Syncing with Outlook, older note kept rather than last edited

[LoungeRat]

I sync my Outlook calendar, contacts and notes, with my 1st generation iPod Touch running iOS 3.1.3. I use iTunes 10.6.3.25 on Windows 7 Pro 64-bit on a Toshiba Satellite A660, and Outlook 2007.

I ran into a situation that I find kind of disturbing. When I edit a note on the iPod Touch, it is the older counterpart of the note on Outlook that gets kept when I sync. Has anyone else experienced this? It's not normally easy to keep track of such things because calendar, contacts, and notes aren't usually changed all at once in a linear fashion. So I wonder how wide-spread such a operational behaviour is.

[kornchild2002]

Over the years, many people have encountered issues when they try to sync notes to and from Outlook and an iPod touch. Either the notes don't sync at all from the computer/iPod, there is something wrong with the notes that are synced, or nothing is synced at all with Outlook. There are multiple, possible theories as to what is going on but nobody has come up with a unified solution. Some people report that the problem goes away with Office 2010, others say that it is solved in iOS 4.x.x and above.

I don't use Outlook at all and I stopped using it 6 years ago whenever I realized what a P.O.S. it truly is. I have since switched completely to OS X (and refuse to even open Outlook 2011) so I haven't experienced the issue personally. My only theory is that something was updated in iOS when Apple released a version in the 4.x.x range that solved this. The issue comes from iTunes and/or Outlook not communicating with one another. This isn't the first time that it has happened and it definitely won't be the last. My suggestion is to upgrade to Office 2010. It is an inexpensive process if you are a college student as many universities sell Office 2010 on DVD for $5-$10 and/or let you download it for free from their MSDNAA program. If you aren't a college student, I suggest waiting until Office 2012 is released to see if the problem is fixed.

You can also try updating Office 2007 making sure that all of MS's patches have been applied. Now, if you have Office 2007 but it has been "obtained" from questionable sources and you can't download updates... You need to support the company that makes the product you want by obtaining a copy of the software from a vendor approved by the copyright holder. That way you can update your product without worrying about getting any red flags.

Edit: There are also a few 3rd party apps that are able to sync notes to and from Outlook 2007 and an iPod touch. I am not sure of their requirements or if they run on old versions of iOS but they might be worth a shot. IMnotes is one of them, you might want to look into Google and the App Store for others.

[LoungeRat]

Thank you, kornchild2002, for historical summation. My Outlook 2007 is legit, and I apply updates regularly. I didn't start off being an Outlooker, but got converted from Thunderbird+PalmDesktop to Outlook after years of trying to reconcile the different behaviour at work versus home for email, notes, contacts, and calendar. Using a common setup for the office and home alleviates a lot of this frustration, after acclimatizing to the strange operational behaviour and finding workarounds. For the same reason, I should stick with Office 2007 at home.

I will keep in mind the idea of 3rd party apps to sync notes, but I'm hoping to find a single solution that syncs all of notes, contacts, and calendar (without going through the cloud). The true solution is to get away from the 1st gen iPod Touch, but I have yet to make the final decision on the platform to move to.

BTW, while I'm on the topic, I thought I'd settled on (gasp, sacrilege) android on Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro. Because of the real keys, landscape slider keyboard, and the fact that apps will let me sync Notes, Contacts, and Calendar (don't care about email) to Outlook without going through the cloud. However, a senior person at RIM said something disturbing ... that the usage model includes permission for Google to reach into the contents of the smart phone even if you don't through the cloud (never mind whether it is feasible, its scary enough that this kind of agreed-to permission is part of the business model). I haven't found anything to corroborate this, but then again, I was using Google's search engine to try and find the corroboration. Has anyone heard anything along these lines and/or can point to the info online?

[kornchild2002]

I understand the need to be unified at home and at the office. Often times you have to bend over backwards just to support something at home that is used in the office. Back in my office, we have to rely on Lotus Notes for e-mail, contacts, and notes on our computer. Outlook, Thunderbird, Mail (Apple), Gmail, etc. are strictly forbidden for work usage. Since Lotus Notes is even worse than Outlook for those tasks, I stay clear away from it and have given up trying to get everything synced. That is why I rely on Gmail for my contacts, calendars, notes, documents, etc. for everything personal. I add a new contact on my Droid X and it is automatically added to my iPad 3 and MacBook Air (or vice versa).

I dug a little deeper into the issue and came across a few old threads in various boards. Most people who had problems seemed to be running iOS 3 and below. Many with the problem showed it going away with the release of iOS 4.0 and subsequently iOS 4.2.

[LoungeRat]

Yeah, I was a bit scattered in the past, using Thunderbird & Palm Desktop at home, and Outlook at work. It's not the end of the world, but being able to accept appointment invites directly from email into the calendar now is quite nice. As for relying on the cloud for syncing...the cloud was what I was trying to avoid. Yes, yes, I know, my life is captured for all to read on gmail anyway, but I want to maintain at least some token semblance of a private nugget of my life.

Regarding upgrading iOS to deal with the sync anomalies...well, 1st generation iPod Touch...it only accepts iOS versions up to a certain version. So I really have to change to a new device.