Outlook 2013 with Google ActiveSync

Question

I am using the new Outlook 2013 beta, and I'm having problems connecting to the Google ActiveSync server. I can connect fine to the Hotmail server (m.hotmail.com), but when I use the Google server (m.google.com) Outlook returns "Server not found". This server address works fine when connecting via ActiveSync from my iPhone, is there something I am missing here? Thanks!

Answer 1

Gmail ActiveSync is version 12, Office 2013 beta needs version 14 or better.

Answer 2

Exchange and Exchange ActiveSync are 2 different flavors from Microsoft. Exchange is enterprise-oriented, while Exchange ActivSync offers a subset of these features and more geared towards the consumer market.

Previous versions of Outlook supported just Exchange, and services like Gmail and Hotmail offer Exchange ActiveSync -- which is why a plugin is required to sync Outlook with them.

Exchange ActiveSync is being implemented (finally) in Outlook 2013. In press-statements following the announcement of Office 2013, Microsoft representatives mentioned that Outlook 2013 Exchange ActiveSync implementation was in very early development and full of bugs. So far, they've been only testing it with Hotmail. Wider compatibility is coming 'soon', however, no specific time frame was provided.

Knowing that it will be working with Outlook 2013 by October is good enough for me. Currently, I prefer Chrome over Outlook 2010 with a plugin as my front-end to Google Apps. The plugin method hiccups fairly often, and I'm never 100% sure I'm looking at an accurate representation of my Google Apps data. I'd prefer Outlook though, and am glad it's coming.

I'm hoping Google will finally offer the full Exchange ActiveSync feature set and sync Tasks as well, like Hotmail does. Hotmail users have it better in that regard, being able to sync iOS Reminders (something that works very well with Siri) with To-Do lists in Hotmail and Tasks in Outlook.

If there are any paid Google Apps users reading, email a support request for Google Tasks sync to be turned on in their Exchange ActiveSync service -- then we'll have the best of all worlds when it all works in Outlook 2013 :-)

Answer 3

ActiveSync is supported in 2013, however GMail requires SSL and the Outlook2013 dialog for ActiveSync setup does NOT allow this. So, you will get Server errors when setting up your account. Perhaps there will be an update soon that will give the added functionality. Of course you could use IMAP, but as you probably know GMail IMAP support is pretty horrendous (slow, and prone to freezing).

Answer 4

Windows 8 fully supports ActiveSync in Windows Mail, and it works with Gmail. The only restriction is that only the primary Calendar is synced.

Answer 5

It is not the best solution. in fact I don't believe it's a solution, but it works. I had outlook 2010 installed and the sync worked with the Google calendar sync tool installed. I have 2013 preview installed afterwards. the 2013 version uses the same .pst files as 2010. So the google tool synced because 2010 was installed (not used) and updated the pst file which was used by 2013.

edit 18-12-2012 There is no more support for google sync. it ended at the 14th. http://support.google.com/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2716936

Google Sync was designed to allow access to Gmail, Google Calendar, and Contacts via the Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync® protocol. With the recent launch of CardDAV, Google now offers similar access via IMAP, CalDAV, and CardDAV, making it possible to build a seamless sync experience using open protocols.

So vote for CalDAV in Outlook 2013 here: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/pl-PL/officeitpropreview/thread/bcf1826b-f701-48f1-87aa-3be5e383494f

edit2 you can add an *.ics file to outlook 2013 at the account settings page, tab internet calendars as internet calendar subscription. http://support.google.com/calendar/bin/answer.py?hl=nl&answer=37111 this seems the only option at the moment. I tried it and received an 0x80004005 error. the operation failed or an object could not be found. tried both xml and ical.

Answer 6

Gmail supports Exchange ActiveSync on mobile devices only. POP and IMAP are the options with Outlook. Not sure if there are any plans to change this.

Answer 7

I think this is an issue with how Outlook 2013 is negotiation authentication with the exchange server using active sync. I have tried this on Office365 with an EAS-only-enabled account and got Outlook 2013 to the point of at least finding the server and attempting authentication, alas it seems to fail. I got this far by specifying SSL in the proxy settings. Note that Basic Authentication fails when it attempts to connect to the server but Negotiated seems to find the server but fail to authenticate properly and repeatedly asks for a password. Hopefully this all gets panned out.

Answer 8

I don't think desktop versions of Outlook typically support ActiveSync. Microsoft may have added a special exception for Hotmail.