BlackBerry® Curve™

[drjeng]

I got my Blackberry at the end of February,and established my Outlook email as the default email for the device calendar and have had no problem sync'ing the calendar and contacts between Outlook and the device using the Blackberry Desktop Software. 

A Blackberry core update was pushed and installed on the device recently, and since then, the device could not keep the Outlook email as the email for the device default calendar.  Each time when it occured, one of the two things happened: either any appointment I entered on the device would be labeled as Outlook email calendar item, separate from all items of the device default calendar (visible in different color indicator), in which case the added appointmend could not be sync'ed to my desktop Outlook calendar; or all my default calendar items would be reassigned to Outlook email calendar (the color indicator changed to green instead of the default blue), in which case  the device would ask to delete ALL appointment items on my desktop Outlook calendar when sync'ing because it couldn't reconcile the default calendar with the Outlook email calendar.

Each time when the problem occurs, I would delete the Outlook email (so that the device had no default email) and then reinstalled it so that the Outlook email was the email for the device default calendar.  The sync works after that but only for a short while each time. Then the problem reappeared.

When I sync'ed the device with desktop Outlook,  I also noticed that on the device under Setup > Email Accounts, the Synchronization Options for the Outlook email has only the box for "Deleted Items" and not boxes for calendar and contacts, though I don't know whether that makes any difference.

I suspect there must be something wrong in the recent Blackberry core update that is messing up the default calendar when it's linked with an Outlook address. Could you help fixing this problem please.

[Bifocals]

Hi and welcome to the forums!

1) On the Blackberry in options>advanced options>default services are the CICAL and CMIME values associated with your main email address?

2) in MS Outlook under tools>email accounts is your default email address the same as the email address listed in the default services?

3) Is your device setup as a corporate phone server controlled (BES) or a (BIS) personal phone?

4) What type of email account have you setup? Outlook web access? Use the article below for reference.

Thanks,

Bifocals

KB10154 How to integrate a POP or IMAP email account through advanced integration

[drjeng]

>1) On the Blackberry in options>advanced options>default services are the CICAL and CMIME values associated with your main email address?

Yes.

2) in MS Outlook under tools>email accounts is your default email address the same as the email address listed in the default services?

Yes.

3) Is your device setup as a corporate phone server controlled (BES) or a (BIS) personal phone?

I don't know the answer of that.  How do I find out?  My device is a personal Blackberry though my Outlook email is a work related email address.

4) What type of email account have you setup? Outlook web access?

The Outlook email setup on the device is OWA though, when I sync my device calendar, it is with the desktop Outlook calendar (Office 2010) via VPN.  I did not have problems until the last couple of days after the device core application upgrade was installed.

[Bifocals]

Hi,

I think the VPN connection you utilize creates a different set of "rules" for reconciliation and synchronization of the Outlook Web Access email account.

I have attached the articles that usually apply. Sorry I have no experience with using a VPN connection on a Blackberry. If I can provide any other information please let me know.

Thanks,

Bifocals

---

KB05133Email reconciliation features for the BlackBerry Internet Service

Synchronization BIS 3.2 OWA

KB15838How to verify the wireless email reconciliation process

[drjeng]

I did not find the deescriptions of BES v. BIS in the user manual so couldn't tell whether they have special meanings as you asked. I think you were asking whether my device was set as part of Blackberry Enterprise Service.  The answer is no.

I had already read the three documents you referred to before.  I do not believe the VPN setting is the problem.  All it does is create a secure connection for remote access to work systems, and it has not changed since it was installed on my desktop long before I had the Blackberry device. I could not see how something that has remained the same suddenly began to affect the device last week after the Blackberry core application upgrade was installed on the device.

Again, I will appreciate any help.

[drjeng]

Further information...

I deleted the Outlook email from the device so that there is no email associated with the device.  Turned off the device and turned it back on, and added the Outlook email to the email setup successfully.  Those desktop Outlook calendar items that were automatically reassigned by the device from default calendar to the Outlook email calendar did not change back to the default calendar (judging from the color indicator that remained green, not the default blue).

I did a memory clean and redo the sequence (deleting/reestablishing email).  Under OPTIONS > DEVICE > ADVANCED SYSTEM SETTINGS > DEVICE SERVICES, both CICAL and CMIME items shows my Outlook email as the default placement for new items.  It is apparent that the device does not see the device default calendar and the Outlook email as the same (even though it's identified as the default placement in CICAL).

All of the above descriptions were done on the device; and no part of it involved VPN or sync'ing at all.  Could it be an issue with the Service Book?  KB 10939 describes a process to regenerate Encryption key but Steps 10-12 were not written for Curve 3G 9330. 

[Bifocals]

Hi,
If you open your calendar on the blackberry press menu key>options how many calendars do you show and is one named device default? If you click on each one do you have records in each?
Thanks,
Bifocals
(Currently on my mobile, I'll look up the KB you mentioned when I get to my PC.

[drjeng]

After my last response to you, I started thinking about the Service Book.  So I went to the Service Books and deleted my Outlook email [CICAL] Service Book while keeping the Outlook email [CMIME] Service Book unchanged.  After that, all the calendar appointment items, including those previously separated from the device default calendar, were linked back to the device default calendar again (all were in default blue color).  When I went to CALENDAR > MENU KEY, I was not given an option to "Select Calendar" at all and I was able to sync with my desktop Outlook calendar with no problem this time.  Apparently, once the Service Book for my Outlook email [CICAL] is gone, the device has no other choice but to put all calendar items in the device default calendar.

So far I could tell.  When I established the OWA Outlook email access, the device established two service books for the OWA Outlook email:  one with [CICAL] for calendar and the other with {CMIME] for emailing.  The one with [CMIME] Service Book for emailing is correct since I want my OWA outlook emails pushed to the device email.  But the OWA Outlook email service book for [CICAL] is incorrect because my desktop Outlook calendar does not use OWA (and it shouldn't).

While the calendar works at this moment (no telling how long it would last), I need to find a way to establish the correct service book with [CICAL] for my desktop Outlook calendar (not my OWA Outlook calendar).  This cannot be done with wireless since it would be routed through my OWA Outlook email.  So my question is whether regenerating service book can be done via Blackberry Desktop Manager sync'ing ONLY for the calendar and not for emailing (otherwise I would have a different problem)..  Will appreciate knowing what you find out.  Thanks.

[Bifocals]

Hi,

Just to clarify I did not question the VPN connection as being the problem with your email. My point was accessing a networked MS Outlook email account via VPN would I think change the way the sync and reconciliation worked.

The term device default in these calendar discussions can be confusing as "default" is used as a CICAL calendar description and a device calendar description.

The service books could have certainly caused the problems. I would suggest reading this article describing how the device calendar works with items not associated with a CICAL from an email associated calendar. The merge function is not the point, the calendar process is.

Please let me know your thoughts.

Thanks,

Bifocals

KB19240 How to merge multiple calendars into one calendar on the BlackBerry smartphone

[drjeng · Accepted solution]

Ok. The default calendar is the CICAL associated email calendar. The device calendar is the calendar with all calendars, including the default calendar, integrated into one. I get it.  KB19240 helps explain the differences. So does KB 17992.

I realized that "Desktop" is not an option for me as the default service because my device is not linked to any Blackberry Enterprise Server.  As long as I can delete the Outlook email [CICAL] Service Book to keep all my appointment items together in one device calendar with no separate email [CICAL] calendar, I am going to consider the problem solved. This also means that I will not set up any other email or Facebook services on the device for now.

Next, I will look up articles to learn about Service Books in the Knowledge Base when I get a chance.  Thank you for your help.