Syncing address book contacts list to family using iCloud

As former mobileme family pack users, we could share all contacts stored on our Mac's address book between all 4 of our iOS devices in the family.
Since upgrading to iCloud we are only getting contacts from our individual accounts, is there a way to share them like mobileme could?

I read that there is a way to share an address book on multiple iOS devices, even if each person with thier iOS device has thier own iCloud account. It turns out it is possible to add another, ie. more than one, iCloud account to an iOS device. I think then that one iCloud account would have the master Address book.
I haven't tried it yet. It looks like you can do that through <settings><Mail,Contacts,Calendars><add account> and select an iCloud account. Then you can go into <settings><iCloud> and manage which items from that iCloud account sync. The only thing I haven't figured out is if you can do it on multiple Macs as well - my wife and I each have our own MacBook Pros.
The article was @ ZDNET
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/apple/mobileme-to-icloud-migration-and-calendar-sharin g/11436
Message was edited by: Niko03
I just looked in Address book preferences on my mac and it looks like you could add another iCloud account there as well. Tomorrow I'm picking up an iPhone 4s for my wife and will set up an iCloud account for her and do some playing around to see what works.

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Number of address book contacts on MacBook Air using iCloud is one less than my other iDevices using iCloud. Is this a known bug?

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What is the best way to sync Address Book contacts?

Please help!
I run a small Mac network and I need to sync all (we have 8 Macs) the Mac's Address Book's with each other and also with 5 different iPhones. We have a Mac Server running Tiger and all the Macs are running Tiger. 4 of the Macs are Intel. The server is PowerPC.
At the moment I am just using 1 .Mac account to sync to them all, but this is causing many problems with duplications, errors and 'stress!'
The reason for the above setup is money. But, as the problems continue and the syncing become more important, money is now allowed to be spent.
My question really is, as the subject header says, 'What is the best way to sync Address Book contacts?' In the past I have tried XC Connect, and a few other apps, but with the introduction of the iPhones, the setup has become more complex.
If I were to buy all new Intel Macs and an Intel Mac Server all running Snow Leopard, would the 'Address Book Server' do the job? I have found very little information on the net and the information I did find was all negative.
Is there something Leopard can do that Tiger can't? Is Tiger nolonger a good enough system to try and run an Address Book network?
Does anybody else out there in the Mac world have a similar setup to mine, and if so, how do you have your setup.
Incidentally, ALL users, incuding iPhone users, need read & write access to the Address Book!!
Any solutions or suggestions would be most welcome.
Thanks in advance
col_t

Oh, I meant Leopard does do more than Tiger Server.
I don't know enough about Server, even less abut Syncing.
SL is to new, not enough time to iron out the kinks yet imho.
One day SL will be better than Leo, but...
I'd ask over in server...
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=96
Or perhaps Collaboration Services...
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1352
They may even have a different opinion on SL.

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I know some people will think this post should be in the iPod forum but I have realised that it is not my iPod beccasue I tried using a different iPod and the same problem happened. Anyway...the problem is that when I choose to sync Address Book contacts with iPod it comes up with this message:
No contacts available
Contact syncinig cannot be enabled because there are no contacts available. Do you want to open Address Book and create contacts now?
And gives me the options: Cancel and Open Address Book
I have tried deleting several different preferences for iTunes, Address Book and iSync (just incase).
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Then I reselected the "Sync Address Book Contacts" but noticed that all 15 of the groups from my MacBook that normally appear in the box with the All Contacts/Selected Groups button were missing. I opened Address Book and they were all there.
I did a backup of Address Book and then deleted all of my contacts on my MacBook. I quit and restarted my MacBook and then imported my Address Book backup before connecting my iPhone and trying to sync the contacts again, but again, none of the groups appeared in the window and after proceeding with the sync anyway, not a single contact went to the iPhone. I've tried it by both selecting and deselecting the Contacts box under the "Replace information on this iPhone".
- I connected an iPod touch that didn't have any contact info to the MacBook and, as before, the groups from my address book did not show up and after synching, none of the contacts were installed on the iPod Touch, leaving me to believe that it is something iTunes related except that all of my calendars and music etc. sync without a problem.
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Exported addresses from Address Book to desktop and then deleted all addresses from Address Book.
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Have you tried a "hard reset"? If so, I would take the phone to an Apple store. If not,
1. Make sure the phone is OFF
2. Hold the HOME button and then press the power button and HOLD IT.
3. Hold both buttons until the phone comes ON, goes OFF and come ON again (about 45 seconds)
4. Re-sync with iTunes.
Hope this helps.

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Hi,
After i upgraded to iOS5, I cannot select 'selected groups' to sync address books to ipad. I am syncing via icloud, but there is no option so sync selected groups contacts, nor via itunes for manual sync.
Can anyone help, please.

