Address Book won't sync

[wmlaven]

I'm running Mac OS 10.6.6 and my Address Book stopped syncing with my iPad, my Palm PDA and my Google phone. It simply recognizes and syncs addresses as of a week or so ago. Any contact info I've added in the to Address Book in the last week won't sync over to any of the devices. I even tried using "Replace info on this iPad" with Address Book clicked, but it still didn't transfer the recent entries onto the iPad.

What can I do. The problem seems to be in Address Book since it happens with all three devices, but I don't know what to do to fix it.

 

[iBozz]

May I resurrect this post and share in wmlaven's despairas I have a very similar problem?

I sync from an OSX.6.8 iMac to a 64GB 4G/wifi iPad3 via iTunes and wifi and I have Sync All Contacts checked - and yet the version of MacOSX's Address Book (path ~/Library/Application Support/Address Book - which is, I believe, the default location) and yet the version that appears on my iPad is an old copy and does not reflect any recent changes.

How can this be?

Mail, Calendars, Photos, audio, video etc. all update as expected yet Address Book and Contacts remain stubbornly out of sync!

 

[iBozz]

OK, as this isn't going anywhere, maybe I can add a little more detail - after a question?

From where does iTunes sync the Address Book?

I ask, because my Address Book, to the best of my limited knowledge, is held in User/Library/Aplication Support/Address Book and that is from where I presume iTunes is picking up the data?

Each night, a combination of Automator, Smart Backup and iCal copies that folder into my DropBox folder which is then automatically sync'd with DropBox.

Could that be causing confusion? Even if it is, I still cannot think why the version on the iPad remains resolutely at a version which hasn't existed for quite some time!

It just doesn't make sense to me.

Surely someone can help to put me, and wmlaven, out of our misery?

Please!

 

[iBozz]

I should have mentioned that I have tried unchecking the Contacts tab in iTunes, which did clear the Contacts on the iPad (so I know that it is definitely syncing), but rechecking that option reloaded the out of date version!

How on earth can I find out from where it is picking up this obsolete data?

 

[wmlaven]

The forum won't let me post a link. But if you go to discussions@apple(dot)com and search for a post entitled "Contact Issue and resolution" which solved it for me.

 

[iBozz]

Thanks, but I can't find that post!

Can you add the link as text so that I can copy and paste rather than click on it?

Thanks.

 

[wmlaven]

https://discussions(dot)apple(dot)com/thread/2644857?threadID=2644857&tstart=0

 

[wmlaven]

Well, it appears like a link, but replace the two (dot) places with periods and that should work

 

[iBozz]

Thanks, wmlaven.

I'll read through that (it seems a heck of a task!) and have a go in due course - when I have several hours to spare! I have nearly 800 individual cards and nearly 60 separate Groups!

What puzzles me is that it isn't that it isn't sync'ing, for it is as was demonstrated when I stopped sync'ing and got the expected empty Address Book on my iP[ad and then resync'ing which again picked up the old version..

However, it is still sync'ing from that earlier version, indeed it is one which I recognise as not being current or used for several months and well before the iPad was bought and first sync'ed.

I cannot find where the old database is located, nor why iTunes/iPad are picking it up and not the current version. I am a little hampered because I cannot find out the name of the file which iTunes uses to get the Address Book data - if I could, I could look for a second, or even third, copy somewhere on the HD and then try deleting it.

Do you (or does anyone else) perchance know what is the Address Book database called, where it should be located and how I can force/get Address Book and iTunes to point to that version and that version only?

if, as I suspect, it is called addressbook.data, then I have only one copy located in ~/Library/Application Support/AddressBook/ and Spotlight confirms only one such file!

I am perplexed, bemused, befuddled and a tad irritated!

 

[wmlaven]

I went through the complex procedure with someone very familiar with Apple machines. I wouldn't have done it alone. Sorry, but I can't answer your other questions. If you're anywhere near an Apple store, perhaps you could bring your iPad and desktop machine in for an appt. at the Genius bar. Good luck.

 

[iBozz]

OK, an update for anyone else having similar trouble - we aren't there yet, but have narrowed it down and I need to test the theory over the next few days as implementing the solution will be a bit of a pain.

It's taken 3 hours on the phone to Level 2(?) experts at Apple (the ones who step in if the normal advisors can't come up with the solution) - one in Athens and one in Cork (half the time with each) but we do seem to be getting somewhere.

Unless anyone specifically asks, I shan't explain in detail how we got there as it was a complex and lengthy route but we have (we hope) narrowed it down to a problem with corruption with one or more Groups in the iMac's Address Book.

In essence, we exported all contacts into vcards, transferred that file into a new and clean Admin account, imported them into a clean copy of Address Book and the sync'd.

Lo and behold, all contacts (without Groups, of course, as exporting as vcards only copies individual cards, not groups) arrived on the iPad.

The next step is to delete all the Groups on my iMac, but not individual cards, on my "proper" Address Book and then recreate them.

As I have 800 cards in 50+ Groups I need to make sure that I can recreate the Groups that I actually need and, when I've done this over the next few days, I'll test whether the theory works.

I'll report back in due course!