Synching iPhone 4 to Mac duplicating address book entries

I'm running Mac OS X 10.7.2, iTunes 10.5.1, and Outlook for Mac 2011 14.1.3
For some reason, I have been having issues lately synching my iPhone 4 (running iOS 5.0.1). Sometimes, my address book will be completely blank, other times, it will end up creating duplicates of all entries. Other times, calendar entries may disappear. I'm religious about backing up, so it isn't a crisis, but has gotten a tad annoying. I have tried changing the settings in iTunes>Info on sync preferences, but so far, nothing has made a difference...
Any ideas on fixing this?

I do not think the problem was solved - what was completed was a work around.
I have the same problem - open itunes, plug in iphone, select info, synch contacts, select merge contacts (iphone contacts will move to address book and visa versa) Mac to Iphone success - Iphone to Mac - no go.
This is how it should work - and it is not??? Why? How do you make the itunes synch work?
Synching with mobile me is a great work around - if you use mobile me.
Synching with icloud is great to backup but does not get contacts added on your iphone onto your mac.
How do you get contacts added to your iphone into address book on your map with synch?

Similar Messages

Duplicated address book entries

This is a repeating problem that never seems to get resolved, but just wondering if anyone knows the cause. I get duplicated contacts, not just a couple, but hundreds, and not just duplicated once but many times.
For instance I have a local company listed three times as an individual and 11 times as a business - maddening - my address book ends up enormous - see image that shows one section of the list view.
The details in the cards are sometimes slightly diferent, but generally it will be that for example ione card will list a mobile number above a landline, and the other will reverse to order.
Or details in the Notes section will be repeated, or written with additional line spaces between them. I have called apple support in the past, several times in fact, each time their not terribly useful advice is to manually delete all the duplicates on one Mac (I have 3) and then delete all the contacts from the others, and my iPhone, and then replace the contacts on iCloud with those from the chosen Mac. (merging simply adds even more lines of notes for example, or multiple identcal mobile numbers, so it has to be manual) just one example....
I have done this in the past, it is very time consuming, with close on a thousand contacts, most of them duplicated more than once it is really dull, especially when I know I will shortly be back to this same mess again.
Does anyone know of a way of identifying where the duplicates are originating? ...and better, how to stop them?
This has basically been an issue ever since I got my original iPhone to start syncing wirelessly years ago.
Great idea having synced contacts, sadly from the duplication perspective it worked better with bluetooth and my old Sony phone 8 years ago than it does now.
Am I the only user to have this issue?
I sort of doubt it. Any solutions much appreciated.
Stephen

If you have duplicated contacts on your Mac and in iCloud and show "All Contacts" in the Contacts sidebar, then you will see duplicates. Do you still see these duplicates if you only show the iCloud contacts?
If so I would sugest that you clean up your contacts on iCloud.com, removing all the duplicates so you have a good list of contacts
turn off icloud -> Contacts in your phone andwhen asked choose to REMOVE all the contacts (if you don't they will be merged in again with the iCloud contacts when you turn it back on creating duplicates again in your icloud account!)
Do the same on your Mac or merely replace your Mac contacts with those from iCloud onyour next merge.

Address book entries doubled on just one device

I have 3 macs, an iPad and an iPhone and all the data is synchronized with iCloud. However on one of the Macs the Address Book entries are doubled. Would someone have any idea how I can resolve this issue ?

Are they doubled in a single account or are there two accounts with the same contacts.
You might also take a look at this User Tip, to ensure you understand the differences between the different accounts in Address Book

I added a contact to my iphone 4s and when I did a sync manually it is not showing up on my MAC in address book - please help....I checked off sync all contacts in iTunes - does it only work one way from computer to phone?

I added a contact to my iphone 4s and when I did a sync manually it is not showing up on my MAC in address book - please help....I checked off sync all contacts in iTunes - does it only work one way from computer to phone?

Is it because the new itunes looks different.
View > Show Sidebar
Then it should work just the same as on your old computer.

New MAC OSX Address Book Groups Do Not Appear in iTunes for iPhone Sync?

New Groups (and their associated new contacts) created in the MAC OSX Address Book since the initial installation of my iPhone do not appear in iTunes, and hence do not sync with iPhone. I have tried the Advanced - Replace information on this iPhone - Contacts to no avail.

