CarlB56

Q: iTunes 12 Still doesn't sync w/Outlook Notes

iPad2 and iPhone 68 Plus unable to sync Outlook Notes from my Windows PC using iTunes 12.3.0.44. I've read and read but have seen ZERO solutions to this issue. Prior to updating to iTunes 12 AND iOS 9, there was an option to sync Outlook Notes. It is now gone! Very frustrating searching Apple and Microsoft to find the solution and finding none -- other than potentially uninstalling iTunes and re-installing an earlier version.

iPhone 6 Plus, iOS 9

Posted on Sep 22, 2015 12:52 PM

Close

Q: iTunes 12 Still doesn't sync w/Outlook Notes

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

Page 1 of 3 last Next
  • by Ziggy142,

    Ziggy142 Ziggy142 Sep 23, 2015 4:14 PM in response to CarlB56
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 23, 2015 4:14 PM in response to CarlB56

    The solution I found was rather cumbersome but it worked. iTunes automatically syncs Outlook Notes but there are no options to control this and if you upgrade to iOS 9 and the latest iTunes, your Notes will get scrambled.

     

    So this is how I did it. I dragged all my (unscrambled) Notes to a folder and then deleted them all from Outlook and my iPhone 5. Then I laboriously copied the contents of every Note in that folder to a new Note in Outlook, all 51 of them. Then I synced my iPhone with iTunes and voila - all back to normal, no strange messages about my iPhone disconnecting before Notes were synced. It's all back the way it was.

     

    I hope that this helps. Cheers, Ziggy

  • by lawrencefrommarina del rey,

    lawrencefrommarina del rey lawrencefrommarina del rey Oct 7, 2015 3:10 PM in response to Ziggy142
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 7, 2015 3:10 PM in response to Ziggy142

    This worked!

     

    Thank you.

     

    Lawrence

  • by Nonhominem,

    Nonhominem Nonhominem Oct 11, 2015 9:15 PM in response to CarlB56
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 11, 2015 9:15 PM in response to CarlB56

    I tried all sorts. Nada.

     

    In the end, I had to do the same thing as CarlB56, with a little nuance.

     

    Environment: Windows-7 Ultimate Edition, Office 2007, iTunes 12.3.0.44, iPhone 6 Plus, iOS 9.0.2

     

    - In "Settings"->"Mail, Contacts, Calendars"->"Accounts"->[MyEmailAcct]->  Make sure the "Notes" button is set to Green (button to the right).

    - In Outlook I highlighted all my Notes.

    - Right click and selected "Moved to Folder"

    - I selected the "New" button.

    - Entered "NotesBkup" in the "Name" field and hit "OK"

    - Here's where Outlook got weird ... it popped up a warning dialogue saying it might take some time to move the items, which I "OK" acknowledged. BUT, instead of copying/moving the Notes to the new folder, it copied them to all to a Mail Draft as Attachments! Go figure.

     

    So then I just did what Carl did.

    - For each Note, I created a "New" Note in Outlook, then I did Copy/Paste from the Note attachment in the email draft, to the new Note in Outlook.

    - Once I'd reproduced each Note, I then re-synched the iPhone6Plus ... all Notes properly synched this time.

    - I test-edited a Note on the iPhone and re-synched with iTunes. It synched the change.

    - I test-edited a Note in Outlook and re-synched with iTunes. It also synched that change.

     

    Important observations: It didn't make duplicate Notes entries, it didn't scramble any, and it didn't lose any. So, I guess I declare this issue resolved, using CarlB56's solution. Kudos Carl ... lose 200 House Points, Apple, and send the engineer responsible to detention with Professor Snape.

  • by dan.wills,

    dan.wills dan.wills Oct 12, 2015 2:31 PM in response to Nonhominem
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 12, 2015 2:31 PM in response to Nonhominem

    as  combination of Ziggy124 and Nonhominem, i deleted all notes from outlook and then on the phone.

    from my outlook Deleted items, i could easily find my notes, opened each one, copied, and created new items/moreitems/note, and pasted.

    voila - i seem to be able to edit on either the phone or in outlook, and it's stopped telling me my phone disconnected during sync.

    now to copy/paste all of my old notes.

  • by Nonhominem,

    Nonhominem Nonhominem Oct 12, 2015 5:07 PM in response to dan.wills
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 12, 2015 5:07 PM in response to dan.wills

    It actually only worked ONCE. After I experimented with the synching back-and-forth, it stopped working again. Nothing I did could get it to re-synch Notes in any way. On the advice of another thread I downloaded AkrutoSync and got Notes back on my iPhone6Plus using that. I only ever bought an iPhone because it could replace my iPod, defunct PalmPilot, and Phone. The most important of which was the PalmPilot's multiple functions. So, if Apple isn't going to fix this any time soon - and I see no evidence to suggest they even care about it - as I'm not in a contract, I'll ditch this iPhone and I won't upgrade my iPad. I'll switch to Windows-based products for my Tablet and Phone, and revert to just using my old iPod in the car. I'm just really astonished that Apple hasn't addressed this problem with its consumer base, because it's a major issue for a lot of us ... maybe I shouldn't be astonished, because this is exactly how Apple became after Steve Jobs was ousted in 1985 and they put a series of wannabe's in charge of the company who destroyed consumer confidence in the company's products so thoroughly that Apple almost went bankrupt. Are they repeating history now that Steve isn't around to keep them focused? I'm starting to wonder if that's the case.

