Frequently Asked Questions

Troubleshooting

Questions

Contacting AweSync Support

If you have any other questions not listed above, please Contact Us.

 

Installation error: Configuration file is damaged

Awesync installation didn't start and throws this error. What happens and how to proceed?

Answer:

This error means, that you have corrupted records in Windows Installer database. Most probably, you removed some files form Windows\Installer folder to free up the space. This probably is done by some third-party cleaning tools.

Please  use Windows Installer cleanup tool from Microsoft, and clean installation records for Awesync. 

Then remove Awesync's installation folder (usually C:\Program Files\Awesync). Your config file will remain unchanged, it is stored in your User Profile, folder %APPDATA%\Awesync

Then download fresh copy of AweSync Installer, and install it.

 

Installation error: Lotus Notes software is not properly installed

Awesync installation is stopped with error "Lotus Notes software is not properly installed". What's the solution?

Answer:

Reason of this error is that Lotus Notes COM objects are not registered in Windows. This usually means, that Lotus Notes was installed by simple files copying from another computer. Also, Lotus Notes versions 6.x don't register COM objects even after  regular correct installation. To fix this error, you should perform the following:

1. Run Command Prompt. (Start / Programs / Acsessories / Command Prompt). In Vista and Windows 7 this command should be executed as Administrator (right click - Run as Administrator)

2. In Command Prompt window change directory to your Lotus Notes installation:(change to your real installation path)

cd C:\Lotus\Notes

 3. Execute the command

regsvr32 nlsxbe.dll

 Message "DllRegisterServer ... succeeded" should appear.

Installation error: Lotus Notes software is not installed on this computer

Awesync installation is stopped with error "Lotus Notes software is not installed on this computer". What's the solution?

Answer:

Reason of this error is that Windows registry doesn't contain Lotus Notes keys. This usually happens if Lotus Notes was installed by just files copying from another computer. Notes itself may work well in this case, but any other programs which use Lotus Notes COM may be unusable.

Registry key

HKLM\Software\Lotus\Notes

or (on x64 systems)

HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\Lotus\Notes

should contain string value

Path

with correct path to your Lotus Notes installation.

First run error: Can't read registry settings (Single user installation)

The first run after installation of AweSync shows this error. What's the solution?

Answer:

There may be several reasons for this error:

This is the same error as above. In older versions it was not checked by installer. Version 1.0.1.3 and above will not allow installation of AweSync until this registry setting is correct.

First run error: Can't read registry settings (Multiple users installation)

In first run after installation AweSync shows this error. What's the solution?

Answer:

This means that you have multi-user installation of Lotus Notes, but registry settings doesn't correspond to Multi-user installation. Most probably, you're running Lotus Notes using only one pre-configured shortcut. In this case you're not able to run Lotus Notes by simple run of "C:\Lotus\Notes\Notes.exe" (for sure, change to your correct installation path if you are able to check this). This pre-configured shortcut should contain command line parameters like

notes.exe =C:\Folder\your_notes.ini

To fix this, you should modify registry entry (string parameter)

HKCU\Software\Lotus\Notes\X.0\NotesIniPath

where X.0 is major version of Lotus Notes, and set value of this parameter to "C:\Folder\your_notes.ini"

For example, if your Lotus Notes version is 8.5.1 then key should be

HKCU\Software\Lotus\Notes\8.0\NotesIniPath

Notes ini file not found at path: ... (single user config)

AweSync shows this error. What's the solution?

Answer:

Most possible this is the same reason as above - you have pre-configured shortcut which runs your Lotus Notes. You should change type of installation to "Multi-User" and provide correct path to your notes.ini.

1. Change the following registry value to 1

HKLM\Software\Lotus\Notes\MultiUser

or (on x64 system)

HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\Lotus\Notes\MultiUser

2. Set this value to correct path to your notes.ini

HKCU\Software\Lotus\Notes\X.0\NotesIniPath

where X.0 is major version of you Lotus Notes

For example, if your Lotus Notes version is 8.5.1 this key should be

HKCU\Software\Lotus\Notes\8.0\NotesIniPath

Can not connect to Google Calendar service

I'm getting error "Cannot connect to Google Calendar service" while sync'ing or receiving list of calendars from Google.

At the same time Google calendar works well in the browser. How to resolve this issue?

Answer:

Most probable reason is proxy configuration in your network. AweSync uses native Google API (DLLs) to connect to calendar services, which uses standard .NET 2.0 API. So, the reason may be only in your connection and proxy settings.

Please open Control Panel / Internet Options / Connection, click button "LAN Settings". If it is configured with options "Automatically detect settings" or "Use configuration script", then this is the reason.

