MS Mobile 2005 Truncated Contacts Issue

MS Mobile 2005 Truncated Contacts Issue

Hundreds of my contacts have many pages of text in the "Notes" section.
Unfortunately, Active Sync 4._ truncates the message on the PDA. I am a PR
guy and this is one of the fundamental components for which I use a PDA (to
access a contact's info before a meeting for example and to update
immediately following a meeting). The warning reads as follows:

"[Text truncated on device. Modification of these items on the device will
overwrite full text on desktop.]"

Furthermore, if one's note histories are large, they would never realize the
note had edited and would lose everything on the Desktop and the handheld.

Please help!

Cordially,
Scott

The notes field on the PIM databases on the ppc (such as contacts) is
very limited... (26K??) plus there have been some reports of notes
contacts missing after syncs.

Your best bet is probably going to be to get a third party contact or
database app to meet this need.

Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]

The notes field is of great importance to me too. Could you please advise on
third-party solutions? not a specific one but more or less a review of our
chances.
Thanks,

Mike

"Beverly Howard [Ms-MVP/MobileDev]" wrote:

> The notes field on the PIM databases on the ppc (such as contacts) is
> very limited... (26K??) plus there have been some reports of notes
> contacts missing after syncs.
>
> Your best bet is probably going to be to get a third party contact or
> database app to meet this need.
>
> Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]
>

Thanks so much for the heads up. A couple questions please:

1) does the 26k refer to the note size, the total contact size (for example,
the inclusion of a contact picture) or perhaps a number of characters?

2) Is the limitation with Active Sync (could I install an older Active Sync)
or with Mobile 2005. If it is WM 2005, could I do a registry hack? Why would
they suddenly impose this limitation when there has been no such for the last
5 years?

Thanks again for all your help; for me this issue is of dire signifcance and
may result in my moving away from WM2005.

Cordially,
Grace 2 U


"Beverly Howard [Ms-MVP/MobileDev]" wrote:

> The notes field on the PIM databases on the ppc (such as contacts) is
> very limited... (26K??) plus there have been some reports of notes
> contacts missing after syncs.
>
> Your best bet is probably going to be to get a third party contact or
> database app to meet this need.
>
> Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]

Hi,
The 26k is for the notes only. The limitation has been there with all
releases of ActiveSync and Pocket PCs.

I suggest that you take a look at Pocket on Schedule from www.odysseyinc.com
and see if it does a better job.

Applications like Pocket Informant and Agenda Fusion just put a new face on
the existing databases so they have the same limitations.

--
Chris De Herrera
http://www.pocketpcfaq.com
http://www.tabletpctalk.com
http://www.pocketpctalk.com
http://www.mobilitytalk.com

ActiveSync 4.x Troubleshooting Guide -
http://www.pocketpcfaq.com/faqs/acti...shoot-as4x.htm

"Grace 2 U" <> wrote in message
news:6CE47FDB-DC09-49DF-AE72-...
> Thanks so much for the heads up. A couple questions please:
>
> 1) does the 26k refer to the note size, the total contact size (for
> example,
> the inclusion of a contact picture) or perhaps a number of characters?
>
> 2) Is the limitation with Active Sync (could I install an older Active
> Sync)
> or with Mobile 2005. If it is WM 2005, could I do a registry hack? Why
> would
> they suddenly impose this limitation when there has been no such for the
> last
> 5 years?
>
> Thanks again for all your help; for me this issue is of dire signifcance
> and
> may result in my moving away from WM2005.
>
> Cordially,
> Grace 2 U
>
>
> "Beverly Howard [Ms-MVP/MobileDev]" wrote:
>
>> The notes field on the PIM databases on the ppc (such as contacts) is
>> very limited... (26K??) plus there have been some reports of notes
>> contacts missing after syncs.
>>
>> Your best bet is probably going to be to get a third party contact or
>> database app to meet this need.
>>
>> Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]

