Microsoft removes Exchange ActiveSync from Google account setup, temporary workaround present

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Google is set to cease supporting Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync for its array of online services, including both GMail and Calendar. This will prevent consumers from setting up accounts on Windows Phones with both contact and calendar support (but will not affect those who already have email configured on Windows Phone). Consumers who make use of said features will have to go through workarounds to get connected, or switch across to Outlook.

The changes will prevent users from synchronising their Google calendars and contacts after July 31st (if it's not already configured). Microsoft has already made a move it seems as the company has removed the ability to synchronise Google contacts and calendar when setting up Google accounts on Windows Phone. There's a way around this, according to a user report.

Reddit user blorgon has tracked down a support page over on the Google website that points to a way of setting up a Google account with contacts and calendar synchronisation - until Google removes such functionality this coming summer, of course. So how does one go about achieving this?

Google Account

Simply head on over to "email + accounts", select the option to add an account. Instead of hitting Google scroll down and select advanced setup. This will ask for login details, enter your Google credentials. You'll then be able to add Google services to the account and complete the setup as you would any other. You should now have a fully working Google account with calendar and contacts synchronised from the cloud.

Be sure to read up the full walkthrough over on the Google website. As always, if you're able to, we strongly recommend Windows Phone owners to migrate across to Microsoft services. This helps keep everything under one company and adds more protection against these types of situations. As mentioned above, Google is expected to full remove ActiveSync support by July 31st. 

