Problems with Wi-Fi Sync

[StaticRick]

I recently got a Verizon iPhone 4 to replace my Blackberry. I had been using CL to sync Outlook BCM with the Blackberry and was very happy with that solution. I made the jump to the iPhone because there was a similar CL solution for it, in conjunction with DejaOffice.

I am having problems with the Wi-Fi that appear to be software related. I have been able to complete a sync once, but a large percentage of my BCM contacts did not sync with all of their fields. In other words, I have a whole bunch of contacts in DejaOffice that don't have phone numbers and/or email addresses, but they do in BCM.

I'll describe what I'm seeing and I hope that someone here can help me with this. I HAVE to have my BCM contacts on my phone. If I can't get this to work, I'll be returning the iPhone. I don't want to do that.

When I initiate a sync, CL says "Connecting..." and shows an empty progress bar. DejaOffice shows "Sending Data 100%" and a spinning pinwheel. This is all that happens. I have yet to see any progress in the progress bar. I have let this go for a couple of HOURS and this is all that I see. So far, this has ended in three different ways:
1. I left it overnight and when I came back to it in the morning, it appeared to have synced. There were no error messages on CL or the phone.
2. The sync fails with an error on CL that says "Unable to connect to server"
3. I manually cancel the sync in CL because I get tired of waiting for something to happen.

While attempting to sync, I am not running Outlook and I disabled Carbonite, thinking that this might have something to do with the error. No change.

I have about 3000 BCM contacts. How long should this ideally take to sync via WiFi?

I really don't want to go back to the Blackberry, but if I can't figure this out soon, then I'll be right back there. Help!?!

[StaticRick]

An Update:

I just completed another "sucessful" sync. From the time I initiated it to the time it completed was approximately 2 hours! This was not a purge. It should have only been updating changes. I still have the problem of MANY of my contacts that have phone numbers in BCM, not having them in DejaOffice.

Is there an update in the works that will cut down the sync time to something reasonable?

I am happy to answer any questions about my particular situation that the developers may have, if that helps to solve this problem. I can't take two hours to run a sync everytime!

[Thomas]

An Update:

I just completed another "sucessful" sync. From the time I initiated it to the time it completed was approximately 2 hours! This was not a purge. It should have only been updating changes. I still have the problem of MANY of my contacts that have phone numbers in BCM, not having them in DejaOffice.

Is there an update in the works that will cut down the sync time to something reasonable?

I am happy to answer any questions about my particular situation that the developers may have, if that helps to solve this problem. I can't take two hours to run a sync everytime!

We have submitted a new build to Apple for approval that addresses the issue with WiFi sync speed. Look for it in the iTunes Store soon.

[StaticRick]

Thank you. I hope that the new build is the solution.

Now I have to figure out why some of my contacts are losing their phone numbers when syncing.

[Thomas]

Thank you. I hope that the new build is the solution.

Now I have to figure out why some of my contacts are losing their phone numbers when syncing.

Hi Rick,

The new build of DejaOffice has been released. V 1.1.7. Please let me know if you are still having problems.

[StaticRick]

It syncs much faster now. Thanks. However, I'm still having a serious problem with many contacts from Business Contacts Manager not having phone numbers and other information in DejaContacts. It is not all of them and I can't figure out a pattern to which ones sync properly and which ones don't. They are from different creation dates, different customers, different ranges of the last time they were modified or even looked at.

When they do not sync properly, I get ONLY:
NAME
- First Name
- Last Name
Company
- Company
- Job Title
Internet
- Email
- Website

That's all that transfers. If I go into Edit the contact in DJO, all of the other fields which are filled in Outlook are blank in DJO. My BCM contacts have all been entered/created in a similar manner, so I know of no reason that some of them would be formatted differently. If I open up two contacts in Outlook BCM, one of which syncs fine and the other that doesn't, I can't tell any differences between the way they are setup. It appears that it is the same contacts that will not correctly sync, every time. I have not made a full list of the ones that won't sync (it would be about 600 total), but I have been keeping my eye on a few and they have never synced properly, no matter what I do.

