contact sync issue

[mattid]

Here's an interesting problem: I'm running an old G4 powerbook on OS 10.4.11 and a iPhone 3G. A while ago I updated to iTunes 8.01 and started having issues; sync services kept cancelling the sync. I completely deleted every iTunes folder and file on my system (as per Apple instructions) and re-installed. My initial sync thereafter went perfectly.

Now I've realised that athough Calendars, apps, photos etc are all syncing perfectly, contacts are not ie: changes in my contacts from either device are not being tracked.

My gut feeling is that the problem is with Address Book on my mac but I can't work it out.

Can anyone give advice?

Matt

[psylichon]

I would export all your contacts from your Mac address book just to be safe, try to make note of any that are in your phone that haven't synced to the computer and manually write their info down.

Then in iTunes, under the device tab for your phone (when it's connected), hit the info tab at the top, then at the bottom of that page, select to force replace the contacts on the phone with the contacts in the computer on the next sync. See if that jumpstarts it.

Sometimes incompatibilities or corrupt data will abort a contact sync. It usually tells you what exactly the problem contacts are, but not always. Good luck...

[mattid]

Hey Dave

Thanks for the advice, I've tried what you suggest to no avail. The weird thing is that I've been organising my contacts and have added some new groups which are not showing up in iTunes sync options, this is why I think this is a Sync Services issue.

matt

[mattid]

Well, after much searching and hair-pulling I've resolved my issues.

Thanks to the advice I found from the kind people at www.iphoneatlas.com

here it is:


Contacts do not synchronize from Address Book iTunes may fail to properly synchronize contacts with the iPhone, hanging repeatedly at the “Syncing contacts” phase. One fix, effective but risky, is to delete the iSync and SyncServices folders from ~/Library/Application Support (this is the Library folder inside your user directory folder). A safer, and equally effective fix is as follows:

1. Back up Contacts using File > Back up Address Book
2. Delete all contacts in Address Book
3. Move ~/Library/Application Support/AddressBook, ~/Library/Caches, and ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.AddressBook.plist to the Trash, but do not empty (just in case)
4. Log out of your user, then log back in
5. Launch iSync, Choose iSync > Preferences. Click on the Reset Sync History… button. Click Reset Sync History.
6. Log out of your user, then log back in
7. Launch Address Book, create a few test cards, then try to sync. It should be successful.
8. Now try restoring from your backup with File > Revert to Address Book Backup.

I performed ALL of the steps, deleting the sync services folders and address book folders. et Viola! All sorted...