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Outlook Sync using live mesh RRS feed

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    Is it possible to keep two instances of Outlook in Sync using live mesh.

    I am using mesh very succesfully for my documents and it is wonderfull.

    How refreshing it would be to see a calendar entry on my laptop suddenly appear on my desk top, complete with formatting such as catagories would be wonderfull. The best thing so far is with gmail and google calendars vbut they are not perfect.

    is this really so difficult?

    Please help.
    Sunday, May 10, 2009 7:33 PM

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    Hi,
    I can see why you think Mesh should be able to handle this (and you're right, it should be able to and in the future WILL be able to) but in the meantime a perfectly adequate solution exists already.

    You can maintain your calendar at http://calendar.live.com (aka Live Calendar) and use the free Outlook Connector to sync it to Outlook where you can add to it or edit existing entries and everything will get synced back up to Live Calendar any any other machine on which you have installed Outlook Connector.
    Alternatively you can maintain your calendar in google calendar (or in fact any calendar service under the sun that publishes calendars in icalendar format), subscribe to it at http://calendar.live.com and, as before, keep it in sync with Outlook using the Outlook connector.

    I believe this will give you everything you need as long as you are not averse to keepng your calendar "in the cloud".

    Learn more about Live Calendar here: http://www.windowslive.com/Online/Calendar
    Learn more about Outlook Connector here: http://www.windowslive.com/Connect/Tag/outlook%20connector#1

    Hope that helps.

    -Jamie
    http://jamiethomson.spaces.live.com/ | http://blogs.conchango.com/jamiethomson | @jamiet
    Sunday, May 10, 2009 8:08 PM
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    It is one of the top suggestions for Live Mesh, but the answer for now is, no.

     

    Live Mesh Beta: Suggestions - Go cast your vote!


    Please add your vote to the suggestion.

    I'll add that the best way currently to do this with Outlook is to switch your email to a Hosted Exchange provider or follow Jamie's suggestion to switch to Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live Calendar to sync your Mail, Calendar, and Contacts using the Outlook Connector for Outlook.

    -steve

    Microsoft MVP Windows Live / Windows Live OneCare & Live Mesh Forum Moderator
    Monday, May 11, 2009 1:12 PM
    Moderator
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    I can totally understand why this is not supported at this point... its not about us that are testing this - its about the normal user that shoul dbe able to easily setup and use this service...

    Just think of the possible issues realted to this and syncing if both machines are are - or somehow were both recieving emails into that didaster of a .pst file at the same time - Live mesh woul dneed to try to figure out what aspects of each file were changed.. its more about looking at when the file itself changed or was updated....

    I could see that leading to a sync nightmare and with a .pst thats a major issue..

    I know in my case I am pusing a gig for my .pst... its a pain to even just backup and its right on the verge of total coruption all the time..

    There are some work arounds for updating the remote machine - but they are all a pain...

    I simply gave up and now do the following...

    I keep copies of all email only on my laptop - so each evening I return and get all my daily emails to my main system where I sort them etc..

    The only issue with this is two fold - one is its double the work - 2 is that on a weekly basis I just copy my home machine outlook and archive files to my laptop - it works well for me becase I just use my blackberry and laptop as todo lists...

    The issue comes down to reply emails....

    I have lately just been copying the contents of my "sent items" to a folder in Live mesh - then it syncs back and I merge them.... this is all a real pain in the end thou..

    I think in the real world we will all be going to IMAP and this would all be solved... or if I could I would just go to webmail

    But I cannot so here I am waiting like the rest for another solution..

    Monday, May 11, 2009 5:55 PM
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    In your case, with only ywo machines to keep in sync, you may want to look at a 3rd party solution that handles the sync of the data within a pst file between two machines. I used a program called PSTSync for quite a while, but synchronizing with multiple machines was problematic - deletions on machine a would sync to machine b, but then when synchronizing with machine c, the items were brought back to machine a as "new" items. That typically didn't happen with 2 machines. There are other solutions that typically cost around US$50 that do the job. I went to Hosted Exchange for $8.95 per month with Sherweb and love it.
    -steve
    Microsoft MVP Windows Live / Windows Live OneCare & Live Mesh Forum Moderator
    Monday, May 11, 2009 6:24 PM
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    There's another important point to make here. Mesh is, first and foremost, a synchronisation platform. The file sync that you see today at mesh.com is simply an application built upon that platform.

    Being that its a platform it is available for other products to fully utilise and that includes Outlook. The point being that this request shouldn't be going to the Mesh team, it should be being made to the Outlook team.

    -Jamie
    http://jamiethomson.spaces.live.com/ | http://blogs.conchango.com/jamiethomson | @jamiet
    Tuesday, May 12, 2009 6:35 AM