Google Sync is a free service that allows you to sync your contacts, email and calendar with your gmail account.
It is a two-way sync, meaning that if you add an appointment or contact to your phone, it will upload to Google's cloud and update your gmail information as well.
I use Google Sync to keep my contacts in the cloud, vs using myPhone since I have multiple phones but only one Windows Live account. If you have ever synced two phones to myPhone under one account, you'll see right away why this is a bad thing.
One of my favorite benefits from using Google Sync is the fact that it not only stores my phone contacts, it also stores their facebook links and contact pictures as well. This means that I can freely flash another ROM without worrying about backing up all of my contacts to SIM or myPhone and then manually updating all of the information for them.
The best part of Google Sync has to be the push email service. As emails arrive (assuming you have set the account up correctly), they will be pushed to your phone via ActiveSync. You don't have to be at your computer for this, it's done over the air.
The only think Google Sync can't do is sync Tasks. If you choose Tasks during the setup, you will receive a cryptic error.
Now that I've told you about the benefits of Google Sync, let's go over how to use it. This assumes you have an existing gmail account. I don't know how to sync with Google without a gmail account, sorry.
I always add my hotmail account first. For some strange reason you can never go back and edit the settings for the first mail account you setup on Windows Mobile, so I use my hotmail account for this.
Steps:
Select your Mail tab and hit the Menu button
Choose "Add Account"
Under "Choose a Mail Provider", select "Outlook" (Don't select Gmail!)
Put your entire gmail address ([email protected]) in the "Email address" box, followed by your password.
Select "Next"
Under "User name" put your email address ([email protected]) again.
The Password field should be filled in, if not just put it in again.
Scroll down.
Leave "Domain" blank.
Scroll down.
Leave "Save password" checked.
Under "Server address" put m.google.com
Leave "This server requires an encrypted (SSL) connection" checked.
Select "Next"
If all options are selected, deselect Tasks (Very Important!)
If not, select Mail, Contacts, Calendar
Hit Advanced Settings
Peak time and Non-peak time (I have "As items arrive" on both here) sets how often your emails are pushed to your phone.
I have nationwide coverage, so I also select "Sync data when roaming".
Hit "Done"
Hit "Done" again.
The phone will now connect to the Google Sync server and begin updating your contacts, calendar appointments and email. This may take a few minutes, depending on the number of contacts and such. If you have any unread messages in your gmail inbox, they should now appear on your phone in short order. You may choose "Send/Receive" from the mail Menu if you think it is taking too long.
You will now be able to receive your email sent to your gmail account as soon as it arrives. I have also forwarded my email from my other accounts to my gmail account, but this may be too much for you.
I would not recommend this to anyone who does not have the "Smart Phone" plan (so-called "Unlimited Data Plan"), as it will eat up your bandwith quickly. It may also have a detrimental effect on your battery, due to the fact that it requires a constant data and Active Sync connection to work properly.
If you are concerned about your battery, you can try changing the Peak and Non-peak options under "Advanced" to longer intervals. If it makes a big difference in the life of your battery, I would love to hear about it here!
You can view the original Google Sync video and tutorial links here:
http://www.google.com/mobile/sync/
Hopefully this will be of use to someone out there! Please let me know if you use Google Sync or if you have trouble following my directions.
---Issue With Labels/Folders---
If you have set gmail to tag messages with labels as they come in, you may not be able to read the messages on your phone. XDA-DEV user pantyshot has managed a workaround and posted it here. Be sure to thank pantyshot for the fix if you find it handy!
Also, newer versions of Outlook Mobile (any available as a cab install so that people don't have to use a custom rom?) support sorting messages by subject. Pretty darn close to the threaded messages in the orgasmic Android Gmail app.
I've been doing this since I got the phone, but it is nice to see someone write up the details.
Nice thx man. I didnt even know this was possible on WM coming from a Nexus. I synced my phonebook with MS outlook but nice to know this is possible.
This should be a sticky!!!
Thanks... nice sticky note.
On Friday, I bought an HD2 to replace my Nexus One (which I gave to my daughter). The N1 & Android are just fine but I wanted to play with the HD2 and WinMo. Not too worried about the lack of support for WinMo 7 as I am certain that we will find versions we can use thanks to XDA.
Ok, back on-topic... I was using Google Sync to get my messages from Gmail to my Nexus One. I now know how to do this with WinMo 6.5. I will address this when I get back home as I am on a business trip in Amman, Jordan and I don't want to rake-up astronomical data roaming charges while over here.
this is helpful for newbies/ beginners..
