PDA Data Conversion

Windows Mobile / Pocket PC
ActiveSync from Microsoft, is the control centre for data exchange between the desktop PC and a Windows Mobile / Pocket PC device. It supports synchronisation of Contacts, Calendar, Tasks and Notes with MS Outlook.
ActiveSync also handles the following:

• Document conversion for Pocket Excel, Pocket Word and Pocket Access
• Synchronisation of Email folders between Outlook and Inbox
• Support for exchange of Avantgo data
• Exchange of Internet favourites (plus cached content)

Palm OS
Palm OS solutions for desktop data exchange come in the form of Palm Desktop and PocketMirror, with options to exchange data with a dedicated Palm desktop application, or with Microsoft Outlook. When you perform a HotSync, your Date Book, Address Book, To Do List and Memo Pad data are exchanged.
Palm Desktop can also do the following:

• Expense and Mail data synchronisation

Nokia Smartphones
With the Nokia PC Suite, you can share information between a compatible PC and your phone, install software on the phone, configure phone settings, and make backups of phone files. You can also synchronise your calendar, contacts and tasks with Microsoft and Lotus applications, copy and move images on your PC and phone, and copy contacts and calendar information from another Nokia mobile phone or a Palm device. Versions are available for the Nokia 9110, Nokia 9210, Nokia 3650, Nokia 7610, Nokia 6600 and Nokia 7650.
This can be downloaded from the Nokia website. The software for the 3650 and 7650 supports:

• Microsoft Outlook 97, 98, 2000 and XP
• Microsoft Schedule+
• Lotus Notes 4.5, 4.6, 5.0 and 6.0
• Lotus Organizer 5.0, 6.0, and 97, 97 GS, 4.0 GS and 4.1

For an alternative, take a look at Oxygen II for Symbian Phones

Psion / EPOC
PsiWin is Psion's PC connectivity product. Supplied free with Psion machines, or available as a free download from www.mypsionsupport.com, this package will let you synchronise your Contacts, Agenda and To-do list with Outlook. It also support Lotus Organizer and Microsoft Schedule+.
PsiWin can also be used to copy and convert the following data types:

• EPOC Word - To MS Word, Plain text, Rich text (RTF), MS Word, Ami Pro,WordPro, Word Perfect, MS Works for Windows
• EPOC Sheet - MS Excel, Lotus 123, Quattro Pro, MS Works for Windows
• EPOC DATA - CSV file, MS Access, dBase, FoxPro
• Email synchronisation with Outlook

If you're looking to convert Datebook entries from your Palm or Visor into another format such as Pocket PC, then going via MS Outlook is probably the best route. Supplied with your Palm is a program called Pocket Mirror, from Chapura which lets you synchronise to Outlook. Psion or Pocket PC can then be synchronised with Outlook. Some other options:

• Dba2Csv - This can be used to convert Palm Desktop .dba files to .csv for Google Calendars or Outlook without the hassle of setting up conduits, synching. etc, which also require access to a Palm device. Dba2Csv also preserves all repeats and exceptions, offers multiple options to export that correct other errors seen with other methods (GMT and DST correction), and allows you to preserve the colour coding of Palm Desktop 4.1.4 when moving to Google Calendars.
  
• DIMEX from linkesoft.com - This shareware program can convert datebook appointments to CSV format.
• Palm2CSV - a free web-based utility that converts Palm Datebooks to CSV format
• Alternatively, try DatebookCSV
• As a last resort, individual Datebook entries can be exported as vCal entries from Palm Desktop, or in some cases can be beamed to another machine.

If you're looking to get your Psion diary onto your PC, there are two common options:

1. Synchronise your Psion diary to the PC using PsiWin - This lets you keep your diary information on your Psion instep with your diary on the PC. You'll need to be using MS Outlook, MS Schedule or Lotus Organiser as your PC diary
2. Consider getting the Psion Emulator - a virtual Psion device on your PC. For details of this, see our Psion emulators page

The most common solution is to use PsiWin to synchronise with Outlook. To do this, connect your Psion to the PC using PsiWin, go to the synchronise, and add a task. For step-by-step help with this, see the Psion Guide on synchronisation here.

The Nokia PC connectivity software supplied with Nokia smartphones (including the 6680 and 6600) allows import of contacts and Calendar information from a Nokia mobile phone (via cable or infrared), from a Nokia 9110 smartphone, or from a Palm OS organiser (via Hotsync)

Smart vCal may also be worth a look. This application for Series 60 phones including the Nokia 7650 , Nokia 3650 and Nokia 6600, helps you to import and export Calendar and To Do information in vCal format.

