Jim is an IT consultant travels half of the time. He explains that he is booked solid as he meets with many clients. He also has thousands of contacts and needs all of this information with him at all times. Thinking Windows Phone would work seamlessly to sync Windows Phone with Outlook on his desktop, he bought a Windows Phone.
It didn’t. Although Outlook is on Windows Phone 8.1, it had zero Outlook Windows Phone sync.
Jim had no way to get the information from Outlook on his PC to his phone. And with his heavy travel schedule, not having his latest information with him was a problem. Accomplishing this required doing things manually.
How Outlook sync issues hurt productivity
Windows 10 Mobile doesn’t fix the problem. The inability to sync Outlook calendar with Windows Phone (8 or any other version) sounds like a minor thing. But it isn’t.
“Not being able to sync my Outlook calendar (that runs my life!) from my PC to my Windows Phone has been a huge irritation,” said Christine L.
Here’s what happens when you can’t sync Outlook at all.
- You re-enter information.
- You have conflicting information.
- You don’t have the information with you.
- You’re forced to store information in Microsoft cloud.
“I was very annoyed that there was still no sensible way from Microsoft for synchronizing my outlook diary on my Windows Phone with my Windows-based laptop,” said Mike R.
You re-enter information
This is a popular one. When you can sync Outlook Calendar and Windows Phone, people figure they’ll just enter their new appointments once on Outlook PC and again on a phone. That’s no big deal.
Add up the time you spend doing that for every single added, deleted, or changed Outlook contacts, appointments, tasks, and notes … it’s a lot.
“I was about to dump the phone [Windows Phone 8.1] due to lack of non-cloud-based synchronization,” said Charles M.
You have conflicting information
Here’s where re-entering data can become a real problem. What happens if you accidentally enter one digit wrong in a phone number or an appointment time? While you’re out, you dial one of your Outlook contacts only to get a wrong number. Upon returning to your desk, you discover a mismatch in the phone number. This has happened to many people.
For a traveler like the IT consultant, it can be a long time before he returns to his desk. What if that phone call is critical for business?
Or worse, an appointment was re-entered incorrectly into the phone. One small typo and you end up showing up for a meeting an hour late or a day early.
You don’t have information with you
Maybe you decide not to re-enter information and jot down your appointments for the day on a sticky before you step away from your computer. What if you lose the sticky note? What if you need to contact someone who isn’t on your Windows Phone Outlook contacts?
The problem with some Outlook calendar sync and sync contacts software
All of these problems will disappear when you can automatically sync Outlook Contacts and Windows Phone with the right tool. However, it can’t be just any software that knows how to sync calendars. You want to find the best one that meets your requirements.
It’s tempting to look for free Outlook sync apps. However, they don’t get the job done. Search the Internet and you’ll learn these free apps often fail to completely, accurately, and privately sync Outlook with Windows Phone.
Here’s what happens when you use subpar or free Outlook sync software.
- Data is missing or cutoff.
- Nothing syncs.
- Some data doesn’t sync.
- New problems pop up.
- It puts your data in the cloud.
- Data disappears.
One of the more common complaints from people who try to sync Outlook with cloud services is that appointments are missing or don’t have all the information. Imagine if you try to sync Outlook Tasks with your Windows Phone and discover some go missing.
Best ways to sync Outlook with Windows Phone
You have two options:
- Sync Outlook with Outlook.com / Office 365.
- Sync Outlook privately between computer and devices.
1. Sync Outlook with Outlook.com / Office 365
You may have heard about Outlook.com, Office 365, and Office Online. Microsoft offers a lot of different plans for this. Here’s a comparison Microsoft Outlook and Office packages to help clarify.
Part of Office Online, Outlook.com was formerly known as Hotmail. It’s the free Web-based email service where you access your Outlook emails through a web browser. Accessible in a web browser, Office Online offers Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote with limited features. However, it stores your private information in the cloud. Look what happened when Google Drive went dark. It could happen to Microsoft and other cloud services.
