Sync'Em Frequently Asked Questions

Don't forget to check the Knowledgebase articles in the Sync'Em Support Center.

Sync'Em (8)

Questions related to the Sync'Em product's features, capabilities, requirements, usage, etc.

What does the "Yellow Circle with Black Dash" or "Red Circle with X" or Green Circle with Check Mark" symbol mean?

For this an other important operational information, you should read the small "Operating Sync'Em – The Sync'Em Menu Extra" and "Sync'Em Error Reporting" sections in the Sync'Em "ReadMe" document (available via the "Read Me..." button in the "About" tab on the Sync'Em preferences panel and/or via the installer/uninstaller disk image). There's also a forum comment on this topic.

Does Sync'Em work with Exchange hosting service providers?

Yes. See our Exchange Hosting Service Providers page for more information.

My trial license expired but I need more time, what do I need to do?

Please contact us and we'll enable you to extend your trial period.

Can I use Sync'Em to get my iPhone sync'd wirelessly?

Yes, Sync'Em can help you get your iPhone sync'd wirelessly.

If you have an Exchange account that offers wireless syncing with your iPhone, just sync your Address Book and iCal to your Exchange account that syncs with your iPhone. Your Address Book contacts and iCal calendars can also be sync'd with your Google account and/or other Macs^*.

If you don't have an Exchange account that offers wireless syncing with your iPhone, you can get a hosted Exchange account that does offer wireless syncing then sync your Exchange account and/or Google account and/or Macs with that Exchange account (which then syncs wirelessly with your iPhone).

Our Exchange Hosting Providers page has some information on providers that offer wireless iPhone syncing.

^*Not all features are currently available. See the product roadmap for more information.

Can Sync'Em sync with Entourage, Outlook and OWA?

Yes and no (in that order).

The "database" for Entourage, Outlook and OWA is Exchange (actually, these are all "clients" that utilize the services of Exchange servers). So, effectively, Sync'Em syncs with Entourage/Outlook/OWA — i.e., Entourage/Outlook/OWA all "see" the information sync'd to Exchange by Sync'Em and Sync'Em "sees/syncs" the information added/changed/deleted by Entourage/Outlook/OWA (because their information resides in Exchange).

Can I use Sync'Em if I'm using Entourage?

Yes, you can use Sync'Em in conjunction with Entourage but you must ensure that Entourage's syncing is turned off. Entourage's syncing can be turned on/off via its preferences.

Specifically, it's always dangerous to sync two of the same resources "together" via multiple sync'ers. In this case, the two resources would be Exchange contacts with Address Book contacts and/or Exchange calendars with iCal calendars and the two sync'ers would be Entourage and Sync'Em. This danger is true whether it's Entourage and Sync'Em or any other sync'er programs syncing the same two resources. For a more complete explanation, see our Knowledgebase article on this topic.

For safety, if Sync'Em determines that Entourage appears to be installed, it will show an advisory message once after each new version that's installed.

Prior to the Mac-to-Mac syncing being implemented, is there any way I can sync from Mac-to-Mac?

Yes, there is a way to sync from Mac-to-Mac, today!

Later, you'll be able to sync Mac-to-Mac directly via Sync'Em, but there is a strategy you can use today — e.g., to sync your contacts and/or calendar events between two (or more) systems:

purchase one Sync'Em Contacts license ($14.95) or one Sync'Em license ($49.95) for each Mac
on one system, setup and sync your contacts and/or calendar events
one-by-one, on the other system(s) setup and sync your contacts and/or calendar events

Sync'Em will now keep your contacts and/or calendar events in sync across the two systems.

Notes:

If you're syncing contacts to your Apple Address Book, after an initial sync you can open the Address Book application then select the "Look for Duplicates..." menu and merge any duplicates found. This can be very useful because, while manually maintaining separate copies, it's easy to have created duplicate and/or slightly different copies of what were meant to be the same entries.
a Sync'Em Contacts license can later be upgraded to a Sync'Em license, 'though the overall cost is slightly higher

Does Sync'Em require any additional software to be installed on "other" systems (e.g., the Exchange server)?

