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.
Thanks for the suggestion, but I tried that twice. I researched this issue a bit before posting, and that was one of the suggestions I found. It did not help, however.
What does your console log say? Are you getting reoccurring errors?
It could also be a corrupt Address Book database. Try exporting all your contacts. Now select all contacts and delete them. Now import all contacts back and test.
Okay, I tried this:
1. Backup Address Book data.
2. Delete all entries.
3. Shut down Address Book.
4. Restart Address Book.
5. Import the backup.
6. Shut down and restart Address Book.
7. Use iTunes to sync to my iPhone again.
8. Shut down and restart Address Book again.
Nope. Two of my contacts still did not transfer from my iPhone to my Address Book. Past history says that number will continue to grow over time.
The address book database on your Mac may have some corruption.
Try the following.
With the Address Book quit, go to Home > Library > Application Support > AddressBook. Delete all contents within the AddressBook folder, but don't empty the Trash on your Mac in case you need to restore the contents back within the AddressBook folder.
Import the Address Book archive that was previously exported.
Okay, that failed too.
The two contacts I added to my iPhone since last time I manually added them to the Address Book, and deleted them on my iPhone, and sync'ed, are still not sync'ing.
I really think that if you Google this issue, and read some of the reports, it sounds like many other folks are having this issue but are either not describing it repeatedly until it is crystal clear or are giving up and resolving it manually.
It would be nice to see the issue resolved as the bug it appears to be.
I deleted the contents of that folder, and that didn't help. This only seems to be affecting contacts that I added to the iPhone, not contacts that I added to the Address Book on my computer.
My gut feeling is that this somehow involves the iPhone invisibly putting new contacts into a "group" that is not the same as the "All on my Mac" group, and then failing to import them. However, I am totally willing to keep trying to work through this with the advice that people give.
OK. So do you have groups on the iPhone other than All Contacts? Could you be adding a new contact within one group and then when the iPhone syncs not checking the correct group in address book?
Have you tried restoring the iPhone?
If you click on the spotlight search and type console and click on the top hit. Do you see errors?
I have not tried restoring the iPhone *this time*, but last time I noticed this happening, I did restore it, and that did not help. The contacts added to my iPhone still did not appear in my Address Book.
I have "All Contacts" and then I have "From My Mac"/"All from My Mac"
"All Contacts" is normal when syncing contacts direct with the Address Book via the iTunes sync process.
"From My Mac"/All from My Mac" is available when accessing a MobileMe account on an iPhone and syncing contacts over the air along with syncing contacts direct with the Address Book via the iTunes sync process, which is not necessary and will cause duplicate contacts on the iPhone.
I do not have a MobileMe account, and I am not sync'ing anything "over the air". I am sync'ing using a directly attached cable, and using iTunes. It seems to me that iTunes is the default interface between an iPhone and a computer.