Outlook Connector/Calendar Issues

[SiBBdXN0aW4]

I have 2 MSN Premium accounts using Outlook Connector (12.1) and Outlook

2007. Since they made a recent change I have calendars all over the place

(birthdays, holidays, a calendar with my name on it and a calendar tied to my

msn e-mail address. Is there a simple reference that explains all of these

change and how I can even tell which calendar I'm looking at and what I can

eliminate. It appears that mobile MS 6.1 is synchronizing but my wifes 6.1

is not. This was not a smooth rool-out. It shouldn't be this difficult.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

Birthday and Holidays are MSN calendars - created by adding holidays to the

MSN calendar. I'm not sure where the birthdays came from - contacts maybe?

Your "real" calendar should be called "Your name in your_email@msn.com" in

outlook.

Go to http://calendar.live.com/calendar/calendar.aspx and you can uncheck

the holiday and b-day calendars.

 

[SiBBdXN0aW4]

Diane,

Thanks for the info, but I guess when you say my "real" calendar is the one

tied to my e-mail address at msn.com. Some information said the MSN calendar

would no longer sync through Outlook Connector. I want to set-up and use the

one that will sync with my Windows Live Mobile installed on my MS 6.1

smartphone. One of the calendars is sitting in a "local error" folder that

Outlook Connector must have created. This has happened in the past, but

would eventually clear. This set of folder and e-mails has been there for

several weeks.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

Correct, MSN calendar will no longer sync - you need to use the live

calendar. Outlook should make the change automatically. ActiveSync only

supports the default calendar so you need to set the live account as the

default delivery location.

 

[SiBBdXN0aW4]

How do I set-up this up. My MSN account works through Outlook Connector and

stores information (I suspect including the MSN calendar in that OST file).

But my e-mails are also part of the Live system. I don't see how to use just

the live calendar separately. Are there procedures somewhere to show how to

do this?

Thanks,

John

"Diane Poremsky [MVP]" wrote:

 

[Brian Tillman]

> I'm not sure where the birthdays came from - contacts maybe?

That's a good question because the Bithdays calendar I have for my Live

account that shows in Outlook has brithdays on the wrong date or two of them

on the same date. When I look online, the calendar there doesn't reflect what

I see in Outlook. I've rebuilt the OST file also. I guess I haven't yet

sussed where the differences originate.

--

 

[Diane Poremsky]

I've had mine since 2005 when I tested the old outlooklive service, which

used msn... some time back they appeared to break the b-days into separate

calendars you could check/uncheck in the web view (much like how Vista's

Calendar works). They were added so long ago that I couldn't recall how they

got there, even if my life depended on it.

 

[SiBBdXN0aW4]

Diane and Brian,

Well, at some level, I feel a little better knowing I'm not the only one

trying to figure out how all of this works. I had seen some posts recently

that attempted to develop methods to get everything to work together, but I

can't find them again. At the time it seemed overly complex.

Another issue that is related and started all this, was my updating to OC

12.1. During the update process, my wife's premium MSN account quit working

and several thousand e-mails were lost from folders. They were also deleted

from the MS server, so they are really gone. However, I backup my ost every

day. MS support says I'm on my own and should obrtain 3rd party software to

convert my ost files to pst format. I'm going to start another post to see

what everyone recommends for this type issue.

J Austin

 

[Diane Poremsky]

I don't have premium msn so I don't know how it works - my paid acct was

moved to hotmail servers months ago and the account converted to a hotmail

plus acct recently. "it just works" - the connector knows where to go for

mail and where to go for the calendar.

Try a new profile - keep the old one but make a test one - and set up the

msn acct using the connector. See if you get your mail and live calendar.

otherwise, try one of the Live forums, although I don't know which is best -

http://www.vistax64.com/live-mail/ seems to make it high in google.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

I haven't tested recovering an orphaned msn ost file so I don't know what

you can expect. But you will probably need a tool, as one is needed for

exchange ost files. See http://www.slipstick.com/problems/p...ange-offline-file-ost-to-a-personal-file-pst/ -

warning: they are pricy.

Some of the repair tools might be able to convert the ost to a pst are part

of the repair - and some are in the more affordable $50 range. These are

listed at http://www.slipstick.com/problems/pst-repair/repair-a-damaged-personal-folders-pst-file/. Most offer trials

that recover about 10 messages so you can see if it works before buying.

 

[SiBBdXN0aW4]

Diane,

Yes, my first look for ost to pst converters demonstrated that they are

pricey. I tried a $50 demo and I did not recognize the pst that it created.

My real disappointment is that MS support cannot provide any help when the

issue was definately caused by a required update to OC 12.1. OC seems to not

be "owned" by any of the support groups and each one points you to the other

(e.g., Outlook and MSN). They would not elevate my case or transfer it.

Sorry about your missing critical e-mails.

Thanks for the info and links.

"Diane Poremsky [MVP]" wrote:

 

[Diane Poremsky]

Yeah, ownership has always been a problem with the connector service - from

day one of the connector (when the program was called 'outlooklive').

Outlook developed it and everything gets pushed back to them, even when it's

a service problem.

 

[SiBBdXN0aW4]

Diane,

Again, it's good to know I not just some irrational customer with an

un-justified view of what I have experienced, time and time again with OC

support. I spent 3 months with a Level 2 Outlook support person, running all

kinds of tests on an OC synchronization issue. We talked and worked together

almost everyday. He tried to be very helpful, but, when I kept asking him,

can't you talk to the OC people (the tests all pointed to a serious OC bug),

he tried once, and had to call the standard support line with no help at all.

Turned out he found out about a new version of OC the same time everyone

else did. Problem solved, but 3 months of my time fully wasted when it

didn't have to be that way. I am a very strong MS supporter but sometimes

you wonder about how they are managing their (what must be a very large)

support budget. Talk about "silos". I worked at NASA for 35 years and know

a little bit about how silos develop and how hard they are to break-down.

But MS support has to be a classic example (either by design or

mismanagement). And OC would appear to be a pivotal product in where

everything is headed. You would think they would be interesting in knowing

how their required upgrade process deleted thousands of critical e-mails from

a real-estate business customer.

Thanks for listening.