We're Back: Spotlight, Sync Services, Smart Cards!

re: We're Back: Spotlight, Sync Services, Smart Cards!

Cortig — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 23:15:38 GMT

Very nice indeed!! The release notes also mention a bunch of other corrections for all other Office apps.

SyncService support integrates really well with The Missing Sync. Much smoother than it ever was with the Entourage conduit.

re: We're Back: Spotlight, Sync Services, Smart Cards!

FarmerBob — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 23:21:03 GMT

it only worked.

I was elated to see this feature in the Update description, but as a whole it is worthless. The first time I saw an Entourage eMail in the Spotlight search it was great. I clicked on it and immediately the title of the mail turned into a code and I got an error that it was an alias and asked if I wanted to fix, delete, or OK it. Also, a moment after I clicked on that eMail all the rest in the window titles changed from coherent titles to gibberish and get the same alias error for all. And now I have the added weight of this useless database on my hard drive. I have gone to where these are stored and see that they are what I end up seeing in the window and reside as broken aliases.

I often use the Entourage search to find things, which is a laborious process, and thought that the Spotlight integration would be a life saver. If only it worked.

Sorry to see this effort fail. I look forward to when this will really work.

Now about the Sync Services - "Awesome". Although you have to bypass Palm Desktop, the amount of information that is transferred is great. This is a good working feature. Good job.

re: We're Back: Spotlight, Sync Services, Smart Cards!

entourage — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 15:56:30 GMT

FarmerBob,

Not sure why you're seeing aliases--that's not how the feature works at all. If you were to open the files created by Entourage in a text editor, you'll see they're XML files with all sorts of information in them. If that's not what you're seeing, then something is acting very awkward on your system.

As for the issue with "code" filenames. What version of 10.4 are you running? We've seen this issue in Spotlight in earlier versions of 10.4, but it appeared to go away around 10.4.4. I know it's frustrating but I don't think it's Entourage's doing. It also appears to clean-up and happen less often once Spotlight catches up with the newly created Entourage files.

Also, if you don't want the extra files sitting around--you can simply turn the feature off in your Entourage preferences.

Office:Mac update 11.2.3

go ahead, mac my day — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 22:02:53 GMT

We've released the latest update to Office:Mac, 11.2.3. You can download it from Mactopia. There's...

re: We're Back: Spotlight, Sync Services, Smart Cards!

dmetzcher — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 22:30:34 GMT

Sync Services not working too well...

I was writing the following, and decided not to post it on my site until I posted it here first, in an effort to see if I was missing something. I love the idea of Sync Services, and am very anxious to really use it. Here are my issues:

"...I created a new iCal event, but it didn't show up in Entourage. I ran a Send and Receive All in Entourage, shut it down and re-opened it, and shut down iCal and re-opened that, too. Nothing. What gives here?

I decided to test a little more. I noticed that all the Entourage calendar events show up in iCal grouped under a new calendar called "Entourage". This calendar was created when the first synchronization occurred. I moved the event that I created in iCal from my "Personal" calendar into the "Entourage" calendar. Suddenly, it appeared in Entourage, but it had no category (because the category, technically, was "Entourage", as this was the calendar to which I had to add it in order to get it over to Entourage in the first place). I also noticed something else. All the contacts that I created in Entourage, that were synchronized with Address Book, had no Group information in Address Book. I would have expected that Entourage would take the category information for contacts and translate that into a Group name in Address Book. The same is true for iCal. I would have expected Entourage to take it's category information for an event or task and use it to group those events into calendars in iCal, especially if I have calendars in iCal that are already named the same as the categories in Entourage. Why are the category/group/calendar fields not mapped properly? This is poor design, frankly, and I wish more thought had gone into it.

The strange part about all this is that if I create a new contact in Address Book, Entourage doesn't care where it is in terms of its group. It synchronizes almost immediately and grabs the new entry. This feature still suffers from the same Category/Group problem that plagues all other Address Book entries. The Group to which I added the new entry in Address Book does not translate to a Category in Entourage..."

What's up here? Am I missing something? Why does Entourage create a new calendar in iCal? Can't it create calendars based on the categories? Can't categories in Entourage be mapped to iCal event and task calendars, and Address Book groups?

Please let me know. I really want to use this update, and I have wanted syncing for a long time now.

Thanks,
Dennis Metzcher
www.mymacblog.com

re: We're Back: Spotlight, Sync Services, Smart Cards!