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Restarted iTunes and all of the groups were visible in the "Synch Address Book Contacts" window.

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Why have my Address Book contacts disappeared after uploading to iCloud?

I am using my MacBook Pro w/OSX Lion.
After having many, many problems with contacts, calendars and bookmarks in MobileMe, migrating to iCloud, encountering a huge mess of duplicates and even completely missing contacts I decided to start over. So I disabled the iCloud account on all Macs and IOS devices. I then ensured all contacts, calendars and bookmarks were deleted from the MacBook Pro. I then used the Address Book export I'd made just prior to the migration from Mobile Me to iCloud and imported this onto my MacBook Pro. I've completely gone though the Address Book and removed or merged duplicates and cleaned up all contacts with detail. I backed up my Address Book again at this point. I then logged into iCloud.com using my original Apple User ID (NOT the MobileMe/me.com account which I'm going to vacate) and ensured that there were no contacts in the cloud and I deselected the default calendars here as well. My intention was/is to begin by starting small and deal only with the MacBook Pro Address Book and iCloud Contacts. So after I confirmed there is no data in the cloud I go into the MacBook Pro System Preferences > iCloud > Account Details ensuring I was signed out of the me.com user and entered my original Apple ID I've had since I started using iTunes many years back. I quit the browser and the Address Book and verified the non me.com user was saved under the System Preferences. I then selected Contacts under these iCloud System Preferences and I was asked If I wanted to merge my contacts with those in the cloud. Because there were no contacts in the cloud I selected yes. The spinning indicator indicated that the upload was occurring. Now, there are no contacts in the cloud and the Address Book contacts are missing. Thinking that my doing the Address Book backup may have removed all the data from the Address Book, I deselected Contacts in the iCloud System Preferences, reimported the backup into Address Book that I'd just done, confirmed the contacts I just imported appear in Address Book and I reselect Contacts in the iCloud System Preferences and again I get the spinning indicator. Again, there are no Contacts in the cloud and the contacts are missing from Address Book.
What the heck am I doing wrong? I've simplified my original attempt with iCloud by concentrating my efforts to just contacts AND I'm only using the MacBook and the iCloud cloud and I've still got problems. I thought this approach would narrow down where the issue lies and allow me to monitor the process more easily but I seem to be worse off than before I'd tried to resolve the initial migration problems because now I have no contacts.
I'm new to Macs so if you have a solution, please help and please give specifics because I'm still learning the structure and don't understand a lot of the acronyms and jargon.
Thanx

If you have a back up file, I'd try turning off iCloud contact syncing on all macs from system preferences > iCloud –
DONE
as well as any secondary accounts from system preferences > mail, contacts and calendars –
DONE (this was confusing but I figured out that you meant System Preferences > Mail, Contacts & Calendars which is what you said in lowercase. For some reason without the capital letters I didn't clue in that Mail, Contacts and Calendars was an icon option under the System preferences and so I overlooked it multiple times. I see your use of "secondary account" which I note used also as a term in the User Tip link you referred me to view. Although, I still don't understand what this 'secondary' account is, I'm not interested in any secondary accounts because I've got my hands full with just iCloud for now. I did delete all accounts under the Mail, Contacts & Calendars).
If you have any iOS devices I'd do the same on those as well. –
DONE (not even introducing other Macs or IOS devices to the equation until I get the iCloud and MacBook syncing contacts correctly)
I'd log into iCloud.com and check my Address Book was empty and empty it if necessary –
DONE (it was empty already)
and then delete all contacts from every Address Book on every device
         DONE
Then I'd turn Address Book syncing back on –
DONE (This assuming that by ‘turn back on’ you mean System Preferences > iCloud and check marking the box next to Contacts)
and import my contacts from the backup file –
DONE (This assuming that by ‘import my contacts’ you mean importing the previously exported Address Book back up file back into the Address Book. I see contacts listed in the Address Book when I did this.)
No syncing seems to happen at this point?
you might also take a look at this User Tip, to ensure you understand the differences between the different accounts in Address Book before adding the contacts back.
         I did read this but understand is probably not an accurate term for my interpretation of what I read. I get that On My Mac will not sync with what is in the cloud and iCloud will sync with the cloud. In Address Book under the single head red ribbon I see neither account heading that is mentioned. I also was not asked at the time of import to select which ‘account’ I’d like the contacts setup under.
A) If there is no indication as to what Address Book account the contacts fall under, how does on find this out?
User Tips states
Your Address Book when synced with iCloud will have more than one account.
     My assumption is that I'm not synced with iCloud if I don't see either account option listed. I also would think that if I'm not synced and thus don't have more than one account then perhaps the All Contacts default to an On My Mac account but don't reflect an account heading of 'On My Mac’ as seen on the screen shot of the User Tips example.
Furthermore, User Tips also states
Default Account
Your 'default'account is set in address book preferences > general (the option is only displayed if you have more than one account).
         It would seem relevant to list which account your defaulted to even if you do not have more than one account because elsewise how are you supposed to know which account it is setup under?
B) How do you change which ‘account’ your contacts are setup under if they are under the wrong account?
         Assuming again that my contacts are ‘On My Mac’, then how do I move them to the ‘iCloud’ account of which is not listed?
C) Will any of this be affected by groups?
The five listings under All Contacts are groups that I set up as a sort of invitation list (so Christmas cards is one I’d probably setup this time of year). Although this question is secondary I would like to confirm that my interpretation of groups is accurate. I understand groups to be a sort of tagging of selected contacts from All Contacts but that the contacts in these groups are not duplicates to those in All Contacts. Is this correct? I ask because the User Tips states
To quickly duplicate a contact, drag it to your desktop, navigate to 'Groups', select the account you wish to duplicate to, double click the contact on your desktop.
            When reading this tip, I interpret that dragging and dropping contacts from All Contacts into a group would be similar to what is suggested in this tip which would indeed ‘duplicate’ the contact. I did drag and drop when I setup my groups so I’m concerned I duplicated the contacts in Address Book. I do not see two copies of the same contact under All Contacts though.
By the way, don't take it personally –
I don't, I have reading difficulties galore and am happy to accommodate if I can. I hope this is better. Helping you helps me if you're not struggling to read when thinking about the solution.
Thanx

