Synchronizing iPhone with ... Lotus Notes
by Benjamin Stein
I can't remember nothing. I have to write down every appointment I make immediately. At my desk in the office I have Lotus Notes on Windows. Not my decision. It's just how it is. At home I have Mac OS X with iCal. On the way in between I have my phone.
But how do I manage to have those three calendars in sync?
Naturally the phone should be the proxy since it's the phone that I'm moving around and can easily plug in here or there. That's how I did it up to now. The phone was a Blackberry syncing nicely with Notes on Windows and iCal on Mac OS X.
But now I have surrendered – I have bought an iPhone. And everybody knows that it does not sync with Notes. So how could I buy it?! Honestly, I don't know. It's just such a damn nice gadget. I had to. But on the other hand I need the calendar information up to date on either end and in the phone.
With two software tools and some Web 2.0 I got it running. But the phone is not the proxy anymore. The proxy is iCal. Let's see how it works.
I started with an empty calendar in my Google-Account. Companion Link ($30) is a not so fancy but working tool that synchronizes unattended between Notes and my Google Calendar. That's nice. Whenever I accept an invitation within Notes it shows up in my Google Calendar automatically in a couple of minutes.
At home I emptied out my iCal calendar. Yes, I deleted everything, and I installed BusySync ($20). It's a Mac OS X service syncing Google Calendar with iCal. It's important to sync the calendar instead of just subscribing to it since you cannot edit subscribed calendars.
When I come home and switch on my Mac BusySync gets all the news from my Google Calendar. And when my iPhone gets connected to the Mac it synchronizes with iCal. Whatever I had added or edited on the road is synchronized to iCal, to my Google Calendar and from there to my Notes account (the PC is on all night...)
The Companion Link and BusySync work unattended. Whenever I edit my calendar on the Mac, in Notes on Windows or directly in my iPhone the changes travel around. For $50 extra. Looks like I can live with this setup. And you know what? I LOVE it not to have push mail anymore, but that's another story.
Comments
Great HowTo - thanks!
Is there a tool for syncing the Mac OS Notes ore can the iPhone even sync with Mac Notes' calendar? That'd be the best solution for me using Notes on the Mac as well.
I didn't look for a tool like that. But I doubt it.
This tool claims to sync Notes with the native Mac OS X applications. However, it does not seem to work well in a non-US configuration.
Very interesting, and a neat solution. However, it isn't the kind of thing a C[A-Z]O would want to set up, is it? :-)
Hi, very interesting.
I have nearly the same setup, with one exception: No iPhone yet, still waiting (for Notes Sync) ;-)
There are several unclear points for me though:
Does the "change travel around" only if the Mac at home and the PC in the office stay there and are running?
I guess so...
For example, I make changes on the road to the iPhone calendar and have also my PC laptop with me.
This, I would guess would mean that the Lotus Notes Version will get updated only the next time I have my PC laptop sync to Google calendar?
How error-prone is the sync?
When I used to sync my Palm at the office with Notes and at home with my Mac and iCal, I used to get lots of changes/rechanges/rerechanges, duplicates etc. between all the systems.
What is your experience so far?
Another drawback for me is that my company will not allow me to sync Notes to Google calendar...
Thanks for posting this solution
If the company does not allow syncing to Google Calendar this setup is not for you :-)
Regarding the stability: CompanionLink does not work safely in unattended mode. I noticed that I have to initiate the sync manually to be sure that the data is transferred.
I have no problems with duplicates. The only minor problem are holidays - inserted by Notes automatically into my calendar. They are synced to Google and the iPhone. Later on I have them twice in Notes but only once in Google and iCal and on the iPhone.
After one week of testing: It works but not like a charm.
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