Address Book/Sync Destroying Contact Info

Address Book crashed on me yesterday and destroyed/deleted about 600 records (of ~650). It replaced the data file with something very old (more 2+ years old). It then synched with my Entourage data base deleting all the same contacts without warning. It then deleted them again on my .Mac account before I could stop the sync. I have started to rebuild the database and I notice that it is starting to delete info on some records. For example: I have 3 email addresses I use and I just noticed that it has deleted two of them after a sync.
What is going on and how do I stop it?!

The exact same thing is happening to me. I had to spend about an hour yesterday correcting the mess across 4 Macs - wasted time. It is really a shame that Apple has not been able to sort out something this basic.
I have read several posts in the past that the sync function is not stable - my experience of yesterday would support that view

Similar Messages

How to force Address Book syncing Google contacts immediately?

Hi everyone,
Last time I configured the Address Book as syncing the contacts with my Google account, but there was nothing changed in the Address Book. A couple of days later when I run Address Book again, the contacts in my Google accont was already transferred into the application. I mean I don't know when the synchronization would happen and I don't know how to force it happen immediately.
I did some changes in my Google account and wish the modification being synced to the Mac asap. I'm desperate to see it happens since the modification was three days ago and the content in Address Book just won't change. I also delete all contacts in my Address Book and re-configure the synchronization but no luck either.
Wating for the answer. Thanks in advance.

I believe you can force the sync from isync. put an isync icon in the menu bar and when you want to sync AB choose "sync now" from the isync menu.

Address book is scrambling contact info

Address book on one of my 3 synched computers is changing info in contacts where it is randomly putting incorrect company info under the names, or a name on a company where that person doesn't work. So essentially I have new, duplicate cards with personal and company information scrambled. How did this mess happen?

The exact same thing is happening to me. I had to spend about an hour yesterday correcting the mess across 4 Macs - wasted time. It is really a shame that Apple has not been able to sort out something this basic.
I have read several posts in the past that the sync function is not stable - my experience of yesterday would support that view

Mac Address Book Syncing - missing contacts

Hi all my first post here.
I just got my iPhone 3G here in Japan. I synced my contacts from my address book on my mac, but i noticed that a lot of contacts don't show up? is there any reason for this? I'd say %90 of my contacts have been copied correctly, but there are about %10 that are missing.
Thanks,
-Chris

Gosh ... I hoped to find the solution for my girlfriends problem here. Exaktly the same:
She's got a new iPhone 3G and was syncing. After that, there are about 20 % of the contacts, which are on her MacBook, missing in the iPhone. Only solution until now: Add the missing contact on the iPhone and resync. Then there they are ... abd they stay.
Mysterious ...

Google Contact / Address Book Sync

Google Contact / Address Book Sync is not working for me and I have an iPhone and Leopard, which I thought were the only requirements. I was able to sync my Address Book contacts to Google the first time around, but when I add a new contact to either Google or Address Book, one does not sync to another. Am I missing a piece of software here or is there something I need to do?
I am thinking that possibly this could be because the sync takes a long time and is not instantaneous?

I have achieved a sync but I can't identify what isn't working with mine - I can change some data but not all email/addresses are there in Address Book... which is weird.
I'll try a google forum and see if I can get help and reply.

Why won't my computer's address book sync ALL of my contacts with my iPhone? no MobileMe, no iCloud, just straight from computer to phone.

Why won't my computer's address book sync ALL of my contacts with my iPhone? No MobileMe, no iCloud, just straight from computer to phone. I have checked all the settings and all seems correct. It simply won't pull in all of the contacts. Last time, it added some new ones, but deleted others.

I found the route of the problem! All the songs under 'On This Phone' are completely grayed out! The only question is now how do I ungray them???

Address book sync with google contacts - first names and last names flipped

Hi,
I am trying to sync my mac address book with my contacts in google/gmail and I have a strange issue. All my contacts written in english alphabet is syncing correctly, but when I have names in Korean characters, the last name and first name gets flipped. Without fail. All other fields seem to synch correctly, but the first name is mapped to the last name field, and vice versa. I have recently upgraded to OS X Lion on an iMac.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Jay

can anyone answer this?
at some point, I remember being able to do this. 10.5.x maybe? With 10.6 . . . .
I do recall, however, that I stopped doing it because the sync went haywire. I did it the other way around: I have all my contacts in Address Book, so I exported them and uploaded the vCards to Gmail, after deleting all Gmail contacts. That's not such a great option. Surely this is well-automated by now?