Thomas, I am in desperate need of your help on this. Right now, I am carrying around two phones simply because I can't get CompanionLink and DejaOffice to work properly. I have scoured every setting in outlook, CL, and DJO. I have done multiple syncs, before and after the latest DJO release. I have tried some syncs with a purge of my contacts and some without. Nothing is working.

I just went through and counted how many of my contacts in the "H"s are not syncing correctly: 38 of 195 will not sync correctly. That's about 20%. If that holds true throughout, I have about 600 contacts that are not syncing properly. I was holding out hope that the new release would solve my problem, but it didn't. I HAVE to find a solution for this.

[Thomas]

It syncs much faster now. Thanks. However, I'm still having a serious problem with many contacts from Business Contacts Manager not having phone numbers and other information in DejaContacts. It is not all of them and I can't figure out a pattern to which ones sync properly and which ones don't. They are from different creation dates, different customers, different ranges of the last time they were modified or even looked at.

When they do not sync properly, I get ONLY:
NAME
- First Name
- Last Name
Company
- Company
- Job Title
Internet
- Email
- Website

That's all that transfers. If I go into Edit the contact in DJO, all of the other fields which are filled in Outlook are blank in DJO. My BCM contacts have all been entered/created in a similar manner, so I know of no reason that some of them would be formatted differently. If I open up two contacts in Outlook BCM, one of which syncs fine and the other that doesn't, I can't tell any differences between the way they are setup. It appears that it is the same contacts that will not correctly sync, every time. I have not made a full list of the ones that won't sync (it would be about 600 total), but I have been keeping my eye on a few and they have never synced properly, no matter what I do.

Thomas, I am in desperate need of your help on this. Right now, I am carrying around two phones simply because I can't get CompanionLink and DejaOffice to work properly. I have scoured every setting in outlook, CL, and DJO. I have done multiple syncs, before and after the latest DJO release. I have tried some syncs with a purge of my contacts and some without. Nothing is working.

I just went through and counted how many of my contacts in the "H"s are not syncing correctly: 38 of 195 will not sync correctly. That's about 20%. If that holds true throughout, I have about 600 contacts that are not syncing properly. I was holding out hope that the new release would solve my problem, but it didn't. I HAVE to find a solution for this.

Hi StaticRick,

WOW - the two phone syndrome. Not good.
I will definitely look into this for you.
Have you contacted the DejaOffice support team:

http://www.dejaoffice.com/support_contact.html

since this seems to be time sensitive I would contact them.
They will probably want a log file. I am posting the instructions for getting the file:

1. Open up CompanionLink Setup

2. Press CTRL + Shift and "L", press "OK" on "Logging Enabled."

3. Press CTRL + Shift and "D", minimize the Explorer window

4. Reproduce the steps that resulted in the issue (i.e. run a sync or go through the settings)

5. Open the folder from step 3 and right click on the companionlinklog.log file and select "Send To..." and choose
"Compressed (Zipped) Folder"

Keep me informed of how things are going.
Check your personal inbox. I sent you a note there.

[StaticRick]

Progress, but not much closer.

I have spent most of today trying to figure out my problem. By exporting my BCM contacts to a csv file, I was able to open that file and see the difference between the contacts that are syncing properly and those that are not. Here's what I've discovered: The contacts that are not syncing properly are ones that have more than one line of text in the "Business Street" field. However, it's not every contact with multiple lines of text in the "Business Street" field.

For example, I have one very large customer (for which I have about 350 contacts) that shows their business address as:

20 S. Van Excel St.
P.O. Box 351
Somewhere, OH 41414

In this case, the "Business Street" field is populated with:

20 S. Van Excel St.
P.O. Box 351

in Outlook BCM.

