HT204150: Get help using iCloud Contacts

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Noleigator

Q: Some server contacts could not be copied to this address book.

An alert icon appears next to 'All iCloud' within the Contacts app.  Once clicked, an alert notification appears on the screen that reads, "Some server contacts could not be copied to this address book."  Neither the operating system, nor the web-based help communities provide a means of troubleshooting this problem.  As a result of this problem it seems that my iCloud contacts are never in sync across my Apple devices (i.e. iPhone, iPad, MacBook Pro), namely on my MacBook Pro, which is my primary device and should always provide the most complete data bank of contacts.  Contacts on the web-based iCloud interface always matches what is on the iPhone and iPad but rarely the MacBook Pro.  All devices are running the most current updates for the most recent operating system releases as of 12/02/2014.

 

To support community members viewing this post, please offer the best means of troubleshooting this problem without resulting in the deletion of contacts or information within contacts.  I thank you all in advance for your time and attention.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Dec 2, 2014 12:01 PM

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Q: Some server contacts could not be copied to this address book.

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  • by structAnkit,Helpful

    structAnkit structAnkit Jan 21, 2015 10:53 PM in response to Noleigator
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jan 21, 2015 10:53 PM in response to Noleigator

    I was having this issue with my Google Contacts and it was killing me! In my situation I was able to read the OS X logs to find out that one of my contacts was messed up. I ended up hand-copying the data into a new contact and deleted the original. The sync then worked perfectly!

     

    I don't believe iCloud uses CardDAV so step 5 below will be up to you to figure out, but I'll give my best guess anyway:

     

    To find out which contact is broken, follow these steps:

    1) Open Contacts.app

    2) Go into Preferences (keyboard shortcut: Cmd + , )

    3) Find your iCloud account and uncheck and re-check "Enable this account"

    4) Open /var/log/system.log in Vim/Emacs/etc or via Finder

    5) Search for "Ignored vCard" or maybe even "ERROR" until you find data about the contact in question that is breaking your sync.

    6) Copy the important data for that contact by hand into a new contact.

    7) Delete the original, corrupt contact.

    8) Close the text editor/log viewer.

    9) Uncheck/re-check "Enable this account" in Contacts.app preferences.

    10) If sync fails again with the same error, repeat from step 4 until you have no more issues.

  • by iCoolville,

    iCoolville iCoolville Feb 4, 2015 1:14 PM in response to structAnkit
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 4, 2015 1:14 PM in response to structAnkit

    I just want to verify that this is THE solution to this issue. One of my contacts twitter profile kept corrupting his contact and I had to just delete the twitter portion to get the sync to work again.

  • by Alexander Newman,

    Alexander Newman Alexander Newman Mar 5, 2015 2:17 PM in response to structAnkit
    Level 1 (30 points)
    Mar 5, 2015 2:17 PM in response to structAnkit

    I also found that this worked - searching under "vCard" did the trick using "less /var/log/system.log" per the instructions but using "less" and "/<string>" instead of vim or emacs. One card was corrupt: removing it fixed the problem ,

     

    Thank you!

  • by Jreed12 35,

    Jreed12 35 Jreed12 35 Mar 13, 2015 11:58 AM in response to structAnkit
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 13, 2015 11:58 AM in response to structAnkit

    Thanks so much!  This solved my problem i've been having on my mac for the last 2 years!!!!

  • by frysteen,

    frysteen frysteen Mar 17, 2015 4:25 PM in response to structAnkit
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 17, 2015 4:25 PM in response to structAnkit

    You sir are a legend... been having this issue on and off for years - SOLVED! ....was a Twitter entry messing with one of my contacts.

  • by manuel161,

    manuel161 manuel161 Mar 25, 2015 4:57 PM in response to Noleigator
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 25, 2015 4:57 PM in response to Noleigator

    THANK YOU!!!!

  • by MACMSB,

    MACMSB MACMSB Apr 7, 2015 12:35 PM in response to Alexander Newman
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 7, 2015 12:35 PM in response to Alexander Newman

    I'm extremely excited to finally fix this for my Google contacts... Years!

    But for the more technically challenged, please detail the set of instructions... I didn't understand what "search under VCard" and where I need to sub the string and dash...

    Thank you!

  • by MACMSB,

    MACMSB MACMSB Apr 7, 2015 2:46 PM in response to MACMSB
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 7, 2015 2:46 PM in response to MACMSB

    Got it:

     

    Go to '/private/var/log/system.log' and search for 'vcard'. You should find error messages indicating which card has the error.

    Go to iCloud or Google contacts and remove the contact.

    Close and re-open OSX's Contacts and it should run smoothly now.

     

    Thanks again Alexander Newman!

  • by AmeliaKD,

    AmeliaKD AmeliaKD Apr 28, 2015 5:35 AM in response to Noleigator
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 28, 2015 5:35 AM in response to Noleigator

    Awesome post!!  I found the vcard error in the log file, but the name is not understandable.  Any suggestions on how to figure out which card it is?  This is what it says:

     

    /1041541451/carddavhome/card/ODYxZWEwOTYtOGM5NS00MTNhLWFjNTEtODVjY2MwNmQ4ODVl.vc f

  • by BlitheOptimist,

    BlitheOptimist BlitheOptimist May 19, 2015 7:53 AM in response to MACMSB
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 19, 2015 7:53 AM in response to MACMSB

    For those of us even more technically challenged, could someone explain exactly how you do this step mentioned above:

     

    Go to '/private/var/log/system.log' and search for 'vcard'.

     

    Desperate to go about finding rogue card(s) that must be messing up my contacts, but so far have been unable to take necessary steps.

     

    Thanks in anticipation,

  • by structAnkit,

    structAnkit structAnkit Jun 8, 2015 6:35 PM in response to AmeliaKD
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jun 8, 2015 6:35 PM in response to AmeliaKD

    vCard will be listed multiple times. Search instead for all instances of ERROR and try to see which contact is breaking your sync that way.

  • by structAnkit,

    structAnkit structAnkit Jun 8, 2015 6:39 PM in response to BlitheOptimist
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jun 8, 2015 6:39 PM in response to BlitheOptimist

    The log file is just a text file. Open it via terminal using Emacs/Vim/less or with TextEdit or Sublime Text or really any text viewer or editor.

  • by oljej,

    oljej oljej Jun 11, 2015 8:12 AM in response to structAnkit
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 11, 2015 8:12 AM in response to structAnkit

    GREAT! Thanks, problem with 1 card was causing all new cards not to sync. Perfect solution, Thanks!

  • by Filmgirlgail,

    Filmgirlgail Filmgirlgail Jul 12, 2015 4:16 PM in response to structAnkit
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iCloud
    Jul 12, 2015 4:16 PM in response to structAnkit

    Thanks so much - was driving me mad!!!

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