This Wikipedia article describes, that some PAC (Proxy Auto Configuration) files may be configured in the way which works well with browsers, but doesn't work with .NET 2.0.

To resolve the issue you should contact your IT administrators to fix PAC settings.

In case if this is not possible, ask them which exact proxy IP address and port should be used to connect to Google, then configure AweSync Manual Proxy Settings to use exact server IP & port.

Another possible issue can be if your proxy requires NTLM authorization. There is known bug in .NET Framework 2.0, that applications can't work with such proxy.

If proxy server in your network is Microsoft ISA server, you can use Firewall Client for ISA Server from Microsoft.

For another kinds of proxy, like Squid, you can install and configure free and open-source local proxy Cntlm, and then configure AweSync to use proxy server "localhost" and proxy port which you set in cntlm config.

Cannot open ID file

I'm getting error "Cannot open ID file", but Lotus Notes works well with this ID file. How to fix this error?

Answer:

First of all, try to set "Notes options" / "ID Settings" to "Use Current ID file". In version 1.0.1.5 you need to click OK in Settings, then exit AweSync then run it again and check if this work. If it doesn't, then read further. 

 There are the following possible reasons:

If you need our assistance, please provide us with the following data, so that we can check your configuration and help you fix the problem:

  1. AweSync full log. You can paste the string %AppData%\AweSync\Log into your Windows explorer and attach all files from this folder to your reply message.

  2. Notes.ini file with the full path to this file (it is important, since you may have several notes.ini files on your computer).

  3. HKLM\software\lotus and HKCU\software\lotus registry branches (they can be exported from your registry)

  4. If you use any shortcut to run your Notes, please let me know what paths it contains.

  5. The path specified in the field Local application folder in menu File/Preferences/User Preferences/ in your Notes client.

AweSync deleted all my contacts

After synchronization all my contacts were deleted. Can I restore the contacts back? What is the reason for this?

Answers:

1. Yes, you can download the special tool that will restore deleted contacts to Google (you will be able to sync them to Notes after this).

2.  Here are the possible reasons why your contacts might have been deleted. 

Note. Just in case, before synchronizing contacts it is recommended to make a copy of your local Lotus Notes address book, as well as export your Google contacts to a local file. We all know that our contacts are very important, so backup won't hurt.

Cannot activate AweSync

I enter the product key in Activation Settings, but when I hit Activate button, nothing happens. How can I resolve the issue and get AweSync activated?

Answer:

Most possible reason is that AweSync cannot connect to the activation web site. But it's not a problem, since AweSync can be activated manually, without connecting to our server. Please perform the steps below:

  1. Open the Activation screen, put the product key in, and click Activate button.
  2. Send your full log files to support@awesync.com. To see log file, paste the string %AppData%\AweSync\Log into your Windows Explorer and press Enter.

We'll provide you with further instructions via e-mail shortly.

Returned code: 403. Reason: The user has exceeded their quota, and cannot currently perform this operation

This error appears when synchronizing events, and my Lotus Notes and Google calendars do not match. What can I do to eliminate the error?

Answer:

This error is generated on Google side, and it means that their service no longer can accept modifications to calendar data via Google API, because the number of modifications to the calendar has exceeded the quota. Unfortunately, there is not so much public information available about these quotas, but there are few reasons, why they might be exceeded:

In the first case it is recommended to disable synchronization of Invitees/Guests in AweSync Calendar Privacy settings.

For the second case, the release 4.9.0 has enhanced recurring exceptions processing, which performs less transactions with Google. Also, if you're still experiencing the problem, it's recommended to specify some reasonable time-frame in AweSync Calendar settings - like 30 days before and 30 days after, or even less.

In both cases you need to wipe out and re-create your Google Calendar, if you have all needed events in Lotus Notes. To do this, please perform the steps below:

  1. Disable automatic sync in AweSync if it's enabled, and make sure the sync is set from Lotus to Google one-way (again, this can be done if you have all needed events in Lotus Notes).
  2. Open your Google calendar settings in Web browser, and click Delete next to the name of the calendar, with which you were synchronizing. If it's a primary one, the events in it will be removed, if it's a secondary one, the calendar will be completely erased. If it was a secondary calendar, you need to create a new one.
  3. Delete AweSync index from tray icon menu Debug->Remove Calendar Index, but do not sync yet!
  4. Open AweSync settings and click Retrieve to get your Google calendar lists, and make sure the right one is selected for synchronization and as default.
  5. Open AweSync Calendar settings and make necessary adjustments to time-frames, or invitees synchronization as mentioned above.
  6. Save the settings and run the full sync.

If it runs successfully, you can extend the time-frame to bigger values (like extend to another 30 days before and after) on a daily basis, finally getting to 0 - 0 (i.e. unlimited) in few days.

