PROnetworks

NT50’s Personal Experience With Connecting a Dell PDA and Vista

OS: Vista Ultimate 32 Bit
PDA: Dell AXIM X50, USB Cradle
Other: Office 2007 Ultimate

Step 1
Backup ALL data on the PDA to prevent any loss. I also created a backup of my addresses only.

Step 2
Do a hard reset to clear all memory from the PDA.

Step 3
The USB cradle was first plugged into the system and power connected. Then the PDA was placed in the cradle. Vista automatically picked up the detection of the device and starting installing driver. The PDA would not sync until Windows updates were installed. Once the updates were installed a reboot was not required but I had to in order to get Outlook 2007 to work properly with the PDA.
Once all the drivers are installed and a reboot is completed, you should then be able to go into Windows Mobile Device Center and setup the PDA for what you want to sync between the computer and the handheld. The addresses were then restore from backup (only addresses) and re-sync.
Once the step by step process is completed you should have a screen that looks similar to the one below.



The addresses were then restore from backup (only addresses) and re-sync.
You will also notice that in the Sync Center your device will appear similar to below.



In the picture below you will notice the addresses are sync with Outlook seamlessly.



NOTES of Interest:
The first time I installed the PDA device it was with all data in the address book, calendar, and files. I had several errors when trying to sync the calendar events and decided to start the calendar over. This is why I backed up and restored the addresses only.

The file transfer went well but Vista did not recognize some of the files. The files that were not recognized by Vista / Office 2007 were the Mobile Word and Excel Files. If I save the files on the PDA as Word / Excel 2000 files, then Office Ultimate reads them just fine.

This procedure was only performed on a Dell AXIM X50 Windows Mobile PDA. I am not sure about Palm or any other brand of PDA.