iphone4 synch problem with outlook calendar

I installed iOS 4.2.1 and am still unable to sync new calendar events in either direction, Outlook to iPhone or iPhone to Outlook.

I had this problem today after the upgrade to 4.2. I noticed that on the iphone in settings for the outlook account I had calendar and contacts off, even though I had contact data and calendar data synced via itunes. As soon as I switched them on, then the calendar would sync over the air with exchange both ways as it was supposed to.

(I was thinking of taking my trusty Nokia E71 off ebay and sending this phone back!)

Is the "calendar and contacts settings for the outlook" new to iOS V4.2?
I do not see those settings on my 3Gs iPhone with iOS V4.1???

Under Contacts: all I have is sort order and display order and a button to import SIM contacts.

Under Calendars: all I have is "new invitation alerts" on or off ... what this does I do not know,
and
Time Zone Support setting

A new problem for me.

Every time I go to sync my iphone, I get 2 boxes with the following messages:
Itunes has stopped working - windows is checking for a solution to the problem
Itunes has stopped working - A problem has caused the program to stop working correctly, Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is found.

then it closes the program down.....

I haven't touched any settings, I haven't done anything differently apart from downloading the updates to Safari and Iphone as recommended.

p.s. I cannot now download any of my music from my pc to my phone.......... I have an empty library

Well all seems to still be working. On your phone check settings, general, about - scroll down to see that you have version 4.2.1, the latest. back to settings and you are correct that the old version used to show Snyc under calandar. It does not exist in version 4.2.1. Doesnt seem to matter. On your computer, load itones, click on you device in left panel and select your phone which needs to be connected to the computer with you cable. The first page will also show you what version you have on your phone and give you the option to update if it is out of date. now select the info tab at the top middle of the page and click. You must have a check mark next to sync contacts with, then select outlook, then highlight the round button for all contacts. You must perform the same selections for calendars. I also sync with bookmarks (from I.E. in my case) and notes. the advanced is not needed. NOw go to bottom right of screen and click Sync. Try that and see if it works.

yuezhang448:

In the USA, Microsoft tends to release updates only on the 2nd Tuesday of the month - 11/10/2010 was the last time. There were several that were released that targeted problems with the Office system or with Outlook. Do you know the know which update caused the issue? The KB number?

If so, others like myself could try uninstalling this update and seeing if the problem was resolved.

thanks!

KB2289158 seemed the most likely candidate to me. From what I read, it was released (in the U.S., anyway) on November 9; my machine installed it November 11, about the time I started having issues. I uninstalled that update but was still stuck with the same results. I then uninstalled the entire Office Enterprise 2007 and reinstalled through Office 2007 SP2. Same inability to sync the calendar. I pulled the old Outlook.pst from the hard drive I'd replaced on November 9. The calendar from that file does sync. I've since pulled in contacts and email messages from the current through this morning Outlook.pst which I'm now thinking must have been corrupted.

From here I'll make a backup of the working Outlook.pst, then pull in the calendar entries made after November 9. If I can do that I'll consider applying the rest of the Office 2007 updates. I'll be pretty confident at that point that something happened along the way to munge my Outlook.pst file.

I will post again with results.

utilajeff & yuezhang448:
Thanks for sharing the results of your efforts on this problem!

Have either of you run the ScanPST utility on your Outlook files?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/287497

When I upgraded to iOS 4.1 on my 3Gs and iTunes 10.0.1.x I had some funny issues that were resolved by running ScanPST. The tool reported that it had found and corrected some minor errors - after that the sync. was happy again. It might be the case that the Microsoft patches have caused corruption that the ScanPST can fix...

I'm going to try that myself as soon as I get back to my sync-PC

test posting

I just ran ScanPST ... it found minor issues which it corrected (In understand this is not unusual).

I tried to sync. again ... no luck Calendar still will not sync.

Perhaps this is the result of recent security patches my Microsoft, but would it be too much to ask for iTunes to warn us that the sync. actually NOT succesfully completed - count the number of calendar entries on the iPhone / count them in Outlook - compare the result?

Yes, I ran ScanPST but as with your experience, jimbob5941, it did not correct the problem. (Though it did say it found and corrected other problems.) Unfortunately Outlook 2007 hung ⚠ when I tried to open it with the repaired Outlook.pst. I had backed up Outlook.pst before trying the repair so I simply replaced the file with my backup.

At some point (maybe Monday) I will apply the security updates I lack since my reinstall of Outlook 2007. (Of course I'll have a current Outlook.pst backup on hand.) I would like to know whether the security updates caused the problem in a reproducible way. I'd report it then. My complicating factor is migrating to a larger hard drive at about the time my problems began. I can't discount that process as the cause of my problems. (I'm glad I've got the drive. These .pst backups cost me 6GB every time I make and keep one!)

P.S. I agree; it would be nice if iTunes reported an unsuccessful sync.

ubilajeff
I discovered my problem when i got a message in the sync process of itones that the calendar would not sync. everything seems to still be working since my last post and fix.