Synchronizing Notes to my PDA Without ActiveSync
My employer has standardized on the Blackberry PDA, and our calendar program is Lotus Notes. No other PDAs can be connected to the corporate network. Our computers are basically appliances - any software the firm has licensed for me is available (out of a short menu of firm-approved programs), and that is it. The upside is I can log into any computer at the firm and be presented with the same environment, which is great when traveling or when a computer conks out. The downside is I cannot install my own PDA synchronization software, which is too bad because you don’t need ActiveSync to connect a PocketPC to Lotus Notes.
I think we can’t even connect Blackberrys to the corporate network at all to synchronize ; they just synchronize automatically through the public network (at a cost of about $6o a month charged to the employee) which is overkill for me. Synchronizing daily through a sync cable or bluetooth would be sufficient.
This is dissapointing, because I can’t synchronize my PocketPC. I sympathize with their decision form a support perspective given my own difficulty in getting ActiveSync working, though I expect EasySync works fine. I have not been able to synchronize my device with my home PC in months due to ActiveSync woes.
My initial plan to synchronize my PDA to Lotus Notes was to forward all calendar entries to my home email address, stuff them into outlook, and synchronize my PDA to outlook each evening. This idea still has merrit; if I get ActiveSync working again, I will try this.
In the meantime, I am using HyperActiveSyncâ„¢;. This involves adding each entry into my PDA as I enter it into Lotus Notes, and after being away from my desk for awhile, remembering to add entries from my PDA into Notes. This is rather time consuming, at some point I will likely bite the bullet and subscribe to the Blackberry service.
I am not sure how well tasks and lists synchronize into the blackberry. Lotus Notes 6.5 is relatively clumsy for lists and tasks to begin with. Between that and the synchronization problem, my GTD system is totally broken; I might revert to paper shortly, at least for @home, @errand, @movie, @borrowed lists.
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