Change default address book to be Exchange?

Is there any way to change the default address book in the Address Book application to be something other than "On My Mac"? A client of mine has Exchange setup using Mail, iCal and Address Book applications. He adds recipients to his Address Book in Mail using "Add to Address Book" when clicking on a sender's name which then adds the sender's name and email to his "On My Mac" address book.

The problem with this is his BlackBerry syncs with Exchange and that address book is obviously not the "On My Mac" address book in the application. So he's now adding all these new contacts and they are not showing up in his phone. With over 1100 contacts it's difficult for him to try to figure out what contacts are new and what ones are now old.

Is there anyway to change this action so "Add to Address Book" adds the contacts to his Exchange contacts? Or a way to make the two address books sync and not have duplicates? This seems like a huge oversight on Apple's part 😟

2.6GHz 4GB 15" MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.3)

Posted on Apr 7, 2010 8:57 AM

Reply
7 replies

Apr 7, 2010 10:47 AM in response to corradokid

This is set within the Address Book application. Launch Address Book, then from the menu go to Address Book > Preferences... Under Accounts select On My Mac in the sidebar on the left. Under Account Information the last setting should be Default account for new contacts. Make sure the Exchange account is selected (it defaults to On My Mac which I believe is causing your problems).

Apr 25, 2010 1:44 PM in response to corradokid

My issue is that applications such as Skype, Phone Valet and Daylight (to name a few) only see the "On My Mac" address book. I added my Exchange account to Address Book and it works perfectly. However, these other applications only see the "local" address book. Changing the default application for contacts simply give the user the ability to put NEW contacts into an alternate address book (i.e. Exchange). Can the "On My Mac" address book be sync'd with Exchange?

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Change default address book to be Exchange?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.