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Blackberry phones can be configured to synchronise email, calendar and contacts with Creative Answers service.  However, the Blackberry phone is unable to connect out of the box to third party services (such as Creative Answers) as it is designed to integrate with the proprietary Blackberry Enterprise Server.  A range of third party services and software products are available to enable the Blackberry phone to be used to synchronise email, calendars, contacts, notes and tasks.

This article outlines the options available to connect the Blackberry phone.  Each solution requires you to obtain third party software for your Blackberry.  The listed solutions include free software and commercially available software. 

1. Using the Blackberry Service (Email Only)

Most telecommunication providers offer a Blackberry service that enables you to connect your Blackberry to your email.  Once you obtain an account for your provider, you can log in and enter your Creative Answers email details.  This service will poll Creative Answers email servers and provide the information on your Blackberry phone. Please note this is not a push service and the delivery time of email is subject to the telcommunication provider's setup.

In order for other people to reply to your emails, you need to set the "Reply-To" setting in the Telco Blackberry system so that the emails are delivered back to your email account correctly.

2.  Use the Astrasync software (Email, Contacts and Calendar Only)

The Blackberry does not directly support over-the-air synchronization with Microsoft ActiveSync.  However, you can purchase AstraSync, a third-party application that enables Mircrosoft ActiveSync functionality on the BlackBerry.  This solution provides the best solution for integrating the Blackberry as the product is compatible with Blackberry's email, calendar and contacts and supports direct push technology.

This solution requires the Activesync option enabled on your Creative Answers email service (subject to your selected plan).

Follow these steps to install and set up AstraSync on your BlackBerry:

1. Open the BlackBerry browser on your phone.
2. Navigate to the AstraSync download page at www.astrasync.com/dwl and log in with the email address and password you chose when you registered at AstraSync.com.
3. Choose the over-the-air download and install option and click Download.
4. Click Yes to the security warning.
5. Wait for the download to complete and AstraSync to install.
6. Click Run to load AstraSync for the first time.
7. Click Yes on the data modification and access security warning.
8. Turn off desktop synchronization in the BlackBerry Desktop Manager to avoid data duplication.
9. If you have content protection enabled, exit AstraSync, turn it off and re-start AstraSync from the Downloads folder.
10. Accept the AstraSync License Agreement
11. AstraSync will test your device's connectivity and choose the best network connection method. You may be prompted to allow the network connections.
12. Click Next once the connection type has been automatically selected.
13. Complete the required email and server information:
    • In the Email Address field, type your full Creative Answers email address (i.e., example@example.com).
    • In the Server field, type the following URL "bixmail.creativeanswers.com.au" (without the quotes)
    • Enable SSL
    • In the Domain filed, type the domain (i.e., example.com).
    • In the Username field, type your Creative Answers email address.
    • In the Password filed, type the password for your Creative Answers email address.
14. Click Next.
15. AstraSync will test the connection. Click Next.
16. AstraSync will display a list of collaboration items to sync. Choose from the list and click Next to initiate the first sync.

For more information on configuring AstraSync, refer to the AstraSync Setup Guide on the AstraSync website.

3. Configuring the Blackberry for Push Email using the myfunambol service (Email Only)

This is a free service provided by Funambol for Blackberry users.  The Funambol service interfaces with Creative Answers email service to obtain and send emails using the Funambol client software that must be installed on your Blackberry.  The service includes email only and provides a seperate email client on the phone.  This service is provided free of charge (price is subject to Funambol).

In order to have email pushed to your Blackberry, using the free myFunambol service you will need to do the following:

1. Go to my.funambol.com
2. Select Sign up.
3. Enter in the account information and click Join.
4. Click next on account activation page
5. You will be prompted to enter in your password for your email address.  You will need to do this if you want your email pushed to you.
6. The next screen will be the Email set up screen.  You will have two options, first to Continue or I didn't receive an SMS message.
   1. If you received the SMS message, click Continue and then go to your phone and open up the text message.  In the text message will be a link to download a file.
   2. If you did not receive the SMS text message, select I didn't receive an SMS message and you will go to a screen with a URL that you will need to enter into your Blackberry browser to download the software.
7. Once, the software is downloaded, select Yes at the bottom of the screen
8. You will be taken to a Setup completed screen with some information on setting up Blackberry depending on the Blackberry configuration.  Click Continue
9. You will then, be taken to your Profile screen that will ask for your name.  You can change you phone type and phone number in the profile page and turn on/off the push features.

On the phone, once the software is installed, you may need to enter in your myFunambol portal account information.  You will need to enter your username and password for the myFunambol portal, not your SmarterMail account information.  Once, this is complete you will be able to send and receive email through the funambol client.

4. Synchronizing Creative Answers Calendars, Contacts, Tasks and Notes with a Blackberry (does NOT include Email)

This solution allows you to connect your Blackberry directly to the Creative Answers email service to synchronise the calendars, contacts, tasks and notes.  The solution uses the funambol.com SyncML plugin for Blackberry which can connect directly to Creative Answers server.  If you want email you need to use one of the email solutions described in this article.

To setup the account please follow these instructions:

1. Download the plug-in from http://my.funambol.com/bb/plugin.jad through the Blackberry browser 
2. Once installed find the Funambol Blackberry Plug-in and select the icon
3. You will see a "Welcome to Funambol Blackberry Plug-in" screen
4. Press the Menu key and select Settings
5. Server location need to be formatted:
   http://bizmail.creativeanswers.com.au/sync/default.aspx
6. Enter the Username: username@domainname.com
7. Enter the accounts password
8. Select if you want to Sync Contacts, Calendar, Task, Notes
9. Select if you want to Enable Scheduled Sync
10. Select Sync Direction (Two-Way, One Way: Client to Server, or One Way: Server to Client)
11. Select Sync Time Frame if you want to change default setting
12. Select Log Level if you want to change default setting
13. Select Menu and Save
14. To manually Sync select Menu and Synchronize

Creative Answers does not warrant or provide any support for these third party solutions. If you have any issues with the third services or third party software discussed in this article, you will need to contact the third party provider.

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