New contacts added to iPhone do not sync over to Address Book
New contacts added to my iPhone do not sync over to my Address Book. This happens intermittently, but frequently. Consistently, I gradually build up a list of contacts that only exist on my iPhone and which simply will not sync to my Address Book. So far, every time I discover this, I waste time identifying the specific contacts that are not transferring, and I hand enter them into my computer's Address Book, and then delete them from the phone, and then sync to get them to go back on the phone.
Export all contacts from the on my mac. Delete that entire group. Just select it and press delete on your keyboard. Import contacts to all contacts if there are any missing.
When you say "from the on my mac" you mean from my Address Book on my laptop? Is so, then I cannot delete it. I just have one "group" called "All Contacts" and I can select it and hit the Delete key, but nothing whatsoever happens. I can select all of the individual contacts in the group, and hit the Delete key and it gives me the option to delete them, but I cannot delete the "All Contacts" group.
BACK UP YOUR ADDRESS BOOK FIRST!!
AddressBook File>Export>Address Book Archive
AddressBook Preferences>vCard>check "3.0" and "Export Notes in vCard"
and then select ALL contacts (be sure the "All" group is clicked, and hold the "Shift" key when you select all of your contacts) and use command: AddressBook File>Export>Export vCard
quit AddressBook
~/Library/Application Support/Address Book drag to desktop
launch AddressBook
Import from backup above
launch Address Book
make change and save
quit Address Book
open Address Book
check for changes and they are there.
In case it helps troubleshoot, however, I have managed to figure out exactly when contacts do not copy FROM my iPhone TO my Address Book. It is not intermittent at all, as I thought when I first posted about this. It is reliably reproducible.
1. Be on iPhone.
2. Open Contacts application.
3. Add a contact to your Contacts (either by clicking on a number in recent calls or by hitting the + icon).
4. Attach iPhone to laptop.
5. Sync with iTunes.
6. Open Address Book application.
7. Note that contact did not sync.
But in reverse:
1. Be on laptop.
2. Open Address Book application.
3. Add contact.
4. Attach iPhone to laptop.
5. Sync with iTunes.
6. Open Contacts on iPhone.
7. Note that contact did sync.
So, it reliably sync's contacts FROM the laptop TO the iPhone.
However, it reliably fails to sync contacts from the iPhone to the laptop.
On my iPhone, if I click on Contacts, and then on the Groups tab, I have:
All Contacts
From My Mac: All from My Mac
Work(Exchange): Work Global Address List
When I add a new contact on my iPhone, by clicking on a recent call and adding it from there, the contact is shown under my All Contacts category on my iPhone but it is NOT shown under my All from My Mac category on my iPhone.
Well Address Book is fine then so forget above post.
Your Exchange for security reasons will not sync via cable most likely and really is setup to sync over the air via ActiveSync.
Forget the recent calls. Go to Contacts directly on the iPhone and make sure you are in All Contacts and click plus. Add name and tap Save at the top right. Now add phone number and tap save at the top right. Now tap Done at the top right.
both of you are missing the point entirely. (I'm sorry, I'm sure you mean well, and your persistence is appreciated).
1. This happens on the iPhone and iPhone alone. Any address that shows up properly in the contacts app will sync without a problem.
2. This has nothing to do with groups.
3. This happens when a new contact is created from an email, a txt, or a phone call. (When creating such a contact, there's no way to even set a group affiliation.) The resulting contact will not be found when searching within the contacts listing in any app that uses contacts. But it will show up when searching for that contact in spotlight on the iPhone.
Bottom line: the contact exists somewhere on the iphone, but not within contacts.
This is a software bug within the iPhone OS, and, once more, has *nothing to do with sync.* That's why all your advice around syncing does not help. This needs an OS fix. But for the last 6 months that this issue has been identified, Apple has been notably mum.
The way to set group affiliation would be to add a contact from "Contacts" after choosing group. No default way to do this from recent calls, etc. That is correct. Since you are not the OP I am not sure that is their issue or not.
@iphone3Gguy: I agree, the OP's description is not definitive. That said, there are two things to consider: 1. his problem is intermittent, and 2. none of the sync resets solved the problem.
I'm also responding to the other posters, of whom several clearly are experiencing the problem I'm describing.
I submitted an iPhone bug report (thanks for the link). Let's see if that gets anywhere. I also encourage anyone else with the same issue to submit bug reports, and to be specific about how they are creating the new "non-syncing" contacts (i.e. from recent calls, emails, etc.).
I
thought it was intermittent when I initially posted the first post in this thread. However, I now know that is not at all intermittent. I can reliably do it over and over again, now that I understand what the incidences have in common.
All I have to do is:
1. Add a contact in the all contacts view;
2. Add a contact by clicking on recent calls;
3. Add a contact by clicking on a text message from a person who is not already a contact.
I haven't tested a new email person, but I wouldn't be surprised if that happened as well.
I appreciate everybody's attempts to help me, but I agree that the issue does potentially seem to involve how a contact is added rather than how a sync is done.
Also, the address is visible in the Contacts application on the iPhone
IF you click in the right place. It simply fails to ever copy over to the Address Book.
If you click on the Contacts application and then on the Group "All Contacts" then the contact is there.
If you click on the Contacts application and then on the Group "From My Mac: All from My Mac" then the contact is not there.
Okay, thanks for everybody's efforts to help me. I have filed an issue at:
http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html and pointed to this thread for detailed description of the issue.
Have the exact same problem, and the issue comes down to the same thing. The new added contacts seem invisible and do not sync back to my adress book. I hope Aplle will solve this soon...!
You should file the issue at the link in my post above. The more of us that tell them about this, the more likely they are to listen and do something about it.
I have been struggling with this EXACT issue for months ... and it is slightly ridiculous - this is a BASIC FUNCTION that the iPhone is supposed to be able to do .... such a basic function that ALL other mobile phones on the market would be embarrassed to get wrong.
It is supposed to be a two-way sync! It is not. This the the exact type of things that can really annoy customers to the point where they lose trust in your products - not a good look when you are out there trying to flog a new whizz-bang product like the iPad.
Can someone please tell me when Apple will be updating the iPhone software to correct this obvious PROBLEM??? I do not plan to do any more work on it because that would be a ridiculous waste of even more of my time.