Printing Address Book Contact List

How can I print all the contacts in my Address Book? I've backed up the list in MY DOCUMENTS, but I can't print it (no programs can open the document). Can you print using the Blackberry Desktop Manager? Other suggestions?

Hi and welcome to the forums!
Short answer is you can't. Print them out from your desktop organizer.
Thanks,
Bifocals
Click Accept as Solution for posts that have solved your issue(s)!
Be sure to click Like! for those who have helped you.
Install BlackBerry Protect it's a free application designed to help find your lost BlackBerry smartphone, and keep the information on it secure.

IPhone 4 no longer syncing Address Book contacts w/laptop

For some reason, my iPhone 4 is no longer updating my contact list when I add new names/info to Address Book on my MacBook Pro. I've checked the settings on my phone as well as in iTunes, and it should be syncing (and always has done so before), but it's not. I even tried replacing all my iPhone contacts with the list on my laptop via the iTunes "Advanced" menu option, but this didn't help...
I'm not sure exactly when this started happening, but I did have trouble when I tried to install the 10.7.3 update to Lion and had to reinstall OSX. (Also, my laptop is relatively new--bought it about a month ago.)
Any suggestions?

This has also happened to me, though it was after synching to my 3G iPhone as opposed to MobileMe (which I don't have).
What's more, in iTunes Prefs I've selected "place new contacts created on this iPhone in the group 'new from iPhone'", and I just saw that of the 968 contacts in my Address Book, a good...613 are under the 'new from iPhone' group which is absolutely false!
I most decidedly did not create all those 613 contacts on my iPhone, in fact just about all 613 of them had been previously synched from my Mac to my iPhone.
Clearly there's some sort of bug here - whether MobileMe or iPhone via iTunes, since both involve iSync from what I had read elsewhere at these forums.
I'm going to submit this to the Apple iPhone feedback page here, and would suggest your submitting your feedback to Apple MobileMe here.
Message was edited by: eccparis

8330 Can you manually edit the Address book contacts on a PC using Desktop Manager?

I am converting from a iDEN phone and have my contact list in .mdb and .xls format. how can I get this contact list into the BlackBerry Address Book? It is about 200 contacts.

Okay! You're halfway home!
This procedure is written for a Palm, but actually it's how to
from .csv - Outlook- Blackberry
http://www.blackberry.com/btsc/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=KB03050&sliceId=SAL_Pub...
Please let me know if you need any more help or information
Thanks!
Click Accept as Solution for posts that have solved your issue(s)!
Be sure to click Like! for those who have helped you.
Install BlackBerry Protect it's a free application designed to help find your lost BlackBerry smartphone, and keep the information on it secure.

Address Book Contact List Separator/Header

Hello all,
This one is a bit hard to explain but I will give it a shot.
When logged into my mobile me account, my contacts list is split into smaller lists by a letter separator/header. For example, everybody with a last name that starts with "A" is in the "A" section. Everybody that has a last name that starts with the letter "B" is in the "B" section. Etc, etc...
Is there any way to get that separation in the Address Book application itself? It is very handy in finding someone in the middle of my address book but looks to be only available on the mobile me website maybe?
Thanks!
Ian

You could I suppose make Address Book groups, one for each letter of the alphabet, and put your contacts into the appropriate groups. However, if I am looking for someone in Address Book I find it simplest to just start typing their name in the search box.
AK

Syncing address book contacts list to family using iCloud

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