Help! My contacts are being duplicated

[oab]

Ever since I upgraded iTunes to 7.4.3.1 and installed the iPhone 1.1.1 update, whenever I sync, my contacts are duplicated both in the phone and Outlook Express. After this first happened, I deleted all of the duplicates both in the phone and Outlook Express. Just synched a while ago to update my iTunes songs and the same thing happened again. This is getting bothersome because it takes over an hour to delete all of the duplicates. Also, it's really strange because not all of the contacts are duplicated, only about 80%, and there is no pattern, rime or reason for the order of duplication. Does anyone have a solution for this problem?
Thanks much!

[420greg]

This was happening to me and this is how I fixed it.

Make sure your contacts on your computer are clean with no dupes.

Do not connect your iPhone yet.

Open iTunes and click preferences.
Click the iPhone tab.
Check 'disable auto-syncing on all iphones'

Connect your iPhone.

Go to the info tab and scroll to the bottom.
Check 'contacts' under 'replace information on this phone'.

Sync.

That should fix.

Remember to un-check this box before your next sync or you will lose any contacts that you added to the phone manually.

[oab]

Originally Posted by 420greg

This was happening to me and this is how I fixed it.

Make sure your contacts on your computer are clean with no dupes.

Do not connect your iPhone yet.

Open iTunes and click preferences.
Click the iPhone tab.
Check 'disable auto-syncing on all iphones'

Connect your iPhone.

Go to the info tab and scroll to the bottom.
Check 'contacts' under 'replace information on this phone'.

Sync.

That should fix.

Remember to un-check this box before your next sync or you will lose any contacts that you added to the phone manually.

Thanks for the help. Everything you suggested seemed logical. I deleted the duplicate contacts from Outlook Express, then checked 'replace the information on this phone' box--synched the phone and guess what? I now have triplicate entries on both the iPhone and Outlook Express. Wondering what is causing this to happen.

[oab]

Originally Posted by oab

Thanks for the help. Everything you suggested seemed logical. I deleted the duplicate contacts from Outlook Express, then checked 'replace the information on this phone' box--synched the phone and guess what? I now have triplicate entries on both the iPhone and Outlook Express. Wondering what is causing this to happen.

Update:

I removed all of the duplicates on my iPhone then deleted all of the contacts on Outlook Express, synched and all is well. However, am reluctant to sync again to find out if I continue to have the duplication problem. In the future, I guess I could just delete all of my contacts in Outlook Express prior to synching the iPhone as I never add any entries via the PC.

[Tom Locati]

Originally Posted by oab

Update:

I removed all of the duplicates on my iPhone then deleted all of the contacts on Outlook Express, synched and all is well. However, am reluctant to sync again to find out if I continue to have the duplication problem. In the future, I guess I could just delete all of my contacts in Outlook Express prior to synching the iPhone as I never add any entries via the PC.

I'm experinacing the exact same thing - had new phones and hours with iphone reps - no one has the answer as to why or what is causing these duplications when syncing - exrteemly frustrating......any other suggestions - how did you resolve?

[hitrho5]

1.1.1 is an update? i thought it was the first software

[oab]

Originally Posted by Tom Locati

I'm experinacing the exact same thing - had new phones and hours with iphone reps - no one has the answer as to why or what is causing these duplications when syncing - exrteemly frustrating......any other suggestions - how did you resolve?

Have not resolved as yet. I continue to delete all of the contacts from outlook express then sync. This only works if you do not add contacts to outlook express which I don't.

[mrmachead]

Originally Posted by oab

Have not resolved as yet. I continue to delete all of the contacts from outlook express then sync. This only works if you do not add contacts to outlook express which I don't.

Couple of things to check. In Entourage preferences, there is a setting for syncing. All syncing occurs from Entourage through the sync manager to the Address book.
In the new version of the iPhone software, (settings/email) the Outlook accounts for email have separate settings for syncing. If both of these are set to sync... Ooops. Your Exchange server is forcing sync of your contacts and your Entourage is syncing your contacts.
This equals duplicate contacts. Turn off one or the other.
++ Tip: You can turn off sync in Entourage. Then delete your address book file (users/"your account"/Library/Application Support/AddressBook/AdressBook.data).
Launch Address Book. (Creates New File)
Quit Address Book.
Launch Entourage
Turn Sync back on and have Entourage over write data in Sync manager.
Sync Phone

Hope this helps.
Tim