A friend called me up tonight because he had run into an insurmountable obstacle. He wanted to transfer the contacts from his Treo 680 to his new Blackberry Curve. Simple, right? It comes with software to do that. Well, even after spending hours and hours with AT&T and RIM support, he was left without a successful migration. Even the software tool that’s supposed to transfer the data directly from a Palm Treo to the Blackberry Curve failed to work–it didn’t allow him to select the Treo device as the data source even though it was plugged into the PC. If you’re in this situation as well, here’s how we got the job done.
Note: Since I don’t own these devices, this is written from memory (very recent memory; half an hour ago). Thus, the actual names of some things such as menu items may be slightly different but that won’t prevent you from carrying out the steps.
Before you begin (things you’ll need):
- Palm Desktop (the software that came with the Palm Treo)
- Blackberry Desktop (the software that came with the RIM Blackberry)
- Microsoft Outlook 2000 or newer (even if you don’t normally use it, you’ll need it to act as a translator and synchronization source for the address book data)
- Blackberry device and sync cable
Exporting/importing the data:
- Start Palm Desktop. (The latest version as of this writing is 4.2 although Palm’s own web site only has the older version 4.1.4 available. [Update: apparently 4.2 has compatibility problems so Palm reverted to an earlier version on their site.])
- Create a new entry and in every field, put the name of the field as the value for the field (e.g. in the Last Name field, enter Last Name; in the First Name field, enter First Name). This will make it easier to do the data mapping later.
- Go to the address book and select all the entries you want to export (choose Select All from the Edit menu to choose everything). Failure to select entries will result in only the first one being exported.
- Choose Export from the File menu.
- Choose the file type as CSV (comma-separated value).
- Enter the name for the file (e.g. Contacts.csv) and remember where you’re saving it.
- Start Microsoft Outlook.
- Open your Contacts.
- Select Import from the File menu.
- For the file type, select Windows CSV or DOS CSV (the name may be different in your version of Outlook).
- Select the file you exported in step 6.
- If Outlook doesn’t automatically map the fields in the CSV file, you’ll have to map them manually. The easiest way to do this is to go to the address of the person named Last Name (remember that you entered this in step 2?) so that you can easily see which field is which in the CSV file. Then assign them to the appropriate field name in Outlook (the method to do this may vary with different versions of Outlook).
- Click the Finish button to import all the addresses.
- Go to the Blackberry Desktop and open the synchronization utility.
- On the configuration tab, make sure that the Address Book is associated with Microsoft Outlook (there will be a double-headed arrow between the two).
- Plug the Blackberry into your PC with the synchronization cable.
- Watch all the messages go by as the data is synchronized.
- When the sync is done, disconnect the Blackberry and check that everything appears in the Blackberry’s address book. If it doesn’t, reboot the Blackberry (not sure why this is necessary but my friend’s Blackberry wouldn’t show the new data until he took the battery out and put it back in).
That should do it. If you don’t have Outlook, then Outlook Express may also work. I believe I saw it as an option in the Blackberry synchronization software’s configuration options.
@Jon: Thanks for the info on transferring from Palm to Blackberry Storm on the Mac. Did you export your addresses to a CSV file?
I am considering changing from my Treo 755p to a BB. I have read the above about transferring contacts via Outlook. Here is my question: My contacts are assigned to categories. With over 1000 contacts, re-categorizing them would be torture (I know – I did it once). Does the transfer you describe also transfer contact categories? -Carol
It’s been a while since I did the transfer, but I believe it does transfer over the categories. Just make sure that you map the CSV fields correctly in Outlook. Once you see the categories in Outlook, then the Blackberry should pick them up just fine.
Peter, my palm lifedrive was stolen after my car was broken into. I have decided to use outlook and my itouch. Thanks to you, I was able to move my contacts over to outlook 2007 but I can’t seem to figure out how to move my calendar over. I have the palm software but obviously not my lifedrive. Do you think you could help me? I’ve opened a google email and yahoo email hoping to get it to transfer to that if necessary.
Thank you in advance. I have almost 9 years of dates I would like to keep if at all possible.
