PPC synchronization without Outlook 2007 – solution!
Posted by Stefan on March 3, 2008
A few weeks ago I blogged about syncing my HTC TyTn II with my Windows Vista laptop, which doesn’t have Outlook 2007 on it. Since I didn’t have a copy of Outlook 2003, and Outlook 2002 (which I do have) doesn’t work on Vista, I had to find another solution.
This weekend, I read on EtenBlog.com about a 4winmobile forum discussion that covered exactly this subject.
I followed this link and found that with a combination of three pieces of software, I can sync my PPC with my laptop for only 19,95 euros, which is a lot cheaper than Outlook 2007!
The required elements are:
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Birdiesync 1.6.7.0 – the synchronization software that hooks into Windows Mobile Device Center and does the PPC <–> PC/laptop synchronization.
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Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0- the e-mail and contacts manager.
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Lightning 0.7 – a plugin for Thunderbird, which adds Calendar and Tasks functionality to Thunderbird.
Thunderbird and Lightning are free, and Birdiesync costs 19,95 euros, which is a lot cheaper than Outlook 2007!
I did have some issues getting things set up. I wasn’t able to download Lightning from it’s product page, so I had to get lightning-0.7.win32.xpi from here.
Also, during the first synchronization, I had to manually create the account on my PPC with which Birdiesync was going to synchronize. Additionaly, because I installed Thunderbird and Lightning after putting all the PIM data on my device, the empty Lightning database was more recent than the PIM data on my device. Because of that, all data from my PPC was removed during the first sync, and I had to restore it from a Sprite Backup file. After that, though, everything correctly synced from my PPC to my laptop!
I will test this the coming 21 days (the BirdieSync trial period), and if it doesn’t bring me any problems, I’ll happily purchase the license which is a LOT cheaper than Outlook 2007!
Tariq Bamadhaj said
Congrats on finally finding a solution to your problems. I do wish that Microsoft supports more than just sync-ing from Outlook (whichever version it is) or to at least provide a free version of Outlook that is not as powerful.
spmwinkel said
I agree, I really do not need a lot of the Outlook functionality, I only use it for synchronization/backup purposes. I wouldn’t care if I couldn’t edit my appointments/contacts etc from the Desktop side, as long as I could sync them to my PC (and view/export them in Outlook).
masa said
That will soon be one year i’m using this combo software. Something is good is the Birdiesync ge often update to follow Thunderbird & Lightning.
Very good choice and no expensive ;)
spmwinkel said
Thanks for your message Masa, it’s good to see that other people are happily using this combo. The first day has been full with problems, so hopefully things will settle down now. :)
tarheel810 said
Congrats on finding a solution Stefan! I’ll have to give this a whirl on my PC at home.