iPhone: Can I sync Outlook email?

At 19 Nov 2008 13:28:54 +0000 That80sGuy wrote:
> I am looking at the iPhone and one thing where it seems to fail vs.
Windows
> Mobile is Outlook sync. I have STANDALONE Outlook 2003 which I use as a
> client for several POP3 accounts, and I want to sync my Outlook Inbox and
> some folders to my phone, like I always have been able to with WiMo.
>
> It appears that iPhone does NOT have this ability - am I right and if so
> are there plans to add this feature?


True, the iPhone lacks the ability to sync email with a desktop, a la
WinMo, and I doubt they'll ever add it, since you can retrieve your POP
email on the iPhone easily.

To be fair, syncing email with a desktop is really a feature that was
designed for devices with no native connectivity, like old standalone PDAs.
I suspect it's still in WinMo mostly for backwards compatibility/legacy
support.

For those who've never had a WinMo or Palm PDA, the concept was that you'd
sync your email with your desktop's Outlook inbox, read it and compose
replies offline, then the next time you synched, the PDA's Outbox would
sync back to your desktop and the email would be sent from the desktop and
new emails received in the interim would sync to the PDA.

That usage pattern sort of went the way of 56k modems, didn't it? On a
device with WiFi and cellular data, desktop email sync seems a litle silly...


I've certainly been a critic of the iPhone with respect to missing
features, but I'll give it a pass on this one. Not having desktop email
sync is like lacking support for reading Wordstar or Multiplan files.
Who'd use it?
It's 2008. Have you considered graduating from POP to IMAP? POP was
designed in a day when you were lucky to have access to one computer. IMAP
is far better suited to handling an email account across multiple PCs
and/or devices.

---

› See More: iPhone: Can I sync Outlook email?

I think Gmail fits your needs perfectly.



On 19 Nov 2008 14:38:40 GMT, That80sGuy <[email protected]> wrote:

>In message news:[email protected], Todd Allcock
><[email protected]> done wrote:
>
>> At 19 Nov 2008 13:28:54 +0000 That80sGuy wrote:
>>> I am looking at the iPhone and one thing where it seems to fail vs.
>> Windows
>>> Mobile is Outlook sync. I have STANDALONE Outlook 2003 which I use as
>>> a client for several POP3 accounts, and I want to sync my Outlook
>>> Inbox and some folders to my phone, like I always have been able to
>>> with WiMo.
>>>
>>> It appears that iPhone does NOT have this ability - am I right and if
>>> so are there plans to add this feature?
>>
>>
>> True, the iPhone lacks the ability to sync email with a desktop, a la
>> WinMo, and I doubt they'll ever add it, since you can retrieve your POP
>> email on the iPhone easily.
>
>EMails from months ago to which I may need to refer?
>
>> To be fair, syncing email with a desktop is really a feature that was
>> designed for devices with no native connectivity, like old standalone
>> PDAs.
>> I suspect it's still in WinMo mostly for backwards
>> compatibility/legacy
>> support.
>>
>> For those who've never had a WinMo or Palm PDA, the concept was that
>> you'd sync your email with your desktop's Outlook inbox, read it and
>> compose replies offline, then the next time you synched, the PDA's
>> Outbox would sync back to your desktop and the email would be sent from
>> the desktop and new emails received in the interim would sync to the
>> PDA.
>
>I don't compose replies offline. I just want my emails on my phone so I
>can refer to them.
>
>> That usage pattern sort of went the way of 56k modems, didn't it? On a
>> device with WiFi and cellular data, desktop email sync seems a litle
>> silly...
>
>My email is not on the internet. It is on my PC. And that is how I want
>to keep it.
>
>> I've certainly been a critic of the iPhone with respect to missing
>> features, but I'll give it a pass on this one.
>
>I won't. Which is why I posted the question in the first place.
>
>> Not having desktop
>> email sync is like lacking support for reading Wordstar or Multiplan
>> files. Who'd use it?
>
>As I already stated, I would.
>
>> It's 2008.
>
>Yes, but I have emails from 2007 that I would like to have available on my
>phone.
>
>> Have you considered graduating from POP to IMAP?
>
>Show me how to push my existing Outlook folders to an online repository
>accessible by an iPhone.
>
>> POP was
>> designed in a day when you were lucky to have access to one computer.
>> IMAP is far better suited to handling an email account across multiple
>> PCs and/or devices.
>
>As I said, I prefer to have my email stored on my PC (privacy and all that,
>y'know), but I'll explore switching to IMAP if you can show me how to push
>my existing Outlook folders to an IMAP provider accessible by an iPhone.

At 19 Nov 2008 14:38:40 +0000 That80sGuy wrote:

> > True, the iPhone lacks the ability to sync email with a desktop, a la
> > WinMo, and I doubt they'll ever add it, since you can retrieve your POP
> > email on the iPhone easily.
>
> EMails from months ago to which I may need to refer?


As I implied earlier, that can be accomplished with IMAP.

> I don't compose replies offline. I just want my emails on my phone so I
> can refer to them.


