end result will be the same... Now or later 
I know I can upload all my contact info to google as .csv, but why OH WHY did they design this thing that will not simply sync with my outlook calendar and contacts. Unbelievable. My iPad was seamless, flawless, simple.
It could be because Outlook and Outlook Express are obsolete programs. The new program is Live Mail which looks like an updated easier to use version of Outlook.
not that obsolete I'd imagine - neither of us may like the fact the MS has tens of millions of installed OS's w/outlook, but it doesnt change the fact that they do. And as I said, apple seemed to have managed to make it happen - and that's the last mfgr you'd think would go out of their way to accommodate all us luddite reactionaries.
Outlooks is obsolete...
MS has already stopped offering the lighter versions, and also are planning on dropping Outlook from their Office Suite. Also you need licensing with MS to include syncing to outlook. They are replacing a lot of their stuff with "online" solutions like everyone else is to stay competitive.
Regardless, there are countless operations with contacts in some form of outlook - calendars notwithstanding - and it's inane to presume one should either lose the granularity of the data with a .csv upload or else be required to hand-enter our hundreds of contacts.
Well bring that up with MS as they are going to drop support for Outlook in the near future.
right; "good luck with that".
end result will be the same... Now or later
They don't offer it any more. Could not get it for Windows 7 and Windows 8 is right around the corner.
You can get it if you bought MS Office Business. Other than that you are SOL. With Windows 8 you will have the web based version.
Actually I have office pro, 2003, and VERY MUCH THANKS to Sally below, I found software to sync, "android-sync". 20 bucks but now I'm the proverbial happy camper. Hated to spend the money, but its done. After 45 minutes screwing with the download and setup, 30 seconds later my 450 contacts are finally on my razr along with my never-to-be-supported-ever-again-because-its-totally-obsolete-so-why-even-bother MS software, but now as an interim solution until I upload everything to the web where both google and homeland security can track my every phrase and all the friends I have that I've never met, this will work...
Seriously, thanks everyone for the help, especially SallyC - this has been bugging me for the last 2 months; twenty bucks was cheap.
posrazr wrote:
I know I can upload all my contact info to google as .csv, but why OH WHY did they design this thing that will not simply sync with my outlook calendar and contacts. Unbelievable. My iPad was seamless, flawless, simple.
Your premise is not true - the Razr (and any Android device) will sync with Outlook Calendar and Contacts. There are many different options depending on how you are using Outlook (personal pc, corporate exchange server, etc) and what and how you want to sync.
Here is a pretty complete list of software to sync Outlook and Exchange to an Android device. If you click on the software's title you will learn more about it and it often will show you how to set up the connection.
Thanks Sally. I googled everywhere over the last two months - even went into a V-store thinking they might do it for a fee, but no - and found one or two options but nothing like the link; just gave up and forgot about it until I got a "software uodate" yesterday, thought that might have been it - only to plug the phone into my computer and watch it fail again, which really set me off, especially when it looks like they spent time revising the "talk" screen icon....
The workstation sofware is another story btw - never seen anything work so slowly and I have an i7 with 24 gb ram so its not my box - but thanks again, hopefully this will work, even though I'm not too happy about the idea of it being an external option - and one it looks like I need to pay for.
Don't know what your situation is, but coming from a background where I used Outlook for email, contacts and calendar for as far back as I can remember, about a year ago I jumped over to gmail for email and contacts and Google calendar. I love it. The integration is very simple with an Android and it's also nice that whether I access those apps from my phone or the web, it's always in sync. It was easy for me to export my contacts and calendar from Outlook and import them into google. It's also very easy for me to back up my calendar and contacts just in case Google's servers loose the info (which I don't think is too likely).
It may not work for you but I just throw it out there if you are in the mood for making the switch. It's not hard, and I find it much easier to be working with Google than Outlook.
I probably go back that far which might explain my apprehension, but I do use gtalk/gmail everyday; just in the easy habit of outlook. I switched to this phone after years with a BB, so maybe with your recommendation and some of the other comments above I'll set it up - may as well take advandage of the phone, that sort of thing is one reason I got it (actually, I did try uploading my contacts once, got timed out 😐 and just gave up on that too, since it took so long to get it to the point where I could get started!)
Glad to hear you found a solution but I perfer CompanionLink..
Why would you be suprised that a Android (Linux) device support a Windows product when the are developing their own software to do the same thing... It should be clear why it takes a 3rd party software to give you this feature. Windows do not have 100% support of all platforms that are in the industry..
As for the iPad you do realize that it took a couple generation of Apple software to have this function and it does it through Activesync.
Yeah well I'm glad I do too, thanks.
Iirc companionlink is 50 bucks; I admit to not investigating all the nuances and finer points of the difference between the two, but then again all I really wanted was an interim solution to be ablle to carry my contacts around with me - even the calendar sync is somewhat secondary.
And wrt apple, well, nothing comes easily, I realize; my point was they did it and it seemed somewhat rote when I did the first sync on my iPad - thats an apple thing, they do make everything seem simple, don't they, as as such have perhaps given me an unrealistiqc expectation for a non-apple system; just shows my ignorance, I suppose.
The razr is nice; I'm still learning it - now that I have this minor hurdle out of the way I can appreciate some of the other things that it does better than other phones - I love that I can connect with my various computers remotely for instance..
posrazr wrote:
Yeah well I'm glad I do too, thanks.
The razr is nice; I'm still learning it - now that I have this minor hurdle out of the way I can appreciate some of the other things that it does better than other phones - I love that I can connect with my various computers remotely for instance..
Which application did you decide on to access your PCs, I have tried a number of them and I always found myelf using PhoneMyPC, which one you perfer?
Hmm. I was just using the app that came with the phone, "my files/file manager". Now you've peaked my interest.
Without an exchange server MS outlook is a figurative paperweight.
~D
Actually I dont think so. Maybe someday, but its been decent in an office environment - even a stand-alone one like I have. I admit all my friends seem to have migrated to google, but I actually like the desktop; i dont spend that much time in coffee shops...
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