I recently started using the GMail Outlook Sync software so that I could have my Outlook Calendar sync with my Android based phone through GMail. First impressions seemed to indicate that it worked well, but after a few hours of using the software I have found a weird bug which creates a duplicate entry of your appointment in GMail and then in Outlook if the appointment was created on the Android calendar. A hunt around google to find a fix for this issue see’s that it’s a common problem when an Android phone syncs with a GMail calendar although it does seem that it’s not related to the GMail Outlook sync software, but instead seems to be how the Android phone syncs with GMail.
Some users are reporting just a few days ago that this problem seems to be going away now and the general consensus is that Google have fixed the issue. It isn’t clear just yet if this is an Android fix or GMail calendar fix. I am guessing that if it hasn’t been fixed for you yet (which it hasn’t been for me) then it may be fixed in the next few days as Google roll the fix out across servers, or push an update to phones. Please leave a comment if you need any help with this or want the latest update.
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I have a situation where I have duplicated entries on the phone. Even if I purge the google web calendar completely the entries on the phone won’t go away. I can remove the calendar from the phone, but as soon as I add it back there they are again.
Between trying to get a decent Outlook to google sync tool (the google tool just kills my machine) and trying to get google calendar to accurately sync with the android phone calendar I am about to conclude that google is not prepared to be the savior they want to be. Not ready to return the droid yet, but Windows mobile is suddenly looking much better than it ever had.
I tested recently and found that the bug hadn’t gone away too. It’s frustrating that a work around has to be used in the first place to get Exchange communicating with an Android phone. However, I do have higher hopes for Android 2.0. We shall see though!
Same problem here. It seems to happen to birthdays. For some of my contacts I now have 6 duplicate entries. Can’t find a solution online.
I have appointments now that are triplicated and more. Purging the gmail calendar and pushing a corrected calendar doesn’t seem to eliminate the problem. Also now that I’ve deleted a ton of duplicates, gmail sync keeps asking me if I want to delete all the calendar entries deleted from outlook. I’ve said yes a dozen times, it keeps coming back.
Windows 7, Android 2.0
@Karl What a mess hey! It seems like a tool will never be made to sync correctly, more than likely because Google want people to move from Exchange to GMail or their apps service. I’ll have another test to see if I can find anything that’s causing it.
I Finally got mine working well. First, I started using companionlink which is much better than the google synch software. You can trial it for two weeks for free but then have to pay. Second, I discovered how to clear all the duplicates. You have to go to settings->applications->calendar storage and clear data. Clear your calendar on google too, then configure companionlink to have outlook data overwrite google calendar. You should now have a good sync and can reconfig companionlink to sync both ways. Note that you to change the filter on settings-> applications to show all in order to see calendar storage. Good luck.
Thanks for the details David! Very useful info.
Solved my problem by uninstalling Companionlink and Google sync, then bit the $50 bullet and signed up for Google Docs. All problems resolved and I’m even able to sync multiple gmail calendars shared with me through to the Android (different sources show in different colors). Thanks for all the comments. Karl
Good to hear Karl. I’ll take a look at what you have done as it sounds interesting.