Congratulations… it worked fine for me. Followed the instructions and all data is now in the BB. Thanks and greetings from Buenos Aires, Argentina
@Robin: Comments #20, 28 and 44 indicate that the latest BlackBerry software is able to import calendar data from Palm Desktop. If you still have all your calendar data in Palm Desktop, try the direct import with BlackBerry Desktop. Be sure to remove any password protection from your Palm Desktop account.
Hi Peter, I found all your postings above are really helpful. You are more brilliant than any help-desk online, you’re s ‘genius Palm expert’ I could say!
Just bought BBB 9700/Onyx last Saturday, have the phone seller transferred my 2800 contacts, 1500 memos & calendar from my Tero 680 to it. All contacts & memos are fine, but the calendar missed quite numbers of schedules, especially the ‘no time’ events, except birthday reminder.
Things became worse when I sync my mobile to BB Desktop Manager, all my calendar events in my handset become double stated. Then trying to fix it, I tried your guidance to upload contacts & calendar from BB to Outlook, it works amazingly for the contacts! But unluckily it didn’t work for the calendar in outlook.
So would like to ask your big helps as below:
1. Can you teach me how to delete this calendar error in my handset? And sync the new correct one from my treo 680 or Palm Desktop. Have tried you review in #39, but cannot find the ‘import/export’ option in yahoo calendar. I’m using PC, Palm Desktop v4.2, Microsoft Outlook 2003 7 BB Desktop Manager v5.0.1.
2. Since my Outlook calendar is still blank, can you suggest me what to do, so I can transfer them to BB Desktop Manager & overwrite ONLY my handset CALENDAR. (The contacts and memo are fine).
3. And by the way, I can’t find my contacts list or calendar displayed on BB desktop Manager, like I used to in Palm Desktop. It makes me more difficult to check, edit or delete data/field which are double. It is normal the BB desktop looks like that, or did I just don’t know how? Dare not to connect or sync my handset to BB desktop anymore before asking you, scared that my contacts will multiply to 5000 more, then that would be really2 bad for me to erase them one by one.
I’m also a long time user of palm like any others, love it, didn’t find any pda/phone better than palm, and never think to switch phone, until BB exist :). Too spoiled by palm OS, with all my datas comfort on hand & especailly the global find convenient.
Thanks a zillion in advance for your help Peter. God Bless You.
Best Regards,
Catherine
Some additional,
I found out that even all my 2871 contacts are there in my handset, but the category are gone. Actually I can view the category fields in my BB Contacts filter, but the contact itself are not classified to any of them. It did in my Treo & Palm Desktop. Should I delete them all and overwrite one more time? (By the way, not sure I’m able to do, cause last time the phone seller did that for me). Many Thanks Peter.
heyhope someone culd help. i need to transfer my contacts from my palm to my bb 9700. problem is the palm isnt syncin with my pc…is there a way to tranfer contacts via sd card? the bluetooth wont work for some reason
I’ve tried your method with vcard and have to save one at a time. Is their a way to transfer all at once? I tried select all then transfer vcard and it only sent the one highlighted last. Also i’ve tried bluetooth but it seems to go from bb to palm but not vise versa. Please help!
Funcionó a la perfección.
Tuve que instalar la version 4.1 porque con la 6.2 no funcionaba….
Muchas gracias!!!
I have been happily using the palm desktop to organize my life for many years. I see that it is being phased out so I am trying to be proactive before my centro dies.
What is the best mobile device to replace it that will:
1)allow me to work primarily on a desk top
2)view the information on a mobile device?
I need to be able to make my own categories of tasks and the notes associated with tasks and calendar are critical for me.
a blackberry? the droid? the iphone?
Help!
Thank you
I am transfering date from palm to outlook right know following the steps on the site. I got stuck when importing the contacts,cvs file to outlook. an error comes up on outlook after selecting destination folder as contacts, shows error in the OL.SAM translator while trying to attach a translator, internal error invalid sam id.
could you help me with this. I am using 2020 beta version of outlook I downloaded free.
thanks
oops, 2010 version
@adriana: Looks like you’re not the only one getting this error with Microsoft Office Outlook 2010 beta.