Greetings Chris,

If what you say is correct, then this changes everything! You see, I've
owned over a dozen PocketPCs going back to 2000. I have had contacts with
notes containing tens of thousands of characters right back through 2000. In
fact, I'm currenly looking at a contact note on my Audiovox PPC-6600 (Win
Mobile 2003 w/ Active Sync 3.8) which has the following specs:

4,191 Words
21,057 Characters
25,024 Characters w/ spaces

There is no truncation, and I can edit the note on the PDA with accurate
synchronization. But the same contact on my Audiovox PPC-6700 (WM 2005 Active
Sync 4.1) is truncated to the following specs:

845 Words
4,237 Characters
4,990 Characters w/ spaces

This seems to indicate that I can have that information (if what you say is
accurate that the limitations are the same for all releases of Active Sync
and PocketPC), then I should be able to restore those notes that were
truncated on my PPC-6700.

Interesting to note, I just realized that I lost all the formatting as well
(underlining, bolding, colored fonts, etc) as well. It would appear that my
issue has less to do with limitations on note size and more to do with a sync
issue?

Cordially,
Scott

I copied a large note from my PC's Outlook contacts to a word document. Next
I sync'd the .doc to my PDA, and then copied the .doc contents into a new
contact note. Guess what -- the contact held the data, sync'd to the pc, and
allowed updates. BUT, as soon as I edited the contact on the PC, the note
lost it's formatting and became truncated. So the issue is only with
synchronization from PC to PDA, not the other way around.

I copied a large note from my PC's Outlook contacts to a word document. Next
I sync'd the .doc to my PDA, and then copied the .doc contents into a new
contact note. Guess what -- the contact held the data, sync'd to the pc, and
allowed updates. BUT, as soon as I edited the contact on the PC, the note
lost it's formatting and became truncated. So the issue is only with
synchronization from PC to PDA, not the other way around.

I copied a large note from my PC's Outlook contacts to a word document. Next
I sync'd the .doc to my PDA, and then copied the .doc contents into a new
contact note. Guess what -- the contact held the data, sync'd to the pc, and
allowed updates. BUT, as soon as I edited the contact on the PC, the note
lost it's formatting and became truncated. So the issue is only with
synchronization from PC to PDA, not the other way around.

I've been trhough this exact hell but I caught it before it really got out of
hand. I have learned not to expect much from Microsoft when you call the
support lines ... and I was originally appalled at the response of the rep to
"seek 3rd party software" ... but you know what ??? ... even though you're
being told exactly where to "get off" and "where to go" (to H E 2 sticks)
you've gotten what I believe is the truth.

I need all my contacts WITH my NOTES in the Contact fields INTACT, she wrote
that the file is only xxKB and that's it, BUT >>> .... now you know there is
some sort of BS going on here because it all sync-ed just fine with Pocket PC
2003 and Active Sync 3.8 ... so if the rep IS telling the truth ... that part
sounds wrong.

I've responded to you on as MechTech on pocketpcmag.com ... my email address
is there ... let's get some brainstorming.

What is the average "Joe" doing to install this type of device etc ... ???
I was on mine for 3 days ... with several hours on the phone and more trying
different options / computers, etc.

Best, Sal "MechTech"

"Grace 2 U" wrote:

> MS Mobile 2005 Truncated Contacts Issue
>
> Hundreds of my contacts have many pages of text in the "Notes" section.
> Unfortunately, Active Sync 4._ truncates the message on the PDA. I am a PR
> guy and this is one of the fundamental components for which I use a PDA (to
> access a contact's info before a meeting for example and to update
> immediately following a meeting). The warning reads as follows:
>
> "[Text truncated on device. Modification of these items on the device will
> overwrite full text on desktop.]"
>
> Furthermore, if one's note histories are large, they would never realize the
> note had edited and would lose everything on the Desktop and the handheld.
>
> Please help!
>
> Cordially,
> Scott