Double contacts in address book & iPhone

I have double contacts in my address book on my iMac and on my iPhone I have "linked cards". Does anyone know how to fix this? My sync is not checked in iTunes, so I don't think that is the problem. I have tried to "search for duplicates" in my address book, but it doesn't match anyone. Anything else I should try?
Thanks!

One reason you may have duplicates is that you have each contact listed under your 'iCloud' account AND under your 'on my mac' account. Only contacts in the iCloud account will sync.
Click on the ribbon in the Address Book to reveal 'Users & Groups', and then by selecting each account on the left side you will see which contacts are in which account. (make sure nothing is typed in the search field)
If this is the reason you have duplicates you have two options of dealing with the situation. Either you can leave the duplicates alone and click on one account or the other before clicking on the ribbon again to limit what you see to that account when you return to the main part of your Address Book.
Or you can delete all the contacts from one account (usually the 'on my mac' account if you want to continue syncing with iCloud). Click on the account you want to delete contacts from on the left side of the Address Book and select the first contact in the list on the right, shift click the last contact to select all and delete.
Finally, You may want to check your default account is set correctly in the Address Book preferences.

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Sync between MacBookPro and iPhone 3G does not sync properly. Calendars duplicate events but worse is that only contacts from Address book from letter T onwards sync. Any contacts on iPhone which are not on Mac are lost during sync.

Sync between MacBookPro and iPhone 3G does not sync properly. Calendars duplicate events but worse is that only contacts from Address book from letter T onwards sync. Any contacts on iPhone which are not on Mac are lost during sync.
Solutions?

No, I never really found an easy solution. I believe it is an issue with some corruption in the iTunes database on the specific device. In my case, both my iPad and iPhone now show duplicate stream songs if viewed through iTunes on my Mac, but they show different songs. A couple years ago I had a similar issue on my iPhone, and Apple support suggested I back up the phone, completely reset it, and then restore it from the backup. It did work, so I imagine it would probably work for my current issues with the iPhone and iPad. But resetting and restoring an iPad or iPhone always makes me a little nervous that something will get lost. When I did reset/restore the iPhone, I do have to say, the restore process was 100% perfect and I did not lose any data at all even though Apple support said I might. If you try to go that route, I would suggest backing the device up both to a computer through iTunes, and to the iCloud so that you have a double backup.
None of this really resolves the issue with how the iTunes databases are becoming corrupted on the apple devices though, so it is very likely to happen again until they fix it. I have been unable to determine if there were any specific actions or conditions which caused the corruption to happen in the first place.
Might be worth another call to Apple support, or dropping in the local Apple store if you have one near by.

Address book & iphone contacts disappeared.

I was updating some birthdays/contacts in address book n MAC while syncing. got the spinning color wheel of death and address book contacts disappeared. since i was syncing at the time iphone has lost contacts as well. anyone know anyway to recover these?
i sync through itunes not mobile me
desperate...

Ok let's see what we can accomplish here.
Step 1: Disconnect iPhone do not do anymore syncing for a bit
Step 2: Launch iTunes - Go to iTunes Preferences - Devices - Disable Automatic Sync with iPhone. This will prevent your backups from being over written.
While your there check the dates of the backups. Hopefully the last backup was BEFORE the data got lost and not after. If so you might be in luck.
Step 3: Connect iPhone - On the Summary Window Restore iPhone - DO NOT backup iPhone as it may over write the 1 backup that may contain the info you need.
Once restore is done iPhone will reboot. And will give you 2 options. Choose restore from backup. And then choose backup from pull down menu. It will now put that backup onto iPhone.
Keep in mind no guarantees this backup will have what you are looking for but it may be possible it does.
Once this is done. Check AB see if it has all the contacts back in the Mac. If not. Add 1 contact, And Sync. It should re-add all contacts to AB the backup put onto iPhone.
Now backup AB by going to File - Export - Address Book Archive.
So if this ever happens again just double click on the AB Backup and it will put AB back the way it was when you made that backup.

Group sync from iphone contacts to Address Book

I have read numerous entries regarding this but I have not been able to solve the problem. My Palm was never this difficult to synch. Has anyone been able to come up with a universal solution for new groups in Address Book not synching with groups in Contacts in the iPhone? After I first synched the phone, the existing groups in Address Book showed up, but all new groups since then do not transfer to the phone. I have reset the synch software, and rebooted the mac to no avail. Many thanks.

tnarg nosegref,
When you say you reset the sync software, did you follow all the steps in article http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1865 ? If not, it's the most thorough method of doing so.
In addition to this, have you tried backing up your Address Book as an archive, and then reimporting it, overwriting the existing contents?
Archiving your address book
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=AddressBook/4.1/en/9158.html
Importing contacts into Address Book
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=AddressBook/4.0/en/ad808.html
Hope this helps,
Raleigh

How do i import and sync my icloud / iphone contacts into address book on my macbook pro, how do i import and sync my icloud / iphone contacts into address book on my macbook pro

HELP
how do i import and sync my icloud / iphone contacts into address book on my macbook pro, how do i import and sync my icloud / iphone contacts into address book on my macbook pro
Runnig 10.6.8 on a MacBook PRO.....

