Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard Limitations
Birthday Calendar If you have the iCal preference enabled to "Show Birthdays Calendar" it is possible that this could cause sync errors. One situation we know results in a sync error is if you have the birthday calendar nested as part of a group of calendars. This situation often causes an error that includes text like, "ICalExternalSync Encountered you referenced the following records (in a relationship) but did not actually push them." Do not include the Birthday Calendar as part of a group of calendars. Some users that have the "Show Birthdays Calendar" option selected, but do not have the calendar nested in a group have also reported problems. Based on reports of similar problems with other Sync Service clients we believe that a possible bug in iCal is the cause of these problems. We suggest that you disable the "Show Birthdays Calendar" in iCal and then try to sync. If that sync is successful you can try to enable the birthday calendar feature again and sync. If the errors returns, then disable the birthday calendars. We have reported this problem to Apple and hope that a future update might address this issue. What To Do If You Get Sync Errors The status column of a plugin may report that there were "Errors on last sync. See Log." You should look in the "Sync History" log for any mention of errors. Some errors may give the name of the record that produced the error and explain why the data could not be synchronized (e.g. birthdays prior to 1900 are not allowed on the device, Recurring events on the device can only have up to 999 occurrences, etc.). You can often edit or remove the record and sync again to resolve the error. Below are a few common strings found in some error messages: iSDSqliteRecordMapper SQLite locking issue iSyncConcreteSession NSInvalidArgumentException ICalExternalSync ISyncInvalidRecordException you referenced the following records (in a relationship) but did not actually push them These types of errors are generated by Apple's Sync Services and reported to The Missing Sync. There can be a number of reasons for these types of errors, but the most common resolution is to "Reset Sync History." We recommend that you try to Reset The Sync history using the steps below and then try to sync again. If the errors continue then you need to look closer at any data mentioned in the error text and try to correct or delete those records and then sync again. Reset Sync History Open iSync Choose "Preferences" from the iSyc menu Click "Reset Sync History" Read the onscreen information, then click the "Reset Sync History" button. Restart your Mac, connect your device and attempt to sync. Windows Mobile users who have upgraded to Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5) If you upgraded from Tiger (Mac OS X 10.4) to Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5) and are getting any of the above errors, try this: Uninstall The Missing Sync from the handheld. On your device go to Settings>System>Remove Programs Select MarkSpace MissingSync Now connect your device. Follow the prompts to install The Missing Sync device side application. Change the Calendar Event settings to force the Desktop to overwrite the device, then sync. That sync should complete without any errors. Now, change the Calendar Event settings back to Synchronize and sync again. You may get a "Sync Alert" reporting that some records will be added or modified. Click "Sync Calendars" to make these changes. You may also get the Sync Services "Conflict Resolver" and need to resolve each conflict. You need to accept the changes and resolve conflicts to allow The Missing Sync to complete the sync. "ICalExternalSync" error in Console.log This error is found in the Console.log and is not reported in The Missing Sync log. The error is generated from iCal trying to sync data with Sync Services, NOT your device. We have reported this problem to Apple. The Missing Sync will present an alert if this text is found in your console.log. You can visit our KB article to learn more about this error. "iCalExternalSync[33668] Invalid COUNT value in recurrence:<null>" error in Console.log This error is found in the Console.log and is not reported in The Missing Sync log. The error is generated from iCal trying to sync data with Sync Services, NOT your device. If an event has a recurrence that ends after X times, and then the Sync Service's main database is changed (by another sync client, like .Mac, etc.) so that it ends on a specific date, iCal in Leopard will fail to sync because the "count" attribute has been cleared and iCal isn't dealing with it properly. This is an iCal problem and we have reported it to Apple. If you know the event that was changed, you can edit back to end after X times.
Issues Specific to Windows Mobile 5 and Windows Mobile 6 Devices
Connecting via Wi-Fi will NOT be supported with Windows Mobile 5 or Windows Mobile 6 devices. As a security precaution, Microsoft removed this capability from ActiveSync in Windows Mobile 5 and Windows Mobile 6. Internet Sharing is NOT be supported with Windows Mobile 5 devices. Internet Sharing is supported with Windows Mobile 2003 or 2002 Pocket PC devices, but not Smartphones. Check that the time zones on the device and Mac match before you sync, and check the time zone on the device after the first sync. If it shifted to another time zone change it to the correct time zone. If you are having problems re-connecting, restart the Mac and try again.