  • by lawrencefrommarina del rey,

    lawrencefrommarina del rey lawrencefrommarina del rey Oct 19, 2015 10:29 PM in response to Ziggy142
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 19, 2015 10:29 PM in response to Ziggy142

    And the latest iOS update caused the same problem to return.

     

    But, found a sweet solution.

     

    Found a little macro to export each note to its own txt (Notepad) file, deleted all the notes in both Outlook and in the iPhone, then recreated each note in Outlook by copying the contents of each txt file into a newly created note.

     

    The export macro took 5 seconds to create and 3 seconds to run.  Here's the site with super easy to follow steps:

    http://h0w2.blogspot.com/2013/03/how-to-convert-outlook-notes-to-be-text.html

     

    Lawrence

  • by Ziggy142,

    Ziggy142 Ziggy142 Oct 20, 2015 3:34 PM in response to lawrencefrommarina del rey
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 20, 2015 3:34 PM in response to lawrencefrommarina del rey

    Hi Lawrence,

     

    I tried doing this manually because I only had around 50 notes. I copied the notes from Outlook to text files on my computer and deleted them from Outlook. I also deleted all the notes from my iPhone. Then I laboriously created new Outlook notes by pasting from those text files and essentially recreated all the notes.

     

    It worked once. The second sync completely ignored the notes and watching the iTunes activity bar on the sync showed that iTunes did not even try to sync Notes at all. It has been like that ever since - no error messages, nothing telling me that my iPhone disconnected before Notes could sync. It just ignores Notes completely.

     

    I contacted Apple Support and spoke to a consultant who received all the details of this problem. He told me that it appears to be an incompatibility between the text-only Notes format in Outlook and the new rich-text format of iPhone Notes. Check this article:

     

    http://tidbits.com/article/15948

     

    It states - "Before you perform the upgrade, it’s also important to note that the syncing protocol has changed as well to provide increased speed and reliability, so Notes will no longer sync via IMAP or Microsoft Outlook once you upgrade."

     

    That says it all. I think that it's now a matter for Apple programmers and software engineers to somehow restore text-only synchronisation between the iPhone Notes app and the Outlook Notes app. I don't think that beating our heads against the wall trying all the remedies in this forum will do anything because it's a compatibility and software programming issue that only Apple and Microsoft can solve by making their respective Notes apps compatible and Apple restoring the Notes sync to iTunes.

  • by Ziggy142,

    Ziggy142 Ziggy142 Oct 20, 2015 3:35 PM in response to lawrencefrommarina del rey
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 20, 2015 3:35 PM in response to lawrencefrommarina del rey

    Further to my previous post here, I should have said that the Apple consultant has sent this issue to the engineers to see if it can be resolved and I am now awaiting his report and a hopeful solution.

  • by lawrencefrommarina del rey,

    lawrencefrommarina del rey lawrencefrommarina del rey Oct 20, 2015 4:42 PM in response to Ziggy142
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 20, 2015 4:42 PM in response to Ziggy142

    Thanks Ziggy.

     

    It turns out my solution worked...for 12 hours.  <sigh>

     

    Appreciate you taking the effort to raise the flag at Apple.  Helpful article, too.

     

    Lawrence

  • by lawrencefrommarina del rey,

    lawrencefrommarina del rey lawrencefrommarina del rey Oct 21, 2015 1:45 PM in response to Ziggy142
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 21, 2015 1:45 PM in response to Ziggy142

    Update...

     

    Just upgraded to Windows iTunes 12.3.1.23 and iOS 9.1.

     

    Sync bug not resolved.

     

    Lawrence

  • by dan.wills,

    dan.wills dan.wills Oct 22, 2015 3:24 PM in response to lawrencefrommarina del rey
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 22, 2015 3:24 PM in response to lawrencefrommarina del rey

    ditto, what Lawrence said. My enthusiasm was premature - stopped working again the next day.

  • by lawrencefrommarina del rey,

    lawrencefrommarina del rey lawrencefrommarina del rey Oct 22, 2015 10:20 PM in response to dan.wills
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 22, 2015 10:20 PM in response to dan.wills

    I need a cross-platform solution for notes and I cannot afford to wait for Apple.  So, I'm testing out MS OneNote.

     

    Lawrence

  • by vickiefromkingman,

    vickiefromkingman vickiefromkingman Oct 31, 2015 2:40 PM in response to Nonhominem
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 31, 2015 2:40 PM in response to Nonhominem

    Going to give this a try.   Can't hurt anything!

Page 1 of 3 last Next