Hello,
I would like to sync my contacts between all devices and want to understand, WHAT Microsoft offers and which are the limitations. Can anybody please help or give advise?
My setup:
1. Notebook: Win 11 with MS Office Prof. 2021 Plus incl. Outlook (PST files) not synced with nothing
2. Notebook: Win 11 with MS 365 Family (several contact folders, but not in sync; search not working)
3. Notebook: Win 11 with Smartphone Link (finds most Android contacts, but not all/not in sync)
4. Smartphone: Android app for contacts and calls (are in sync with Google Contacts)
5. online: Google Contacts (are in sync with Android app already)
6. online: outlook.live.com (shows contacts from smartphone, but not in sync - rather a mess!)
7. NAS: Nextcloud - would be nice to have, but seems that MS is not capable of sync function
MS Profiles:
P1) preference are PST files on the notebook and IMAP or live/online to access mails on the server with my personal/vanity email adresses. No need to access older/edited mails on other devices or online, but I need my contacts in sync!
P2) outlook.live.com created an outlook_ugly at outlook.com email address (probably exchange) and seems to sync some contacts with MS 365, but shows lots of duplicates without feature to combine or get rid of them - neither in sync with Android or Google Contacts nor Outlook 2021
P3) MS 365 uses the same outlook_ugly at outlook.com email address, but contacts are neither in sync with Android or Google Contacts nor Outlook 2021.
Scenarios:
S1) Preferably PST for mails, contacts, calendar and tasks etc., while everything but not mails are in sync with Android Smartphone, Google Contacts and possibly MS 365 and outlook.live.com (I can access the latest mails via IMAP directly on the Mail server and don't want all mails on other servers or devices).
S2) not nice to have, but outlook_ugly at outlook.com exchange address for contacts, calendar and tasks if that keeps all devices in sync - at least: Android Smartphone, Google Contacts, MS 365 and outlook.live.com
Questions:
Q1) (How) can I do this this preferably with MS 365 Family (for my wife an me) ?
Q2) What would I need if I have to do it with MS 365 Business (e. g. 1x Standard and 1x Basic)
Q3) Would you rather recommend a 3rd party for sync, like ITSTH or CalDav (which also seems to cause issues) ?
Q4) Any other advise how to sync primarily CONTACTS as well as calendar and tasks between Outlook (2021 or 365) AND Android Smartphone / Google Contacts as well as possibly Nextcloud?
I already had several - and longer - contacts with MS support and read MS pages and forums as well as 3rd party offers, but I can't believe how complicated - or impossible - the synchronization of contacts is, when it comes to Microsoft, while Android is the clear leading OS for smartphones.
Thank you for any help or advice & best regards,
Rico
