iPhone Outlook syncing with IMAP, then syncing with PC

Question

Level 1

119 points

iPhone Outlook syncing with IMAP, then syncing with PC

Hello,

Is it possible to sync the phone "over the air" for Outlook e-mail via IMAP, and then do a sync with the PC to actually update all the calendars and folders. Has anyone tried this and does it work okay?

Has anyone tried this with a PC at work and a Mac at home and synced with both, with the music library (and activation system) residing on the Mac?

- Matt

Mac OS X (10.4)

Posted on Aug 26, 2007 10:37 AM

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Answer 1

Aug 26, 2007 11:33 AM in response to Matt Domenici

If the Exchange Admin for your Exchange account provides for IMAP account access, you can access your Exchange account as an IMAP account with the iPhone and all server stored mailboxes and messages within will be available and will be kept synchronized with the server. Nothing else can be synchronized over the air. Synchronizing Outlook calendar events and contacts is done only via iTunes and a USB connection with the Windows PC. You can select these items only to sync via iTunes preferences for your iPhone when synchronizing with your Windows PC and other items such as Music and Video only when synchronizing the iPhone with your Mac.

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Answer 2

Matt Domenici Author

Level 1

119 points

Aug 26, 2007 11:38 AM in response to Allan Sampson

Thanks Alan, the use case you cited is precisely the one I'm looking for.

Basically, I'd like to:
- Over the air sync IMAP for Outlook mail (which my admin has enabled)
- Over the air sync my personal mail boxes (which are IMAP and are not associated with the exchange server above)
- Sync my calendars with Outlook for work (which I assume I need to do when attached to the PC)
- Sync my .Mac Calendars and Contacts for home
- Sync my music library with my Mac at home

I have a PC at work and a Mac at home, have you had any luck getting this to work?

- Matt

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Answer 3

Aug 26, 2007 11:55 AM in response to Matt Domenici

Exchange account as an IMAP account - no problem.

Accessing another personal email account as an IMAP account is no problem either.

The iPhone has a single address book and calendar database for each. You can't sync your business calendar events and address book contacts separately with your personal calendar events and contacts with iCal and the Address Book on your Mac but you can keep all synchronized between the two computers. You can't have a separate calendar and address book for each with the iPhone.

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Answer 4

Matt Domenici Author

Level 1

119 points

Aug 26, 2007 12:01 PM in response to Allan Sampson

Hi Alan,

Thanks for your reply. I don't mind having a view of "both" on the iPhone, but I don't want my personal contacts and personal calendars getting mixed up on my work Outlook account. So I was hoping Outlook would just send/sync Outlook contacts to the phone. Is that possible?

- Matt

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Answer 5

Aug 26, 2007 12:22 PM in response to Matt Domenici

You can't sync business and personal calendar events and contacts separately or keep these separate.

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Answer 6

Matt Domenici Author

Level 1

119 points

Aug 26, 2007 12:28 PM in response to Allan Sampson

I'm sorry, I don't understand...

I don't need/want to keep the separate on the iPhone (or .Mac for that matter either) -- I just don't want my personal contacts/calendars to move into Outlook on the PC. Can you not specify which groups of contacts sync with Outlook for the PC?

Do you sync your iPhone in both places (work and home) like this?

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Answer 7

Matt Domenici Author

Level 1

119 points

Jul 6, 2008 9:59 PM in response to Matt Domenici

So you can sync over IMAP to do e-mail just fine. iPhone 2.0 will address the issues with people wanting to do full over the air syncing.

As for calendars, on the present iPhone software, you can sync a specific calendar with iCal -- but not with Outlook. Outlook syncs everything. It isn't clear in iPhone 2.0 if this limitation goes away or not.

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