Using Google Apps Sync with Outlook - errors and fixes

This list of errors and fixes will be updated frequently. Please bookmark the page and come back to visit once in a while.

Free/busy information is not working, or at initial migration, you get a warning message that your free/busy information will not work

This is due to a missing register entry to your outlook installation. To fix this, you need to add a register entry manually to your PC. Follow the steps below:

1. Open Windows register: press Windows key and R, this will bring up the Run window, type in regedit and hit enter
2. Your register opens. Browse to the following window using the register explorer on the left panel: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\SchedulingInformation\FreeBusySupport
3. If you don’t see a SMTP entry on the right panel, create a new one. Right click anywhere in the panel, select new -> String value
4. Right click on the name of the new entry created, rename it to SMTP
5. Right click on SMTP, select modify
6. Enter {0006F049-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} in the value field
7. Close register, restart Outlook

The same email message appears in more than one folder

Google Apps Mail support the use of labels, and each email can have multiple labels. Each label corresponds to a folder in Outlook. If an email message has 2 labels, it will appear in the corresponding 2 folders in Outlook. Please NOTE: this does not mean you have two copies of the email message in your server. Deleting the message from one folder will delete it from all folders it belongs in.

Sent messages are not showing up in Sent Item folder

It is probably because your Outlook default setting has been modified. To set it back follow the steps below:

1. In Outlook, click on Tools -> Options
2. On Preference tab, under Email, select Email Options
3. Tick the checkbox “save copies of messages in Sent Item folder”

The initial synchronisation is taking ages, is that normal?

The initial synchronisation could take up to 24 hours depending on the size of your emails. However, you could leave the synchronisation to run in the backstage and start using Outlook immediately.

When logging into Outlook, you get the error message “Can not open your default mail folders. The information stored could not be opened”

This error could happen after you have changed your windows password. To fix this, you will need to delete your Google Apps Sync password and re-enter again. To do this, go to start->programs->Google Apps Sync 2.0 and select “Delete saved Google Apps Sync password”. Then when you start your Outlook, you will be asked to enter your Google Apps password again. This should be able to get rid of the error message.

When can I import my old data (mail, calendar and contact) to Google Apps server?

You can do this either at the initial setup of Google Apps Sync, or if you choose to import later, you can do this at any time by going to Windows Start -> Programs -> Google Apps Sync 2.0 -> import data to Google Apps Sync. If you are importing large amount of data, this could take up to 24 hours. You could choose to run this at a convenient time, such as over a weekend.

After importing, why am I having duplicate contacts and calendar?

This could happen when you run multiple migrations to one Google Apps profile on your Outlook. As a result, your contacts and calendars are imported to Google Server multiple times. You can log into your Google Apps web interface, and delete the duplicate calendar. For the contacts, you could add (or as your administrator) to enable the contacts app. You can then filter the duplicate contacts in the contacts management panel and merge the duplicates.