Anyway I had done set up the gmail as "PRIMARY" account only when i got HD2. why i need hotmail set up as primary account then add gmail? I just curious..
I've been using this method as well, but has anyone noticed that you cannot sync your labels from gmail? Is it just me or Outlook just syncs the inbox aside from contacts and calendar?
The only glitch I have seen with using google sync is that when you import your contacts from google, they get sorted as Last Name, First Name. (Doe, John.)I have always liked seeing my contact list as first name last name. (John Doe.) If you manually try to switch this in your contact list, it gets over written once google syncs again. Does anyone know how to possibly fix this?
This method is GREAT. Big thanks to OP
GAMERIG said:
this is helpful for newbies/ beginners..
Anyway I had done set up the gmail as "PRIMARY" account only when i got HD2. why i need hotmail set up as primary account then add gmail? I just curious..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure why, but whenever you add a new email account to Windows Mobile and attempt to go back and edit it, the first account you added will always be grayed out. This means you can't modify, or even delete the first account.
Since you may decide you want to change how often you check your gmail, I thought you might want to add a hotmail account (Windows Live) first, since those settings are automatic and can't be changed anyway.
I've always had to do a hardreset in the past to get rid of bad gmail settings, so I learned to always put hotmail first.
Hope that helps
adamhlj said:
The only glitch I have seen with using google sync is that when you import your contacts from google, they get sorted as Last Name, First Name. (Doe, John.)I have always liked seeing my contact list as first name last name. (John Doe.) If you manually try to switch this in your contact list, it gets over written once google syncs again. Does anyone know how to possibly fix this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know, this is annoying. I have added two new contacts and both of them were sorted like this.
You can try deleting the "Last Name" field in your phone contacts, then add the last name beside the first name, but I haven't actually tried that.
If it works, please get back to us
pantyshot said:
I've been using this method as well, but has anyone noticed that you cannot sync your labels from gmail? Is it just me or Outlook just syncs the inbox aside from contacts and calendar?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I used the official Gmail App, it represented labels as folders. Because Google doesn't actually have different folders (just different flags for each message), I don't know of any way to split the messages by folder.
As a matter of fact, I don't think you can do this with regular folders via Outlook, due to the way the built-in email client works.
If anyone knows a fix to this please post; we would all like to separate our messages by folders if possible!
Snarksneeze said:
I know, this is annoying. I have added two new contacts and both of them were sorted like this.
You can try deleting the "Last Name" field in your phone contacts, then add the last name beside the first name, but I haven't actually tried that.
If it works, please get back to us
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
adamhlj said:
The only glitch I have seen with using google sync is that when you import your contacts from google, they get sorted as Last Name, First Name. (Doe, John.)I have always liked seeing my contact list as first name last name. (John Doe.) If you manually try to switch this in your contact list, it gets over written once google syncs again. Does anyone know how to possibly fix this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can try this app I have called Contact Changer. Just install to phone, hit the change button and soft reset. After that they should display correctly, and it's actually WinMo that displays contacts like that b/c I have mine sync'd through Microsoft Myphone (b/c gmail messes up the contact pics) and they display the same way.
Now once you run the app, if you add a contact or delete a contact it will revert to last name first. Just run the Contact Changer and reboot again and you will be golden.
pantyshot said:
I've been using this method as well, but has anyone noticed that you cannot sync your labels from gmail? Is it just me or Outlook just syncs the inbox aside from contacts and calendar?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes this is the unfortunate aspect of using gmail this way.
chrisrj28 said:
...It's actually WinMo that displays contacts like that b/c I have mine sync'd through Microsoft Myphone (b/c gmail messes up the contact pics) and they display the same way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Funny you mention that.
I actually used the built-in option to link my favorite contacts to their respective facebook account in my friends list. This changed the contact picture from the camera image I had to their facebook avatar. When next I flashed my phone, Google loaded the contacts back with the facebook linke and facebook avatar, which was very surprising to me.
Does myPhone do the same thing if you use them to keep track of your contacts?
chrisrj28 said:
Now once you run the app, if you add a contact or delete a contact it will revert to last name first. Just run the Contact Changer and reboot again and you will be golden.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this app. I didn't even know it existed!
OTHERWISE
HTC HD2 PRODUCT SUPPORT-SYNCHRONIZATION..
GAMERIG said:
HTC HD2 PRODUCT SUPPORT-SYNCHRONIZATION..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure what you posted this link in reference to. Unless you are confusing Google Sync with ActiveSync...