No, only Sync'Em needs to be installed. If you are syncing to other Macs, Sync'Em also needs to be installed and licensed on those Macs. You can also review the requirements for Sync'Em.

Exchange (8)

Questions related to Sync'Em and Microsoft Exchange.

What do I need to know to setup syncing with Exchange shared folders?

See the Knowledgebase article on this topic.

How can I determine the value for the Windows Domain login for my Exchange/OWA account?

If you normally use OWA (Outlook Web Access), you may not know the Windows Domain that's part of a full Windows login. Exchange servers can be configured to either require a Windows Domain for login to OWA, or to not require it.

Similarly, Exchange may require Sync'Em to supply the Windows Domain part of the login. In these cases, you'll need to enter the "Windows Domain" value when setting up the Sync'Em Access preferences for your Exchange account. Even if it's not required, it's normally OK to supply the correct Windows Domain.

If you don't know your Windows Domain and can log in via OWA, you can often determine the Windows Domain value as follows:

login to OWA
click on the "Options" link
click on the "Change Password" link
your Windows Domain value is the characters preceding the "\" (backslash) character in the form's "Domain\user name:" field — e.g., as highlighted in the graphic, below:

If no Windows Domain is shown, then it's likely that none is required.

What do the various error numbers mean when trying to access an Exchange server?

"Special" Characters in Passwords

We've seen multiple cases where certain "special" characters will not work in a password (e.g., an exclamation point/mark). We know that Sync'Em handles this and have even seen examples where we can access a given account with such a password character, but someone else can't do exactly the same from their system. We assume this has something to do with character-set settings either when using a different browser and/or international OS X and/or Windows Server versions (we mostly test with Safari and Firefox).

If you're having problems and your password includes "special" characters, you might try changing it (temporarily) to include only alphabetic and number characters to see whether that's the issue.

org.apache.axis2.AxisFault: Transport error: 401 Error: Unauthorized

A 401 error indicates that you most likely got connected to an Exchange server, but it would not authorize you with the information provided (i.e., it's not the correct username/password/windows domain combo).

You'll need to find the correct username/password/windows domain combo to get past a 401 error. If you don't know your Windows Domain, see the FAQ that can help you determine your Windows Domain.

There's also a smaller possibility that, 'though it got connected to a server, it's still the wrong server for accessing via EWS (Exchange Web Services).

The most accurate way to resolve this issue is to ask the Exchange-server Administrator (or service supplier) the question
What is the Exchange Server address and the Windows domain that I should use to access the Exchange server via EWS (Exchange Web Services) using my username/password?
They should understand that EWS is not the same as OWA.

Even though a 401 error implies that you're hitting a server that's responding, you should still ask about the Exchange Server Address, just to be sure (since Windows servers can be configured in all kinds of weird, and not always so wonderful, ways).

org.apache.axis2.AxisFault: Transport error: 403 Error: Forbidden

A 403 error indicates that the server (IIS security) isn't allowing access to the EWS (Exchange Web Services) URL — i.e., either EWS is not enabled or there's some other sort of security/access restriction (e.g., a single-sign-on mechanism that hides the standard authentication mechanism).

Technically, SyncEm uses Microsofts interfaces to interact with the Exchange Server via EWS using SOAP requests (e.g., makes SOAP requests to
https://<the-exchange-server-address>/EWS/Exchange.asmx).

The best way to resolve this issue is to ask the Exchange-server admin (or service supplier) the question
What is the Exchange Server address and the Windows domain that I should use to access the Exchange server via EWS (Exchange Web Services) using my username/password?
They should understand that EWS is not the same as OWA.

org.apache.axis2.AxisFault: Transport error: 404 Error: Not Found

A 404 error indicates one or more of the following:

the Exchange Server Address is incorrect
only one of the modes for "Only use secure connection" is supported by the server (i.e., either SSL or non-SSL)
the Exchange Server does not have WS (Web Services) enabled (or access is "silently" denied)

Try both checked and unchecked settings for "Only use secure connection" to see whether one setting avoids the 404 error.

