Using address book to manage and sync contacts

Hi All -
I am looking for a solution that will allow me to divide my contacts (in address book) into two (for now) categories 1 that would be a list of all contacts, and a second list would be those that I want to sync to my iPhone. Basically I have a large contact file (2500 contacts) and I don't need them all on my iphone on a daily basis.
Is there a way to sort, divide or separate my contacts and then only sync a subset of my contacts to the phone? I can put them into groups in address book, but then they still all sync... so I'm at a loss here, and any help would be great, thanks...

Create the groups that you need in address book (you can be helped a little by using smart groups, especially with 2500 contacts!)
Now, in itunes, plug in your iphone, and click on it within itunes. You should now have several tabs appear. Click on info: You should now see all the groups that you've created under +address book+ and should now be able to select / deselect the groups that you need
Hope that this helps
Paul

Similar Messages

Hi - I can't seem to get a full list of my groups when clicking "address book" to manage and alphabetize

I have lists I can send to but can't find to manage when someone wants to get off the list. As a substitue I can find some of the lists when I'm writing a message and hiiting "properties", but they're not in alphabetical order and not all are there. Thank you

Open 'Address Book'
'''To remove a name from mailing list but keep in associated address book:'''
The Mailing List will be a sub list to an address book.
In the left Directory Pane select the mailing list name
A list of mailing contacts is shown in the right 'Contact Pane'
To sort by Name, click on the 'Name' column header, click again to reverse the order.
OR if rather lengthy list, use the search - type in Name.
'''To remove contact completely from address book and any sub mailing lists:'''
Please note that any name/contact must be in the address book in order to be placed in a mailing list of that address book.
If you remove them from the address book, then they are removed from any mailing list associated with the address book.

Address book issues: duplicates and syncing to phone

I know this is a common problem, and why Apple cannot offer a better solution, or system, is frustrating.
The problem is basically multiple entries in my address book.
I know the issue has to do with icloud, but I cannot figure out how to eliminate the multiple entries without going one by one and deleting.
And I hestiate to do this because I am afraid they will come back.
Frankly, I am very frustrated with icloud.
As far as I am concerned it has caused more problems than it is worth.
I am ready to disable it totally.
Problem is, if I do that now, then all of my contacts in my address boook disappear.
Part of the problem,. I know, is that I still have a mobilme account, and somehow I have two icloud accounts.
Question: is there any way to merge my two icloud accounts, so I opnly have one.
Or can I just delete one? If so, how?
Another problem, I cannot get my addresses on my mac to appear in my iphone(4).
I have tried selecting the sync option to replace all addresses on my iphone, one time, with the addresses on the computer, but it doesn't work.
Certain addresses on my computer do not appear on my phone.
The other day, I went to my phone to call a contact andf found I had about 6 entries for every contact.
I had to go in and disable a bunch of accounts, and finally got back to onbe set, but now some contacts are missing.
Why a simple solution to eliminate showing duplicate entries cannot be found is frustrating.
Seems simple to me: if the info is duplicated, don't show it.
Seems like this simpkle rule could also apply to alerts: everytime I get an alert on my phone, it shows up 5 or 6 times in a row.
But that's another post.......

Great.
I think the TM restore would have been much quicker. I was under the assumption that everything was good on the Mac address book.
Not sure what happened since then. Did you read my post (at 2:01pm above) before things went wrong?
"Try this. Disable iCloud on your mac. Select to keep contacts on the computer when quiting. Verify address book contains all your contacts. If you don't have a backup such as TM, export address book contacts so you will have a backup.
Your address book should have been correct or you could have corrected the contacts then and you would have had the backup files exported if you didn't have or trust TM.
Go to the iCloud website and delete all contacts there.
At the iCloud website, you should have been able to select all addresses at one time and delete. That would have left no addresses in iCloud. Only addresses left should have been on your Mac from the last step.
Once done, go back and log into iCloud on your computer and merge the contacts. The website should now contain the addresses from your address book.
Unless something else was wrong and creating multiple contacts, the only addresses in iCloud would have been merged from what was in your address book on your computer.
I don't know what happened or where we went wrong. I'll check back in the morning if you post any other info.
Hope it works out.

