iPhone sync conflict

Captino: Thanks, but I tried this method 3 times before I asked the question here. Alas, it didn't work. What would be really helpful is to know which field in Outlook the iPhone uses to determine alphabetical order. Does anybody know?

Dumb question: how do you over write the contacts with the Outlook file?

Also, my sync errors involve my prior phones, including the 3GS and the iPhone 4 (I now have a 4S and this is the first time I have had these errors). Out of the 71 sync errors I am getting, the majority of them involve the 3GS and the straight 4. Why would the 4S be syncing with the 3GS and the 4?

I am so frustrated at this point that I am serioulsy considering returning the 4s.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Gator,

To overrite whatever is on your phone with the data that's in Outlook, do the following:

Plug in your phone to the computer and run iTunes

iTunes should recognize your phone. Click on your phone in the left-hand column of iTunes

Now, click on ""Info" which is a menu item across the top of the screen

scroll down to "Advanced" There you'll see a list of file types that you can over-ride on a one-time basis. In other words, if you check off the "Contact" box, the next time you sync your iPhone the program will override all of your iPhone contacts with the contact information that is in your Outlook program.

Please note, that I have discovered that my own instructions to curtail this problem (the sync-conflict manager telling you that there is a conflict between your iPhone info and your Outlook info and asking you to choose which file gets overwritten) are NOT WORKING. It seemed to work when I first tried it, but then one or two syncs later I seemed to have the problem back. I am stumped.

Sorry! I hope Apple figures out a fix for this annoying problem.

This is about Calendar only...I still have problems with contact syncing, but solved my problem with calendar. Often it is a conflict over the default calendar being different on the PC and the iPhone4 I don't know about the other phones , it is probably the same since Apple continues to spit in Microsoft's face by spitting in ours!

When you open Calendar you will see how many Calendars the iPhone thinks you have in Outlook. It is on the top bar, right in the middle..."X Calendars". (1) Next, go to Settings >Calendars (last on the list) >Default Calendars. You will probably see different colored dots with the names of the various Calendars the iPhone recognizes from Outlook. There should be the same number as in "X" as mentioned above.

(2) Now go to your phone Calendar and select a date with no entries. (3) Hit the + sign (upper right) and enter any word you want in the "Title" line and hit "Done", also in upper right. (4)This takes you back to the "Add Event" page. (5) Now, the key thing to do is to look near the bottom of the page where it says "Calendar" and touch that. This takes you to the page with the different calendars and their pretty little dots. (6) Pick the first one. (7) REPEAT this process with another, but DIFFERENT date, and choose the next dot (calendar) down. Repeat this as often as the number of calendars shown.

(8) Sync with your computer. Only one of the "new dates" will appear and you now know to go back to Settings, etc. and pick that choice as the default calendar to sync. (9)Then make sure that next time you enter a new event you repeat steps 4 and 5 making certain the discovered syncing calendar is checked. This should become the default after repeating this a couple of times. You MUST make sure to use the same Outlook calendar when you enter new dates first on the PC and not the iPhone

It looks more daunting than it is. Three of my friends have used this and now everything seems OK after more than a year.

Please note that if you only have only 1 showing when you first open Calendars, then I don't know if this is applicable. If you use multiple Outlook Calendars it becomes much more complicated, So, I admit this is only partially useful. But if you're using multiple Outlook Calendars you're probably on a Blackberry. LOL

Finally, it would seem that if we knew: 1) Which Outlook line or field Apple uses to sync with it would at least allow us to get CONTACTS in the right alpha order; 2) if there is a limit to additional info, viz. notes, extra address entries, etc before causing trouble, that would be very helpful. I refuse to pay Apple just because they refuse to fix their continuing problem and my phone has gone past the free help date. The other pay "help sites" are useful about .01% of the time. Maybe a techie or geek (god bless them) knows???

Message was edited by: pbarlow00 Sorry, but the iTunes.>info>advanced>sync with computer this time only has failed me too many times to count.

Just to understand, my problem started with the iPhone 4S. What I don't get is why when the Contact conflict box pops up, some of the conflicts are with my old 3GS and the iPhone 4. If I am syncing my 4S with Outlook, why shoujd the 3GS and 4 play any role in the syncing of contacts whatsoever?

I am going to try to sync my iPhone 4 and if it works without any problems, I will post.

I justw went to sync my iPhone 4 and the Conflict Resolver popped up. Now, to be clear, the iPhone 4 is connected, not the 4S and not the 3GS. Yet it is showing conflicts betwen Outlook and the 4S, and conflicts between the 3GS and the 4S! ***?

