Sync contacts and calendars between Outlook, Gmail, and iPhone

Last February, I described losing half my iPhone contacts after an iTunes sync. Even though I tried the Filadex Web-based contact manager, I don't like the fact that the information is stored unencrypted on Web servers.

More importantly, my iPhone always has my most up-to-date telephone and address contact list, while Gmail knows more about my e-mail correspondents than the iPhone does, and Google Calendar is my primary scheduler. Just to complicate matters, I spend most of my workdays (and some weekends, unfortunately) in Outlook.

I need to export my Google Calendar and Gmail addresses to Outlook and my iPhone, and move my iPhone telephone numbers and physical addresses to Gmail and Outlook. Simple, right? Well, it turned out to be not too difficult or time-consuming, although the result was a bit messy.

Sync Google Calendar with calendars in Outlook and the iPhone
Who knew Google Calendar and Outlook could play so nice? The aptly named Google Calendar Sync does the trick with just a few clicks and a minimum of thumb-twiddling. The program works with Outlook 2003 and 2007 on XP and Vista PCs, though it doesn't support 64-bit XP, according to Google.

After you download and install the program, you enter your Google ID and password and choose one of three options: sync from and to Google Calendar and Outlook; sync from Google Calendar to Outlook; or sync from Outlook to Google Calendar. The default sync time is 120 minutes, and the minimum setting is 10 minutes; there's no mention of a maximum setting. The sync begins after you click Save.

Choose two-way or one-way sync between Outlook and Google Calendar in the Google Calendar Sync utility.

(Credit: Google)

Up-and-down arrows on the Google Calendar icon in the notification area indicate a sync in progress; hover over it to see the percent complete or the time of the last sync.

The program converted my relatively simple Google Calendar to Outlook 2007 with surprising accuracy. In fact, the two calendars appeared and acted very much alike. Keep in mind, I didn't transfer any tricky repeating appointments, invitations, or time-zone changes. But for my meager calendar needs, the sync was fast and comprehensive.

To sync your Google Calendar and Gmail contacts with an iPhone, simply use the phone to create a Google Sync account. Instructions for OS version 2.2 and 3.0 are on the Google Mobile Help site.

Unfortunately, Google Sync is limited in the fields it supports and doesn't let you exclude entries or deal with duplicates. These and other of the program's limitations are described on the Google Sync Help page.

Move your iPhone contacts to Gmail and Outlook, or vice-versa
Use iTunes to export your iPhone contacts to Outlook--and Gmail, if you choose not to go the Google Sync route described above. Plug your iPhone into your PC, choose the device in iTunes' left pane, and select the Info tab. Pick either Outlook or Google Contacts in the "Sync contacts from" drop-down menu. (Yahoo Address Book and Windows Address Book are the other options.) For Outlook, you can choose which groups to sync. For Gmail, you enter your user ID and password.

Your only sync options are to merge or replace the entries iTunes identifies as duplicates, and to choose between two entries pegged as conflicts. The resulting sync was full of double entries, but I would much rather deal with manually merging the dupes than losing the information either entry contains.

iTunes' sync with Google Contacts provides few options for dealing with duplicate entries.

(Credit: Apple)

I'll probably spend another hour or so cleaning up the extra entries created by the contact sync, but that's much less time than I'd spend trying to replace the info.

For Outlook / Gmail / iPhone calendar sync I use a combo of the Google iPhone and calendar sync products. For Contacts, I use the iPhone / Google sync, but I have three machines running Outlook at office, home and work and it doesn't solve the Outlook / Gmail Contact sync problem between these machines. For that I use OggSync.

OggSync, but is very effective at syncing Outlook and gmail contacts especially across machines. I have a somewhat love/hate relationship with OggSync, it you run it in automatic mode it keeps Outlook running in the background, this means to truly exit Outlook, you have to manually exist OggSync first. So, I run OggSync manually about once a week. Other gripes, no updates or feature improvements for about 12 months and -- they want you to buy it on a subscription basis (which would be OK, if it were being regularly updated). All in all, it is an impressive tool that works.

[rshah9]

Easiest way to get free wireless sync of both contacts and calendar is to use CompanionLink for Google along with the free Google Sync service.

This is how it works:
Outlook <> Google <> phone

CompanionLink will sync Outlook contacts and calendar to your Google account. Then, the free Google Sync service will sync over-the-air with your phone.

Simple.

www.companionlink.com/google

[mallwitt]

For those of us who use categories or Multiple Calendars within Google, Try gSyncit (www.daveswebsite.com/gsyncit). The program has it's quirks (Outlook is always running), and it's not free ($15); but it's faster and uses less CPU time than Companionlink and is actively being developed, unlike OggSync. Even better, it also syncs Google Contacts with Outlook.

gSyncit + Organized Outlook + Multiple Google calendars and contact lists + and Google Mobile sync = happy Outlook, Google and iPhone experience.

[dustin_mallory]

I've had great luck with gSyncit for keeping an iPhone, corporate exchange account, and Gmail in sync as well. More info here:

<a href="http://lifeandcode.net/2009/09/iphone-gmail-and-exchange-sync-nirvana/">iPhone, Gmail, and Exchange sync nirvana</a>