Contacts sync problem - possibly stupid question

[av8trx]

I've been having a real hard time syncing my contacts and calendar. Syncs end up duplicating contacts and calendar events in OUtlook. I end up spending at least an hour telling MPE to ignore this or that before the sync is final.

I'm not sure how to set it up so that contacts are merged and not duplicated on either phone or outlook. I just want my contacts in my phone to match what is in Outlook.

So I'm in Settings > Sync> Settings for Outlook > account to sync> Sync mode > Sync both > Exceptions > Show confirmation before MPE makes changes (checked) > Exceptions for Outlook.. (lists all contacts, most are duplicated in the list - some show phone contact, some show both phone & outlook)

The Stupid Question part - What exactly is the Exception? Checking the box next to a contact excepts it from what?

"Add new entries from Outlook only if ... contact DOES/DOES NOT contain this category" ??? My categories are business contact/customers/vendors . Very few of my contacts are categorized.

Please help me figure out what I'm doing wrong or how I have it set up wrong. Just help me fix this so that syncing with MPE is as easy as everyone says it is.

[dvhttn]

Have you tried: a) delete ALL contacts from the phone and b) (In MPE) Settings/Sync/Contacts-Advanced/Force Outlook to Phone ?

[av8trx]

I think the problem lies in that when I changed phones, I copied all contacts to sim card.. Problem now is that I have some contacts on my phone that aren't in my outlook... Maybe I should force phone to outlook, delete all contacts from phone, clean up my outlook files, then force outlook to phone?

think that would work?

[FJ]

The SIM-Storage gets not touched when you sync. If you have all contacts you need in Outlook then press first the button "Download entire" (the second Button in Toolbar) and then make a sync (Force Outlook -> Phone)

[av8trx]

Prior to using MPE, in an effort to have some contacts on my phone I had copied everything to my SIM card.

After MPE, when everything from Outlook wasn't showing up on my phone I forced Outlook to phone. That's when I noticed some duplicates on my phone. Afterwards when I would sync, (maybe I did a sync both ways), I would get duplicates in Outlook as well.

What is the easiest way to clean up everything, and so that when I do a sync, any new date or contact in my phone shows up in OUtlook and vice versa with Outlook to phone?