Sync Address Book with Google Contacts

Hi,
recently I am syncing the Mac Address Book and my iPhone with Google Contacts.
If I add a birthday to one of my contacts on my iPhone, the birthday also will be added on Google Contacts. If I sync my Mac Address Book with Google Contacts now, the birthday doesn't show up on my Mac Address Book.
So my birthday calendar in iCal always is empty...
Any solutions?
Regards and thanks,
Mike

Hi,
Google uses Google Sync to synchronize your contacts with your iOS and OS X. But this, from Jan 30, 2013, is only available to the paid versions of Google Apps (read more on http://support.google.com/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2716936).
You can continue to sync on both iOS and OS X using the CardDAV protocol, which, IMHO, is even better.
Follow the instructions in this post: http://support.google.com/mail/answer/2753077?hl=en
Mountain Lion Contacts also supports CardDAV accounts. All you need to do is add the CardDAV account with your account credentials and it will synchronize again.
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Ramses

How to sync Address Book with google contacts (google apps)

Hi everybody
With Leopard and Snow Leopard I could sync my Address Book with Google Contacts (in google apps). Now with Lion I can't find a way to sync those contacts. I have an iCloud acount for my personal contacst but our company uses Google Apps for sharing the contacts, and I would like to know how can fix that.
Thank you!

Hi,
Google uses Google Sync to synchronize your contacts with your iOS and OS X. But this, from Jan 30, 2013, is only available to the paid versions of Google Apps (read more on http://support.google.com/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2716936).
You can continue to sync on both iOS and OS X using the CardDAV protocol, which, IMHO, is even better.
Follow the instructions in this post: http://support.google.com/mail/answer/2753077?hl=en
Mountain Lion Contacts also supports CardDAV accounts. All you need to do is add the CardDAV account with your account credentials and it will synchronize again.
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Ramses

I synced Address Book with Yahoo Contacts BUT....

My iPad Address Book and Yahoo Contacts are sorta synced, but how can I make my Apple Address Book look more like my Yahoo Contacts? Address Book displays the contacts by first names and there are LOTs of "no names" even though I deleted the duplicates in Yahoo.

If you have contacts in both and you have the iphone/itunes set to sync with your Yahoo Address book, then the two sets should be merged.

Address Book Sync is gunking up my MacBook Pro!

Everytime I first start up my MacBook from either sleep or first turning it on, it's ridiculously slow - everything I type takes about 30 seconds to show up on the screen while the little rainbow pinwheel does its thing. I took a look at the Activity Monitor, and it looks like the Address Book Sync that happens every time the system first starts up is crashing everything else - as soon as I Force Quit the application, it's smooth sailing. I'm wondering if there's a way to make it so the Address Book syncs only when I ask it to, so I don't have to wait 10 minutes to use my computer after first turning it on? Has anyone else had this problem?

Put one unique entry in both iCal & Address Book on your Mac. These entries can be fake, that doesn't matter, just make sure Address Book & iCal are not empty. Then when you select to sync contacts & calendars on the Info pane in iTunes, you'll get a merge or replace prompt. Select merge.

IPhone and Address Book sync

My address book has now got some contacts.
1. how do I format it? (how do I delete all contacts at once, just to clean it up)
2. after the clean up, how do I sync my iPhone contacts with address book? (I need to send all my contacts that I've got now on my iPhone to my Mac's address book)
3. how do I sync address book contacts back to the iPhone (if I buy another iPhone, how do I transfer all those old contacts from the address book to the new iPhone?)
thanks