Data-specific Known Issues and Limitations
The following types of events can be created on the Mac but are NOT supported on the device. When attempting to sync these records an error will be written to the Missing Sync log and the status will tell the user "Error on Sync. View the log". Events longer than 30 days are not supported by the Windows Mobile 2002/2003 devices and will be skipped during synchronization. An error will be written in the log. Windows Mobile 5 and 6 devices do allow events longer than 30 days and will synchronize. Birthdays and anniversaries prior to 1900 are not supported and will be skipped. An error will be written in the log. Recurring events on the device can only have up to 999 occurrences. Monthly events cannot occur on more than one day of the month on the device (e.g. Monthly every 1st and 15th). You will need to split them into separate events in order for them to sync to the device. Yearly events cannot occur in more than one month on the device. You should split these events into separate events. The device cannot move a single occurrence of a repeating event to occur before the previous instance or after the next instance of the same event. If this type of record is created on the Mac and you try to sync you will get an error and must fix the start times. The device cannot have two instances of the same recurring event on the same day. Attempting to sync such events will cause an error to be written to the log. Recurring event alarms cannot occur before the previous instance of the event ends (e.g., a daily event with an alarm that occurs 2 days before the event). Attempting to sync such events will cause an error to be written to the log. Changing recurring event exceptions in Entourage (version 11.2.5) and on the device doesn't always work, especially when moving exceptions from one day to another. There are two known workarounds for this problem. (1) Rather than sync with the Entourage plugin you can enable Sync Services support in Entourage and then sync using the Mark/Space Calendar Events plugin. (2) Create a new event in lieu of creating an exception to an existing event. For example if the weekly Wednesday meeting has changed to Thursday for this week only, create a new event to record the special Thursday meeting.
The following events can be created on the Windows Mobile device but do not sync correctly on the Mac.
Neither Entourage nor the device calendar application allows you to create monthly repeating events for the first, last, second, third or fourth specific day of the month. However, you can create these type of events in iCal and they will sync correctly to the device. Yearly repeating events on the first, last, second, third or fourth weekday or weekend of the month will not sync to Entourage or iCal. Notes created on the device that contain a drawing will NOT sync to the Mac. Unfortunately at this time, the file format for device created drawings is not publicly available, so we cannot support syncing device created drawings. You can sync graphics or drawings from the Mac to the device, but they sync as images instead of notes. Text notes created on the device that also contain a voice recording will NOT sync to the Mac. However a voice recording alone is saved as a .wav file and this type of voice recording will sync to Mark/Space Notebook on the Mac.
The following are general data-related issues of which you should be aware.
If an Entourage or iCal task has an alarm, but no due date, the alarm reminder will be stripped when the task is written to the device. This type of event is an anomaly. To set an alarm for a task, the task must have a due date. iCal Tasks with an alarm that occurs after the due date will sync, but the alarm will be stripped. iCal supports multiple types of alarms. Only alarms with sound will sync to the Windows Mobile device. If you snooze an event alarm multiple times, forcing the alarm to next occur following the actual event start time, the event will not be accepted by the device and an error will be written in the log. Some devices will not connect via Bluetooth if Wi-Fi is enabled on the device and visa versa. Only enable the method with which you are trying to connect. Make sure to enable the same connection method in the Missing Sync preferences. Bluetooth connections seem to work best if the pairing between the devices is initiated with the phone, rather than the Apple Bluetooth Setup Assistant. Backup My Documents & Restore My Documents may return an error, even though the backup or restore was successful. The error is caused by files on the device that are busy or open. These files are usually the files built into the ROM of the device and as such can't be overwritten. Files you add will get backed up or restored, even if you get this error. When using Backup My Documents ensure that the file name ends in .tar. If you rename the file without the .tar extension The Missing Sync may not be able to open the file. If you choose 'Entourage Overwrites Device' in the Entourage plugin and then sync with a PC, ActiveSync will sync each item. This is working as designed because every record on the device is considered new. This shouldn't cause any problems, but the sync will take slightly longer. For notes created on the Mac, any occurrences of the forward slash "/" character in the title will be converted to an underscore "_"; the forward slash "/" is an illegal character for Windows filenames. SMS Log synchronization is NOT supported an any current Palm Windows Mobile Treo device (e.g. 700w, 700wx, 750). The Treo uses a proprietary SMS database and there is no documented method to read all the SMS messages. Video Quality The Missing Sync uses QuickTime to convert movies into a MPEG4 (.mp4) format that the Windows Media Player version 10 can play. If QuickTime cannot play the video content you are trying to install, it will not likely be able to encode it for play on your device. Please note that the quality of the converted video depends on the quality of the original video being converted. The Missing Sync converts your original video to a resolution no bigger than 320 x 240, at 15 frames per second, with a data rate around 400 kbits/second. These settings provide good quality playback on a wide range of devices. Original video at higher data rates may look more pixelated when reduced to 400 kbits/second for playback on the handheld. Audio is converted to mono, even if the original was in stereo. Videos converted by The Missing Sync have "_MSV" added to the file name - for example, "movie.mp4" becomes "movie_MSV.mp4."
Registration
The Missing Sync End User License Agreement allows you to install The Missing Sync on up to two computers (e.g., work and home). If you have a multi-user license for 5 or more computers, then you may install The Missing Sync on as many computers as provided by the license. Each time your register The Missing Sync on a computer, our registration system takes note of how many computers you have registered. If you no longer plan to use one of your registered computers with The Missing Sync (for example if you sell one of your computers), you should "deauthorize" that computer by selecting the Deauthorize Computer command from the Missing Sync for Windows Mobile menu BEFORE getting rid of the computer. Then you can register another computer and stay within the allowable number of computers as per the End User License Agreement.