ActiveSync is the method of connecting your phone directly to your PC, for file transfers, updating your ROM image and standard backups. It is also the name of the protocol that the Microsoft Exchange Servers use to sync data between the Server and ActiveSync-enabled devices.
Google Sync is a free Microsoft Exchange Server that allows "push" email via your phone's data connection. You don't have to be near a PC to sync your calendar, contacts or gmail.
I think the threaded e-mail conversations are only available in the WM 6.5.x versions of WinMo. I am also unable to sync my other folders (Sent, Saved) from Gmail. I have them checked off as well in the Manage Folders option, but nothing appears in these folders after syncing. I think the only possible folder to sync is Inbox.
cu2cool said:
I think the threaded e-mail conversations are only available in the WM 6.5.x versions of WinMo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am about to flash to a 21903 ROM in a bit and I'll let you know if it breaks my threading.
cu2cool said:
I am also unable to sync my other folders (Sent, Saved) from Gmail. I have them checked off as well in the Manage Folders option, but nothing appears in these folders after syncing. I think the only possible folder to sync is Inbox.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you sure they are actually folders? I thought gmail only has labels that appear as folders in the native clients.
Also, this is the same as most Outlook syncs; it will only give you the unread messages. There may be a setting in gmail that will allow you to retrieve old messages, but I'm not sure why you would want to do that on a mobile phone.
If you want to just get your emails, you can use the "Gmail" option when setting up your new email account on the HD2. This won't "push" like the "Outlook" option will, but you can still set it to manually check as often as every 5 minutes if you can spare the battery life.
Of course, you would be much better off getting the official gmail client for that, since that will also support your lables-as-folders option.
Myself, I prefer to use Google Sync and let that push emails to my phone as well as syncing all of my gmail and phone contacts. I don't use labels any more and don't want all the "Sent" or "Archived" messages to clutter up my phone.
Yea, you're probably right about the labeling/folder issue. I just want to see a saved e-mail to look some thing up at times, but maybe I'll just log onto gmail.com for that on my phone. Is there any Gmail client available for WinMo phones? I haven't seen any. Also, does push kill battery life? (ex. sync every 5 minutes) Or is it a more sophisticated syncing method that will only connect to data when new messages arrive?
Hello
The stock gmail app does not sync. It does not even push. Have to manual refresh to receive mails. Wots the problem?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Settings/Accounts and sync/click on gmail account check that Gmail is ticked.
You prolly have the phone go into power saving mode when the battery drops to 50%.
When it goes into power saving mode, autosync turns off.
If u want autosync most of the time, then change power saving mode to 10%.
Even more funny with mine:
since yesterday 6.30 pm stock email app won´t do anything anymore, not even manual sync. Sync circle stays forever. Worked some minutes before faultless.
Tried to register server newly with my gmail address but green bar stayed forever ........
Clicked "cancel", went back to mail app and mail app told me: "account or password wrong"
It´s now completely dead. Tried to switch off, batt off, clear cache but it is dead .................... Google Gmail app works flawless as well as calendar, docs and all othet google account related apps.
Only thing I dedected: when I look into system - running apps - under Samsung mail app it says "Reboot" ???? (in German NEUstart) ...................
Wonder if anyone has an idea how to solve THIS ?
Am I stupid or what ?
I don´t find the register in the menu where I can SELECTIVELY and ONLY delete the account for the samsung stock email app .......................
Am I blind ?
Just for Info (I´m SOOO stupid)
Open stock mail app, long press on Gmail left upper box, choose "delete".
Then register same account again, voila, it works again ..........
(Found it in a German forum .......................... )
I have probably the same problem, although it could be something different. Teh gmail sync can be turned on under Accounts&Sync menu, but it turns off every time I reboot / turn-off the phone. I am using CM7, but I am not sure if this problem is CM7 related... I have reflashed GAPPS but it didn't help.
am facing the same problem not only my gmail does not sync properly, my whatsapp msgs are coming in really slow. am gonna try to delete the account and sign in again. see if it helps.
In my case deleting account didn't help. It still happens for some reason that the Gmail sync doesn't work and when I go to Accounts & Sync preferences I just see that the Gmail sync dialog box is unchecked. So, then I just check the box and it starts working until it, due to mysterious reasons, stop syncing and I need to repeat the process to start the sync again.
Do you have the battery saving feature enabled and if so check the settings.
Because one of the settings (I don't know which because I disabled the useless thing) disables sync or at least it did on my phone.
bpivk said:
Do you have the battery saving feature enabled and if so check the settings.