1. how do I format it? (how do I delete all contacts at once, just to clean it up)
You want to delete all contacts in the Address Book on your Mac?
If so with the All Contacts Group selected, select a contact in the All Contacts Group. At the Address Book menu bar go to Edit > Select All. Follow this by going to Edit and select Delete Cards. This will not delete any Address Book Groups you created, which can be deleted separately. Any Groups you created will be empty after deleting all contacts from the Address Book.
2. after the clean up, how do I sync my iPhone contacts with address book? (I need to send all my contacts that I've got now on my iPhone to my Mac's address book)
Enter one contact in the Address Book on your Mac. Make this contact up if needed, which can be deleted later. This will provide a merge prompt with the first sync for this data, which you want to select. Syncing contacts with the Address Book on your Mac is selected under the Info tab for your iPhone sync preferences with iTunes.
3. how do I sync address book contacts back to the iPhone (if I buy another iPhone, how do I transfer all those old contacts from the address book to the new iPhone?)
Select Sync Contacts under the Info tab for the new iPhone's sync preferences with iTunes followed by a sync.

Old Address Book syncing with iPad via iTunes!

Forgive me if I'm going over old ground but there seem to be a number of threads to do with Address Book syncing, but I haven't managed to find a definitive answer, so here goes ...
I have an iPad [3] under iOS.5.1and an OSX.6.8 quad-core i7 iMac and I sync them via iTunes.
Everything, absolutley everything, syncs just fine, Calendars, Photos, etc. etc. - except, that is, for Address Book and Contacts.
The iMac Address Book is fully up to date, yet the version on the iPad is not only an old version, but a version which hasn't been current since before the iPad was bought and first sync'd!
Bizarre!
In an attempt to correct this, I unchecked the iTunes "Info > Sync Contacts button and resync'd.
The ipad Contacts book was empty - which is what I expected.
i then checked the button again and resync'd - and the old Address Book data was resync'd!
What is clear is that the iPad's version reflects that which is in the iTunes "Selected Groups" window and not what is actually in the Address Book, so I presume that the error lies with iTunes and/or my iMac and not the ipad iteself. The iPad is, after all, only reflecting what iTunes tells it.
So, my friends, why does iTunes not show the current Address Book indiviudal cards and Groups?
From where should it be getting it's information and how can I ensure that it does get the latest version?
If there is a rogue old copy somewhere, what could it be called and how can I find it and delete it and then, perhaps amend the default path to the correct version?
All software and apps on both devices are fully up to date at the time of posting this heartfelt crie de coure!
Any advice would be much appreciated.

Well, eventually I had to go to the Level 2 (or whetver they are called) AppleCare geeks to get this resolved, as the "normal" guys couldn't resolve it.
After much "try this ...", "try that ..." and "try the other ..." they narrowed the problem down to a corrupt Address Book Group header in my iMac's Address Book.
It appears impossible to find out just which of my 55 Group headers was corrupt and the only way around it was to export all Contacts individually as vCards, dlete every Group and individual card entry in the Addreess Book and reimport all the vCards - and then somewhat tediously recreate all my Groups again from scratch.
It took around two and a half hours on the phone to AppleCare and forever to recreate the Groups, but at least it solved the problem!
Whether this helps anyone else i cannot tell, but if you have a bizarre syncing pronblem it might be worth looking at this as a solution.
But take my tip: before embarking on this, make an entry in the Notes section of each card so that you know to which Group or Groups a card belongs because it was a feat of memory way beyond me to remeber all of them and I still have the odd orphan in there awaiting a home!

Address Book sync - Google

Is anyone else not able to get their google contact to sync?
I have GmAil set up as my mail and iCal no issue. I go to contact > Pref >select local mac > and enable google sync. I then hit the sync on the menu board and nothing. The address book reamins empty.
I have iCloud contacts off and iCal as I saw somewhere that was and issue. Any suggestions?

Hi Randy,
Is your system completely up to date? Google address book syncing was introduced with the 10.5.3 update of OS X. If you go to the Apple menu and select "About This Mac," you can see what your computer is at. To make everything current, run "Software Update" in the Apple menu.

Address Book and Google Contacts...?

What's the story with syncing Address Book with Google Contacts?
I set it up once, but since then it has not been able to syncronise changes made to either AB or GC (nb. even after clicking the sync button).
Is there a trick to maintaining syncronisation???

Now I'm no longer using the address book application, so answering this question would be pointless.

Address Book/Sync Destroying Contact Info

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