• The Nokia PC connectivity software supplied with Nokia smartphones (including the 7650 and 3650) allows import of contacts and Calendar information from a Nokia mobile phone (via cable or infrared), from a Nokia 9110 smartphone, or from a Palm OS organiser (via Hotsync)
• Oxygen - A PC application that allows import and export of contact information from Nokia phones. A special version is available for Symbian OS phones, including the Nokia 7650 and Nokia 3650. It allows exchange of contact information with Outlook, Lotus Notes, plus supports CSV and other formats.
• Smart vCard - Import and export contact information in the vCard (.vcf) format. Versions available for the Nokia 92xx range, plus Series 60 phones including the Nokia 7650 and Nokia 3650.

If you're looking to get your contacts onto your PC, there are two common options:

1. Synchronise your Psion contacts to the PC using PsiWin - This lets you keep your address book on your Psion instep with your addresses on the PC. You'll need to be using MS Outlook, MS Schedule or Lotus Organiser as your PC diary
2. Consider getting the Psion Emulator - a virtual Psion device on your PC. For details of this, see our Psion emulators page

The most common solution is to use PsiWin to synchronise with Outlook. To do this, connect your Psion to the PC using PsiWin, go to the synchronise icon, and add a task. For step-by-step help with this, see the Psion Guide on synchronisation here.

If you have a backup of a Nokia Series 60 or Nokia Series 80 Contacts file (contacts.cdb) that you're trying to read on a PC, sadly this isn't easy. The CDB file is Symbian's own Contacts file format, and there's no direct way to convert this to a form that can be read by a PC address book such as Outlook

• Use a PC Emulator - On the Nokia Developer's suite, you can download an emulator (intended for developers) that allows you to run a virtual phone on your PC. You can use this to access files in the native Symbian format. Go to Forum Nokia, and look for the Series 60 or Series 80 SDK (Software Developers Kits)
• Try someone else with a Nokia device. If you're able to send them your CDB file, they should be able to open it and copy off your data to a format that can be read on the PC. If you don't know anyone with the same phone, try asking if someone in our forum can help - you may be able to mail someone your file for conversion - although they'll be able to access your personal data
• Check the PC software - Check on the Nokia site to get the latest version of the PC Suite for your phone. It may be that the PC software is able to open or convert a CDB - Not likely to be much help, but you never know

Psion handheld computers used the EPOC operating system. If you want to get your DATA files converted to another format, you have two options:

• You can use PsiWin on the PC to convert your files to another format. PsiWin supports CSV file, MS Access, dBase, FoxPro. More on PsiWin
• You can export data on the Psion itself - For an example of how to export from Psion DATA to the Pocket PC, see below.

Also, take a look at our Psion Conversion article

There is no built-in Pocket PC database application, but there are several shareware ones available - see www.handango.com.

ActiveSync can convert databases into Pocket Access format (.CDB), for use with a database application that can handle that format. If you have installed a Pocket PC database application, and have a text file that you wish to import, such as a delimited DATA file as detailed above, you can also import your text file into Access, then using ActiveSync, copy the Access MDB file over to the Pocket PC for viewing in Pocket Access format. There's a step-by-step explanation of this at the BioHazard site

If you're looking for an application that's compatible with .CDB files, take a look at Data On The Run, which can read Pocket Access files, great for use with Access and ActiveSync on the PC.

For a more powerful application, take a look at Pocket Database from Pocket Innovations - this caters for import of delimited files, for those without access to Microsoft Access.

1. Save the Excel file save as .CSV (comma separated value)
2. Change the file extension from .csv to .txt (as Psion doesn't understand .csv)
3. Import the text file into the psion with no conversion (otherwise PsiWin will try to convert .txt into a Psion Word document )
4. Set up all the correct labels in a blank Psion DATA database
5. Import the text file into the database setting up the delimiter as commas
6. Delete the first entry, which contains the labels
7. Delete any spurious entries

bmconv.exe is a small DOS application that converts EPOC's MBM (Multi bitmap format) to/from PC BMP format (available from here or here). You need to run this in a DOS session. From the Windows Start button, select 'Run', then enter CMD. This takes you to a DOS box. Move to the directory containing BMCONV and enter the path and filename of the source and target. Here are two examples:

• bmconv /u c:\temp\psionfile.mbm c:\temp\windowsfile.bmp - converts from MBM to BMP
• bmconv c:\temp\psionfile.mbm c:\temp\windowsfile.bmp - converts from BMP to MBM

• Psion Series 3: Convert from the Series 3 wve sound format to PC WAV with wav2wve2.zip and wve2wav.zip - (available from here)
• Psion Series 5mx RECORD files can be converted to WAV files using PsiWin, or rec2wav (available from www.bioeddie.co.uk/Psion/main/Programs/pc_tools.html)