The easiest fix if you're running Snow Leopard is to export all your contacts, then import them into something like google (I already had a gmail account), and then just use google to sync your contacts instead of icloud (via the sync with Google button in the address book settings).
Its a bit sluggish to update, but it works well. You can then point your iphone, and other iOS devices to use google for contacts too.
If Apple don't want to look after their customers, other companies will gladly do so....

IPhone 3G doesn't pick up all the contacts in Address Book

I just laboriously entered a bunch of new contacts in Address Book. When I sync to iPhone with iTunes (7.7), most of them show up as expected. But about 30% of them are just not there. No entry at all on the phone, but I can still see them plain as day in Address Book. I tried setting the "Replace information on this iPhone" "Contacts" check box in iTunes and re-synching, with the same effect. From Address Book, I don't see anything particularly in common between the missing names (they mostly have both a phone number and an email just like the many contacts that made it OK). Any ideas?

Huh, well I just poked around in Address Book (on the Mac) for a while, and it (then) became convinced that it was time for a save. So I did (File->Save) And then the synch found the rest. So odd, though. I know that one of the contacts missing was the first one I entered! Between this and very funky behavior after importing vCard files from google (which was so bad I had to wipe the whole thing out), I can't say I'm so impressed with Address Book.

IPhone not syncing Contacts to Address Book

I noticed that my iPhone (both original iPhone and iPhone 3G) was not syncing contacts with Address Book. I tried to Reset Sync History in iSync, and when I have tried to replace the contacts on iPhone under the Advanced options, I lose all my contacts on the iPhone!
The only way to get some contacts back is restoring from backup, but unfortunately as iTunes performs a backup of the iPhone on sync, these backups also have no contacts! I have an old backup that fortunately has not been overwritten but the contact list is a bit out of date.
Address Book on the Mac seems to be fine and this is backed up.
It would appear that iTunes has somehow lost its "connection" to Address Book, which is why when I chose to replace the Contacts on the iPhone with the information on the computer I lost them all!
iCal still seems to sync fine with Calendar.
Can I re-link Address Book with iTunes?

Jason L wrote:
Hey lim_my,
Are contacts syncing with MobileMe or any other applications?
I don't have MobileMe.
Now you mention it, Address Book did not appear to even update if I updated a contact in Mail.
Can you sync contacts in another User account? to create another user account goto System Preferences> Accounts> click the lock to make changes> click the + button to add another user account.
Yes I can! I only tried to sync Contacts, leaving all other options i.e Calendars Bookmarks Ringtones Music Videos Applications untouched, and now I have some test Contacts on the iPhone.
You can try Resetting the SyncServices folder, Just follow the steps in this article to stop the service and then delete the SyncServices folder in your user library.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1627
I had tried this before, within iSync, which did not work. I then tried the command in Terminal as per the above link, then went and deleted the /user/Library/ Sync Services folder. Still no joy.
So it looks as though I have a broken Address Book rather than iTunes. Should I post this in the OS X Leopard section of Discussions?

How do i add contacts from address book to iPhone using itunes 11.0.2

how do i add contacts from address book to iPhone using itunes 11.0.2

Check the manual http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/iphone_user_guide.pdf, but it is done via the syncing process with iTunes or iCloud.

Sync iPhone Contacts to Address Book on iMac

Is it possible to sync or to export iPhone (G3) "Contacts" to "Address Book" on an iMac?
...or will the sync process in iTunes move information form the iMac to the iPhone?

Overview of syncing iPhone, iPad or iPod touch with your computer: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1386
Contacts, calendars, notes, and bookmarks are synced from (or to) your computer, so if you add, change, or delete them on the device, they are changed on your computer, and vice versa.
Before you sync, be sure your Mac's Address Book has at least one contact so you will get a merge prompt.

Problems syncing from contacts to address book

I have an iMac which now runs OSX 10.6.8 and an iPhone 3GS that runs the latest iOS 5.
Long story short, I downgraded from OSX Lion back to OSX 10.6.8 a few months ago. Got quite a few problems doing so... ended up creating a brand new user and transferring music, videos and photos manually. Then, the iOS 5 got out and I upgraded my phone right away. I couldn't figure out icloud at first but understood yesterday that it works only with Lion. I thought I'd keep it on my phone if I ever want to install Lion again.
I also realised that I never transfered back in my iMac all my iCal events and Contacts.
So yesterday, I tryied to sync my Contacts, iCal and Notes from my iPhone to my iMac. In the iTune info tab, under each section, there was a message mentioning that since I use iCloud, I don't need to sync my info through iTune and doing so would possibly create duplicates. I try to sync them anyway since I only had to in Address Book. I got the message to merge or replace. I selected merge (yes I had at least one contact in Address Book). Nothing happened... iCal didn't merge anything and neither Address Book. I tried to create new events in my phone and iMac and these were syncing but not the original ones. Also added a contact in Address Book and it got sync with my phone. I didn't try creating one on the phone to sync it through but assumed that it was working.
After going through a few discussion threads, I decided to delete the iCloud account on my phone since I didn't need it and try re-syncing. The iCloud message in the iTune's info tab was gone so I thought everything would be good and I could select merge my contact again without any problem. I was wrong... I lost all my contacts... I freeeeeeeeaked out !! Thank God I didn't unplug the phone and restored it right away to get everything back.
I tried it again this afternoon but only tried to sync iCal. I didn't get to choose between merge and replace and the same thing happened again... lost everything... iCal but also Contacts which I find strange because I didn't check the Contact option in iTune.... I got everything restored back even thought it's always scary to try things like this.... So for now on, I don't delete my iCloud info on my Phone and do not sync any other info. I'm actually scared to plug it in and always double check that my contacts are all there before unplugging.
So here I am... don't really know what to do... I read stuff about removing apple.isync files or something... or other options but they never quite answer my problem...
There is still the option to type all my contacts back in Address Book.. I don't have that many... but it's a pain...
Sorry about the long message here
Thanks for your help and for your time.
Ben

