I've done this before. My google contacts from last year are in Contacts. But I don't see any way to sync and get updates or changes from my google contacts into Contacts.app
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How to (re)Sync Google Contacts with Contacts.app?
- Thread starter DThompson55
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For me, you need to rephrase your question. That is, if the Google Contacts are from last year there wouldn't be an update now.
Having said that, changes at your Google Contacts should be reflected in macOS Contacts. There have been times when it seemed like I had to make a contact change on my device (Mac or iPhone) to force it to sync right away…usually just adding something to the notes field on a contact.
What version of macOS?
Having said that, changes at your Google Contacts should be reflected in macOS Contacts. There have been times when it seemed like I had to make a contact change on my device (Mac or iPhone) to force it to sync right away…usually just adding something to the notes field on a contact.
What version of macOS?
macOS Catalina 10.15.5 - Most of my google contacts are in MacOS contacts because I exported / imported them last year using a CSV file. This is about adds and mods that I have made since then in google contacts, and how those get updated /added into MacOS Contacts.app
First off, do you think there's some button you need to click to synchronize? No. They should be synching automatically. If they're not, then you need to troubleshoot your configuration - perhaps it's as simple as a login issue.
You ought to have setup accounts like iCloud and Google in System Preferences > Internet Accounts. Start there. If Google is not setup there, I suggest you delete the current CalDAV account in your Contacts preferences, then add the Google account in System Preferences > Internet accounts.
Then there's another possibility - that the account is working, but you're not actually viewing the account by selecting it in the Groups sidebar. (If you're not viewing the Groups sidebar, enable it from the View menu.)
You ought to have setup accounts like iCloud and Google in System Preferences > Internet Accounts. Start there. If Google is not setup there, I suggest you delete the current CalDAV account in your Contacts preferences, then add the Google account in System Preferences > Internet accounts.
Then there's another possibility - that the account is working, but you're not actually viewing the account by selecting it in the Groups sidebar. (If you're not viewing the Groups sidebar, enable it from the View menu.)
Thanks for the verification that it *should* be updating the contacts automatically from google. I deleted my google account from internet accounts and then re-added it. Then I added a new contact AAA_Test to my google contacts. It shows up in my iPhone. It does not show up in my MacOS contacts.
I don't know what you mean by the groups sidebar. This is what my Contacts App looks like.
I noticed that the iCloud account has a "fetch automatically" button checked, there is no such button for the google account. Could that be the problem? This will sound stupid but do I have to restart Contacts.app, or something in order for it to fetch adds and changes from google?
I don't know what you mean by the groups sidebar. This is what my Contacts App looks like.
I noticed that the iCloud account has a "fetch automatically" button checked, there is no such button for the google account. Could that be the problem? This will sound stupid but do I have to restart Contacts.app, or something in order for it to fetch adds and changes from google?
If that is what your Contacts looks like now you don't have a Google account in Contacts.
The Groups sidebar is visible - it's the left-hand column that starts with "iCloud."
If Google contacts was enabled, it would also appear there, between iCloud and Smart Groups.
Now that you've re-added your Google account in Internet Accounts, be sure that there's a check-mark for Contacts at System Preferences > Internet Accounts > Google
If Google contacts was enabled, it would also appear there, between iCloud and Smart Groups.
Now that you've re-added your Google account in Internet Accounts, be sure that there's a check-mark for Contacts at System Preferences > Internet Accounts > Google
So yes, Google contacts appears to be enabled in the Internet Accounts, but it does not appear there in the Contacts app, between iCloud and Smart Groups.
The only thing I can think of that would give that result is that in Contacts>Preferences…>Accounts for the Google account you do not have "Enable this account" checked…but in your original post it is showing as checked.
OK - well, It sounds like all the check boxes are checked and the internet accounts are set up correctly. I guess I'll just import them manually somehow. export from google as csv and import to contacts. Can't be harder than trying to figure this out, right?
Welp... importing the csv from google contacts didn't work either. Just to be safe I deleted all but the first three contacts from the google export. (I didn't want to have to clean up a couple thousand duplicates). When I did import from the google csv all it got was the phone numbers and it said No Name was attached.
So all-in-all this seems like a difficult and perhaps slightly broken(?) feature in macOS, and maybe it doesn't actually have a lot of value or serve a purpose that's worth this amount of hassle? At least my google contacts work with my iPhone. They don't have to work with the Mac.
So all-in-all this seems like a difficult and perhaps slightly broken(?) feature in macOS, and maybe it doesn't actually have a lot of value or serve a purpose that's worth this amount of hassle? At least my google contacts work with my iPhone. They don't have to work with the Mac.
A couple of odd things in the OP's initial screen grab of Contacts app.
The Accounts screenshot from Contacts looks to be missing the "Fetch" option. This is what I'm seeing in Catalina:
I turned on Contacts for this account and was able to pull in some test contacts I made in Google Contacts.
The other thing, there's a Gmail icon next to a Hotmail account/label? Maybe that is the account with the contacts and just has a wrong/weird label?
Might want to try and delete both those accounts and re-add, to maybe shake things loose. Won't lose anything as Gmail will repopulate back to Mail, and since no contacts, no harm no foul.
The Accounts screenshot from Contacts looks to be missing the "Fetch" option. This is what I'm seeing in Catalina:
I turned on Contacts for this account and was able to pull in some test contacts I made in Google Contacts.
The other thing, there's a Gmail icon next to a Hotmail account/label? Maybe that is the account with the contacts and just has a wrong/weird label?
Might want to try and delete both those accounts and re-add, to maybe shake things loose. Won't lose anything as Gmail will repopulate back to Mail, and since no contacts, no harm no foul.
Yes, I deleted the hotmail account as I thought that might be confusing MacOS.
And yes, there is no "fetch" dropdown on the Google account. Deleting and re-adding the Google account made no difference. But, again, this seems like something that is hard to solve and that doesn't have a lot of value. The only reason I really wanted it was so names would show up instead of phone numbers in the messages.app the same as they do on my iPhone. But with the small-ish number of people who text me, I can enter those by hand into contacts.app
And yes, there is no "fetch" dropdown on the Google account. Deleting and re-adding the Google account made no difference. But, again, this seems like something that is hard to solve and that doesn't have a lot of value. The only reason I really wanted it was so names would show up instead of phone numbers in the messages.app the same as they do on my iPhone. But with the small-ish number of people who text me, I can enter those by hand into contacts.app