Exchange Contacts won't sync to Address Book

Question

Level 4

1,214 points

Exchange Contacts won't sync to Address Book

I configured Lion 10.7.3 to sync mail, contacts, and calendar with my corporate Exchange 2010 server. Mail and iCal sync fine. But Address Book shows a blank Exchange Contacts list. The Mail app Show Addresses dialog also shows a blank Exchange Contacts list. I have no problems syncing 450+ Exchange Contacts to other devices including iPhone. I tried deselecting and re-selecting Exchange Contacts in System Preferences > Mail, Contacts, and Calendars > Exchange. Same results, blank Exchange Contacts list.

Console Diagnostic and Usage Messages shows several incidents of this message. This might be normal. I see similar entries for iCal, which sync'd fine.

4/30/12 10:31:02.523 PM Address Book: EWSServerVersion: 14.1.355.2

com.apple.message.domain: com.apple.exchange.serverVersion

com.apple.message.sig qnature: 14.1.355.2

com.apple.message.result: noop

System.log does show this iCal error. SImilar reports in old forum posts describe problems with iCal handling recurring calendar events. This problem is hopefully unrelated to the blank Exchange Contacts list.

Apr 30 22:33:14: --- last message repeated 1 time ---

Apr 30 22:33:14 new-host-2 iCal[3602]: ServerNotifications: Setting delegate to APSD

Apr 30 22:33:14 new-host-2 iCal[3602]: ServerNotification: configureService called with nil password

Apr 30 22:33:16 new-host-2 iCal[3602]: Subscription request completed

Apr 30 22:33:16: --- last message repeated 1 time ---

Apr 30 22:33:16 new-host-2 iCal[3602]: Couldn't find an NSTimeZone to match the SerializableTimeZone

Apr 30 22:33:16 new-host-2 iCal[3602]: WARNING: Failed to find TimeZone Identifier for Windows MeetingTimeZone: (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)

Apr 30 22:33:23 new-host-2 mdworker32[3606]: kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.

How can I resolve this problem?

Posted on Apr 30, 2012 8:14 PM

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Answer 1

Aug 31, 2017 11:39 AM in response to KlipyWitz

Helpful, KlipyWitz.

I did something similar. I just removed the Exchange accounts from my Macbook's "Internet accounts" settings dialog.

Then added them again and checked all the boxes. Presto, my contacts got synced.

My goal was to have all my Google contacts in my Exchange accounts. There is no free or cheap or reliable syncing solution for this.

Since I know I am going to get grief from bugs in Outlook or OSX with this, I did the same thing I did last time I got into this mess:

1. I created a subfolder in the Exchange contacts account called "Google contacts hardcopy"

2. In my Macbook Address Book (a.k.a. Contacts app) I manually copied all contacts to this subfolder

From now on these contacts are there in the background while I am using Outlook 2011 for Mac, so that when I compose emails, they will be autofilled. Any new contacts that I create in Outlook are added to the main folder.

I can further advise purchasing the Android app Contacts Optimizer. Having this app allows you to merge both groups of contacts (the 'static' hardcopy contacts and the new ones you've made) and/or to merge back the new contacts to Google Contacts.

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Answer 2

Llessur999 Author

Level 4

1,214 points

May 1, 2012 8:43 PM in response to Llessur999

Today I noticed three of my Exchange Contacts appear on in Address Book. All three were contacts I modified today. Two on my iPhone, one in Outlook on another computer. So the sync isn't totally broken, but is only getting contacts modified since I first started the sync.

Any ideas how get al contacts to sync?

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Answer 3

tdo636

Level 1

0 points

May 30, 2012 6:11 AM in response to Llessur999

Did you ever figure out a solution to your problem? I had the exact same issue. I could not get any contacts to sync in address book but did notice new contacts showing up.

It sounds simple, but all I did to fix my issue was to go into System Preferences, delete my Exchange account and then add it back in. Now everything shows up and synchronizes as expected.

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Answer 4

Llessur999 Author

Level 4

1,214 points

May 30, 2012 7:29 PM in response to tdo636

First I tried to unchecking/wait/check Contacts in System Preferences > Mail, Contacts, and Calendars > Exchange account. That didn't work, still only saw contacts that had been modified.

Then I tried completely removing the Exchange account and adding it back. I am now back where I started with zero Exchange contacts. Again if I modify a contact elsewhere it will then appear in Address Book.

Mail and Calendar work fine.

I am glad I have another laptop (Windows), otherwise this would be a showstopper.

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Answer 5

Jul 17, 2012 8:28 AM in response to Llessur999

my situation is similar; today I created a contact on my MacBook; then I created a contact in my Exchange account using OWA (Outlook Web Access). The account I created on my MacBook did not show up in OWA and vice versa. I then checked my iPad, which only showed the account I had created in OWA; after I made a smal adjustment to this contact, a proper sync was apparently triggered because a few seconds thereafter both accounts showed up on all three devices ...

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Answer 6

Jul 28, 2012 6:32 PM in response to Llessur999

go into system preferences and be sure contacts are checked for your exchange account. close address book, and when you reopen address book you will now be given an exchange option in addition to on my mac.

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Answer 7

Jul 28, 2012 11:00 PM in response to alberticc

"Exchange" is in my contacts and the initial sync worked fine. Only changes are no longer synced.

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Answer 8

dimanoff

Level 1

0 points

Jul 30, 2012 2:04 AM in response to Llessur999

I have the same problem. Is there any solution how to fix it?

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Answer 9

dufouha

Level 1

5 points

Sep 11, 2012 1:40 PM in response to Llessur999

I notice exactly the same problem: perfect sync with Mail and iCal; no sync on Addressbook.

However, the problem can be ring-fenced a bit better:

1. sync works fine for "contacts" or "suggested contacts" one introduces in a personal contacts part of the outlook addressbook.

2. What does "apparently" not function, is the sync with the "<corporate> global addresslist": the global addresslist as a category does appear in the apple addressbook, but it's content remains blank.

3. What does work, is to select the "<corporate> address list" in the Apple addressbook, and then do a search on a name. On that moment, the name gets filled in the list of the "<corporate> global addresslist", and clicking on that record provides the detail of the address card.

Conclusion: some sync-ing takes place, but there seems to be something blocking the immediate visualisation of the "<corporate> global addresslist"

Any idea why the list does not appear ?

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Answer 10

bradhs

Level 1

0 points

Oct 8, 2013 10:05 AM in response to dufouha

Has anyone found a solution to this one yet?

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Answer 11

Oct 17, 2013 2:12 AM in response to Llessur999

I have just tried typing a contact i knew was on the system with the search function of contacts and it appears. It seems all the contacts are hidden till you search for one.

Anywhere you can allow the to show all the time??

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Answer 12

iMuti

Level 1

7 points

Dec 4, 2013 1:50 PM in response to tdo636

Yup. It works.

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Answer 13

Feb 27, 2014 6:32 PM in response to FLIR31207

I need help with this... have you found a solution yet??

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Answer 14

Feb 27, 2014 6:32 PM in response to Llessur999

Same thing happening to me.. Really need help - did you find a solution?

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Answer 15

Llessur999 Author

Level 4

1,214 points

Feb 27, 2014 7:54 PM in response to ajsonnick

No, I never found a solution. Only Exchange contacts modified since I configured the MacBook with the Exchange account show up in Address Book. One of the posts in this thread says searching for a missing contact will find it even though it doesn't show up in the list. That doesn't work for me, either using the Address Book search bar or Spotlight.

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