Address Book crashed unexpectedly, and my contacts disappeared

Address Book crashed unexpectedly with a warning saying something about a Hoxie plugin, and my 1200 contacts on MobileMe, Address Book and iPhone disappeared.

Recovered from a backup.

Address Book Mail.app and FaceTime contacts problem

Hi to everyone. I really want some help hear. My mail.app on MacBook Pro 2011 don't recognises the most of my contacts email as a result not showing me my contact picture and first/last name when they send me something. Gives me the choise to create a new contact but the funny is that i already have the mail in my address book.
In the facetime happening the same thing when someone calls me via his phone number. I just see the phone number and not the contacs name. When he calls me via email i can see him as my contact. For FaceTime i figured out that when i put the area code on my contacts phone number it's fine. I just want to know if all of you have in your contact's phones there area codes or is a bug on my system and isn't neccessary.
Thanks.

Mail.app recognizes their email address from Address Book.app and substitutes their names in place of the email address.
No, it doesn't. An email address field can contain a proper name which will be displayed if included; neither Mail nor Address Book substitute anything. If an email address does not contain a proper name, the only thing that will be displayed is the email address itself.
I would like to know how to get a more uniform look in my inbox. I've included a screenshot of Mail.app, but the domains of the emails are hidden for obvious reasons.
You can't, unless you can force everyone who might send you an email to include their name as part of the email address; good luck with that. Your link to a screenshot gives only a blank page, there is no image there.
Mulder

How can i better manage and sync contacts and calendars between iPhone, iMac, Macbook air and iPad?

Hello I love MAC products and own quite a few but am still having a tough time synchronizing everything "under the same common roof" despite using "icloud". Does anyone have 4 duplicates for the same contact on an 1000 contact database (with Group contacts, MAC contacts, Icloud contacts etc...) what a headache!Thanks for any suggestions.

Simply on the iPhone in the iCloud preferences turn off the contacts sync. It will ask if u wanna delete or not the contacts on the iphone. You answer to leave the Contacts on iphone. After that proceed to delete all contacts from all u're other devices and the iCloud site. A way to do it fast is to deselect the contact sync on icloud options in every device and when asked tell to delete the contacts from device. When u're sure that all other devices contacts are clean turn again on the contacts sync on the iCloud preferences for each device and at last the iPhone. After few the iPhone contacts will be sync to other device so u'll have same Contacts on all device. In this way when u'll made a change on one of u're device all other will have same change.

Syncing Address Book on Mac and Address Book on .Mac

As I sit here my computer is syncing away between the address book on my iMac and the address book / contacts on my .Mac and it will keep whirring away to no avail, because no matter what I do I cannot get the two address books to reflect the same addresses. I have tried and tried. I've made sure to turn on the syncing in the .Mac field in the System Preferences .Mac pane , and also in Address Book, and also in .Mac and it simply will not work.
What ends up happening is that the contacts on .Mac continue to reflect a list that I had weeks ago, and even if I delete all the contacts and then sync to the Address Book on my iMac, it just comes up with the old contacts list again !
So, what is going wrong ? I believe that I am doing all that is right at my end. That means that at the .Mac server end there must be something not working right, I believe. I see that a number of people are having the same problem from the various posts that I have read.
So, come on Apple / .Mac Get it sorted at your end and give us decent syncing. Please !
I'm using Address Book Version 4.0.4 (485.1) All other software is bang up to date. My .Mac membership is all paid up and active.

Not sure why syncing failed but you can do the following: download the free app My Contacts Backup and use it on your phone. It will back up your contacts as an attachment to an email. Send the email to yourself and open it on your mac. Double-click the attachment and your mac should import the contacts into Address Book.

