samsung galaxy s 4 - Sync 'droid with Outlook

I have seen many questions here about users trying other software than Kies for sync'ing data with Outlook and a handset, very mixed reviews with what's good/bad, but not very much mentioned recently on the versions I am using.

I have setup a Samsung GS4 with Kies on a Win7 PC running Outlook 2010, the previous user had a Blackberry and is used to sync'ing his device with his laptop. Email items are sync with a GMail account as we are not running Exchange.

The user has 400+ contacts and quite a lot of e-mail with hundreds of calendar items.

Kies Sync has worked (albeit slowly) for a week, now it stalls/halts (no errors, no timeouts) at 15%.

Any hints or troubleshooting I can do? Sync logs to look for?

If I cannot resolve this I will need a different product to use, so any suggestions are more than welcome!

Answer

There is a one-way Google-to-Outlook sync built into Outlook 2010 and 2013, where you generate a link to your calendar via Google Calendar website, and then add the URL to Outlook as an Internet calendar. This way any changes you make on Google side get synchronized to Outlook. Step-by-step walk-through instructions are here:

1. 
   

   Log into your Google account, click on the Apps launcher icon Apps launcher icon and select Calendar from the list of apps.

   
   



2. 
   

   Hover over the needed calendar in the calendar list and click Calendar settings. This will open the Calendar details page.

   
   


3. 
   

   Click the ICAL button and copy the calendar's URL.

   
   


4. 
   

   Open your Outlook and switch to Calendar -> Manage Calendars ribbon group.

   
   


5. 
   
   

   Click Open Calendar button and choose "From Internet..." from the drop down list.

   
   


6. 
   

   Paste your Google calendar's URL and click OK.

   
   

If you are looking to sync the other way, i.e. Outlook-to-Google, your options are much more limited. Microsoft tells you how to perform a one-time transfer by exporting your Outlook calendar and then importing the data into your Google account. However, this is not a permanent solution, as it requires you to do this every time you make changes in Outlook.

Google used to have a service called Google Sync which would perform a true two-way sync between your Google account and Outlook via a small application that you would install on your Windows machine. Unfortunately that service has been discontinued a while ago. It's still available for paid Google accounts such as Google Apps for Business, but not for free Google accounts.

In terms of 3rd-party applications, since you have already ruled out Kies as unreliable, gSyncit comes highly recommended, but it's not free. It is a MS Outlook add-in for your PC (no Android app required) that allows a true 2-way sync of e-mail, calendar, contacts and tasks between Outlook and a Google account.