How to sync Outlook information with Blackberry Z10

While it is not possible to sync directly with Outlook on the new Blackberry 10 smartphones, what we can do is sync directly with a Microsoft Live Account (you already have one if you have an email ending @live,@hotmail, or @outlook). 

The first thing you need to do is have a Live account, as we mentioned above. Once you have this, you need to download and install the Microsoft Office Outlook Hotmail Connector. Please note this is only currently compatible with Outlook 2003, 2007 and 2010. This should not be needed for Outlook 2013 which includes the feature already.

Once this is installed, it should prompt you for your Live account username and password. If it doesn’t, simply click “Outlook Connector” at the top, and click “Add a New Account”. Once this is inserted and Outlook is restarted, it should begin to synchronize any existing emails, contacts and calendars.

How to copy your Contacts and Calendars to a Live account for sync

1. Inside Outlook, click Contacts – you should see a new contact list for your Live account
2. Select your existing Outlook contacts and drag them into the new Live contacts section (or copy and paste if you prefer).
3. This will now upload your contacts to the live service.
4. Repeat this process for your calendars. You'll see a new calendar which represents you Live calendar, events can be copied across with relative ease. You can check they are uploaded by visiting http://people.live.com for your contacts, and http://calendar.live.comfor your calendar.

How to copy your Contacts and Calendars to a Live account for transfer only

If you do not wish to sync your Outlook details, and instead just want a one-time import of your contacts and calendars to use on your new Blackberry Z10, that is also possible.

For contacts, follow these simple steps to export your information to a file, and then import them into your Live account.

1. In outlook 2003 or 2007, press File and then click Import and Export. In Outlook 2010 you need to press File, and then Options and go to Advanced. Then Click Export.
2. Ensure you select Export to a file and press Next.
3. Select Comma Separated Values (Windows) and press Next.
4. You’ll be asked what you want to export, so select Contacts and press Next.
5. Save the file somewhere easy to access, such as your desktop, and give it an appropriate name. Click Next then Finish.

You should now have a file containing your contacts. Now we need to get these into your online Live account! To do this, check your people, available at http://people.live.com .

1.    Click Manage at the top, and then select Add people. 

2.   Click Import from file

3.  Highlighted by default should then be “Microsoft Outlook (using CSV),  so go to     Choose File and find the file you saved earlier. Then simply click Import Contacts.

Now your contacts should be safely inside your Microsoft Live account.

The process for calendars is very similar!

1. In Outlook 2010 select your Calendar, press File and go to Save Calendar. Previous versions you’ll need to click Save As instead.
2. Press More Options and select a date range, or Whole Calendar. You can also select how much Detail to save. Please note the calendar has to be under 10MB in size, else it will not be able to be uploaded. If it is larger than this file, use the date range to select an appropriate time period to be under 10MB and upload in chunks.
3. Save the file somewhere easy to access, such as your desktop, and give it an appropriate name.  Click Save.

You now have an .ICS file containing your calendar entries. We need to import these into your Live calendar, which you can start to do by going to http://calendar.live.com.

1.     Press Subscribe at the top 
2.     Select Import from an ICS file. Also you can select Import into an existing calendar to minimize mess.

3.    Press Choose File and select the file you saved earlier. Once you’ve found it, simply press Import calendar.