FarmerBob — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 22:34:58 GMT

After reading of others having problems I dumped the Metadata database, which come to find out was incomplete and not finishing in building. It was only 70k. I rebuilt it and ended up with one that totaled over 100MB. This one completed. Then using Spotlight proper, I got the mail as I should. But if you use Apple-F, the "basic" find, you get the aliases. I was under the impression that that was just another form of Spotlight. Guess not. There are two find apps. Also I saw someone mention that you needed to turn on the Mail button in Spotlight.

As far as the database on my Boot partition, I aliased the folder in from another drive where I have my Microsoft User Data. I have all those things aliased in from other drives or partitions so that I can easily backup or incremental backup the boot partition since 10.4.x has been so buggy or temperamental and needs to be restored a lot after questionable or Security Updates screw things up further. Also in the event the main drive hammers, all my data is safe. I’ve already had one drive hammered by OS10.4. And yes it was the OS as per the third party recovery company that the drive was sent to for investigation. No comment from Apple.

So now I have mail in Spotlight proper which makes searching so much easier. But if you use the basic search, Apple-F, you’ll get aliases. I'll have to get use to the Spotlight commands, of which the desktop command doesn't always work. Oh well, can't have it all.

re: We're Back: Spotlight, Sync Services, Smart Cards!

Lucky Lou — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 23:48:29 GMT

I have to pitch in with Mr. Metzcher. I so looked forward to your Sync Services after you promised them at Macworld 2005, and after a long wait they are good but not great. The key issue is what Mr. M detailed in his post, namely that the categories in Entourage should be used to create or merge with specific calendars in iCal. For example, in Entourage, I have personal and work categories. I was looking forward to syncing just personal categories to iCal and then using that to publish so my wife can subscribe to my personal calendar. The way Sync Services have been implemented my work and personal categories from Entourage are now merged into one calendar named Entourage, which contains all kinds of work info I do not want to publish, nor would my wife care to see.

On a bug level, I created a calendar in the Entourage calendar in iCal, and it properly synced right into Entourage. Then I changed the event so that it was in another previously existing iCal calendar and changed the time. Entourage did not sync this change so it continued to show the event in its own calendar at the previous time. Not good.

Address Book is also just slightly a let down. The category thing would be great to translate into Groups in AB. Notably frustrating, the Instant Messageing field in Entourage does not sync over to Address Book, and, vice-versa, the IM field in AB does not sync into Entourage. This is a prime example of either a key oversight or perhaps a limitation of Sync Services, but whatever it is, it is definitely a suck.

On one hand, I like the ability to use Spotlight's Smart Folders to group items in Entourage, but on the other hand, it's kind of dumb to have to leave Entourage to find information in Entourage.

Despite my reservations, let me say I am happy that at least this product is actively being updated, and I am grateful for what's been done so far.

Any chance these oversights can/will be fixed?

re: We're Back: Spotlight, Sync Services, Smart Cards!

Lucky Lou — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 23:56:30 GMT

Error correction

In my previous post, second paragraph, first sentence should instead read: On a bug level, I created *an event* in the Entourage calendar in iCal, and it properly synced right into Entourage.
(asterisks added to show replaced words)

And in paragraph three, well I do know how to spell Instant Messaging, sorry.

Just had to apologize for that and any other errors. Typing fast here...

re: We're Back: Spotlight, Sync Services, Smart Cards!

entourage — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 00:06:42 GMT

On the Sync Service categories/groups issue...

It's somewhat unfortunate, but I'll try and explain why it's the way it is in a future blog post. I agree that it's what makes the feature good, but not great.

re: We're Back: Spotlight, Sync Services, Smart Cards!

entourage — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 00:09:08 GMT

FarmerBob, there is something weird that happens to Spotlight results in the Finder's Find window. Some items, when clicked on, chanage appearance from a polished search result to the underlying file name. We've reported the issue to Apple as it certainly would be useful--you'd be able to set-up Smart Folders for Entourage items with certain categories assigned to them (we mapped your Entourage categories to the Find window's Keywords field).

re: We're Back: Spotlight, Sync Services, Smart Cards!

FarmerBob — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 00:52:54 GMT

Yes, weirdness is what I have come to expect from OS10.4.x. More than you know.

Just tried to play with Smartfolders (use them in iTunes all the time - Luv 'em) and that was a disaster. I did a keyword field and the pull down will scroll for a couple of words and then pop back to the beginning of the list. So if there are words in there that related and function with Entourage, I can't get to them. More weirdness.

