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Transfer contacts from iPhone to Mac
- Thread starter iphone529
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Address book and Contact List lost
I thought that when you initially sync the iPhone, the address book in the computer will replace the contact list automatically and if the address book was empty the iPhone will also be loaded and empty. That happened to me because the address book (for some unknown reason had been erased) and it erased the contact list. Apple support was contacted and they indicated that may be a problem with the iPhone 3G when syncing. Now back up the address book to the desk top every time a change has been made, ready in case this happens again.
I thought that when you initially sync the iPhone, the address book in the computer will replace the contact list automatically and if the address book was empty the iPhone will also be loaded and empty. That happened to me because the address book (for some unknown reason had been erased) and it erased the contact list. Apple support was contacted and they indicated that may be a problem with the iPhone 3G when syncing. Now back up the address book to the desk top every time a change has been made, ready in case this happens again.
Sync with Address book on your mac, and sync that to the nano..
If you have any categories, they will not sync, the nano doesn't support categories.
When I synced my iPhone with my Address Book (running Mac OS X) it deleted everything in my iPhone, since my address book was empty. I wanted to import the numbers from my phone to my computer as a backup.
It never prompted me to merge or anything.. just wiped my iPhone clean of numbers.
This is the most frustrating thing about cell phones.. I rely on them to hold numbers for me so I never have to remember them.
Any idea why this happened or how I can fix it?
It never prompted me to merge or anything.. just wiped my iPhone clean of numbers.
This is the most frustrating thing about cell phones.. I rely on them to hold numbers for me so I never have to remember them.
Any idea why this happened or how I can fix it?
This exact thing just happened to me. Im on snow leopard now, and i keep archives of my address book, and my girlfriends too. I wanted to make a new archive today because i added about 10 new #'s since the last archive i made 2 weeks ago. i emptied the address book archive because my girls address book archive was in address book from when she did hers a few days ago.
I sync in itunes, it asks me NOTHING. deletes all my contacts off the phone.
I have an idea though, i bet if you just have one contact in your address book on your mac when you want to copy from your iphone to mac, it will ask if you want to merge.
Does that sound like it might work? im not at my mac or i would test it.
anyone want to give some insight? its pretty bad!
Importing contact from iPhone to MAC address book
I am trying to merge iPhone contact list to my MAC. When I sync the iPhone it goes right into sync and ther are no prompts give in order to merge with my MAC address book. Can anyone help me?
I am trying to merge iPhone contact list to my MAC. When I sync the iPhone it goes right into sync and ther are no prompts give in order to merge with my MAC address book. Can anyone help me?
They're sync'd via iTunes are they not? I remember when I got my new replacement iPhone and restored from backup, all my old text messages appeared
I tried having an address in MAC address book. When I sync it still does not prompt a merge option.
They're sync'd via iTunes are they not? I remember when I got my new replacement iPhone and restored from backup, all my old text messages appeared
No, they are not synced. They're saved in the backup.
So? You should be able to just connect the iPhone to your Mac, click Address Book on the sync contacts options, and they get transferred when you sync (contacts are a 2-way sync). I would suggest backing up before you do this, since the backup also saves contacts.
You have to be careful what options you choose when syncing contacts. With Windows you can sync with Outlook, with the Mac you can sync with Address Book. Always choose merge so it doesn't wipe out your phones contacts.
If you want to upload for the first time from your computer to your phone, there is an option at the bottom of that page where you can replace what's on your phone with what's on your computer (in Outlook or Address Book). It's a one time option.
I highly recommend exporting your contacts from Address Book and backing it up on another drive, or emailing the file to yourself. I've lost all my contacts before and there are a few of them I have no way of getting a hold of. (Old friends that I have no mutual friends, where I can't just call someone to get their #)
If you want to upload for the first time from your computer to your phone, there is an option at the bottom of that page where you can replace what's on your phone with what's on your computer (in Outlook or Address Book). It's a one time option.
I highly recommend exporting your contacts from Address Book and backing it up on another drive, or emailing the file to yourself. I've lost all my contacts before and there are a few of them I have no way of getting a hold of. (Old friends that I have no mutual friends, where I can't just call someone to get their #)
help?!
I'm having similar issues. i just got a new macbook pro running 10.6.2. My iPhone syncs calendar, contacts and email with Exchange at work. I can't seem to get those contacts and the calendar down to my macbook.
Can someone help me? If i add something in my iCal, it moves up to my iPhone ok from my macbook, but the Exchange contacts and calendar (which is my master copy) don't come down.
Any help would be appreciated.
I'm having similar issues. i just got a new macbook pro running 10.6.2. My iPhone syncs calendar, contacts and email with Exchange at work. I can't seem to get those contacts and the calendar down to my macbook.
