Mark/Space advertises their Missing Sync for BlackBerry with an image of a BlackBerry Bold on their home page. They also issued this press release on November 11, 2008 pronouncing “full synchronization support for BlackBerry Bold”. So you’d think that the product would synchronize data between a BlackBerry and a Mac Address Book (also prominently displayed on their home page).
Wrong. At first it looked as if my contacts were synching up just perfectly. Unfortunately after my second and subsequent synchronizations the contacts on my BlackBerry Bold doubled. And apparently there’s no way around this except to walk through a time consuming workaround (Note: Who buys synchronization software only to require time consuming workarounds?!). I’ll show you the problem and the suggested “fix” from Mark/Space on the next page.
Here are my BlackBerry contacts after I’ve done a synchronization from The Missing Sync for BlackBerry. Note that I even asked Missing Sync to completely over-write all contacts on my BlackBerry with a complete copy of my Mac Address Book.
Notice how Missing Sync for BlackBerry not only didn’t overwrite my contacts (I know this because my Mac Address Book has no duplicates) but added some additional names and instead of synchronizing them throws them OUT OF SYNCHRONIZATION.
The company is apparently fully aware of this MAJOR flaw, which I take GREAT issue with due to their blatantly misleading advertising (use of a BlackBerry Bold image in their ads).
Here’s the problem notice posted November 20, 2008 at their site:
This document describes a work-around solution for cases in which users of the BlackBerry Bold and The Missing Sync are affected by erratic performance of sync functions, especially where data (contacts, events, etc.) doesn’t match following a sync operation.
Users will note that the sync log will generally not contain errors that reflect a sync failure, or problem. Other symptoms may include the failure of some contacts to sync from the BlackBerry device to the Macintosh, or for duplicate contact data to appear on the BlackBerry device.
Mark/Space is investigating this matter at this time. Pending resolution, we recommend the following workaround:
1. In the ADDRESS BOOK application (on the Mac), you should choose FILE>EXPORT>ADDRESS BOOK ARCHIVE. Quit Address Book.
2. In The Missing Sync, set the contact plugin setting to overwrite on the next sync only.
3. Perform a sync; the Macintosh will overwrite the data on the device.
4. Perform another sync. This time the data will not be overwritten. NOTE: you should accept any/all sync changes on the Mac (should any be required), even if the sync will delete most of the contact data on the Macintosh.
5. In the ADDRESS BOOK application (on the Mac), you should choose FILE>IMPORT>ADDRESS BOOK ARCHIVE. Select the backup file that you created in step 1. Quit the Address Book application.
6. Open The Missing Sync, and set the CONTACT plugin to OVERWRITE on the next sync only; perform the overwrite sync.
Normal, reliable syncing performance should be restored, following the procedure described above.
IMPORTANT: This performance issue may resurface following any contact data being edited or added directly on the BlackBerry device. Mark/Space recommends that users add or edit contact information only on the Macintosh, pending a permanent, comprehensive solution to this issue.
I’ll update this as soon as I find when a fix can be expected. For now I recommend avoiding this solution and if you’ve purchased the product already let Mark/Space know that this type of misleading advertising is unethical and you expect a fix ASAP.
Link: Mark/Space – Missing Sync for BlackBerry
