Changing or Editing the ActiveSync Username and Domain on Microsoft Windows Mobile device.

Another not-so-great moment in user interface

I own a HTC Dash (T-Mobile) running Microsoft Windows Mobile 6 (the phone is very similar to the Motorola Q).  Occasionally,  your exchange service providers change and you need to edit ActiveSync to hit the new service provider.  Before Google provided a service to sync Windows Mobile contacts and calendars, I used a free service called Nuevasync to do this.  I decided today to try switching over to Google’s m.google.com now that they provide this syncronization, but I couldn’t figure out how to edit the domain or the username  in the ActiveSync settings.

Prior to using Nuevasync, I sync’d with my company’s internal exchange server.  In the not-so-distant past I had successfully modified these settings in order to switch over to Nuevasync, so I knew it was possible somehow and it was not some kind of bug.

I quickly found I wasn’t alone in this confusion and came across a number of forum entries trying to figure out the same thing, but with no answers.  It turns out to be just a poor UI design–you indeed can’t edit these items directly, you have to delete the ActiveSync record and create a new one pointing to the new service provider.  Deleting it took a little while to figure out, as the delete option is in an funky place.  Below is a step by step throught the procss:

1. Click on the ActiveSync icon on your Windows Mobile device
2. Click on “Menu” and then “Options”…
3. At this point you should see in the main window the text “Choose the data you want to sync:” and a checklist of items (Contacts, Calendar, email, and tasks) that you can select or unselect.
4. You’ll notice above the check list but below the “choose the data…” there is a title like “Microsof Exchange”–it should be highlighted unless you move the cursor down onto the select list.  With this title highlighted, select “Menu”
5. Select “Delete”.

Doing this process should remove the account.  The next time you set one up you should be able to add all the fields including username, domain, etc…

The fact that this is not a common process–assuming you don’t edit your ActiveSync accounts daily–having a non-intuitive workflow to make these changes seems a bit odd.  Not quite sure why Microsoft didn’t just make it so you could edit an existing account settings instead of the deletion and creation of a new account.