I had this problem for several weeks now!
I followed your procedure and - addresses there, calender gone! Even worse!
So I copied the old SyncServices Folder back into /Library/Application Support/
result as expected, calender there, addresses gone.
My lady called, I was on the phone for 10 minutes or so. Coming back to my iMac I see a Sync-Problem-Icon jumping in the dock. I've been told that one of my addresses has a conflict between adressbook and iPhone. OK. Solve it with adressbook, please.
I open iTunes and everything is there, calender data and adresses!
Finally!
Thank you, Maurizio!
Peter

Is there a difference in the mac mini address book and my iPhone contacts? I have them both as well as my Ipad2 connected on I could but these don't seem to be sharing contacts. It worked in the store. What have I done wrong?

Is there a difference in the mac mini address book and my iPhone contacts? I have them both as well as my Ipad2 connected on I could but these don't seem to be sharing contacts. It worked in the store. What have I done wrong?

that should read all connected through I Cloud (fat fingers)

I cannot sync my Mac's Address Book to my iPod Touch (2G), via iTunes. All else syncs, just not Contacts. Why?

I realize I can't do this with iCloud, but now I can't with a cord and iTunes. I even reset to factory settings and tried again. I even tried the advanced option to "replace information on this iPod with information from this computer", clicking Contacts. But nothing. I have no contacts in my iPod. What am I missing here?

I do not think the problem was solved - what was completed was a work around.
I have the same problem - open itunes, plug in iphone, select info, synch contacts, select merge contacts (iphone contacts will move to address book and visa versa) Mac to Iphone success - Iphone to Mac - no go.
This is how it should work - and it is not??? Why? How do you make the itunes synch work?
Synching with mobile me is a great work around - if you use mobile me.
Synching with icloud is great to backup but does not get contacts added on your iphone onto your mac.
How do you get contacts added to your iphone into address book on your map with synch?

Iphone contacts to empty ibook address book

I have a new iphone and want to sync 'Contacts' to my ibook which has nothing in the 'Address Book'. I've tried using 'Mobile Me' but all it wants to do is replace my iphone 'Contacts' with my empty ibook 'Address Book'!! Please can anyone help?

I do not think the problem was solved - what was completed was a work around.
I have the same problem - open itunes, plug in iphone, select info, synch contacts, select merge contacts (iphone contacts will move to address book and visa versa) Mac to Iphone success - Iphone to Mac - no go.
This is how it should work - and it is not??? Why? How do you make the itunes synch work?
Synching with mobile me is a great work around - if you use mobile me.
Synching with icloud is great to backup but does not get contacts added on your iphone onto your mac.
How do you get contacts added to your iphone into address book on your map with synch?

Contacts and Mac OS Address Book won't sync anymore

I have an iPod touch, 2nd generation, with iOS 4.2.1, which has worked perfectly well for years.
Since I got an iPad 2 with iOS 5.0.1, and iTunes 10.5.1, and set up iCloud, and synced the iPad to my Mac, now my iPod touch will no longer sync any address book entries between iOS Contacts and Mac OS X 10.7.2 Lion's Address Book.
I've tried restoring the iPod touch to its factory-fresh setting and syncing with the Mac. I've tried rebuilding the Mac OS Address Book index, and repairing permissions on Mac OS X. Nothing seems to help.
Another clue is that the iPod touch Contacts stopped syncing at 512 Contact entries, while the Mac's Address Book had 521 entries. I think 512 is a suspicious number; is it an upper limit on entries that sync with iTunes and Address Book?
Any help would be appreciated.

The messaget is correct, that is, your iCloud calendar will no longer be on your Mac as long as you are signed out of iCloud. Your calendars will still be on you iPhone and on iCloud. After syncing your contacts to your iTouch, you then sign back into iCloud on your Mac and everything will be back as it was before you signed out. I did it on my Mac and have all my calendars and contacts as well as my wife's iTouch has all calendars and contacts.
You seem to be concerned about losing data, which is a valid concern. Do you back up your Mac using Time Machine? It is a great resource installed on the Mac to assure that if you commit any errors that resutls in the loss of data, then you can easlily restore it via Time Machine. If you have not been backing up your Mac then consider doing it. The Apple Store sales personnel recommended to me the LaCie Storage devices since they easily interconnect with the Mac. A Google search will find them at competitive prices as compard to what Apple charges. I am so paranoid about losing data that I have three separate 1TB LaCie drives backing up my Mac. I will be installing a forth as a network backup drive for my wife's Mac and my MacBook Air.