I don't know who your email provider is, but on my IMAP accounts, I have a
"Saved" folder to archive my old emails in. Using Outlook, I can select
and drag any email (from any account) into my Saved folder, which is
synced to my mobile device by selecting the Saved subfolder for syncing
(just to avoid confusion, I don't mean desktop sync- sending/receiving
IMAP email is generally referred to as "syncing IMAP folders."


> > That usage pattern sort of went the way of 56k modems, didn't it? On a
> > device with WiFi and cellular data, desktop email sync seems a litle
> > silly...
>
> My email is not on the internet. It is on my PC. And that is how I want
> to keep it.


We'd then probably have to argue about your choice of devices. For all the
good things about the iPhone, one glaring, well-publicized negative is that
it's a very web-centric device, and I don't see that changing.

> > Not having desktop
> > email sync is like lacking support for reading Wordstar or Multiplan
> > files. Who'd use it?
>
> As I already stated, I would.

Fair enough. However, in the 17 months of iPhone existence, you've been
the first to express this particular concern here or at
misc.phones.mobile.iphone. That doesn't help you, of course, but it
explains, perhaps, why you likely won't see it implemented.

> > It's 2008.
>
> Yes, but I have emails from 2007 that I would like to have available on
my
> phone.
>
> > Have you considered graduating from POP to IMAP?
>
> Show me how to push my existing Outlook folders to an online repository
> accessible by an iPhone.

Set up an IMAP account- it's fairly likely your current email provider
offers you the choice of POP or IMAP, else grab one from any email
provider that does (Google and AOL offer free IMAP accounts with GBs
of storage - you don't need to actually use this account for
sending/receiving email if you don't want to, it can just be an accessible
repository,) set the account up on your desktop, create subfolder(s)
under it's Inbox named whatever you want (saved, archive, 2007, etc.)
in Outlook on your PC, and then drag whatever emails from any account in
Outlook to the desired IMAP subfolder. On your iPhone, set up that
account, (or add it during iTunes sync) and select the desired subfolders
to sync on the iPhone.

As far as automating the process for future emails, you'd use the "Rules"
function of Outlook, where you can setup a rule to copy whatever emails fit
a desired criteria (all email, email from/to specific people, email with
specific words in the subject, body, etc.) and "move a copy" of those
emails to the desired IMAP folder. (Be sure to select "Move a COPY"- if
you select just "move" it deletes the original copy from your inbox!)

> > POP was
> > designed in a day when you were lucky to have access to one computer.
> > IMAP is far better suited to handling an email account across multiple
> > PCs and/or devices.
>
> As I said, I prefer to have my email stored on my PC (privacy and all that,

> y'know),

Understood, but like the late, great, George Carlin said- "you can't have
everything... where would you put it all?" If you can get past the
security issue, an obvious advantage is there's a safe backup of all of
your email offsite, which makes restoring it all a snap should something
terrible happen to your PC, or a quick restore if you upgrade or even
just change email software (i.e. migrate from Outlook to Thunderbird, etc.)
It's also great if you use multiple PCs- my main PC is in my home office,
but all my email is just as equally accessible on the laptop in the
kitchen,the cheapy Asus Netbook I take traveling, etc.


> but I'll explore switching to IMAP if you can show me how to push
> my existing Outlook folders to an IMAP provider accessible by an iPhone.


Asked and answered! ;-) Don't hesitate to ask any followup questions and
I'll do my best to help out...

Good luck!

That80sGuy <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> Show me how to push my existing Outlook folders to an online
repository
> accessible by an iPhone.
>
>

How about if I showed you how to just connect to your computer's
terminal screen using Windows Remote Desktop from a mobile device
without all this blinking and syncing so you can just pop up your emails
to your portable device's screen and even FAX THEM to whoever you are
referring them to, right from your office XP box in Chicago to your
customer's fax machine in Peoria...right on his desk, if you like?

Or, how about if you could pop up that 2006 email on your screen and
email it to him in milliseconds from your desktop PC in Chicago to his
desktop PC in Peoria from your pocket tablet sitting in front of you at
the conference table?

It's real easy to make that happen....using his office wifi and not
costing you an arm and a leg every month in SELLphone nonsense.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=375xh4pbErI
instructional video for setup in several parts.

There's a ton of videos to watch about Remote desktop...even on a PSP
video game!

There are also several remote desktop apps available for iPhones if you
just gotta have one, solving its lack of support for what you want to
do....

I use rdesktop, the Linux remote desktop client app, on my Nokia N800
little Linux tablet to my main WinXP box in my office all the time. I
even bought a rollup rubber keyboard to make the typing chore MUCH
easier than on ANYONE's stupid touchscreen or finger keyboard. Works
great.

This keeps all your emails in ONE PLACE with NO SYNC problems using ANY
email client you like (I use Pegasus for email and Xnews for Newsgroups
over rdesktop from the tablet). I typed this reply on the tablet with
the rubber keyboard just to show you how it works. I'm going through
Alltel EVDO bluetooth tethered to the Linux tablet to my desk PC across
the room....just showin' off...(c;

Screw all that syncing and storage nonsense. Let the big PC handle the
heavy lifting. Use your mobile device as just a remote desktop
extension of the big PC....

PS - I haven't seen the remote desktop running on an Iphone so don't
blame me if it sucks. I can't imagine typing this message on an iphone
keyboard. That would take weeks....