How do I see a list of all my Apple Mail contacts. I do not use address book. I just want to see all the email addresses stored on my Mac

Hi All,
I have been using Mail for the past three years without need to send a regular mailing list mailout.
I now need to send group emails and all I want to do is browse my contacts aquired over the last three years to create a list. I have not used Address Book for anything other than phone contacts so please do not point me in that dirrection.
There must be a list of all email contacts stored somewhere on the Mac that I can look through. It is an almost impossible task to do this by browsing my inbox/sent folders.
Hope you can help and thanks in advance!
Best
Adam

0. find the user id.
    a. log in as that specific user.
    b. run terminal
    c. type "echo $UID"
    d. write down the user id that will be displayed
1. Go to the finder
2. go to the user home folder
3. click the box with the magnifying glass (upper right corner of the window)
4. type .jpg
5. a menu will pop under the magnifying glass box, select "jpg image"
6. click the "plus" sign that's displayed to the right of the word "save"
7. two pull down menus will appear, select "other" from the first one
8. a new window will pull down, scroll to "owner" and select it
9. back in the original window type the user id (a number) to the right of "owner" "equals"
Hope this helps

How do I synch my iPad 2 to my Address Book so that all my contacts are there, and I don't have to type each one individually?

How do I synch my iPad 2 to my Address Book so that all my contacts are reproduced? I'm having difficulty find the place and directions for the iiTunes Store.

This is selected under the Info tab for your iPad sync preferences with iTunes.

I upgraded to 10.7.4, to upgrade to iCloud. And ever since the upgrade to iCloud, my iCal, Address book, etc. won't sync to my iPhone.

I upgraded to 10.7.4, to upgrade to iCloud. And ever since the upgrade to iCloud, my iCal, Address book, etc. won't sync to my iPhone. My iMAC does sync with my MacBook Pro but not to my iPhone. What do I do? And though my iMac sync to my MacBook Pro, there is a little problem. My iCal shows let's say 9 AM in my iMAC, it shows 8 AM in the MacBook Pro. The scheduling in the iCAL is a bet of a mess eer since of the upgrade.
PLEASE HELP ME SOMEBODY PLEASE!!!

To sync to your iPhone, you need to check iCloud requirements to be sure your iPhone is compatible with iCloud and your iPhone software is up to date.
You also need to make sure iCloud is enabled on the iPhone.
And you need to make sure the iPhone is connected to Wi-Fi in order to sync.
For the time difference, be sure the time settings on each device is the same with time zone and daylight saving time the same setting on each.

Using Address Book Exporter to move Address Book Contacts to Palm Desktop

I have had strangely mixed results using "Address Book Exporter" to create files that can be imported into Palm Desktop.
I really want to export all 1200 of my Address book cards to my new Treo 700P. Too complex?
I set up a new group in my Address Book and placed about 400 cards in it. I then used Address Book Exporter to export all of these records using template "Palm Desktop" onto a .txt file on my hard drive.
When I opened my Palm Desktop application and clicked on import, I first had to cause the dialogue box to show all files rather than just "readable files" in order for the exported files to be available. When I clicked on the file of 400 Address book cards that I had exported, I got the dialogue box similar to FileMaker where you have to line up the receiving fields in the Palm Desktop application with the fields in the file that Address Book Exporter created.
When I set the "fields" drop-down menu to "addresses" and set the "Delimiters" drop-down menu to "Palm Desktop", everything just lined up automatically. No futher adjustments were needed. I just clicked OK and the 400 records were transferred to my Palm Desktop Address list - ready to further transfer to my new Treo 700P - successfully.
But when I went through this exact same routine, instead exporting all of the cards in my Address book, when I got to the last step and set the two drop down menus - the "fields" drop-down menu to "addresses" and set the "Delimiters" drop-down menu to "Palm Desktop" - nothing happened. The fields in the exported file did not line up at all. The created export file I opened showed only one "superfield' with all the data in it (just as the earlier example had, at first) which would not change to all of the fields needed to line up with the Palm Desktop importing fields as had happened in the first example.
Why the two different reactions to what seems to be the same routines? Does Address Book Exporter have a cap on the size of the export it can handle?
I just don't understand it.
Steve
PowerBook G4 15 1.6 ghz Mac OS X (10.4.7) 20" Apple Cinema Screen twinned, Safari 2.0.2, Mail 2.0.5, Address Book 4.0.3

See my reply to your post in the iSync forum:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=9618578#9618578

Access address book on iphone without syncing?