If the problem still persists, please send us full log as described here.

Notes error: Unable to write to database because database would exceed its disk quota

This error appears when synchronizing events, and my Lotus Notes and Google calendars do not match. What is the reason for this error?

Answer:

Before starting synchronization, AweSync checks if its index can be saved in the database (to not loose it after sync session). The message you receive means that this can't be done due to a database size quota which was set on your mail file to specify the maximum size a database can attain. When a database exceeds its quota, the following message appears in the Miscellaneous Events view of the log file (LOG.NSF); "Unable to write to database - database would exceed its disk quota."

When quota is set on user mail file by default, when a mail file exceeds its quota, the Router continues to deliver mail to it, and users can update existing mail views. This ensures that users can continue to receive and read all mail sent to them. However, other applications cannot add documents to the database.

You need to either contact your administrators to enlarge your database quota, or clean up some old documents from the database to ensure there is free space in it, which can be reclaimed for new documents. Usually the index doesn't require much space, since it contains only text information about events. So you may need to have about 1 Mb, or even less, free space to store it.

Any other error

I have other error not specified here. I posted issue to Issue Tracking System but have no answer yet. What can I do myself to resolve the problem?

Answer:

Most probable reasons of any unknown errors are:

 

What are the system requirements for AweSync?

Answer:

AweSync specific requirements are guided by the platform it's built on - Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 (can be run with any newer version of .NET Framework as well) and uses Lotus Notes COM interface. Requirements for MS .NET can be found on Microsoft website.

As you're going to sync Lotus Notes calendar with Google, you should have already installed Lotus Notes, and your system should fit it's requirements (Lotus Notes 6.5 or later required). However, Lotus Notes has compatibility restrictions, which are described here.

Should I buy a new license if my Lotus username changes?

Answer:

No, you should not buy a new license, for example if there is some IT re-organization, or if you simply find another job. You can transfer your license for free, if your username is changed for some reason.

Just email us at support@awesync.com with your inquiry, and we'll inactivate your product license key, allowing you to activate it again with the new username. For sure, a change should be reasonable, i.e. we should see that this is a transfer of your activation to a different username, and not a transfer of license to another person.

How is my Personal Privacy protected?

Does the application store passwords on the local machine, or on your servers? Do you store the content of calendar items, or any other item, since the login information the application needs can retrieve emails or documents from either Google or Lotus?

Answer:

AweSync doesn't connect to our server, except for few cases mentioned below.

AweSync version 1.0.1.5 and above connects to this website to check if new versions are available, but it doesn't send any personalized information during this process. You can also disable software update check in settings.

Starting from version 2.0.0.0 when it will be possible to purchase AweSync, it will also connect to this web site for license key activation. The activation is based on the activation code, which is an irreversible hash of your Lotus Notes user name (it makes it possible to activate several copies of the software for the same Lotus Notes username from different locations). Moreover, this hash is transmitted over the SSL connection. So, activation of AweSync over the Internet does not expose any personal information.

During synchronization process AweSync connects only to your Google calendar and your Lotus Notes database. Passwords are stored in the encrypted form in your local config file in %APPDATA%\AweSync. Potentially, if hackers will be able to get this config file, they will be able to reverse AweSync code and decrypt your passwords, but this statement is true for any other cached passwords in any system. So you got to make sure there is no unauthorized access to your computer.

Moreover, you may leave Lotus password blank in AweSync settings, and Lotus Notes will ask you for it each time when you start the synchronization.

No personal data is sent or stored anywhere during the synchronization process, except for your Google calendar and Lotus Notes database, and the application log and index, which are stored on your local computer.

 How to change notes.ini path?

I have notes.ini on network folder and not able to place it to Lotus Notes Folder. How can I setup AweSync to read notes.ini from that place?

Answer:

Follow instructions described here: Notes ini file not found at path: ... (single user config)

Is it possible to use AweSync along with other synchronization tool?

I'd like to use  another Google-Lotus synchronization tool along with AweSync. Is this possible and what can be wrong in this case?

Answer:

No, we don't recommend this, because each tool uses it's own methods to determine correspondence between events on each side.

As the result, you may get all events duplicated or damaged.

Some events are not synchronized. What's wrong?

Some events are not sync'd. What is the reason?

Answer:

We've never seen that event from Google was not sync'ed to Lotus Notes. So, I guess you mean that event from LN didn't appear in Google. Otherwise, please create an issue.

There are three possible reasons why Lotus Notes event may be missed in sync: 

1. Google doesn't accept your event, if it contains some improper data. Most frequently this is related to emails of meeting participants. To ensure that this is the reason, please try to disable invitees synchronization in Privacy Options in AweSync Settings, re-save that particular meeting in Notes and run sync again.

