One of our favorite Microsoft Dynamics CRM Outlook Client idiosyncrasies - aka Local Data Group User Error

It's just one of those things. One of those things that no matter how much you plan for it, it's still going to get you. And while I'm sure every other Microsoft Dynamics CRM user - whether customer, partner, both or otherwise - has never had the pleasure of experiencing it, I experience it continually. Our Dynamics CRM Technical Lead - Jason Foerch - convinced me that I should tell the most recent version of the story (to give all these other users a laugh I guess.) So what is this "thing" I reference? The proverbial "Local Data Groups - My Contacts" setting in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Outlook Client. Long story short (to potentially save many of you from having to read on): no matter how much I plan ahead, no matter how much I think about it and know it will happen if I don't do x, y and z, I constantly swamp my Outlook Contacts with thousands of MCRM Contacts that then sync to phone, etc. And who or what is to blame? Well, obviously myself. But I chose to blame the sheer volume of Dynamics CRM instances and orgs that our (my) various Outlook Clients point to (in demo environments, virtual environments, test environments, etc.) And the funniest/most ironic thing is it's no big deal in the end. It takes about 30 seconds to delete all the Contacts from Outlook based on create date and resync your phone. (And believe me, when you've gone through the process as many times as I have, it's truly no big deal.) This process has just taken on a life of its own with some of us from our team. The most recent instance came about during our internal deployment of Microsoft Dynamics CRM for our Service Center - or MCRM for the Service Center, MCRM 4 WSC, et al. We have a few Organzations set up for testing, training, development, etc. I had my Outlook Client pointing to the Test Org and, prior to migration of a few thousand Contacts using the Data Migration Manager (all with me as the Owner - long story), I actually remembered to Inactivate the My Contacts Data Group via the Outlook Client CRM Menu Bar -> Modify Local Data Groups. Yeah for Matt! He remembered! Well, I reconfigured my Outlook Client the next morning to point to Production for go-live. After a meeting I came back and did the final production migration - and man did that data look good! Well - it took a little less than a day before I realized I had done it, but there was everyone and their mothers and fathers in the Contacts on my phone when I started to look up a Contact for a call. I actually alughed out loud... And then called Jason so he could have a laugh. With me or at me is the big question ;) Please feel free to add a Comment to let us know that you've done this too - even if just once - to make me feel a little better...