Technical Note 3

Both the user name and license key must be entered exactly as provided. It is recommended that you cut and paste the user name and license key from the original email into the license tab of the configuration dialog box. This will avoid potential typos, especially from confusion between the lowercase letter “l” and the numeral “1” , which appear almost identical in some fonts. Note that the user name used by Express Sync is not related to your User ID used by the PalmOS; the user name is only used for verification against the license key.

Microsoft Outlook Express and the Windows Address Book provide a feature called identities. Each person who uses Outlook Express on your computer can create an identity, or you may have multiple identities set up for yourself. When you open the Windows Address Book, it typically shows just the contacts related to the current identity.

Express Sync puts new contacts in a common folder shared by all identities called Shared Contacts. To access the Shared Contacts folder, the Folders and Groups option must be checked from the View menu.

You can move a contact stored in the Shared Contacts folder to any folder you wish using drag-and-drop. This will not interfere with future synchronizations.

Express Sync does not currently support adding new contacts to a particular identity or folder.

You need to configure Express Sync to copy your Windows Address Book to the Palm address book or vice versa. This is done from the HotSync Action tab in Express Sync custom dialog. Express Sync needs to maintain a database that relates records in the Windows Address Book with records on the handheld. If this database is lost or doesn't exist (as is the case when you first install Express Sync), then you must perform a one-way copy. A one-way copy in either direction will rebuild the database.

In versions 1.00-1.04, you would get this error because it is the first time you are running Express Sync and you haven't configured the HotSync action to be a one-way copy.

No. The HotSync Manager software only allows one conduit to be registered for each database on the handheld. When you install Express Sync, it replaces the previously installed address book conduit (most likely the Palm Desktop conduit).

Express Sync works only with the Windows Address Book that is used by Outlook Express. It does not work with any version Outlook (97/98/2000/2002/XP/2003).

No. However, Outlook Express 5 for the Mac has built-in support for syncing the address book. Also, The Missing Sync by Mark/Space provides synchronization tools for the Mac.

You are experiencing a caveat of importing contact info from Outlook Express, usually via the Add Sender to Address Book menu item. It's a complicated story.

There is no reliable way to obtain a person's name from an email message. Sometimes there is no additional information attached to the From: field in an email message aside from the email address. If there is additional information attached to the From: field, it is usually a person's name, but it may also be a company name.

The Windows Address Book (WAB) has (among others) the following fields for a contact: First Name, Last Name, Company Name, Email Address, and Display Name. When you add a contact to the WAB via Add Sender to Address Book in Outlook Express, whatever additional name found in the From: field of the email message is put in the Display Name field. The First Name and Last Name fields are left empty. However, when you open the properties dialog box for a contact and the First Name and Last Name fields are empty, the WAB extracts portions of the Display Name field and fills in the Last: and First: fields on the property page. The real Last Name and First Name fields in the WAB are still empty though.

When you sync with the Palm, the Last Name and First Name fields are empty, so you see “-- unnamed --” in the Palm address book.

To assign names, you need to open the properties dialog for a contact and edit the First: and Last: fields. Once you edit them, they will be stored and transferred correctly to your Palm address book the next time you perform a HotSync operation.

As of version 1.05, Express Sync will automatically extract the first and last name from the Display Name field. However, if the Display Name is actually a company name, then the first and last names will be incorrect.

Express Sync's handling of identities and folders is admittedly poor. Unfortunately, Microsoft does not fully document the API for the Windows Address Book, and the current API has limited support for managing identities and folders.

No. At the time of writing, the Treo 650, Zire 72, Zire 31, Tungsten T5, Tungsten T3 and Tungsten E do not work with Express Sync. In all likelihood, all future devices by PalmOne will also not work.

All these handhelds use new PIM applications with expanded functionality relative to the original PIM applications. The new PIM applications were written by PalmOne (née Palm), and PalmOne has not provided developers with information on how the new PIMs store their data.