Slow sync between PC and Device

[Guyster]

I'm a newbie to Dashboard. I'm using an HP54x. I bought the full version today (based on all the raves out there).

PC to PDA: I notice that it's seems slow (1 minute or more) to sync mail (and calendar, tasks) between PC and PDA when in the USB cradle, if at all. The Today program was near immediate. Is this standard?

PDA to PC: When I delete mail on device, it's not deleting on my PC when in cradle. Again, standard?

Finally, I have a irksome unresolved item that won't resolve. Haven't had this problem prior to install of DB. ActiveSync won't tell me the prob either.

Anyway, don't mean to whine and I'm looking forward to learning this thing. Just don't recall reading about these problems when surfing the boards.

Thanks!

[Chris Scott [SnoopSoft]]

Hi Guyster,

Actually, Dashboard has no interaction with the Sync of info between your PC and the device. Dashboard reads the built-in databases on the device to retrieve the information, but doesn't affect the transmission speed. Same goes for the built-in Today modules from Microsoft. They don't work with ActiveSync, they just use the results from that process.

For the mail stuff, most Dashboard views have a refresh rate in them set to 5 minutes. This means that the view will requery the information from the device every 5 minutes and update the display at that point. To force the latest information to be displayed, just tap the refresh button on the Dashboard skin. I'm working on finding a way to make this automatic for a future release but for now it's timed.

I'm not sure about the unresolved item. I get a few of those every now and then when people send me meeting requests with 5MB attachments...

[Guyster]

Thanks for the reply Chris.

I saw the refresh rate of 5 minutes in Options and thought that was the deal -- you have just confirmed. If I keep my Inbox open, I can work on my PC and see new mail immediately as it comes in and syncs to my device -- eliminating the need to toggle PC to Device. I was expecting DB to do that, and I'm glad you are working on automating that in the future.

I know I can buy the mail module for $10, but I guess I am a bit let down that I can't handle my mail more efficiently w/ the DB version I bought. Maybe I just don't "get it" yet, but why even open my mail with DB if I won't be able to do much but read it? You deserve to be paid for your programming, I just would have rather paid once, than feel like I have 1/2 solution and now have to ante up for the rest.

Don't worry, I'm not too disappointed yet. I'll keep trying and read some boards to see how others use theirs before giving up.

Your good attitude and response to queries make a big difference! Thanks again.

[eepy]

I realise this is a very old thread, but I'd just like to add my voice to this request...

I bought OmegaOne's journal bar and think its great. Consequently, I tend to want to keep my Pocket PC on the today screen rather than anything else.

However, I was annoyed that the today screen only showed me "x unread messages" as opposed to providing me with the headers that I would get if I sat in the In-Box.

Consequently, I turned to dashboard to give me best of both worlds (i.e. stay on the Today screen, but see email headers).

Hence, the 5 minute update delay between my in-box and dashboard is a bit of a pain. I'm going to stick with DB as I generally like it, but if there is any way of syncing the email automatically (or, if not just allowing me to set the sync to 1 minute instead of 5) then that would be great.

Ed

[Chris Scott [SnoopSoft]]

Hi,

Mail is the only thing that Dashboard doesn't auto-sync right now but I am working on that for an upcoming release.

When you think about what Dashboard provides it's important to keep in mind that the whole focus is to let you do as much as possible from the Today page without having to open up additional applications.

The mail is cumbersome to program against, is poorly documented and doesn't really work all that well. Once I opened it up in the application for ActiveSync mail everyone wanted POP and other services functionality. In order to not go crazy and make it worthwhile I charged for access to the external (to your Outlook Inbox) mail services. That way it would be there for people who really wanted it but people who didn't wouldn't have to worry that I was spending all my time coding just mail and letting everything else about Dashboard slide. I've always tried to give each its fair share of time based on stability and whatnot.

As regular users well know I've always struggled with the email functionality and keeping up with Microsoft who likes to rewrite the whole interface for it from time to time. I am currently spending a lot of time on it right now and will also release something new this summer that will be free to all Enhanced Mail users as a "Thank You" for hanging in there all this time.

[eepy]

Chris,

Thanks for your response - I can understand that this isn't an easy thing to get working and appreciate that you don't want to eat up all your time on this small are of the product!

This was definitely a WIBNI request rather than a whinge (and in some ways, only noticing new mail every 5 minutes may help my productivity in the long run)!

:)

Can I just confirm, as I'm a little confused now - the function I was looking for (i.e. updating the mail view on the dashboard more frequently) is also not covered by the Enhanced Mail module? However, if you do manage to get it working, it sounded from your post as though it may be something you only fix for enhanced mail users - is that right?

Thanks, and congrats on the great program anyway!

Ed