contact/calendar folder being the default folders for the profile

How to configure an Outlook.com EAS or Exchange account? Just enter your Outlook.com email address & password in any email client when asked. Auto-discover will take care of the rest. 

In summary - in this scenario, you'll be working with 2 email accounts (1) your existing one & (2) your Outlook.com account which will only be used for contacts/calendar info - there's no requirement to use the account for email.

*** this is by no means intended to be a "comprehensive description" of all your available options - just a simplified over-view of how you can get things to work. if you happen to get an new Outlook.com that is on the new platform (identified with <Outlook Mail (Preview)> in the top left when accessing the account via webmail, you have all kinds of additional things available which will make things even easier (see the brief description in Roady's article under <Connected accounts, custom domains and aliases> in 

http://www.howto-outlook.com/howto/outlookcommigrationinfo.htm#custom

Hope this makes it clearer but do let me know if it doesn't - feedback (good or bad) ultimately helps create better content

Karl:  Hang in there!  You provide a great deal of useful information but seem to get nothing but abuse for your trouble.  There is at least one person out here who appreciates your work.

My problem:  I am trying to help my sister.  She has a Windows 10 computer (upgraded from 8.1) running Office 365, an iPhone, and an iPad.  We set up an outlook.com email address for her and set her previous email to auto-forward everything to her new outlook.com address.  We imported all her contacts into outlook.com.  We set up both her Apple devices to talk to her outlook.com account.  Her email is syncing properly between all three devices.  Her contacts sync between her iPhone and iPad (I suspect they do that automatically through iCloud, but I'm not an Apple expert so I'm not sure).  But no matter what we do I can't get her outlook.com contacts to sync with Outlook on her PC.  Outlook shows no contacts, and we can't import directly into Outlook as it is connected to an EAS server.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Revett

Has it been explained somewhere why Outlook - a product which includes email, calendar and contacts - can sync yahoo email between the desktop and the mobile Outlook app, but not the calendar or contacts? Why would this be different? As another poster suggested, this feels like false advertising, when this is what we thought we were paying for. Why should I have to buy another product, when I bought this product from MS already? See below, copied/pasted from their website, then tell me if the consumer's expectations are realistic, or if we are being misled.

Work wherever you are, whenever you need to, on whatever device you choose. Share files. Join meetings. Stay in sync with your team. When there’s work to be done, your Office is right there.

With some plans, you can install Office on up to five of your PCs/Macs and five tablets (iPad, Windows, or Android), and transfer the installation to new devices whenever you need to—fast.

Edit and share files from any browser with Office Online. Use Office Mobile on Windows Phones, iPhone® and Android phones to view and edit files.

See below, copied/pasted from their website, then tell me if the consumer's expectations are realistic, or if we are being misled.

Work wherever you are, whenever you need to, on whatever device you choose. Share files. Join meetings. Stay in sync with your team. When there’s work to be done, your Office is right there.

With some plans, you can install Office on up to five of your PCs/Macs and five tablets (iPad, Windows, or Android), and transfer the installation to new devices whenever you need to—fast.

Edit and share files from any browser with Office Online. Use Office Mobile on Windows Phones, iPhone® and Android phones to view and edit files.

All comes down to the type (POP, Imap, Exchange etc) of email account in use and to be more specific, the protocols supported by any given email service provider - in the case of Yahoo - it only supports POP3 and IMAP. If you want to bidirectionally sync all items including contacts/calendars etc - the ESP (email service provider) must support a protocol that includes that capability (i.e. Exchange ActiveSync, Exchange etc).

These are industry standard protocols that have nothing to do with Outlook which is an <email client>. Also FWIW - this equally applicable to any version of Outlook.

Understanding Email Protocols (POP, Imap, MAPI, EAS)

http://www.contactgenie.info/understanding-email-protocols-pop-imap-mapi-eas