All I can guess is something got corrupted somewhere. I wonder if doing a complete uninstall of iTunes would help. Is that possible? How much would I lose if I did that?

Gator,

Did it once on advice of Apple. Depending on how many pictures , songs, contacts, apps,etc. it can take several hours to re-sync.....and then you will have ................Exactly the same problems.......... By the way, you'll lose some things into the great beyond! They know the problem and just won't fix it! Before I switch to a Mac to stop the problem, I will switch to either an Android or a Nokia, who makes the best phones anyway, when they start using the (dreaded but working) Microsoft system. We all asked after the 2,3, 3G, 4. Now the 4S has the same problem, Only 2 possibilities: they can't fix it, in which case we all shouldn't buy it, or they just don't give a &$)_#@ about the customers who dare use Outlook, which is only the world's most used software. I have had every iPhone on the day of release, not this one and never again.

While I'm venting, forget the "cloud" which is the most abused use of a word in technology. It is a **** server using tons of energy and subject to a massive cyber attack, How long before the charges grow and grow? Yes, I know it isn't just Apple, but let me ask a question: A friend just went in to buy the newest iPhone. He asked for 32 gigs. The Apple store said, "oh, just use the cloud, you don't need the extra gigs"!!!! They don't want the extra money? Yeah, sure. It will be just like HP and the others who sell the all-in-one printer, fax, scanner on the cheap. The $ come from the ink. Got a feeling the cloud is going to get a little inky for users. Red ink.

Don't know if this has fixed the problem permanently but i just did the following and it seemed to work. I use Windows 7 so the path to find this file might be different under a different OS.

What I did was to rename the file called conflicts.synconflicts I renamed it to conflictsold.synconflicts the .synconflicts is the extension so you can't rename that. I then restarted my computer, opened iTunes and connected my iPhone. It ran thru the full sync without any conflict errors. I only synced it once and a second sync may cause the problem to reappear but I am too chicken to try it right now. LOL!

Here is where I dound the file in Windows 7:

OS(C:) Users/(USER NAME)/AppData/Roaming/Apple Computer/SyncServices/Local/conflicts/conflicts.synconflicts

I will report back if this doesn't stick the next time I sync the phone.

@Gator5000e: This solution worked perfectly -- even after numerous follow-up syncs.

Note that the filename is conflicts.synconflict (no "s" on the end). This initially caused my file search to fail, but I found it with the path you provided.

Thanks!

MD

Just to be clear, you can rename any part of any file not in use by the computer - including the extension. The extension merely lets the computer know what programs can use/access that kind of file.

I simply deleted the file and restarted iTunes. No more sync conflict. We'll see if it reappears once my wife comes home to sync her phone.

Thank you G8or5ke. 80 minutes on the phone to Apple with them hanging up failed to answer this!

Now all I have to do is work out why some addresses in my contacts are duplicated on the iPhone but not in the equivalent Outlook Contact - even if I select the replace iPhone Contacts option.

I am yet one more user with the same problem through 3G,3GS and now 4. So far this suggestoin has worked and now it has explained why some of my contact updates just disappear. Thank you! I think this will work, so far I rebooted twice and ran Sync several times.

WTG

@ Gator 5000e

I tested to solve my long long problem with sync conflicts via renaming the "conflicts.synconflicts" file as described and it worked. Great thanks !

First sync; no problems (no conflict message appreared)

Second sync; resulted in reapprearance of few sync conflicts and some lost data (e.g. phone numbers in some contacts were lost ??, have no clue why but seems to be a mix of 2 calenders with deviating content)

Third sync; worked again with no problems (also after review of the sync settings for the contacts)

Notes; Using iPhone as master and main inteface for changes (overwriting outlook in my laptop). iPhone4 (OS4..., not yet upgraded). Windows Vista in laptop (and with corporate firewall causing some problems). Do not use "cashed exchange mode" in Microsoft Server settings when syncing (removing tick & restarting MS Outlook prior to sync).

cannot access conflicts fix.

i think i've cracked it. not sure if it was the reduction in a long note i had on the phone but i also turned off backup encryption. i then resync'd and no issues ;-)

Hope this works for you. let me know

I've got the same problem. Seems like it's an iTunes running on Windows issue.

I'm guessing it happened with the Mobile Me rollout & happening again with iCloud.

Wish Apple would acknowledge the problem & commit to a fix date.