The screen has stopped working on my girlfriends iphone and she needs to access her contacts before it's replaced tomorrow, is there a way of accessing the address book without having to sync it to my computer as her mac is at home? I dont want to have to sync her phone with my mac as that will erase all her music etc and she's not sure when she last backed it up on her mac!

I think you can use your Mac, as her iPhone will be a new device. Look in the 'Reader Tips' tab on syncing to a new computer. You have to jump through a few pretty easy hoops, and then you have a backup on the new computer (yours) with the old iPhone content (hers).
EDIT: here's the link: https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3141
However, I would think that the Apple Store that is replacing the iPhone would be able to transfer the content, also.

Address book database management???

Address Book doesn't seem appropriate for database management so what is best database management software for mac users including 3rd party? If this isn't an appropriate question for this site please direct me to another resource. thx.

pamtyson,
I'm still not sure exactly which model of Mac it is, but as it's original version of OS X was Panther 10.3.3, it is entirely possible that AppleWorks was included.
If it is not in HD > Applications: This Folder, you can use the utility Pacifist, to extract it from the 10.3.3 system discs, if it was included.
You can then install it.
But you really should explore using Address Book, as it has numerous functions and capabilities.
Open Address Book.
From the Help menu in the Toolbar, select Address Book Help, or just press the Command + Shift + ? keys.
Review the various topics.
Copied from there:
"Address Book enhances the power and usefulness of other applicationss and other devices connected to your computer with flexible and functional contact management."
ali b

Address Book changing fields on duplicate contacts ?

My Address Book is duplicating contacts, BUT mixing the fields.
Original contac: last-name = "Rosales A", first-name = "Eduardo". No middle-name used.
I get a second contact with: last-name = "A", first-name = "Eduardo". No middle-name apears.
Then yet another with: last-name = "A", middle-name = "Eduardo" and first-name = "Rosales".
Forget about physical addresses that will by magic put a "country" when there was none defined.
Forget also that it (Address Book) is adding pictures to contacts, I don't want to, some correct (when asked to some friends) but some incorrect (a friends photo on a Company contact with no relation).
I'm aware of using iCloud and "on My Mac", will duplicate info, this is already taken care of.
It all started when I was using and syncing ONE MacBook and ONE iPhone. By magic, I did not change anything.
Now I'm using iCloud, Lion on the MacBook, iOS 5.0 on the iPhone-4 and the iPad-2.
Now, if I delete one instance of a contact, say on the iPhone, it will disapeare on the MacBook.
BUT tomorrow, during a "sync over the air", again the "A" last-name will show up.
Best regards,
Eduardo Rosales.

If you are going to reactivate synchronization, then do this first:
• launch iSync
• open the Preferences… dialog
• press the Reset Sync History… button
This will leave your sync clients registered and your data intact, but remove any indication that you have ever synchronized before, clearing the truth database and triggering an initial slow synchronization once you re-enable to process and initiate your next event.
Read this document to gain a clearer understanding of how the framework operates:
http://developer.apple.com/macosx/syncservices.html

Using Address Book as a Rock-solid business database?

My address book loses entire GROUPS.
MY wife and I sync Address Book of our business and personal contacts via MobilMe across our two Mac Desktops, our 2 Macbook pros, our iphones and an ipad. Somehow the Address Book data gets corrupted enough so that groups disappear every few months. It's very frustrating. We'll fix it and a few months later it happens again.
Address Book is the preferred database for our business contacts because of how easy syncing is and how it's so easily built within OSX. But the corruption drives us crazy. If you use Address Book for business are you NOT having this problem? Please only answer if you've been using it for a while. If I just started with address book I wouldn't have seen the problem.
We often fix it, then upload the fixed Address Book data to Mobil Me and then make sure it replaces all our data on the computers, iphones and iPad.
Is Bento an answer? Bento syncs with Address Book which is GOOD because I want access to the database everywhere. And it's BAD because this will probably happen again as Address Book syncs across the various devices.
For business contacts, what do you use so that it's more rock solid with your data? Thanks in advance.

Have a look here:
http://www.addressbookserver.com/j2anywhere/index.jsp

Using address book to manage and sync contacts

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for