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ActiveGcSync FAQ

What does ActiveGcSync require in order to run?
ActiveGcSync requires the Microsoft Compact Framework version 3.5. A link to this can be found on the main project page.

How do I switch to another phone and still keep my appointments and contacts?
If you are using Microsoft ActiveSync to synchronize your contacts and events, make sure you set up and run ActiveSync before you synchronize with ActiveGcSync. ActiveGcSync will try to find existing events/contacts before creating a new one with the same name, but ActiveSync will not.

I have copied my settings to a new phone, but ActiveGcSync will not synchronize some events/contacts. What should I do?
In the Menu, click on Advanced->Reset Last Updated. This will force ActiveGcSync to run a full download from Google the next time it syncs. The next sync may take longer than a typical sync, but should ensure that all of your items are synchronized.

If an event/contact is changed both on my Google Calendar as well as Pocket Outlook, what happens?
ActiveGcSync assumes that your Google event/contact is more up to date and will synchronize it to Pocket Outlook, overwriting any Pocket Outlook changes. This is only the case when the event/contact is changed in both places between synchronizations. Any changes made to one or the other calendar/contact list will be ok as a synchronization is done in between.

Why is ActiveGcSync asking for my TimeZone? Doesn’t Windws know this already?
Sometimes a cell phone carrier will set their phones to synchronize the time to your Windows Mobile phone. If this is the case they may or may not sync the TimeZone information. If this happens, ActiveGcSync will ask you for your time zone and will not ask again unless it detects another time zone change.

Why does ActiveGcSync tell me that it can’t sync recurring exceptions because of different time zones?
Due to the way Pocket Outlook keeps track of recurring event patterns, an event can not be updated in multiple time zones. If an event is created in one time zone then updated in another, the pattern may change and the event will appear on the wrong day. This is due to the way Pocket Outlook handles which days the event occurs on.

The first time ActiveGcSync runs, it assumes that all events it encounters have been created in the current time zone. Any events that are added from then on should be synchronized in the timezone they were created in.

Are you going to add feature XYZ to ActiveGcSync
I regularly check the forums for feature requests. If you post it there chances are it will make it onto the TODO list.

Why does this version not work on my non-touchscreen Smartphone?
In order to save memory in both versions, I have split out ActiveGcSync into a touchscreen (PocketPC) version and a non-touchscreen (Smartphone) version. I have focused all of my time on the PocketPC version for now. The Smartphone version will be coming soon. If you have a Smartphone and want a Smartphone version soon, then make sure to let me know on the forums.

I have just upgraded from version 1.x and nothing synchronizes any more. Do I have to do something new?
Yes. Version 2 of ActiveGcSync will not synchronize any Calendars or Contacts by default. You must click the refresh buttons on both the Calendars and Contacts tab (as described above in the Settings section) and select Calendars/Contact Groups to sync.

Why is ActiveGcSync asking me to pick a contact from a list?
When initially synchronizing a contact from Google, ActiveGcSync may find more than one local contact similar to the one you are synchronizing. If so, it will use a combination of factors to present to you the local contacts it thinks match up. Check off one contact if it is the correct one and click Done. If you do not check any contacts before clicking Done, ActiveGcSync will assume that none of the choices are correct and create a new PocketOutlook contact.

Which contact information is presumed to be correct in case of a conflict?
In order to save time during an initial synchronization, ActiveGcSync will assume that your phone has the correct contact pictures and phone numbers. For all other things such as name and emails, Google is assumed to have the correct information.

Do I have to set a category on my Event or Contact in order to have it synchronize to Google?
No. If you use the Default Calendar (for Events) and Default Group (for Contacts) options, your Events and Contacts will be synchronized, assuming that the default you select is being synchronized.

If I add a category to my Event that is another Calendar, will the event get synchronized to both Calendars?
No. Once an event is synchronized to one Google Calendar, it will not get synchronized to any other calendars.

