Zimbra OSS to Android sync

[bjquinn]

We've recently tested the CardDAV and CalDAV sync between ZCS and the iPhone which seems to work well. With Zimbra Desktop as a good option for a desktop client, that mostly leaves us with a gaping hole for Android sync, at least for calendar and contacts. Anyone know what the best Android sync option is for the open source version of Zimbra?

Obviously I know Funambol might be an option, but it's one that I'd like to avoid if possible (and has anyone tried it with ZCS 7.0 yet?). Android doesn't have any native CalDAV or CardDAV functionality, and the clients I've seen out there look either incomplete or buggy (or both). Anyone have any experience with this?

[Zarvox]

Try z-push for complete synchronisation (email + contacts + calendars + tasks) but it require it's own Apache server.

On the other end there is a possibility to sync mail via IMAP, contact via cardav, calendar via caldav.

Search Android Market for Cardav and Caldav support.

[rosch]

Can I ask why you are avoiding Funambol?

I installed the latest Funambol server (v10.0.0) and ZimbraConnector 0.6.02 and installed the Funambol client from the Android market...but I had no success synchronising so far.
I didn't spend much time yet on looking for the bits of information how to make it work. Unfortunately there does not seem to be any up-to-date how-to out there.
I followed the Zimbra wiki but it's incomplete as it doesn't mention anything about the synchronisation..

There is also lvcontacts from lezard-visuel but I didn't try it out.

[hybrid512]

Hi everyone,

Great news : LVSync (formerly LVContacts Sync for Zimbra) is available now at the Android Market !
It was long, we’re really sorry, but it has many new features such as :

• contacts, calendars and tasks sync
• GAL sync
• supplied task manager
• selectable items to sync
• notifications and reminders
• ...

Have fun and every comments are welcomed !

More information on the website : http://www.lvsync.com or find us on the Market.

* Special discount : Price will increase, LVSync will remain at the old price until January 25! After that date, it will increase to € 2.99. Spread the word ! *

Regards.

[rosch]

I'm answering my last post myself:

Funambol downside: client sync program needed, as is the server.

z-push downside: need of an apache server (not a big deal usually).

z-push is working great by the way to synchronize contacts, your calendar and mails. Moreover it's customizable and under constant development.
And all this for free

[hybrid512]

I'm answering my last post myself:

Funambol downside: client sync program needed, as is the server.

z-push downside: need of an apache server (not a big deal usually).

z-push is working great by the way to synchronize contacts, your calendar and mails. Moreover it's customizable and under constant development.
And all this for free

Just for my personnal curiosity : can you sync the GAL and the shared elements (contacts, calendars and tasks) with z-push ?
What about the tasks ? (since there is no tasks API in Android ... that's why we had to build our own task manager)
And last question : are every items correctly synced (colors, tags, attributes, ...) ?

I know it could sound like auto-promotion (well, it is a little however) but I never tried Z-push so I'd really like to know about these questions.

Best regards.

[rosch]

Just for my personnal curiosity : can you sync the GAL and the shared elements (contacts, calendars and tasks) with z-push ?

Shared elements work as far as I know. But you can only have one calendar since activesync is only supporting one. This might change in future versions.
My calendar is syncing fine using SmartFolders (a zimbrabackend setting).

What about the tasks ?

As far as I know they should work but I didn't try it out.

And last question : are every items correctly synced (colors, tags, attributes, ...) ?

Tags are not synchronized, at least not in my setup.
Colors? Are you talking about the calendar colors? No they are not synchronized but that's not a big deal

If you want confirmation you should try it out for yourself. There are quite a few configuration possibilities you can play with until it fits your needs..

[hybrid512]

Shared elements work as far as I know. But you can only have one calendar since activesync is only supporting one. This might change in future versions.
My calendar is syncing fine using SmartFolders (a zimbrabackend setting).


As far as I know they should work but I didn't try it out.


Tags are not synchronized, at least not in my setup.
Colors? Are you talking about the calendar colors? No they are not synchronized but that's not a big deal

If you want confirmation you should try it out for yourself. There are quite a few configuration possibilities you can play with until it fits your needs..

Well, having only one element is annoying to my point of view ... I have half a dozen calendars and not beeing able to sync them and to differentiate them (with colors) on my agenda is really annoying.

Tasks shouldn't work unless you're using a dedicated ActiveSync client (such as Touchdown or Roadsync) since there is no task API and no task manager in Android as default.
It would work with a dedicated client because those clients supply the needed applications for that. (as we do with LVSync for the tasks).

Anyway, I'll make some tries with Z-Push as soon as I have time for it.

Thanks for your answers.

Regards.

[storm]

Moxier Mail has a task app that can be used separately, which syncs via Activesync, and afaik is also push-enabled. As does LVSync (but is currently still read-only).

ACal is a CalDav client, which includes a task app, and syncing via CalDav (it feels a bit slow to me, and has imho a poor user interface, but hasn't lost any data). Thus far, I think ACal is the only CalDav task client for Android.

All the above tasks software has other syncing capabilities, but all can be configured without needing to sync any other items, and can be opened as separate tasks-only apps/shortcuts.

Carddav-sync and Caldav-sync are both tremendous apps (though they are not push-enabled, contacts can lose certain fields because of Zimbra limitations, and lose certain other fields because of Card-dav limitations - only LVSync which uses SOAP can over-ride those contact syncing limitations).

All the software mentioned can sync multiple Zimbra folders and accounts (Moxier Mail requires Zimbra Network edition).

[hybrid512]

Just to tell that we just released LVSync 2.1 with support for Honeycomb plus some various fixes.