Clearly iSync has got confused about what new data it needs to pull from the phone. Usually resetting the sync history solves this, but as it hasn't for you... try this:
I would suggest sending all the contacts from the phone to the Mac manually via Bluetooth: *Contacts > Options > More > Advanced > Send all Contacts > Via Bluetooth* (or similar, depending on the exact phone model)
This will send vCard(s) which can be imported into the Mac Address Book simply by double-clicking the file that arrives on your Mac.
Merge or remove any duplicates as they are imported. You can also use the *Card > Look for Duplicates* command in Address Book.
Once all your Contacts are exactly as you want them in Address Book do a full backup of them:
*File > Export > Address Book archive...*
Finally, load iSync, click your phones icon and choose *Reset Device...* from the Devices menu.
This will force iSync to remove all the existing contacts from the phone and completely replace them with all the new nicely sorted out ones from the Mac Address Book.
From this point on, iSync should keep track of what needs updating on each subsequent sync.

How to delete ALL contacts in Address Book 10.6.3.(1091) in Macbook?

I made no effort ever to add the contents of my iPhone to my Macbook. Ever. Right now in my Skype app that I have only Just downloaded have I just found ALL of my iPhone contacts in it's contact list. NOT GOOD. I am looking for a way to remove my iPhone phone book from the Address Book on my Mac and then remove ALL those same contacts from the Skype contact list.
I am now removing my iPhone contacts from Address Book on my Macbook one by one manually. Is there a shorter way of doing this?

Are you using iCloud?
What is the file format you intend to use to import contacts? If it an Address Book Backup (.abbu) then perhaps you can import it. That would delete your entire Address Book and replace it with the backup.
I might suggest simply moving your entire ~/Library/Application Support/Address Book folder to the Desktop. That seems rather drastic though, and if your contacts are stored in iCloud it might not make a difference.

How to delete all contact in address book

Hi,
How to delete all contact in address book.
And disable the address book to sync with outlook 2011.
Using Macook pro 10.7.2

Actually I already copy all my cd,mp3 in my itunes I got 2457items song (all in my mac os hardisk).
Now I need to sync all my music and movie using icloud or itunes match.
I don;t want to use the cable. I wanted to sync using icloud or itunes match.
1. Can all the music and movie sync with icloud and direct sync with my iphone?
2. Or all music and movie using itunes match and sync into my iphone?
Is the cable only the way to sync all the music and movie.
Thank you.

No Contacts or Address Book app

My new iPhone doesn't have an icon for Contacts (or Address Book). Is that something I have to add myself? That seems odd. I can see contacts if I set out to create a message, but don't see any way to pull up a list of contacts right from the start. User error, I'm sure.

Swipe down on the home screen and type Contacts in the search field. If it is on the device (and it should be) it will show up, and if it is in a folder, will tell which one. Assuming it does show up in the search, go back tot he home screen and swipe left-right to see your alternate screens and locate it.

Synch new contacts from Address Book no longer works.

My iphone will no longer synch new contacts in my Address Book on my Mac. It was working fine and then I loaded too much audio content and ran out of memory so I think it could not synch properly without memory available. I've since deleted all my audio and have plenty of space yet new contacts in Address Book do not show up on my iPhone even though the synch process appears to complete. Any ideas?

I hope you are doing this over wifi, if you are not then you may have exceeded your monthly data limit, but I doubt that's the problem. All I can say is that Address Book will be getting refurbished soon, and according to Apple, it will be far more simple to transfer data between iOS and Macs.

Transfering new contacts to address book in my Macbook Pro

Previously, I synced my mom's iphone contacts into my macbook pro. So the contacts in my address book are hers. Recently, i got my own iphone and i would like to transfer my contacts into my macbook. So how do i transfer the new contacts?
Thanks, i will appreciate any help or feedback.

sorry where do I find the sync history to reset in itunes?
so if i understand you if i have only 100 contacts on my laptop and 500 on my itouch and i sync the two those 500 will go over to the laptop from the touch with no special resetting or instructions other than hitting the sync button.
why i am cautious is because after updating my OS some how some way i lost most of contact in address book on my laptop and am hoping just syncing the laptop with the itouch in i tunes will restore them. is that whatz going to happen i hope?

Double contacts in address book & iPhone

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