Because one of the settings (I don't know which because I disabled the useless thing) disables sync or at least it did on my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have CM7 ROM and I don't use any other special tweaks or settings. The thing is only gmail stops syncing. When I open the sync settings (Accounts & Sync) I often find gmail unchecked, but contacts and everything else syncs just fine. When I set the gmail to sync, everything works until I restart my phone (I have it turned off overnight...).
Hope it described my problems well enough. I have already tried reflashing ROM, GAPPS, deleting my account, cache and all kinds of things I was able to think of. Nothing helped.
I couldn't find such setting. If you mean wi-fi sleep policy I have it set to never. The thing is Gmail sync box is being constantly unchecked whenever I turn off an on again my cell phone...
ok, i'm not normally one to have trouble with issues such as these, but this is my first android phone (htc evo 3d) and when i first got it on launch date, i manually entered all my contacts from my old phone to my new one. well i recently went through the root process and read that if you had your gmail account as the primary google account, that you wouldnt have to worry about your contacts anymore, after a wipe or changing to a new phone.
well after root i let the phone do all the gmail syncing after enabling it, and my contacts are still not there. i am having trouble getting into an option that will let me view or add or edit contacts from google. i go into accounts and sync, click my google account but all it will let me do is enable or disable the syncing of contacts. can someone give me a brief rundown of exactly how this works? and are my contacts all gone?
It works pretty much the way you described it; once you have the contacts in your phone you sync and they all get saved to your default gmail account. Then when/if you decide to wipe, you run sync again and they'll be uploaded to your phone.
This is what I'd do if I were you;
- Open gmail -> contacts and check if they are actually there.
- If your contacts are there, then maybe you don't have them set to shown in your phone display options under contacts.
thanks for the quick reply. when you say to open gmail, do you mean through the accounts and sync settings menu? or the gmail app? when i go through the accounts and sync, i just get the option of turning the syncing for each category (i.e. contacts, weather, news) on or off, i cant actually go into each one to see what they are comprised of. i feel pretty dumb not being able to figure this out, but i had over 100 peoples numbers and information on my contacts before i wiped and rooted my phone, so i'm willing to accept sounding like a noob in hopes of possibly getting them back.
thanks again in advance.
No problem at all No, I meant open it on your computer (http://www.google.com/contacts) and see if there are any in there.
Regarding display options; I don't know which phone you're using, but you get there by opening Contacts -> Display Options on my LG (http://www.shrani.si/f/30/1s/1KBZD0Ot/screenshot-1314442655693.png a screenshot of how it might look like if it's of any help)
What'll drain more battery, the Samsung e-mail app on push 24/7 (with a single Gmail account), or the Gmail app with sync?
only one way to really find out since every ones phone behaves differently, try each one over two or three days.see how each one goes.
If you use the email app and set sync to just a few hours instead of a few minutes you may find that it uses less juice than gmail (you can also set gmail to sync less often)
If you choose to use one rather than the other don't forget to freeze the other app as they are system apps and will continue to run in background even if they are unconfigured
swatsbiz said:
If you use the email app and set sync to just a few hours instead of a few minutes you may find that it uses less juice than gmail (you can also set gmail to sync less often)
If you choose to use one rather than the other don't forget to freeze the other app as they are system apps and will continue to run in background even if they are unconfigured
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you change gmail to sync less often?
Thanks
The drain is not that bad, I always have mine on normal sync and drain is expected but not as bad it it seems using Gmail app.
I use Exchange on the Samsung App and that drains battery as there's a bug in the source code but not sure how that affects POP3/Imap.
It's a smartphone at the end of the day just enjoy it and charge nightly
Email App Error
Hi,
I am facing an error with my email app. Since i upgraed t GB 2.3.6 the app wont mark messages as read as soon as it is read. If i open the gmail app and mark a mail as read, then after a few minutes the email app also marks it as read, else stays as unread. Any help or suggestions appreciated. Thanks in Advance.
Is there any way to force the GMail app to download email as soon as it arrives, rather than waiting for me to go into the app and look at it, and wait for it to download at that point? The standard behaviour is a waste of my time!
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
It does download emails fully when autosync is enabled. Sometimes going into the app doesn't load the mail immediately and it looks like it's downloading, but you'll see that if you go back once and return to the mail it loads immediately. That's a bit annoying, but it's not downloading the mail only when you view it, that's for sure. If you're asking about Gmail delivering push emails without autosync enabled, then that's not possible. It has always needed autosync to be enabled to receive push emails, otherwise you have to go manually and refresh to see new mails. I wish that Gmail could deliver mails without autosync, like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenge, but it can't right now.