How does a labeled email address (ex: home) in Google synchronize to a non-labeled PocketOutlook email address (ex: Email Address 1)?
Email Address 1 maps to Home, Email Address 2 maps to Work, Email Address 3 maps to Other.

Why is my contact’s photo not showing up on my Google Mail web page?
As of this writing, the Google website does not show photos for contacts without email addresses.

I am getting an error when I run a sync. How do I tell what is going on?
Each time ActiveGcSync runs a Sync process, it writes out details to a file called lasUpdate.log which can be found at \Application Data\ActiveGcSync\lastUpdate.log.

Why don’t my Google Sports Calendars show up in ActiveGcSync?
Google does not currently (as of October 2009) support access to their Sports calendars through the API.

When I try to get information from Google, I get a CAPTCHA required message.
Google sometimes needs extra information in order to trust your Windows Mobile device as a valid client. Load up a web browser on your phone and point it to https://www.google.com/accounts/DisplayUnlockCaptcha, and enter in all the information requested. Then try again from ActiveGcSync

Configuring ActiveGcSync

The first time ActiveGcSync is run it will automatically show the Settings screen. When running ActiveGcSync subsequent times, you can use the Settings menu button. The following tabs are available:

General

Username - Your Google account’s username. This may need to be username or username@gmail.com

Password - Your Google account’s password

Hide on Startup - ActiveGcSync will bring the Today screen to the foreground when it loads

Check for new versions on startup - ActiveGcSync will check for a new version whenever it is started and pop up a system message if it finds one

Disable Error Popups - Disables system popups when an error occurs

Sync

Automatically Update - ActiveGcSync will periodically auto-update your calendars

Interval (in minutes) - Number of minutes to wait between updates

Error Interval (in minutes) - Number of minutes to wait until retrying the synchronization after an error occurs

Only sync when connected to network - ActiveGcSync will wait for a network connection to start a synchronization

Calendars

Calendars to Sync - Click the Refresh button to get a list of all Calendars on your account. Check off the ones you want to synchronize. The Events tab allows you to customize settings for each Calendar

Default Calendar - This option allows you to define to what Google Calendar to synchronize PocketOutlook events without a Category. If this is blank then you will need to assign each event a Category that correlates to a Google Calendar name in order to have them synchronized. (Important Note: If this option is left blank, any events synchronized by previous single-calendar versions of ActiveGcSync will not synchronize!)

Categories button - Click to select which non-calendar categories to sync to your default calendar

Events

Calendar dropdown - Select a calendar to customize

Event Label - What to label this event. The label will appear on your device in brackets, for example: [label]. Leave blank for no label

BusyStatus of All Day Google Events - What to set status to for All Day events

BusyStatus of Other Google Events - What to set status to for non-All Day events

Set Reminder - Whether to set a PocketOutlook reminder for each event. Options are Yes, No, and Outlook Default

Outlook Events to send to Google - Select which types of event to synchronize to Google (by sensitivity setting). This option is disabled for read-only calendars

Contacts

Groups/Categories - Click refresh to download contact groups from Google as well as PocketOutlook Categories. Check off any that you want to synchronize

Sync All - Check this box to synchronize ALL contacts, regardless of category/group. Keep in mind that in certain versions of Google Mail, anyone you email will be added to your Suggested Contacts and therefore will be synchronized using this option

Default Group - If this dropdown is not blank, any local contacts will be considered to be a part of this group. This is useful if you do not want to set categories on a local contact in order to synchronize that contact

Default FileAs - This option will set FileAs to either “Last, First” or “First Last” for contacts. FileAs is the format that Contact managers use to display names

grabbing a screenshot from a pocket pc

Ever since I got an 8525 Windows Mobile smartphone from Cingular (now AT&T Wireless), I’ve been really into modifying it and developing for it. The phone itself is pretty incredible. Being able to check email and/or web sites whenever you want gets addicting after a while. It would be very hard to go back to my old disconnected days. Some people say its bad to be too connected, but my feeling is you can always ignore it if you want.

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