Outlook 2007, NetCentrics add-in and the new iPhone 3G S

[Toby Jarvis]

G'day folks,

I've scoured this forum, the iTunes App Store and the rest of the web and can't find a definitive answer to the question:

Can I sync Outlook 2007 Contacts, Calendar, Tasks (with categories) and Notes (with categories) with the new iPhone 3G S?

I make full use of NetCentrics' Outlook add-in, including categorised Tasks for my projects and next actions and categorised Notes for things like checklists. Outlook is the centre of my GTD system, even though I'm using a Mac (yeah yeah, I know...).

I'd like to be able to extend this to my portable world, i.e. a smartphone. My current Nokia 6220 Classic doesn't quite handle the Tasks and Notes well enough, although it mostly does the job.

From what I can see:

• iTunes itself deals with syncing the Contacts and Calendar between PC and iPhone
• To sync Tasks and Notes, you need to run a separate iPhone App such as MyChapura (soon to be discontinued), iMExchange, iMTasks, TaskTask, iTaskPro or iMLite Viewer.

Can anyone shed any more light on this and tell me whether or not the iPhone will do what I need?

If not, I'll look to some of the others. However, after my day-long test of a Palm Treo 750 I had trouble syncing Notes; ActiveSync insisted that the Notes had changed on both phone and PC, even though they'd changed only on the PC.

Cheers,

Toby

 

[shelzmike]

This is a good question and I am in the same boat, though I want to use my Ipod Touch, which essentially is the same issue as you with your iPhone. If I find anything, I will post it here.

Mike

 

[mcogilvie]

It is my understanding that some people sink tasks in Toodledo iphone app to Toodle web service to Outlook on PC via a 3rd party service. I have no personal knowledge of this, but I can recommend Toodledo. Look on their web site for more information.

 

[Toby Jarvis]

Thanks Mike, I look forward to hearing what you find out.

mcogilvie - I checked out the Toodledo website before and it has the follwing to say:

----
Synchronizing your Outlook task list with Toodledo requires the installation of a free third-party application that is developed by a company called "Chromatic Dragon Software".

Installation
For information about downloading and installing the "ToodledoSync" tool for Outlook, please visit the Chromatic Dragon ToodledoSyncexternal link page.

Warning: We have received a number of complaints that the Outlook sync tool can sometimes accidentally delete all of your tasks from inside Toodledo. Please remember that Toodledo cannot be held responsible for misbehaving third-party applications.
----

Not only does the warning concern me (!), but it isn't clear to me from their page whether or not an internet connection is always required; I forgot to mention that I would like to sync between PC and phone directly rather than via the web, as I currently do with my Nokia.

The other apps that I've seen, e.g. iMExchange, appear to have the same issue of web reliance, as well as other things like not supporting task reminders.

Also the Notes sync issue isn't covered by these apps.

It's looking like the iPhone doesn't currently cater fully for Outlook GTDers...

Cheers,

Toby

 

[shelzmike]

Toodledo sounds okay at least for me. However, I am unclear at the warning they give. Does that mean it deletes tasks IN OUTLOOK? or just on Toodledo? Or where? If it is easy to use, I am willing to try it but NOT if there is a risk of it actually deleting things on my computer (my main hub). That would be bad!

I really need to get this taken care of though fairly quickly. It is holding me back a little at the moment.

Mike

 

[personjm]

I use iMexchange for tasks and notes. I too use netcentrics for outlook and the tasks translate well on the iphone with IMExchange.

 

[cquillian]

Toby,

While I do not use the add-in, I thought my experience might be useful to you. I had similar frustrations to yours a few weeks ago (I post few few notes here, so try looking for others by cquillian). However, I genuinely do have a set up that works for my task management now and am very happy with it:

Outlook -- Chromatic Dragon Outlook Sync tool -- Toodledo.com -- Toodledo's iPhone app

I, too, feel a little funny about having the website in between. However, it has not been an issue at all. I manage my tasks on Outlook and on my iPhone; I only very rarely ever consult Toodledo.com.

In particular, I was nervous about installing on my work computer what to me seemed like a random piece of software written by some unknown person. But I held my breath and took the plunge. It happens that the developer has been very courteous, responsive and pleasant to work with. Furthermore, the Outlook Sync tool for me has worked quite well and just as advertised.

Hope this helps somewhat; good luck.

Christine

 

[der56]

Setup

cquillian, could you share your set up? For example, do you have your Outlook categories synced to the Toodledo folders or contexts? I was encouraged by your post and just downloaded a trial of the NetCentric Add-in.

 

[cquillian]

Der56,

My Outlook categories are the same as my folders in Toodledo. Since I've generally been happy working with Outlook's categories, I have not taken the time to figure out what to do with Toodledo's "contexts." I think this is because I have not taken the time to think about how Toodledo's contexts "map" to Outlook, or even if they would at all.

Note, however, that I am not using the NetCentric Add-In, though I did download the paper that suggests how to manually configure Outlook to potentially make it more GTD-friendly. I do not know how or if the add-in would make a difference to my set up. The download that I did was of Chromatic Dragon's Outlook Sync software, which connects Outlook with Toodledo.com.

Again, I hope this is helpful; good luck!

Christine

 

[CaptColeman]

Outlook reminders - Syncing w/Toodledo

Hi cquillian:

I have the same setup as you describe... Question for you: If you create a new task w/in Outlook and set a reminder.... Does the reminder information sync to your Toodledo account?

I don't receive push notification reminders on my iPhone when creating a new task in Outlook. The reminders do; however, function properly when creating the task on the iPhone and/or directly on the Toodledo website.

Thanks for any advice!
-Ryan

 

[Toby Jarvis]

Left turn

Thanks for all the replies. It's been interesting seeing the various solutions that people have come up with.

As an update, I've now taken a left turn and migrated completely to Omnifocus on both the Mac and iPhone. I was running Windows on a Mac, which aren't the best bedfellows, so it made sense to use the Mac wherever possible.

It took a little while to get used to Omnifocus but now I find it does everything I need, both at the computer and on the move.