Synchronizing cPanel® Calendar, Contacts, and Email on Android with ActiveSync

ActiveSync (Exchange) is a protocol that allows the synchronisation of emails, contacts and calendar appointments from a server to mobile devices.

Why would I want to use ActiveSync?

Before the inclusion of ActiveSync support, owners of Android mobile phones and tablets had limited choices for connecting to their cPanel calendars because Android does not natively support CalDAV. The best solution available was to install a third-party application which would serve as
an intermediary "connector" between the device's local calendar and a CalDAV server. The disadvantage of this approach is that it requires each end-user to install and configure the app.

With ActiveSync, you can configure and synchronize your account on the mobile device directly without the use of any third-party app

This article will show you how to set up ActiveSync (Exchange) account on your Android device.

To get started, a mailbox must have been created before setting up an email account as ActiveSync (Exchange). You can create a mailbox using this link. Once a mailbox has been created, go to cPanel’s Calendars and Contacts interface or the welcome email that your administrator sent to you after signup to retrieve your calendar and contact configuration details from cPanel.

1. Open your Android device Settings and tap the Accounts and Backup menu (on some devices and versions of Andriod, this menu can be called Accounts or Cloud and Accounts or Accounts and backup)
2. Choose the Accounts tab:
3. Tap the Add Account option at the bottom of the page
4. On the next screen choose the Exchange option or Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync
5. The next screen will prompt you to enter your full email address([email protected]) Then, tap Set up manually.
6. Tap Next to proceed to the next step. You will enter the correct password for the mailbox:
7. When the password is indicated, press Next. Here you will need to fill in the correct Exchange server settings. We recommend using secure SSL settings where possible, Make sure to use the following settings for your account:

Username: Your email address
Password: The password for the mailbox
Server URL: privateemail.com
Port: 2091
Security Type**: SSL/TLS

8. When all settings are listed correctly, enter the Name of the email account you just added in the email app and tap Next to complete the setup:

Enable push updates (optional):

Return to the list within the Settings app.
Tap the newly added account.
Tap Account settings.
If you are prompted to select the account again, tap the same account.
Tap Sync frequency, and change the setting to Automatic (Push).

Protip: When creating calendar events, make sure to select the desired calendar from the menu, as the default choice might be another account you already configured previously.

Calendar events from your hosting account will now be visible in your device's Calendar app. Any changes made to your schedule will show up on your device with a refresh.

Your cPanel calendars, contacts, and email has now been synchronised on Andriod with ActiveSync

Some issues that may occur and how to resolve them

Calendar events created on your device do not appear on other devices

Not all Android devices have a sync frequency or similar settings. If your account seems to be taking an excessive amount of time to sync and If you cannot find this setting, do the following:

Go to the Accounts menu in your device’s Settings. Enable Auto-sync data.

Duplicate events are displayed on the calendar

If you see duplicate events in your device's calendar, there are two possible causes:

If you sync your account to two or more email apps, each app will add a copy of the event to your calendar. If you see duplicate events marked by different colours, this is likely the cause. To resolve this issue, unsync or log out of the account in all but one mail app.

Very rarely, if your account's disk exceeds the quota, you may see multiple duplicate events on your calendar. You can only fix this by bringing the account's disk space below the quota.