Source: Reddit, via: WMPU

Rich Edmonds
Rich Edmonds

Rich Edmonds is a word conjurer at Windows Central, covering everything related to Windows, gaming, and hardware. He's been involved in technology for more than a decade and knows a thing or two about the magic inside a device chassis. You can follow him over on Twitter at @RichEdmonds.
75 Comments
  • Love me some Gmail on my L920!
  • With the recent binning of Google Reader who knows how long Gmail will last..... Google+ email anyone?
  • Is Google+ still a thing that they're trying to make happen?
  • If you have a YouTube account, Gmail account, or an account for any other Google service, you are already one of their highly touted "100 million+ active users". Even if you've never used it. So yeah, they're still trying to make that thing happen.
  • You can actually deactivate your Google+ account without affecting any other services.. that's what I've done.
  • How? Details please.
  • except You can't even comment on Youtube videos when You do so ;)
  • I live in silicon valley. Even the Google employees I know don't use Google+! :-D
  • Google+ is generally just a huge Google/Android fanboy circlejerk and content that you've seen elsewhere a couple of weeks ago.
  • Good point. They are killing iGoogle in Nov--which I am not happy about, as I have used it as my home page since it was introduced.
    Can someone recommend a similar service?
  • I can really recommend symbaloo.com as your homepage. You can set up your favorite websites on several tabs and add your own icons. It's really nice. Btw, f*ck Google. Microsoft offers a more comprehensive and user friendly package of online services anyway.
  • Check out netvibes.com
  • Netvibes (as mentioned by we566) is a solid option, but Yahoo! is also worth checking out. Less customisable, but it might do everything you want of it.
  • Try http://my.msn.com too
  • End of the Peace. We will have no peace :)
  • My still works
  • Fuck GOOGLE !!!!
  • My company just switched from outlook to Google...agggghhhh
  • If there paying you can still use eas... Use one of the work around.
  • Mine too. But it was easy to do at least.
    Never did get an answer as to why but I bet it was due to all google crap being free and MS Exchange being $$$..and for being free they probably get to spy on our email!
    But wait-there's more! Already getting spam that I NEVER got in 10 years of using Exchange for company email..
  • Me 2. I started getting spam on my work email address since the switch. We switched over completely this week.
  • Wow i went to youtube and it asked me to make my google plus account work between youtube and google plus...
    The worst part is that i didnt knew i had a Google Plus account LOOL
    I have gmail though i dont use it only for youtube,
  • Google is doing this to over inflate their user base on Google+ so it looks good...
  • They do the same thing if you create a Gmail account. You have to go delete the new google+ account you didn't want. To make matters worse, android users can no longer review apps without a google+ account. I feel bad for them.
  • I don't hate google or anything. When I bought my windows phones, I simply moved to microsoft services for everything from email to maps to cloud to music to games.
    There is something about the way Google does things which is scary. I guess all companies are scary, but having used MS products for almost 15 years, especially their support policy even on dead products, makes me like MS.
  • Google are becoming a dick of a company , they try to ram their services on you, want a utube account well u have to have Gmail want to rate an android app from play you are forced into google + , I ditched my android tablet because of this kinda crap and will never look back bye bye google.
  • Totally agree. They shouldn't force all that garbage down our throats.
  • That's what she said, too bad many of us didn't listen......
  • I don't see how they're any worse than Microsoft. Want to use the email, calendar, or contacts app with Windows 8 - you can't unless you log in with a WIndows ID. Why the F*** do I need to log in with a Microsoft ID to set up my email client with an email provider who isn't MIcrosoft? Why the F*** do I need to log in with a Microsoft ID to keep a list of my contacts on my computer? Why the F*** do I need to log in with a Microsoft ID to be able to add a Dr's appointment to my computer?
  • ... Your MS ID doesn't need to be an MS email address and they don't force you to sign up for all MS products that aren't related to the product you want. Your rebuttal is kinda straw graspy... You're asking why you need an MS ID to use MS products that would provide you with the convenience of using the same product on another device compared to making users sign up for a totally different service (Google+) just to review an app on Android.
  • ^^ Starblade! You have a MS ID for using the MS service that allows you to migrate your ms specific services to other MS products. You can use your Gmail email address as your Microsoft ID which will grant you access to the store and synchronizing preferences and products across other MS computers etc. like windows phone.
  • My Xbox live I'd is my MS I'd so I use it across all MS services and its my Gmail address that is my log in so I don't know why anyone is complaining
  • I'm not graping at straws at all - why am I forced to log in to Microsoft to see my Yahoo email in the email app on a Windows 8 PC? The fact that my Microsoft ID can be any email address is irrelevant (you're the one grasping at straws) - as it doesn't change the fact that you MUST log in to Microsoft.
  • So, you're complaining that you have to log in to MS network to use THEIR cloud service that they're generously providing to you with no out of pocket cost? Without forcing you to sign up for any extra services that you don't want? Those bastards...
  • Plus, they're not using our information and things they could learn about us to bombard us with ads. Jerks!
  • I'm not using their cloud service or their email - so why do I have to log into Microsoft to get email from someone like Yahoo or my cable provider? Why can't I just enter some contacts locally on my pc without logging into Microsoft?
  • Err because you're using a Microsoft-developed Windows 8? As someone pointed out already, signing into Windows 8 with Microsoft account helps you keep settings..etc synchronized. Plus it grants you access to things like Xbox Music free streaming...etc. Able to sign in with ANY email account IS relevant because you're not forces down the throat to use Microsoft's email service (I.e Outlook.com) - unlike Google. P.S. Go download the Yahoo Mail app.
  • It's a completely different situation to G+, you are specifically using windows 8 which requires a MS ID to use many parts of it. The equivalent to the G+ situation would be forcing you to sign up for a facebook account or an outlook account to access windows 8 services, which they are clearly not doing.
  • You do know that this is Windows right? The full desktop OS and not a mobile OS. You can get yourself another Mail client if you want and you wont lose any functionality. You dont have to use any of the services Microsoft offers.
  • You can have a windows 8 local account. Like a local admin.
  • You do realize that you don't have to sign in with your Microsoft account to use windows 8 right? I have a local only account on my surface. It's kinda lame though because you don't get all of the intuitive things that happen like the auto sync of all your contacts, calendars, and other things. It's doable though.
  • That is the very nature of an advertising based company. They don't just have to make a sale of a product like Microsoft or apple, they have to 'force' people to use it or they don't get a cent. When this is achieved by making a very good product I have no problem with it. But when numbers need to be artificially inflated by forcing users to sign up to access a completely irrelevant service then it becomes a bad thing. The other thing that annoys me about this business model is that people tend to choose a 'free' ad supported product that is mediocre over a very good but paid product. It is just another artificial situation, because in the end everyone that buys an advertised product pays for the ads. In some cases product prices are hugely inflated to pay for more advertising.
  • So what's the end game here, why are Microsoft ending it earlier. I would have thought they would introduce stroke implement a system to get round the july deadline of google ending it. So we now have three eco systems, apple, google and MS. Do they not realise that we are entwined into all of them to different degrees. To win the battle I would make sure my phone supports everything going and is better and more functional and innovative than my rivals. It would seem all three are insistent on locking out the other two, children in the playground. And google who use to be open everything have really changed over the last 18 months, just another corporate machine intent on making shareholders happy and fook everyone else in the progress. The devil has awoken...
  • I believe this was Google's decision not Microsoft's. EAS I'd not free so Google decided not to offer it on free services...
  • Google's support for EAS is not ending til July, so I'm not quite sure why Microsoft has chosen to end it earlier. However Gmail support for contact and calendar syncing will be continued in WP through CalDAV and CarDAV in a future update. These are two open protocols for calendar and contact syncing respectively which google is also trying to make more closed by restricting access to a whitelist of developers (thankfully including microsoft). Google is now trying to push developers to its own proprietary syncing protocol. Essentially what they have done is transitioned from EAS to their own proprietary protocol, but they went via an open protocol so as not to cause user revolt, and so they can claim to be all supportive of everything open.
     
    The main possible reason I can see for microsoft to discontinue Gmail EAS support in this update is that the update with calDAV and carDAV support may have been delayed beyond July when google will disable EAS support on their end, and microsoft dont want errors occuring when users try to sync gmail on their phones between then and the update to support the new protocols.
     