In addition (and possibly in combination) try different Exchange Server Address entries. You can also try accessing the Exchange Server via OWA (Outlook Web Access) and getting the server address from the web browser, as suggested in the tutorial videos. There are 2 such addresses you should try:

the address that's shown while at the OWA login page
the address once you're logged in via OWA

I.E., as per the video's instructions, try the address that's "... between the http:// and the next / ..." in the browser's address bar.

One way to test to see whether WS is enabled is to use your web browser to try to visit the page (replace the "<the-...-access>" portion):
http://<the-exchange-server's-address-you-use-for-OWA-access>/ews/

If you get a login prompt, that likely means that WS is enabled on that Exchange server. If you get a denied directory listing message (or get a login prompt then attempt to login and get denied), that may mean that WS is enabled on that Exchange server but it's denying access to the directory and/or its contents.

org.apache.axis2.AxisFault: Transport error: 440 Error: Login Timeout

A 440 Timeout error indicates that, while attempting to log in, there was no response from the Exchange server within 30 seconds.

This generally implies that you are finding a server that wants a login. The first thing to do is to try again as it is possible that the server was just very busy and didn't respond quickly enough.

Another thing to try is to reverse the setting of the "Use this Mac's proxy setup" option for the Exchange Access Sync Source Pref.

org.apache.axis2.AxisFault: Exchange Web Services are not currently
available for this mailbox because it could not determine the Client
Access Services Server to use for the mailbox.

This probably means that Exchange Web Services are either not enabled or that your account does not have access to them.

While you can still use the technique, below, this capability is now integrated into the Exchange Access setup for Sync'Em versions 1.19 and newer.

What else can I do?

You can also download our Exchange-access test utility and use it to try multiple login configurations. As you're trying these tests, it'll create a file named "SyncEmTests.txt" on your desktop and show you the information that's being accumulated in that file. The test utility can be helpful because it generates a detailed (and technical) log of the connection process — 'though it's likely to be more meaningful to our technicians than to you.

Using the various suggestions in this article, you should test multiple Exchange-login configurations via this test utility and, if you're still unsuccessful, please create a support ticket and send us the "SyncEmTests.txt" file so we can try to help.

How do I specify the name of a calendar or contacts folder I created in Exchange?

If you have created an Exchange calendar or contacts folder, you'll need to specify the calendar or contact folder's pathname, not just its simple name, when using the Sync'Em "Advanced Setup" mode. If you are using the "Basic Setup" assistant, this is automatically handled for you.

E.G., You've created an Exchange calendar named "Home" and you want to sync that calendar's events in addition to (or instead of) the default Exchange calendar folder named "Calendar". To specify the Sync Source Prefs Locale for the "Home" calendar, you'll need to specify the "Calendar Folder Name" as "Calendar/Home". This is not something you "see" via OWA — the best hint is that OWA will show the folder as ".Home" in the "Choose folder to delete" pop-up. Fortunately Sync'Em will show you the correct information and even create the Locale for you.

The easiest way to create Exchange Locales via the "Advanced Setup" is to press the "Test & Save & Show Locales" button the on the Sync'Em Exchange Access (Sync Source Pref) edit panel. The dialog that shows the available Locales for that account will show the correct Folder names that must be used in your Exchange Locales — but it's easiest, at that point, to check the applicable entry(s) then press that dialog's Create button to have one or more of the Locale's automatically created. Then just rename them appropriately and set them to be part of the applicable Sync Source entry(s).

Note that, prior to Sync'Em version 1.16, if you enter an invalid Calendar or Contact Folder Name in the Sync'Em Exchange Locale (Sync Source Pref), the Sync'Em Engine will crash.