My Mac Blog Blog Archive » » Microsoft Adds Sync Services to Entourage

My Mac Blog Blog Archive » » Microsoft Adds Sync Services to Entourage — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 01:22:30 GMT

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My Mac Blog Blog Archive » » Spotlight Support Added to Microsoft Entourage

My Mac Blog Blog Archive » » Spotlight Support Added to Microsoft Entourage — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 01:41:09 GMT

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re: We're Back: Spotlight, Sync Services, Smart Cards!

Lucky Lou — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 04:31:54 GMT

I've read Andy Ruff's comments here <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq_topic/sync_services_basics.html> and that gives a good explanation about why Entourage's categories don't create their own calendars in iCal because each event can have multiple categories, but you'd think you guys would around it by creating a new calendar based on the category and just include everything in that category. If an even is in multiple categories (and I have to believe this is by FAR a minority of events) then it just shows up in multiple calendars. Would this create sync troubles or duplication, I guess when you consider how it would sync back to Entourage, but again, it's such a minority situation that I don't think it needs protection, especially versus the greater good you could achieve by implementing the idea. People might learn not to add multiple categories and that wouldn't be so bad. Or, you can set up specific categories that would sync, kind of like the old Exchange Server integration with Entourage (even though that was just picking one category to sync or to exclude).

The Address Book stuff and workarounds also aren't that comforting. Like Andy says at the end, "...it's still not as easy as it could be."

Kudos though, for opening this up to Sync Services. Now my wife can use Entourage and have all her contacts there, too, and enjoy the benefits of its integration as part of the Office 2004 suite, without worrying about creating two separate worlds of Address Book and Entourage info. I guess she'll just keep the calendar unsynced or something.

As it stands, really the only benefit to syncing the Entourage calendar is that the data can get into iPods, phones, and additional computers that have Entourage.

A lot better than nothing, that's for sure.

Spotlight Support in Entourage 2004

Entourage Weblog — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 20:57:41 GMT

An overview of Spotlight feature support in Entourage 2004 for Mac

re: We're Back: Spotlight, Sync Services, Smart Cards!

Lucky Lou — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 22:57:39 GMT

Bug note - I have Entourage running on Panther at work and on Tiger at home. After .Mac synchronization across computers, all All Day events (and ONLY All Day events) got their time zone changed from "Pacific Time (US & Canada); Tijuana" to "Casablanca, Monrovia," and from All Day kind of events to 12:00 p.m. on the previous day to 12:00 p.m. on the actual day. That's what the event detail says in Entourage, but on the calendar since the time zones are off, it displays as 4:00 a.m. on the previous day through 4:00 a.m. on the actual day. Changing the event to the proper time zone allows it to display 12:00-12:00, then clicking All Day event changes it to an All Day event but from one day to the next, then unclicking All Day event changes it to the first day, then clicking All Day event finally makes it an All Day event on just one day. At this point it may not even be the correct day anymore.

And let me add that I never mess with time zones or do anything to affect them other than make sure they are always set properly in the first place. Needless to say this is pretty lame and I am not looking forward to repairing 10 years of destroyed All Day events.

I leave Entourage open 24/7 on both my home and work computers. My work machine is 10.3.9 and my home is 10.4.5, so none of Tiger's Sync Services on my work computer, BUT I do have iSync running with .Mac on both machines. My Entourage calendar is hosted by Exchange Server 2003 at work.

The flow is:
1. Change in calendar item in Entourage at work.
2. Change goes to Exchange Server 2003 at work.
3. Change goes to Entourage at home.
4. Entourage at home puts change into Truth (Sync Services) at home.
5. Truth at home puts change into iCal at home and into .Mac online.
6. .Mac online syncs change into iCal at work (no Truth at work due to Panther - right?)

This isn't so bad compared to when I switch to Tiger at work, and the flow gets weird. I mean if Entourage paticipates in Sync Services and also syncs itself via Exchange Server, is there a priority issue?

1. Change in calendar item in Entourage at work.
2. Change goes to Exchange Server 2003 at work and to Truth at work.
3. Change goes to Entourage at home via Exchange Server 2003 at work which then AND change goes from Truth at work to .Mac online to Truth at home
4. Entourage at home changes Truth at home, but Truth at home's already been synced by .Mac online to the Truth from work which came from Entourage at work which already synced to Entourage at home via Exchange Server, causing Truth at home to possibly try to modify Entourage at home, too. Will this cause a rift in the space-time continuum?!?!

Alright, end of brain dump. Hope this makes sense.

We're Back: Spotlight, Sync Services, Smart Cards!

We're Back: Spotlight, Sync Services, Smart Cards! — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 21:41:13 GMT

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