Iphone calendar and sync issues

[MLP]

Hi, got hold of the iphone 3g last week. Previously had an i-mate pda (OS WM6). The iphone is definitely much quicker in terms of accessing programs. The phone itself is more user friendly. However, I have some some issues that I was hoping I could get some information about:
can't turn phone volume off (there is a slider which I've reduced to nil when I need to turn it off but there seems to be some volume still). Is there an actual volume switch?
the calendar - with my previous phone I could touch the screen where i wanted to open up a new appointment but I don't think I can with the calendar. Also, copying and pasting appointments from one location to another - is there any app that could help me to do this?
syncing - with my old phone I could sync to my PC and items I had entered on muy phone would end up on my PC in outlook. No probs with the iphone syncing from PC to iphone but it doesn't happen from iphone to PC.

Any suggestions?
Cheers
MLP

 

[Alli]

There is a mute switch directly above the volume rockers. Just slide it down to totally silence everything.

The iPhone calendar sucketh. Try a 3rd party solution (PocketInformant or Agendus).

 

[peanutgallery]

I have no experience syncing with Outlook so I can't help you there.

But I use Google Calendar and love it. It syncs over the air via exchange and new appointments are pushed, both from phone to Internet and Internet to phone. It can support something like 25 calendars.

 

[MLP]

Thanks for your answers Alli/pg - good to see there are others dealing with this stuff also! Do you know how far back you can store appointments on Google Calendar? I have years worth of stuff that I want to keep (and sometimes refer back to).

 

[Alli]

Years. I'm working on the same calendar I began on Palm back in the late 90's.

 

[peanutgallery]

Thanks for your answers Alli/pg - good to see there are others dealing with this stuff also! Do you know how far back you can store appointments on Google Calendar? I have years worth of stuff that I want to keep (and sometimes refer back to).

I would like to think there is a way to sync your outlook calendar with your google calendar in order to create a new 'master' calendar and then when you sync it with your phone you'll be all set to go from there.

 

[MLP]

I agree Google Calendar looks promosing - I can cut and paste. Also it's free. Unfortunately I have Outlook 2002 so it won't sync with google calendar I think. With Pocket informant and Agendus - do they sync with Outlook 2002?

 

[Alli]

PI and Agendus both sync with Google. Not sure if anything syncs with Outlook (I despise Outlook).

However, there's a neat program called CompanionLink which will sync just about anything with any other thing. For example, I use it to sync my old Palm desktop (!) with Google.

 

[clsales]

Hi Alli, thanks for the shout out!

I agree Google Calendar looks promosing - I can cut and paste. Also it's free. Unfortunately I have Outlook 2002 so it won't sync with google calendar I think. With Pocket informant and Agendus - do they sync with Outlook 2002?

As you've discovered, Google Calendar Sync only supports Outlook 2003 and 2007. In addition, you can only sync between the default calendars on both sides.

CompanionLink, while not free like Google Cal Sync, has a much more robust calendar sync between Google and Outlook. You can choose specifically which Outlook calendars to sync, as well as a category filter and custom date range. CompanionLink supports Outlook 97 and higher, including the new Outlook 2010 64-bit.

If you wanted to skip Google entirely, CompanionLink also supports direct Outlook sync with most smartphones. You can try it free for 14 days at companionlink.com.


Kaena Miller
CompanionLink Software

 

[Alli]

Hehehe - you know I'm your biggest fan!

 

[MLP]

Thanks for your info guys. I have downloaded google cal and PI. Have synced Outlook to GC which then syncs to PI. All good except that GC doesn't differentiate between the work and personal categories on Outlook and has them all as default category on my GC. Is there a way of setting it up so GC differentiates between the different categories?

 

[Alli]

I use different calendars on Google. That way you get the category feel. You can set a different colour as well.

 

[dawggg63]

There is also a list button in the top-left corner of PI that will allow you to toggle your various calendars on and off. If you don't want to look at your work calendar for a while, you don't have to

 

[MLP]

google calendar display

Hi,

still looking for a solution to this calendar issue. I think I'll try to use google calendar instead of Pocket Informant as my calendar. The Google Calendar is a bit cumbersome in its display however. When I open it, I would like a concise page with todays (or this week's) calendar items. What I find is I have to scroll around on the gcal page to add a new event. Is there a way of configuring gcal so the opening page is just a day or week view with no other stuff to deal with?

A second issue with gcal is that if I want to save a new appointment, the times aren't easily available to save the event to. For example if I open up gcal at, say, 3pm, the times available are from say 1:30 pm onwards for that day or the rest of the week. However, I may want to add a new event for early the following day. Which means I have to 'write' the time for that appointment rather than have the option of pushing on the time option within the day.

I also find saving new events as difficult - I have to go through and nominate if they're public or private etc. Appreciate your feedback on this.

 

[OTACORB]

I have been using Google Calendars for a while now. I have several clinics and I am able to monitor their days appointments via my iPhone and or iPad. You do have to go to m.google.com/sync to enable your device to see the various calendars though. Then again that could be because I am using Google Apps with my own domain name. It works GREAT!

 

[Alli]

MLP - you're missing the best solution. Don't dump Pocket Informant - just sync it with your Google calendar. Gives you the best of all possible worlds.