BES : Duplicate Contact Lists or Calendars that do not synchronize with the BlackBerry Enterprise Server

We’ve seen numerous posts on this before but as I was nosing around RIM’s knowledgebase today, I came across this KB Article posted back on Feb 23, 2011. Its mainly geared towards the BES Admin’s which I have no doubt have come across this on many occasions with troublesome users.

Granted there are other ways to fix the issue and its is somewhat simpler with OS 6, this will however help for the stubborn devices that just don’t want to co-operate with you. The steps outline for both BES 4.1 and BES 5.0 and makes use of a handheld installable tool and custom IT Policy.

Overview for contact list duplication

The tool determines which contact list is currently synchronizing with the BlackBerry Enterprise Server and assigns it as the default contact list. All other contact lists are then merged with the default, and any duplicate contact entries are automatically deleted.

Note: The additional contact lists are not removed from the BlackBerry smartphone, but are left empty, and the default contact list contains all contacts.

Note: If the smartphone uses BlackBerry® Device Software 4.5 to 4.7, the Duplicate Address Book Removal Tool will drop any orphaned group address book entries.This known issue does not apply to smartphones that use BlackBerry Device Software 5.0 to 6.0. The tool then removes itself from the smartphone. Contact lists that are associated with a BlackBerry® Internet Service account are ignored in this process and remain untouched.

Overview for calendar duplication

The tool disables the wireless synchronization option for the calendar, removes all entries from all calendars on the smartphone, and then re-enables the wireless synchronization option. The BlackBerry Enterprise Server eventually repopulates the calendar entries from the mailbox.

When the tool has completed running, it flags itself for deletion the next time that the BlackBerry® smartphone is restarted, Just make sure if you use Content Protection in your IT Policy or if it is set manually, it is disabled prior to making use of the tool.

You can find the full article and tool at the links below:

4 total comments on this postSubmit your comment!