Problem:

Various factors can make a sync take so long that Sync Services will time out:

- there are thousands of events/tasks to sync

- there are many and/or large attachments to events

- the server is slow

Solution:

Since this is mostly an issue with the initial sync (because other syncs normally are only incremental), you can work around this by doing a partial sync, then more, then more.

The way to do this is to limit the items initially being sync'd as follows:

- set (for each calendar), the "Ignore events older than ?? days" (on the Advanced Options panel) to a setting such as 30 days and perform a sync

- set the number of days to 60 days and sync

- then 90 days and sync, etc.

- although it's normally not the case, it could also be necessary to similarly limit the task syncing, as well

The interval will depend upon how many items you have to be sync'd for a given time period and the speed of the server. If it fails, reduce the number of days and sync again.

Note: when using the "Ignore events/tasks older than ?? days" options, some Exchange servers will report that a calendar is empty ... which can cause your iCal calendar to be emptied. It's a good idea to make an iCal backup (via iCal's menu) when first using one of these options.