Duplicate Contact/Address Book entries on iPhone

why do I have duplicate contact and address books entries on my iPhone? I never had this problem until I upgraded to iCloud. I have an iPhone 4 and it is upgraded to the current OS.

If you are using Outlook 2011, make sure you have the latest service pack and update.
Make sure your Mac Book and all devices have the latest update.
If the Calendar on the Mac Book is correct go to step 3
Assuming Mac Book Calendar is correct, remove accounts from iPhone, iPad.
Reconnect account to iPhone, iPad account.
All calendars should now be in sync.
There are times when the Mail, Calendar, Contact application has been corrupted (Outlook 2011, Mac Mail, Entourage, etc). This will cause all kinda of issues on your devices. You have to repair the mail client first. In the case of Outlook you can delete the profile and recreate it. In Mac Mail you can rebuild (from Tools on the menu bar)

Contacts created on iPhone not being added to Address Book

I want to sync all my Address Book contacts to the iPhone, which is working fine, but any contacts created on the iPhone are not copied to Address Book during syncing, which is rubbish.
In iTunes I currently have 'All contacts' selected for sync. Am I overlooking some iPhone setting somewhere?

I tried erasing all the phone data as you suggested, but to no effect whatsoever (apart from having to setup my email/wifi etc. all over again).
There's definitely something strange going on with the iPhone -> Mac connection. iPhoto shows the iPhone as being connected, even when it's not, and is still showing 23 pictures, which is what was on the phone before I reset it (they are now gone from the phone). iPhoto also calls it 'Apple iPhone', while I've changed the name to something else.
Calendar syncing is still functioning flawlessly, but contacts created on the phone are still not being transferred.
What's more, the contacts I added to the iPhone before I reset all the data were still on the phone afterwards.

Sync exchange contact to my mac mini address book?

My iphone is currently connected to my exchange mail account, is there anyway that i can import or sync my iphone contacts to my new mac mini address book? I am new at this mac thing, very confusing....:)

Interesting name by the way. Anti-AT&T.
I'm new to the Mac as well but I know how.
Open "contacts" or "calendar" or "mail" then click on the title on the upper left corner, then preferences.
In one of the tab screens it has "sync with MobileMe" then "sync with Exchange".

Cannot sync iphone 4 contacts to macbook address book

HI,
I'm using iphone 4 and I would like to sync all the contacts in my iphone to my macbook address book. The macbook address book is empty and is running on OS X Lion. iTunes is version 10. I tried syncing once and all my contact in my phone is wiped out as the contacts in the address book is empty. Lucky me there is a backup a few months back. How do i copy my iphone contacts to my macbook?

If you put at least one contact, even a fake one, into your Mac's Address Book first, then when you sync you'll be given the prompt whether or not to merge the contacts.

Sync'ing iPhone Contacts with MacBook's Address Book

Hey folks, just bought my first Mac which has an empty address book and I am just wondering if it is possible to transfer my iPhones contact list with the Mac's address book.
And then if and when I make any changes or additions to either then they will sync when my iPhone is plugged into iTunes?
Also, similar question with my iPhone callender and iCal?
Thanks in advance,
James

Hi! I have a similar problem, which happens quite often because I usually charge my iPhone 4 by connecting it to MacBook and at the same time the synchronization is done.
If I edit my contacts in Mac's address book, there's no problem, the sync will work. But if I edit my existing contact on the phone, for example by adding a number, changing any data or adding a custom info type, these will be lost after the second sync with MacBook. It's probably because during the first sync the data is not updated in Mac's address book and then in the second one the contact card from Mac is transferred back to the iPhone.
Any remedy to that?

How can I sync my contact to my Mac´s address book

I cant sync my iPhone contact to my Mac´s Address Book...on itunes contacts and caledars says: that it will sync with iCloud.... but I only want to have them of my Mac Address Book and my iPhone.
Whats de solution? On my MacBook in setting appreas something call Mobile Me but thats closed!! So can I abilitated on iTunes Info: Sync: Contacts and Caledars

Hi azuldelf,
Welcome to Apple Support Communities.
In addition to using iCloud, you can sync your iPhone to your Mac using iTunes.
See this article for more information about how to sync your contacts:
iOS: How to transfer or sync content to your computer
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1296
Best,
Jeremy

Synching iPhone 4 to Mac duplicating address book entries

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