rolandomerida

Q: Mac Address Book doesn't sync nor accepts manual edits

My Address Book can't be edited on my Mac anymore: no manual edits are saved on any contact. After changing something, and clicking "save", the card automatically returns to its previous state.

 

In addition, I found I couldn't edit my contacts on iCloud because of "a server error". After a few tries I could edit a contact. But those changes are not reflected on my Mac aftrwards.

 

R.

Posted on Nov 12, 2011 5:21 AM

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Q: Mac Address Book doesn't sync nor accepts manual edits

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  • by rolandomerida,

    rolandomerida rolandomerida Nov 14, 2011 6:57 AM in response to rolandomerida
    Level 1 (116 points)
    Nov 14, 2011 6:57 AM in response to rolandomerida

    I should mention I did a refresh contacts sync on my iPhone, and besides draining my battery over night, there's no syncing at all yet with iCloud or my Mac.

     

    R.

  • by tarzan1967jp,

    tarzan1967jp tarzan1967jp Nov 15, 2011 2:14 AM in response to rolandomerida
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 15, 2011 2:14 AM in response to rolandomerida

    I am suffering from exactly the same symptom.  In my case, sometimes changes are successfully saved and reflected to the iCloud and other associated devices, but most changes are canceled in about 20 seconds and the card returns to the state before I made changes. Today, I cannot make any changes on my address book.

     

    In light of past discussions, I backed up my address book data, deleted everything from my MacBook Pro and iCloud server, signed out and re-signed in, re-loaded all the data as the "iCloud" account.   Out of 2610 cards, only 2409 cards were synched, and I cannot make changes as I intend to.

     

    Tried editing on iCloud server with Safari, but I got the "server error" message and changes did not go through.

     

    Does anyone have a solution?

     

    KT

  • by rolandomerida,Solvedanswer

    rolandomerida rolandomerida Dec 1, 2011 5:24 PM in response to tarzan1967jp
    Level 1 (116 points)
    Dec 1, 2011 5:24 PM in response to tarzan1967jp

    Yes, now I have one. It's an iCloud syncing error, and it wipes your edits on your Mac everytime.

     

    This is what I did to fix it.

     

    1. Make a backup of your Address Book, using the vCard option (or both, it doesn’t hurt). Save it for later.

     

    2. In System Preferences -> iCloud, turn Contacts off. I chose “keep on My Mac” those contacts, but nevertheless I got an empty Address Book after a while. And a few minutes later, iCloud contacts were empty and my iPhone also. It is scary at first! Now, before importing that vCard backup…

     

    3. Turn Wi-Fi off. This is important, since your contact-empty iCloud will attempt to wipe your Address Book from your Mac just seconds after importing.

     

    4. Import your vCard backup to Address Book. Just drag it to your blank Address Book window; it asks if you want to import “x” number of cards. Of course, say yes.

     

    5. Turn Wi-Fi on, and then iCloud contacts on again (System Preferences -> iCloud). It will offer to merge your newly populated Address Book with iCloud (which is empty at this point). It should upload every single contact to iCloud, and then to your iDevices. If not, a fifth step would be to import the vCard file to iCloud, but it shouldn’t be necessary.

     

    Hope it helps.