To access Outlook.com on phones and tablets, you go to Outlook.com on your device’s web browser. And that’s where you can view your Contacts (People), Calendar, and Tasks. If you have a bad connection or no connection, then you can’t access this information. This isn’t a problem when you use your device’s own built-in calendar and contacts apps.
There’s no official announcement from Microsoft, but the general consensus is that the company wants people to sync with Outlook.com / Office365. This saves your private information in the cloud.
Microsoft Support article offers two options to sync Outlook Contacts with Windows Phone. One option is to use Microsoft Exchange at work. For those who use Outlook without Exchange, the company’s instructions show you how to sync Outlook Notes with Windows Phone through Outlook.com or Hotmail Connector Live, both sync Outlook with the cloud.
2. Sync Outlook privately between computer and devices
George Tatar, Akruto’s founder and president, is an Outlook power user. His entire life is in Outlook and he needed to take this information with him on his Windows Phone. He wanted to know how to synchronize Outlook and couldn’t find a solution that met his needs.
He needed a two-way sync tool that could sync completely and accurately. George couldn’t afford to have missing or cut-off information. He also wanted to automatically and wirelessly sync Outlook with Windows Phone without the cloud.
So he developed Akruto, Outlook sync software for Windows PC. This wasn’t a simple task. But it was worth the effort because of the problems with the available Outlook synchronization apps. Instead of using USB, he designed Akruto to work wirelessly to ensure automatic and continuous sync. To use USB cable would require plugging it in every time he wanted to sync Outlook. He didn’t want to constantly connect his Windows Phone to his PC via USB.
Since he wasn’t on Exchange server, he created AkrutoSync to mimic Exchange. This allows users and small businesses to get the benefit of having Exchange without the high price.
By the way, you can also sync Outlook Notes and Tasks with Outlook using Akruto. Other sync Outlook software don’t transfer photos in Contacts or can’t handle long notes so they cut off the data. If you opt for Wi-Fi sync to do local synchronization of Windows Phone with Outlook Notes, you won’t have to worry about eating up your data plan like you would if you sync with Outlook.com cloud. With the Wi-Fi option, you enjoy the benefit of direct sync that has no bearing on your device’s data plan.
The Internet sync option is also great for professionals. It’s still offers direct sync with no cloud. For example, you work with an admin assistant makes changes to your Outlook contacts, calendar, notes, and tasks while you’re out. Your mobile device will immediately add the updates no matter where you are.
Not only does Akruto work with Windows Phone 10, 8.1, 8, and 7, but also it works with iPhone 6S, iPhone 6, iPhone 5, iPhone 4, iPad, iPad Mini, Android phones and tablets including the new Samsung Galaxy S6, Samsung S6 Edge, Samsung Galaxy Note 5, LG G4, Google Nexus 9, Google Nexus 10, and more. You can sync with one, some, or all of your devices. No extra charge.
Benefits of using Akruto to sync Outlook with Windows Phone:
- Reliable: Syncs everything, so nothing is missing or cut-off — not even long entries.
- Wireless: Use Wi-Fi (no data plan) or Internet (data plan) to sync.
- Automatic: Two-way sync is automatic. No cables. No buttons.
- Cloud-free: Does not store or transport information through the cloud.
- Seamless: Uses Windows Phone’s own calendar and contacts apps.
- Unlimited devices. Sync with multiple devices for no extra cost.
Akruto just works.
“Akruto is a must have for Windows Phone,” says Jim. “I do not want to sync my calendar via cloud. Thank you!”
With Akruto, you get rid of all the problems of not having an Outlook sync solution. As a result, you save time and frustration. You’re more productive. You can’t put a price on that.
Want to learn more?
- Video: How to sync your Windows Phone with Outlook using AkrutoSync.
- Article: Sync Outlook Calendar with Windows Phone.
- Article: Sync Microsoft Lumia with Outlook.
- Article: Sync Outlook Contacts with Windows Phone.
Akruto Outlook sync compatibility
AkrutoSync syncs Outlook Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, and Notes. It’s compatible with the following operating systems and devices. If yours isn’t listed, contact us at support@akruto.com.
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Akruto does not sync Microsoft Outlook email since most phones and devices come with that capability.