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Syncing items from iPhone to Outlook 2010


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Hello, I have a customer with a problem syncing contacts and calendar items from iphone to Outlook 2010 in the laptop. I need to explain in detail what is going on so bear with me as it may be long.

She recently left her job but while she worked there she used Outlook 2010 which connected to an Exchange Server. This is the way she would get her emails, contacts, calendar, etc. She also had her iPhone connect to the Exchange server and it contained the same items as in Outlook.

Now that she is no longer there she called me to help her backup her Outlook files which I did since she may have to give the laptop back but that won?t happen for a little while. She no longer has access to the Exchange server since they cut her off but I did notice that the contacts, calendar and other items were still there. How can this be? The email account properties were never deleted by her so I will assume it could be a cache memory thing?

Anyhow, once I had backed up the PST file I deleted the email account properties. Once I did that, then the items from Exchange server disappeared. I was kicking myself for that but at least in the phone the items are still there. I then restored the items back from the PST but still nothing.

So now the dilemma how can I sync these items from the iPhone into the Outlook 2010? I did perform a sync but not all the data synced mostly the Exchange server items are missing. There has to be a way to get these items into Outlook and be done with it..

I must also mention the following versions of the software she is using if that will help in this process.

#1 Windows 7 32-bit do not recall if it has SP-1 or not

#2 Outlook 2010 32-bit

#3 iTunes 10.5 something also 32-bit

#4 iPhone is version 4 I believe and contains iOS 5

I wonder if I did not delete the email account for Exchange if it would have been easier to save these items. Please if anyone can help me I would really appreciate it. I have no experience with Exchange Server so I do not know what else to try.

Thanks,

Victor

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Does the iPhone let you export contacts in any useful way?

If you've lost the exchange contacts and such (by the sounds of it), you can restore the data to a recent restore point in iTunes, and export the contacts I'd think.

Otherwise if you have the PST, import that into Outlook and then sync the contacts over.

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Here's the thing you and and actually she needs to think about. If that laptop was a company laptop then any information on it was and is property of the company. That includes any information contained within the pst. So if she left the company (voluntary or otherwise) then she has no rights to the information contained within the pst file. So by helping her try and sync her iphone one last time and get information you could be stealing company property.

Just a thought.

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Yes you are correct in that aspect but these are contacts from business and personal I believe and she mixed in all types of appointments in the calendar and what not.

Again I totally understand your point and I do not know yet if she will have to give back the laptop. Perhaps she does not then what?

I hope someone can chime in with a solution. I wish I would have not erased the mail properties but still even with it not removed and a backup of the PST file was done it never transferred over so to me it is like a cache memory thing going on.

I do not even now if Exchange actually allows you to download permanently the messages, contacts and calendar since all resides on the server. If it does then she should have asked about that.

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From the standpoint of the laptop:

1. depending on how it's remotely managed the IT department could prevent you/her from logging into the profile but locking out the AD profile. They could also remove it entirely.

2. Should she choose not to return the laptop my best guess is she would be in violation of her company's AUP and would probably have the value of the laptop deducted from her final paycheck.

From the standpoint of Outlook:

1. Is it a pst or an ost?

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It is a .pst I did not know .ost existed. I left her an email telling her to search for that file and if found to back it up for further use later. Hope this helps the conversation

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So it sounds like you backup her PST file but not her ost? If she was running in cached exchanged mode, then you should have backed up her ost (or exported her ost into another pst since i am not sure if outlook can import ost's). I am guessing her pst was either empty or had a bunch of archived emails but no contacts, calendar or recent emails? If this is the case, you are sort of out of luck. You had some possible options if you still had the account on the phone, but it sounds like you don't. The correct thing to do is to have your client contact her HR department so she can receive permission for her email admins to do the export for her. Depending on the terms she left, they probably won't. Don't beat yourself up over this, doing this stuff is NOT straightforward.

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The stuff is still on the phone but must be in cached mode. I have asked her to find the ost file but again I should have not deleted that but how would I know? Would a system restore help? This was done on Saturday and I could go back to Friday. You are correct it is not straight forward and I did not know about this exchange server stuff.

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Hi just wanted to see if anyone had any more ideas? I do have a question to ask.

When I removed the email account properties everything was gone as far as the exchange stuff but would the .ost file disappear also? When I backed up her PST file from the default folder that Outlook places it in, I do not recall seeing an .ost file in there.

Is it possible once she no longer connected to the Exchange server it was already gone by the time I started working on it? Also if an .ost file was there, could a system restore to the day before place it back?

What a mission this has been. I feel like it is my fault but at the same time I do not think I should shoulder all blame. I was never told she had Outlook 2010 nor connected to an Exchange Server. I assumed Outlook 2007 and .pst file. In fact the laptop I worked on was not the original I had done some work before. She had a Dell and now Lenovo and since I never was told about that either I did not bother to ask about the version or Exchange.

Thanks again for everyone's help

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