Trying To Synch Outlook Tasks Using Dropbox

[Wolfboy]

I am trying to use Dropbox to synch Microsoft Outlook tasks on my PC with ToDo apps on my ipad and iphone. The ipad and iphone apps synch with each other but they do not synch with the PC - in either direction. I am not sure what I am doing wrong here. I have changed the default data file location in Outlook, so that it is now in the Dropbox directory. If I put the cursor above the Dropbox icon I get a message saying "Can't synch Outlook.pst file: file is in use"

[pinkyboyid]

I dont think it is advisable to use Dropbox to synch Outllook .PST files (which is where the Tasks are stored along with messages, calenders etc) due to potential data corruption / file open conflicts. See:-

http://www.msoutlook.info/question/697
and
http://lifehacker.com/5805828/how-to-sync-your-desktop-email-client-outlook-or-thunderbird-across-multiple-computers

I could be wrong, but the 'file in use:' message that you are getting from Dropbox is probably because the Outlook Application running on the PC 'Owns' the .PST/Task data file and the Dropbox service also running on the PC, is attempting to open the same data file to upload it to the Drop Servers. I dont think Outlook will allow that, as it will be seen as a Sharing violation.

You could try closing Outlook, then when Dropbox commences its synch cycle start Outlook, which might work. But even then, there is still the potential for data corruption to occur at some point. The same issue will occur when Dropbox attempts to synch data from its servers back to your PC.

As a test, when you close Outlook I think you may see Dropbox successfully copy the data file to its external Servers.

I dont have your type of Dropbox setup to be 100% certain, so apologies if incorrect.

[Wolfboy]

Thanks for your reply. The links certainly suggested that I would not be able to synch with Outlook still open. However I closed down Outlook overnight but still could not synch. So I think there must be something else wrong with what I am doing.