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/office2010/thread/00154952-b632-4703-b4c1-4d3e07ef4332
The solution for most is to use CSV files, but since you’re already doing that, you may need to completely uninstall Office 2010 beta and retry a fresh install. Check the page referenced above and look for the message on March 19, 2010 @ 6:42 AM from Sally Tang for removal instructions.
If that doesn’t do it, it may be a beta bug that’s fixed in the final version.
@adriana: You might be able to work around the error by using Hotmail. Upload the csv contact file using the Hotmail web interface (not Outlook), then have Outlook 2010 import your contacts from Hotmail via Outlook Connector.
Hey-
I’m looking forward to putting these instructions into action (I need to transfer everything -contacts, call history, texts, calendar, photos, memos, etc- from my Treo 680 to my new Blackberry Bold 9700). However I am worried that I forgot to back-up my palm one more time before letting AT&T active the blackberry. Should I go back to the AT&T store, or is there a manual way around Hot-syncing my palm without network service?
Thanks so much,
~Jen
@Jen: Syncing the Palm phone is via sync cable (or dock) directly to your computer, so you don’t have to have active phone service to do it.
I have decided to change from a Palm Centro to a BB Bold 9700. All my information (2600 contacts)is in my Palm Centro and after reading the advices given in the forum I have followed these steps:
1. Downloaded Palm Desktop 4.1.4e and synch my Palm Centro to it.
2. Created a contact with the name of all the fields to be able to map them when importing to Outlook 2007.
3. Exported the Contacts to a CSV file without a problem.
4. When I Imported to the Outlook 2007 I mapped the fields as instructed and did not have a problem.
5. When I opened the contacts imported to Outlook I found these problems:
.a.There are no last names
.b.I had put the Custom field in the users fields and I cannot find the users fields.
.c. The notes did not get imported.
Please help! I do not want to synch with the BB until I find the information correct in the Outlook. What was different from the people in this forum that did not have problems?
@YPerez: Perhaps there’s some bad data that’s causing the import to fail. A couple of things to try:
1. Check the CSV file to insure that all the data is in there. If it isn’t then the export is failing. You can try exporting a few records at a time to narrow down the bad record(s).
2. If the CSV file looks correct, make a copy of it and remove all lines except the “fake” entry that you use to map the fields. Import that single-record CSV. If it works properly, then the original CSV has something in it that Outlook doesn’t like.
Hey Peter,
I am trying to get my Contacts, Memos, and Calendar from my Centro into Outlook 2003. My Centro came with Palm Desktop Version 4.2 which apparently does not work with your technique. The only Palm Desktop software version on the Palm website that is listed as being compatible with the Centro is 6.2. Will version 6.2 work with your technique? Otherwise, which version should I use. If I have to revert to any earlier version, is this safe for my data? Thanks for your help.
I haven’t tried it with Palm Desktop 6.2, but the basic principles are the same. Export from Palm Desktop to a CSV file. Then, import that CSV file into Outlook. Finally, sync Outlook with the Blackberry. Should work.
Hi Peter.
I am simply trying to copy my contacts from my Palm Pilot Centro phone to my SIM Card so I can use a new phone.
Can you help me. Is there an easy way?
Justin.
@Justin: It depends to what phone you’re trying to put the data. Can it import from Outlook? If so, follow the instructions above for the Blackberry, but use your phone’s sync software where you see an instruction that refers to the Blackberry Desktop.
Peter,
Thanks for the pointer … I have switched from Centro to BB9700 .. after I read your pointers.
Since my contacts dated from 2000 ( Palm V / Tungsten / Treo 650 / Centro ), there are bound to be some corrupt data.
I tried the csv method but the data came back corrupted on half of the contacts (missing prefix on phone numbers, jumbled up last names etc), and trying to modify 1500++ contacts is a daunting task.
So what I did was I transferred all through Vcard through Outlook express, bit by bit . 1500++ time clicking on OK is better than trying to edit 7++ entry on csv, at least the phone numbers are all intact.
Now in the midst of tranferring my datebook, will try to attempt it later. Hope I could get most of it .
La Zirahs