However, in the exported csv file, it is populated with EITHER
"20 S. Van Excel St. P.O. Box 351"
OR
"20 S. Van Excel St.[]P.O. Box 351" <--The space between St. and P.O. has a small ascii box in it that is actually a carriage return if I try to paste it here.

This carriage return in the "Business Street" field seems to be the root of my problem. If it's there, the contact will not sync properly. If it's not there, it will.

Many of my contacts have two lines of text in this field, not just the above customer. Often it's something like:

West Regional Office
123 Fake Street

You get the idea.

I don't know where these [] carriage return characters came from or why some of my contacts have them and some do not. I also don't know of a good way to clean them out of there without opening up each contact individually. Even then, I'm not sure how to know that I've gotten rid of the invisible character without trying another sync.

I suppose my question to the CL/DJO team is:
Why was this not an issue when I was using CL to sync my blackberry with Outlook BCM? I have not changed anything with Outlook BCM, just changed my version of CompanionLink.

I've made a lot of progress in understanding the problem, but I don't know if I'm much closer to the solution. I'm still carrying two phones and dreading the idea of manually editing over 3000 contacts.

I will contact the DJO support team and reference this page. Hopefully they can help.

[Thomas]

I have spent most of today trying to figure out my problem. By exporting my BCM contacts to a csv file, I was able to open that file and see the difference between the contacts that are syncing properly and those that are not. Here's what I've discovered: The contacts that are not syncing properly are ones that have more than one line of text in the "Business Street" field. However, it's not every contact with multiple lines of text in the "Business Street" field.

For example, I have one very large customer (for which I have about 350 contacts) that shows their business address as:

20 S. Van Excel St.
P.O. Box 351
Somewhere, OH 41414

In this case, the "Business Street" field is populated with:

20 S. Van Excel St.
P.O. Box 351

in Outlook BCM.

However, in the exported csv file, it is populated with EITHER
"20 S. Van Excel St. P.O. Box 351"
OR
"20 S. Van Excel St.[]P.O. Box 351" <--The space between St. and P.O. has a small ascii box in it that is actually a carriage return if I try to paste it here.

This carriage return in the "Business Street" field seems to be the root of my problem. If it's there, the contact will not sync properly. If it's not there, it will.

Many of my contacts have two lines of text in this field, not just the above customer. Often it's something like:

West Regional Office
123 Fake Street

You get the idea.

I don't know where these [] carriage return characters came from or why some of my contacts have them and some do not. I also don't know of a good way to clean them out of there without opening up each contact individually. Even then, I'm not sure how to know that I've gotten rid of the invisible character without trying another sync.

I suppose my question to the CL/DJO team is:
Why was this not an issue when I was using CL to sync my blackberry with Outlook BCM? I have not changed anything with Outlook BCM, just changed my version of CompanionLink.

I've made a lot of progress in understanding the problem, but I don't know if I'm much closer to the solution. I'm still carrying two phones and dreading the idea of manually editing over 3000 contacts.

I will contact the DJO support team and reference this page. Hopefully they can help.

Hi Rick,

We have your support request. I will continue to monitor this for you on my end.

[StaticRick]

Today I spoke with a CL/DJO technical support representative. He was very helpful, knowledgeable, and courteous. While he was not able to solve my problem immediately, he was able to ask the right questions to get a full understanding of it and will submit it to the development team. I hope that a solution is around the bend.

I wanted to add this bit of information to tell others that, while not perfect, I have been impressed with both the software and particularly the customer support.
Thanks and I hope to be able to report back that the problem described above has been resolved.

[Thomas]

Today I spoke with a CL/DJO technical support representative. He was very helpful, knowledgeable, and courteous. While he was not able to solve my problem immediately, he was able to ask the right questions to get a full understanding of it and will submit it to the development team. I hope that a solution is around the bend.

I wanted to add this bit of information to tell others that, while not perfect, I have been impressed with both the software and particularly the customer support.
Thanks and I hope to be able to report back that the problem described above has been resolved.

Hi Rick,

Thank you for being patient and working with us. Your honest feedback is appreciated.