I thought had seen some pretty stupid things from Microsoft but this one
beats them all:

I was getting a 8004011B error thrown by one of my contacts, so I
thought, okay, I'll disconnect the device, delete the contact on my
mobile device (which looked like the corrupt culprit) then reconnect the
device and activesync will copy the PC contact to my mobile. Well,
that's how I'd expect a professionally written piece of software to
behave, wouldn't you?

Guess what? On reconnecting the device it DELETED the contact on the PC!
Can you believe how unutterably stupid that is? So now both instances of
the contact and all the notes seem to be gone forever! *Surely* the
default action should be to copy data that exists on one device and not
on the other to the other device? I'm staggered, truly amazed, at this
cretinous software.

I haven't switched either device off yet - can anyone tell me if the
data is recoverable in any way?

Thanks.

Hi,

If a partnership exists between the device and the computer then the
deletion caused on the device will cause the same item to be deleted on the
computer to keep the information on both devices in sync. You should be able
to recover the deleted contact from the Deleted items folder of Outlook.
Select the contact, right-click and choose "Move to Folder..." and select
Contacts folder.

--
Regards,
Raj Pillai
Microsoft MVP - Mobile Devices
http://www.pocketpcfaq.com/raj




"11" <no@ddress-for-the-spambots.compost> wrote in message
news:4669277f$0$30332$fa0fcedb@news.zen.co.uk...
>I thought had seen some pretty stupid things from Microsoft but this one
>beats them all:
>
> I was getting a 8004011B error thrown by one of my contacts, so I thought,
> okay, I'll disconnect the device, delete the contact on my mobile device
> (which looked like the corrupt culprit) then reconnect the device and
> activesync will copy the PC contact to my mobile. Well, that's how I'd
> expect a professionally written piece of software to behave, wouldn't you?
>
> Guess what? On reconnecting the device it DELETED the contact on the PC!
> Can you believe how unutterably stupid that is? So now both instances of
> the contact and all the notes seem to be gone forever! *Surely* the
> default action should be to copy data that exists on one device and not on
> the other to the other device? I'm staggered, truly amazed, at this
> cretinous software.
>
> I haven't switched either device off yet - can anyone tell me if the data
> is recoverable in any way?
>
> Thanks.

Raj Pillai wrote:
> Hi,
>
> If a partnership exists between the device and the computer then the
> deletion caused on the device will cause the same item to be deleted on
> the computer to keep the information on both devices in sync. You should
> be able to recover the deleted contact from the Deleted items folder of
> Outlook. Select the contact, right-click and choose "Move to Folder..."
> and select Contacts folder.


Thanks Raj! That worked!

As for the programmed behaviour, I still think that's crazy. Surely it
would be better for activesync to show a conflict? Something along the
lines of:
"A contact exists on your PC that is not on your mobile device. What do
you want to do?
[ ] delete the contact on your PC?
[ ] copy the contact to your mobile device"

Thanks again for your help, Raj.

"11" <no@ddress-for-the-spambots.compost> wrote in message
news:4669277f$0$30332$fa0fcedb@news.zen.co.uk...
>I thought had seen some pretty stupid things from Microsoft but this one
>beats them all:
>
> I was getting a 8004011B error thrown by one of my contacts, so I thought,
> okay, I'll disconnect the device, delete the contact on my mobile device
> (which looked like the corrupt culprit) then reconnect the device and
> activesync will copy the PC contact to my mobile. Well, that's how I'd
> expect a professionally written piece of software to behave, wouldn't you?
>
> Guess what? On reconnecting the device it DELETED the contact on the PC!
> Can you believe how unutterably stupid that is? So now both instances of
> the contact and all the notes seem to be gone forever! *Surely* the
> default action should be to copy data that exists on one device and not on
> the other to the other device? I'm staggered, truly amazed, at this
> cretinous software.

And if the default action was to copy the contact back after deletion then
maybe in the future you will be posting to complain that you want to delete
a contact but the bugger keeps coming back?

I cannot help with restoring your contact but I can recommend this for the
future
http://www.pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=22976

Its free and you can use it to make regular backups of your contacts list.

Beck wrote:
>

>
> And if the default action was to copy the contact back after deletion
> then maybe in the future you will be posting to complain that you want
> to delete a contact but the bugger keeps coming back?

:-) Actually, I think the default action should be a check to see what
you want to do. As I posted earlier:

Surely it would be better for activesync to show a conflict? Something
along the lines of:
"A contact exists on your PC that is not on your mobile device. What do
you want to do?
[ ] delete the contact on your PC?
[ ] copy the contact to your mobile device?"



> I cannot help with restoring your contact but I can recommend this for
> the future
> http://www.pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=22976

Thanks for the great tip! I'm downloading it now.

"11" <no@ddress-for-the-spambots.compost> wrote in message
news:46693bb3$0$31681$db0fefd9@news.zen.co.uk...
> Raj Pillai wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> If a partnership exists between the device and the computer then the
>> deletion caused on the device will cause the same item to be deleted on
>> the computer to keep the information on both devices in sync. You should
>> be able to recover the deleted contact from the Deleted items folder of
>> Outlook. Select the contact, right-click and choose "Move to Folder..."
>> and select Contacts folder.
>
>
> Thanks Raj! That worked!
>
> As for the programmed behaviour, I still think that's crazy. Surely it
> would be better for activesync to show a conflict? Something along the
> lines of:
> "A contact exists on your PC that is not on your mobile device. What do
> you want to do?
> [ ] delete the contact on your PC?
> [ ] copy the contact to your mobile device"
>
> Thanks again for your help, Raj.