    The other more disturbing possibility is that microsoft is trying to force users over to Outlook, I do hope that is not the case.
  • Wonerful finding your post .. A true light in a dark tunnel
     
     
     Im Road warrior  and I count on my virtual staff to help me manage my contacts. ( ONE SINGLE CONTACT LIST.
    Can RON actually synchronize with any other contact databases. 
     
    Here would be the Goal
    My assistant and I both need to monitor all calls coming in
    New client calls the 1 office number and if I can take the call I do or I let it go to my assistant.
     So a new call is a new contact added to db and progress / tasks are  made on this contact.
     
     Now please tell me can RON LIVE syc its db with another database like
     Google contacts, or apple contacts on iPad, Outlook contacts or even heaven forbid Facebook contacts.
     
    I am going CRAZY WITH 4 SETS OF DATABASES.
    apple does live sync with Outlook, Google does live sycn with apple Nobody live synces with anybody..
    It this true?
     
    Can anyone recommend any VOIP platform that actually LIVE syncs databases??
    Call comes in and directly goes into databases with a single click??
     
    Am I dreaming or are we in a 4-5 way fight of contact management with us guys on the losing side.
     
    Advise please
  • I was just advised to perform a hard-reset on my Lumia 920. Now, will I be able to restore my G accounts after the reset? Or will I lose them? My primary work email is with G.
  • When I had to replace my 920 I just logged in with my MS account when I set up my new phone and everything was resetup from the cloud. You did have automatic backup to the cloud, right?
  • Yea, backup is active. Just worried might get locked out due to this issue.
  • Good! We need to start using Outlook!
  • Yes, and it would be even better if Microsoft would allow us to change our email address from the Microsoft Account from Google to Outlook.
     
    Instead, I get this:
     
    "The email address associated with your Microsoft account can't be changed". The horror. THE HORROR! :)
  • Yes, glad I jumped ship when I bought my Quantum all those years ago. Starting over would suck.
  • I still continue to have calendar and contact sync withi google, i also added a new gmail account and i have cantact and clanedar sync.
    I think blorgon is wrong
     
    Also becouse there is no need of Microsoft intervention. The email client try to get the configuration directly from the server, so if the server communicates to the client that there is an EAS server, the client show the option to set contact, calendar and mail sync otherwise the clinet sync only the mail via IMAP or POP3.
  • Did Ms end this today? Or Google is going to do this coming summer? This article is not clear - heading and the body are disconnected a bit.
  • Title and article are confusing, title suggest that Microsoft is ending it, when according to the article it is google who is ending support
  • Google is ending support on July 31st. Microsoft has already removed Google exchange as the default Gmail setup the Windows Phone.
  • I use outlook anyway.
  • Bah good riddance.
  • If you must just set up the account using the Outllook/Exchange account option wih these credentials:
     
    mailaddress as mailaddress and username
    password as password
    domain may be left empty
    m.google.com as server address
  • We use google calendar for our service business because of the search feature, without it we would be lost. Microsoft is severely lacking in a decent calendar replacement that is on par with Google. All of our service techs use windows phone, and we will be "up the creek" when this change takes place. Is there any workaround that we can do, Other than switching to Microsofts joke of a calendar? I have been trying to find some other service for some time now as a backup, but google seems to be the only one good enough.
  • 1. Paying accounts still get EAS. Existing accounts keep EAS. 2. Outlook is far more powerful than a Google web calendar interface.
  • "Microsofts joke of a calendar?"  Really? Care to elaborate.
    Try upgrading their computers to Windows 8 and paying for Microsoft's Enterprise solutions,  you tight bastard.
  • I already have my contacts and calendar saved to my Microsoft Live account so I barely use Google Mail now.
  • What college students, students and universities use Gmail for email services.
  • How do i remove my Google Plus account ? i dont want this.
  • I knew this is going to happen .. Above all, the gmail experience is very very poor as compared to outlook.com! Just this tuesday, i migrated gmail account to outlook.com and have completely stopped using gmail. Thanks god ... I did that!
  • Actually wpcentral has been doing a good job with the spambots lately..
  • I just browsed my WP contacts and thankfully darn few of them are from g##gle. I mostly use gm##l for junk mail. The bad thing is I use it as my live.com and Xbox music, etc user name. How hard is it to change that?
  • Shouldn't be hard. I just replaced my old comcast.net username to live.com
  • I have an Gmail account, but that's for use to received spam only. ;)
  • Haha inspector spacetime
  • This is just googles way, of we don't like competition from your phone, so were going to make it harder for windows phone people to use. Screw google and their droids, I wish Microsoft would do the same thing to them, like force them to use active sync, this is plain phone wars, like the way now you can hook up a blackberry server straight to google, removing the need for a email server for companies like just pay google to do it, sorry their email sucks.
  • Why they are not working together.
    Fighting make thing crash.
     
  • I dumped gmail in favour of Outlook a long time ago. Can't say I really miss it to tell you the truth. 
  • I will do this on 30th July...