[SOLVED] Minor niggle: secondary iCloud account descriptions

[3460169]

This concerns iCloud on the Mac with Lion 10.7.3.

My wife and I have our own personal @me.com Apple IDs that we use for our respective primary iCloud accounts. (Actually these are migrated MobileMe accounts). This is all well and great.

Recently we took an Apple ID that we'd be using as a shared account in iTunes and started using that as a "joint" iCloud account for sharing Contacts, Calendars and Reminders. This is also all well and good. Mostly.

The iPhone (with iOS 5.0.1) does "the right thing" -- that is, within the Contacts and Calendar apps it utilizes the descriptions from the iCloud accounts to distinguish between the different sets of data (clicky for larger image if necessary).

The Mac (with Lion 10.7.3) however does not do the right thing. The primary and secondary accounts are completely ambiguous in both iCal and Address Book. Yes, of course, we could use the content of those accounts to distinguish between them, but this is beside the point.
(clicky for larger image)

Does anyone know of, perhaps, a plist preference that can be set to get it to "do the right thing" on the Mac? Or should it just be written off as a (very minor) bug?

 

[ugahairydawgs]

Hope you're able to figure it out. I spent a an hour or so a couple of weeks ago trying to figure that out and never came up with anything.

 

[rdowns]

NOTE TO MODS: Niggle is not a bad word.

 

[GoCubsGo]

NOTE TO MEMBERS: Niggle is not a bad word.

 

[3460169]

NOTE TO MODS: Niggle is not a bad word.

NOTE TO MEMBERS: Niggle is not a bad word.

Haha. Made me giggle.

And here's a definition!

On topic: Figured it out for Address Book. Thought I was close on figuring out iCal but not there yet.

For Address Book: in ~/Library/Application Support/AddressBook/Sources/ you'll see one funkily-named folder for each iCloud account you have set up that is syncing contact information. Make sure Address Book is not running. In each of the funky folders you'll see a Configuration.plist (in plain XML format, conveniently, as opposed to binary). Open this in a text editor (vim, etc). If you have multiple accounts, there are various fields in that plist that will clue you into what account you are messing with. (hint: various urls) To rename the account name you have to look for a key called, well, name. The next line down from that will have the value (between <String> tags); by default this is set to iCloud so just search for that. Change it to whatever value you want, save the file, fire up Address Book and observe:

 

[3460169]

Appear to have gotten it for iCal as well. Details to follow soon as I verify exactly what I did

 

[3460169]

To get meaningful account names in iCal:

1. Make sure iCal is not running.
2. Navigate to ~/Library/Calendars (note that in Lion, ~/Library is hidden by default from Finder. Use Shift-Command-G if you insist on using Finder, else drop down into Terminal.)
3. Delete the file Calendar Cache (don't worry, next time you run iCal it will be re-created).
4. You will see a some-funky-name.caldav folder/directory for each iCloud account you are syncing Calendars with. For each of these folders, do the following:
   1. Enter the folder.
   2. Open the Info.plist file in your favorite text editor. This is a plain XML file. Keys within the file will help you identify which account you are messing with (hint: CalendarUserAddresses).
   3. Navigate towards the bottom. You will see a key called Title. The next line down from that, between <String> tags, contains the value you want to change. Change it to whatever you wish.
   4. Save the file.
5. When you next fire up iCal you should see your new account names (actually they are account descriptions, but let's not be technical).

You will see these new names/descriptions in the main UIs, as well as in the Accounts pane of the iCal Preferences window. (Likewise for Address Book.)

Clicky pictures for larger versions.

Standard Disclaimer: While I see no harm in doing these modifications, or those to Address Book, I assume absolutely no responsibility. Execute these instructions at your own risk!

 

[andrewwynn]

Absolutely fantastic! been driving me crazy since iCloud existed!

 

[sleroy0]

Notes in Mountain Lion?

f00f -- Your solution for managing multiple iCloud accounts in Calendar and Contacts was excellent.

Is is possible to achieve a similar result for the new Notes.app in Mountain Lion?