Hi,

A conflict is said to occur when the same data has been edited on both, the
computer and the device before a sync. In such a situation the sync
software doesn't know which data to update. The conflict resolution settings
in the sync software cater only to this kind of situation.

In the case you describe, you had only one contact. Imagine if you did the
same for 100 contacts, then it would prompt for all deleted contacts and
halt the sync until you choose one of the options. A lot of people might
prefer otherwise since they already know that when they delete a contact on
the device it will delete on the computer. Bottom line is - If a
partnership exists, whatever changes (additions, edits or deletions) you do
on either the computer or device, it will synchronize the changes to keep
the data current on both devices.

You can always delete the partnership before connecting the device so that
the changes you did on the device is not synchronized back to the computer.
Upon connecting the device after deletion of partnership, you would be
prompted to create a new partnership.

--
Regards,
Raj Pillai
Microsoft MVP - Mobile Devices
http://www.pocketpcfaq.com/raj

Thank you again, Raj. You've been a great help.

At 08 Jun 2007 12:21:21 +0100 11 wrote:

> As for the programmed behaviour, I still think that's crazy. Surely it
> would be better for activesync to show a conflict? Something along the
> lines of:
> "A contact exists on your PC that is not on your mobile device. What do
> you want to do?
> [ ] delete the contact on your PC?
> [ ] copy the contact to your mobile device"


I think you're overthinking the concept of "synchronization." It's
actually quite simple- any _change_ made on either device gets reflected
on both devices. Even if that "change" is deletion.


While your idea of confirmation has some merit, where do you draw the
line? If I edit a contact's mobile number on my device should I have to
confirm it before overwriting the PC's contact info?

Many of us sync remotely via an Exchange server or even just BT (now that
MS took Wi-Fi/VPN sync away...) Nothing is more frustrating in a remote
sync than it failing because I had to click a dialog on a PC I'm not in
front of!

Todd Allcock wrote:
> At 08 Jun 2007 12:21:21 +0100 11 wrote:
>
>
>>As for the programmed behaviour, I still think that's crazy. Surely it
>>would be better for activesync to show a conflict? Something along the
>>lines of:
>>"A contact exists on your PC that is not on your mobile device. What do
>>you want to do?
>>[ ] delete the contact on your PC?
>>[ ] copy the contact to your mobile device"
>
>
>
> I think you're overthinking the concept of "synchronization."

I probably am!

>
> While your idea of confirmation has some merit, where do you draw the
> line?

Complete deletion of a contact would be the line, for me.

I had wrongly assumed that, because I had deleted the mobile contact and
then updated the PC contact by adding text (in order to make it the most
recent change), the synchronization process would take the most recent
change and then apply that, i.e. recreate the contact with the new data
on the mobile device. Not an unreasonable assumption, I'd say.


If I edit a contact's mobile number on my device should I have to
> confirm it before overwriting the PC's contact info?

No.

>
> Many of us sync remotely via an Exchange server or even just BT (now that
> MS took Wi-Fi/VPN sync away...) Nothing is more frustrating in a remote
> sync than it failing because I had to click a dialog on a PC I'm not in
> front of!

I'll bet!

I have to agree with the others that this way of syncing is the way it
should be. - whatever you do on your PC or device is then synced to your PC
or device on next sync. If you want to recreate contacts or calendar etc...,
onto either the device or PC, then you can recreate the partnership - when
you then recreate it, you will be asked if you want to copy from pc to
device, device to pc, or merge. This can be really useful at times.
Unfortunately WMDC and Vista do not offer this option - at least not that I
have discovered.

--
Laura Rooke
MVP - Mobile Devices

At 08 Jun 2007 15:18:26 +0100 11 wrote:

> I had wrongly assumed that, because I had deleted the mobile contact
> and then updated the PC contact by adding text (in order to make it the
> most recent change), the synchronization process would take the most
> recent change and then apply that, i.e. recreate the contact with the
> new data on the mobile device. Not an unreasonable assumption, I'd say.


I missed the part in your original post where you said you edited the PC
copy of the same contact. In that case it shouldn't have deleted- it
should've been a conflict. (Or an "unresolved item.")

"Todd Allcock" <elecconnec@AmericaOnLine.com> wrote in message
news:f4dhsv$otd$2@aioe.org...
> At 08 Jun 2007 15:18:26 +0100 11 wrote:
>
>> I had wrongly assumed that, because I had deleted the mobile contact
>> and then updated the PC contact by adding text (in order to make it the
>> most recent change), the synchronization process would take the most
>> recent change and then apply that, i.e. recreate the contact with the
>> new data on the mobile device. Not an unreasonable assumption, I'd say.
>
>
> I missed the part in your original post where you said you edited the PC
> copy of the same contact. In that case it shouldn't have deleted- it
> should've been a conflict. (Or an "unresolved item.")
>
>
>
>

Hi,

Actually deletion will supercede the edit and it doesn't treat it as a
conflict. So even if you edit the information on the PC after deleting the
same on the device, it will delete
upon synchronization.

--
Regards,
Raj Pillai
Microsoft MVP - Mobile Devices
http://www.pocketpcfaq.com/raj