2. Lotus Notes view can't be properly updated by AweSync. Try to open Calendar view in Lotus Notes and press Shift-F9 on keyboard. View will be rebuilt. Then force AweSync to process all documents by running Sync ALL Events command.

3. Event was skipped by AweSync because it contains incorrect data in Lotus Notes. You can see skipped events by "View Changed Documents" button at the bottom of expanded AweSync' main window. If you're sure that meeting data is correct, but AweSync doesn't process it properly, please export this meeting according these instructions and attach to the issue along with full log.
 

Is it possible to make portable version of AweSync? 

Is this possible to run AweSync from USB key and store all settings there?

 Answer:

 To use it, you should do the following:

1. Install regular version to any preferred location (on USB stick to folder U:\Awesync\, for example) and then 
2. Configure Awesync using Wizard
3. Exit Awesync
4. Move your configuration file from %APPDATA%\Awesync\settings.cfg to the same folder where binaries are installed. (U:\Awesync\settings.cfg)

After next run it will use settings from USB, and put all logs to the .\Logs subfolder on USB (U:\Awesync\Logs\ and U:\Awesync\Stats)

Installation of newer version will not overwrite your settings.

 

Also you can download this archive Awesync.zip and extract to desired location.

Please note, that archive contains empty configuration file. If you're updating your existing portable installation from this zip archive, don't overwrite the file settings.cfg, or keep it previously in a safe place.
   

I removed all entries from Google calendar, but events from Notes didn't appear. What's wrong?

I removed all entries from Google calendar, and set the option in settings "Re-Sync with another calendar" but nothing appeared in Google. What's wrong and how to resolve this issue?

Answer:

This option works only if you were synchronized with one of  your Google calendars, but then completely removed it. Your default Google calendar (which usually have your name) can't be completely removed. If you cleared all events from (or re-created) your default personal Google calendar, this option will not work. 

In this case you should remove synchronization index using tray (notification) menu command "Debug \ Remove Index", and then perform "Sync ALL Events" - another command from tray menu.

Changes in reminders are not sync'ed. What's wrong?

I changed text in Google reminder, but after sync it remains unchanged in Notes. Is this a bug? How to resolve this?

Answer:

No, this ia not bug, this is feature of Google API. If you modified only reminder, this event is not marked in Google as changed, hence, it is not send to "updates list", and AweSync can't determine if this event was changed.

To push changes to Notes, you can edit any other part of event (body, subject, etc). In this case Google will mark event as modified.

Another option is to perform "Full sync" using tray menu command "Sync ALL Events". It performs synchronization of all events (not only events modified since last sync session). But for sure, it can take quite longer time.

Some events were missed by sync. How can I force synchronization of these events?

How AweSync selects events which should be sync'ed? How to force it to sync all events from my calendar?

Answer:

AweSync selects only events updated since last sync session. Versions earlier than 2.0 may miss events, which were modified by user during execution of previous sync session.

To force AweSync to sync all events (which dates are within Timeframe defined in Options), you may use command "Sync ALL Events" from menu on tray (notification) AweSync's icon.

Synchronization speed is too slow. How to make it faster?

Speed is too slow, especially the first run. Also, log shows that index contains much more items than I have in Lotus or Google calendars.

Answer:

First sync after changing the important settings always performs full sync - the same action which is performed by Sync ALL Events command. This is done this way to avoid missing of events. So, first session will sync a lot of documents. Subsequent sync sessions (if you don't change settings) will sync only updated documents since previous session, so, it will be much faster.

Index is special list of correspondences between your Lotus Notes calendar events and Google events. It's used for determination, if event should be sync'ed, or already was sync'ed, etc. Index also store events which were deleted from one of calendars, to not push deleted documents again (for sure, if you haven't configured this behavior other way).

Most time-consuming process is working with Lotus Notes database, if it's placed on Domino server. So, if you have very large amount of LN events to be sync'ed, the best way is to create Local replica of database, perform full synchronization with 0 to 0 timeframe (unlimited), and then replicate changes back to Domino server. After this initial sync and replication you can switch Awesync settings back to working with Domino server.

Another speed dependency is your internet connection to Google. If it's too slow, try to disable secure connection (SSL/https), if it's suitable for you.
 

How do I transfer AweSync to a new computer?

What steps should be done to transfer my AweSync installation to another computer? How do I preserve my settings during the transfer?

Answer:

To transfer AweSync to a new computer, please download and install the latest version of AweSync from our site. Then, just activate AweSync with your existing activation key. You can find the key under your account on AweSync website.

 

If you wish to preserve your settings, you can save the file settings.cfg (usually stored in %AppData%\AweSync folder) from your old computer and then place it to the same folder on your new computer.