Can someone help me? If i add something in my iCal, it moves up to my iPhone ok from my macbook, but the Exchange contacts and calendar (which is my master copy) don't come down.
Any help would be appreciated.
Mobile Me
When I was moving state to state, my phone was stolen (as if I needed another problem), and when syncing the new one, I somehow managed to wipe out the address book contents on both my MacBook and my G5; but it did install my latest backup. So I had a full address book on my iPhone but nowhere else.
I did belong to mobileme - and as often as I tried to sync, it wouldn't add to the G5 or MacBook address books.
I finally went into my iPhone settings, chose to push my sync data, and included the 'merge' option for address book.
Went instantly to my .mac account, and I restored my address books by syncing.
BTW, I was able to track my stolen phone and turn it into an iBrick via mobileme, so between these two events, I've decided it's worth what I pay for it.
Hope that helps.
When I was moving state to state, my phone was stolen (as if I needed another problem), and when syncing the new one, I somehow managed to wipe out the address book contents on both my MacBook and my G5; but it did install my latest backup. So I had a full address book on my iPhone but nowhere else.
I did belong to mobileme - and as often as I tried to sync, it wouldn't add to the G5 or MacBook address books.
I finally went into my iPhone settings, chose to push my sync data, and included the 'merge' option for address book.
Went instantly to my .mac account, and I restored my address books by syncing.
BTW, I was able to track my stolen phone and turn it into an iBrick via mobileme, so between these two events, I've decided it's worth what I pay for it.
Hope that helps.
Contacts
Right, So I archived all my contacts on my mac address book and then deleted them.
That in turn deleted all my mobile me contacts. So on my iphone I have no contacts under mobile me group, no contacts under mac group. My contacts are now under All contacts. WHich is the consolidated list from both. no duplicates etc. What I want to do is start fresh, with all my contacts in the same place.
How do I "merge" these address books. Essentially I wanted to Replace all my mac and mobile me contacts with my "all contacts" list from my iphone. I am failing to find a way to put all my iphone contacts back onto my mac from my iphone. It simply syncs from Mac to iphone and not the other way around. I have no "merge" option? Its as if this contact list is not being seen by my mac and simply see's an empty "mac group" list.
Any ideas how I can get all my contacts from my phone back to my mac?
Right, So I archived all my contacts on my mac address book and then deleted them.
That in turn deleted all my mobile me contacts. So on my iphone I have no contacts under mobile me group, no contacts under mac group. My contacts are now under All contacts. WHich is the consolidated list from both. no duplicates etc. What I want to do is start fresh, with all my contacts in the same place.
How do I "merge" these address books. Essentially I wanted to Replace all my mac and mobile me contacts with my "all contacts" list from my iphone. I am failing to find a way to put all my iphone contacts back onto my mac from my iphone. It simply syncs from Mac to iphone and not the other way around. I have no "merge" option? Its as if this contact list is not being seen by my mac and simply see's an empty "mac group" list.
Any ideas how I can get all my contacts from my phone back to my mac?
merge?
i dunno what everyone is talking about this merge option. And syncing is NOT two way. Syncing only syncs your iPhone to your Mac. I'm not understanding how something so simple can be so complicated. All that i need to do is put my Iphone contacts on my Mac... syncing through itunes, i do not get any sort of option to merge, and the option at the very bottom of the info tab to "replace information on this iphone" is obviously not what i want because that will delete all of my contacts. Has anyone found a solution to this?
i dunno what everyone is talking about this merge option. And syncing is NOT two way. Syncing only syncs your iPhone to your Mac. I'm not understanding how something so simple can be so complicated. All that i need to do is put my Iphone contacts on my Mac... syncing through itunes, i do not get any sort of option to merge, and the option at the very bottom of the info tab to "replace information on this iphone" is obviously not what i want because that will delete all of my contacts. Has anyone found a solution to this?
I think I got it!
After much turmoil, the answer is so simple.
Go to Settings, Mail, and then scan through all your accounts and make sure that the contacts switch is turned OFF for each mail account.
I believe this setting overrides the address book sync with instructions to sync with mail. So once you switch it off, the address book on your mac should automatically start syncing with your iphone.
hopefully this works for all of you like it just worked for me!
After much turmoil, the answer is so simple.
Go to Settings, Mail, and then scan through all your accounts and make sure that the contacts switch is turned OFF for each mail account.
I believe this setting overrides the address book sync with instructions to sync with mail. So once you switch it off, the address book on your mac should automatically start syncing with your iphone.
hopefully this works for all of you like it just worked for me!
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