Last page update: 09 Oct 2011

The PIM backup application is a tool that allows to backup/restore personal information stored on windows mobile based pocket devices. Concerning the personal information, I refer to contacts, appointments, tasks, messages, calls,...
The backup is totally independent of the version of Windows Mobile running on the device and independent of the device itself. The backup is also independent of the language used on the device. You can easily backup on a Chinese device and restore in a German one.

There are two kinds of backups. The binary based backup has been implemented in order to have a backup/restore process which is fast and more reliable, the disadvantage being that the backup contents cannot be easily modified or viewed.
The text based backup has been implemented in order to see/edit the contents on a pc for instance.

Requirements:
- Pocket PC 2003
- Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC
- WM6/6.1/6.5 Professional devices

Not supported:
- Smartphones

Downloads:

Download PIM backup v2.8.5 for WM5 & WM6 (ZIP file)

Download PIM backup v2.8.5 for WM2003SE (ZIP file)

Download PIM backup v2.8 for WM5 & WM6 (ZIP file)

Download PIM backup v2.8 for WM2003SE (ZIP file)

User manual:

Pim Backup quick user guide

Use notice:

The exe contained in the zip file, should be copied and launched on the pocket pc, and not on a pc.

If you have any comments, bugs report, suggestions, problems, then you could send them to this address dotfred@dotfred.net, I will carefully consider them.

TODO:

MMS Backup/restore doesn't work!

- fix problem with MMS "attachments" which are stored on disk but are not considered as attachments in the cemail.vol (wonderful!)
Arcsoft MMS software uses own-defined properties (blobs) in pmailMsgs table in cemail.vol but I cannot decipher them for the moment.

- conversion of text backups <-> binary backups
- conversion to other known formats (icalendar,...)

Features:

- backup/restore appointments
- backup/restore call logs
- backup/restore contacts
- backup/restore messages (SMS, Mails, ...) NEW !!!
- backup/restore speed dials
- backup/restore tasks
- backup/restore custom files

Restore contacts:

It is possible now to restore a text file containing contacts backed up from other applications, like in Outlook Express, the only constraint is that the first line should contain the fields and the fields need a separator. (See screenshots). The tool allows to map default fields to fields found in the file. It is possible now to insert duplicates.

Backup messages:

The mail database is completely parsed to retrieve all the messages stored in every directory and subdirectory. It is possible to select which account and directories should be backed up. You can save attachments as wel if they exist on the pocket pc.

Restore messages:

Same as the backup, you can select which account and directories should be restored to the device. Caution, if an account doesn't exist on the pocket pc, this application will discard the messages that belong to that account.

Scheduled backup:

It is possible to schedule a backup, each day of the week and this at a specific hour. If the pocket pc is suspended, it will wake up and do the backup. You can eventually control the number of backups to keep and switch off the pocket pc after the scheduled backup is finished.
The schedule backup creates a notification that can be cleared via the Options Menu.

File types:

There is only one file type now, which is .pib (Personal Information Backup), in fact it is just a zip file (so you can open it with a zip application) which contain the different text files used in PPCBckpContacts, so you can still extract these files, edit them on a pc using Excel or Notepad and eventually restore them without putting them back in the .pib file.

History:

Version 2.8.5:

- fix issue with list view using custom states
- warning popup message in case encryption mechanism is active on sdcard
- error popup message in case the backup failed
- fix issue of exceptions in appointments

Version 2.8:

- fix for keeping old files when value is 10 (schedule options)
- fix for subfolders having same name as folders under root (messages restore)
- fix for the delimiter selection when restoring contacts from csv file (contacts mapping fields)
- fix for "add only new messages" when restoring binary backup (messages restore)

Version 2.7:

In 2.6, the backup/restore thread priority has been diminished so it took less resources during the task, and so other programs could continue to work properly. The problem is that a backup/restore task could take much more time to end. This has been changed by adding this feature as parameter, and so it can be changed manually by the user.

Version 2.6:

- fix bug in binary restore of contacts (birthday overwritten by anniversary)
- fix bug in binary/text restore of appointments (status, reminder not correct)
- fix bug in zip utility => unicode compliant
- fix bug in restore of tasks (wm2003se only) for (partially) undated tasks
- fix bug in restore of messages (only messages from an unknown account are discarded)
- fix bug in csv contacts import (csv coming from another application)
- fix bug in restore of speed dials (wm6 only)
- added restore custom files individual selection

Version 2.5:

- fix bug in binary backup of appointments containing recipients
- fix bug in binary/text custom files backup
- added rename old file option in custom file restore

Version 2.4:

- fix a crash bug during restore of a text backup for messages having no
subject
- fix a bug in scheduled backup
- add one instance only

Version 2.3:

- fix for notes in wm2k3
- add more error messages in case of backup/restore failure

Version 2.2:

- fix for messages backup problem that causes wm2k3 pda's to soft-reset
- fix for custom files not found in list in csx backup file

Version 2.1:

- fixed bug introduced in hex fields in text backup in v2.0
- add a custom backup functionality for specific files, folders or file types.
- changed some cosmetic things in the layouts
- fixed some minor bugs
- fixed bug in binary appointment backup

Version 2.0:

- added escape character in text, so the parsing of csv text works in all cases.

CAUTION, a bad parsing can still appear for backups made in earlier versions.

- added binary backups for fastness and reliability. (A tool will be provided in the future to allow to convert text backups to binary backups and vice-versa).

- schedule problem fixed.

- added UNC folders names for default folders (inbox, outbox, sent items, drafts, deleted items) in messages, so the restore could be done on a device having another language.

- fixed the problem of messages stored in folders at the same level as Inbox

- creation of temporary backup files can be either in memory or in the backup destination folder.

Version 1.9:

- fix bug in all day recurring appointments restore
- fix bug in non recurring tasks restore
- restore for "add only new..." option should go faster
- remove empty files from \Windows\Messaging

Version 1.8:

- fix problem of lost records (csv parser has been redesigned)

ADVICE: In WM6 if you have to restore call logs, do it separately especially if you have a lot of them, because cprog.exe (phone application) will take all the cpu to rebuild the links between contacts and calls, so this is not good for the rest of the restore.

Version 1.7:

- fix for crashing bug during restore of contacts or messages

Version 1.6:

- Yomi included for contacts (not tested, need confirmation on this)
- fix for call logs in WM6 (allynm)
- fix appointments load (leo ramik)
- fix problem for messages load (same as appts)
- fix csv parser bug (last one, I hope)
- fix problem with speeddials restore (WM6 only) (it is slow, but it works) (work around provided by dan1967 (thanks!))
- fix for appts restore (_vint)

Version 1.5:

- fix toolbar bug (wm2003se only)
- fix sms backup bug (wm2003se only) (carolos)
- fix schedule bug (ebliss)
- fix birthday bug in contacts (gambit999)
- fix csv parser bug (exel07)

Version 1.4:

- fix a bug found in backup/restore of messages in WM2003SE (choas)
- fix a bug concerning exclusions of folders in backup of messages (faria)

Version 1.3:

- fix a bug found in restore of call logs backup under WM6 (backup made on WM6 only) (faria)

Version 1.2:

- fix a bug found when handling unicode files with chinese character set (Sipher)

Version 1.1:

- fix a bug in CSV parser (borjok536)
- added option verbose in main menu (allynm) (the status list is less updated without verbose)
- added SystemIdleTimerReset to avoid that the pda is suspended during the backup/restore process