Address Book -- Synchronize with Google

FYI, dkokin's method is the official Apple method I linked to a month ago on December 17.

This discussion is very confusing. I am left with the uncomfortable sense that there are two ways to configure synchronization with Google contacts:

1. Do it through Mail, Contacts, Calendars in system preferences and
2. Do it through the address book app, in its preferences.

Some claim that method 1 is the Apple-approved method. If that is the case, why hasn't the second method been removed?

What is the difference between these two methods? What is a "contact"? Is it an address book entry, or is there something else?

Duplicated features and duplicated configurations are always a confusing mess, and something that I have been relying on Apple to avoid in its products!

rpg25 this certainly is confusing - not just this discussion but the subject is. In Apple's inifinite wisdom, OSX doesn't have an Addressbook app. This discussion concerns OSX which has a Contacts app. Apple uses the term card in its Contacts app, but occasionally also refers to a card as a contact.

What make the situation even more hairy is Mountain Lion that consolidates external accounts into one applet in System Preferences. This is a good move, but Mail app still uses its own Preferences-> Accounts interface.

OK, please bear with me as I know I am going to be asking stupid questions...

I am still on Lion, and I believe I do have an address book app (was it removed in Mountain Lion?):

rpg% ls -d /Applications/Address\ Book.app

/Applications/Address Book.app

But I don't seem to have a "Contacts" app.

rpg% ls -d /Applications/Contacts*

ls: No match.

I see that in Mountain Lion Address Book.app has been renamed Contacts, but even so, there seem to be two different mechanisms for syncing: one in the preferences for Contacts.app and one in system preferences.

iCloud offers to sync contacts, but I don't know what these are. Contents of Address Book.app? Something else?

Does anyone know what the difference is between these two mechanisms?

[I have tried syncing address book with google mail's contacts, using the Address Book preferences, and the results are extremely bad. A lot of my contacts are invisible in Address Book, because they have lost their names (they are indexed under the Organization header instead. 😮)

A quick follow-up. The "bug" I thought I had found in the address book synchronization is in fact a bug in Google's contacts API. Sorry, Apple!

There is also a third issue Re Contacts Preferences on the Mac if you want to sync with Google Contacts.

Whether to enable the Sync with Google contacts option, or whether to created a new CardDAV Account?

The latter, is the way now recommended by Google, but thus only became available as an option late last year and there is no reference to this in Apples support documentation.

Also, if you already have set up a CardDAV account on your I-phone and I-pad, can you access this by recreating that same account on your Mac?

I have a Mac running Mountain Lion plus the above 2 devices and want to sync my contacts across all 3 using Google Contacts and the Contacts app on my Mac.

I have deliberately disabled the Contacts option for I-Cloud on all 3 devices due to the documented incompatabity issue with Google contacts.

I'm also keen that sync goes both ways - such that any change to my contacts will be mirrored on all 3 devices irrespective of which one I use, or whether I change via Google Contacts or Contacts on the Mac.

Your thoughts?

It worked for me too. Thanks!

Hope this info helps another users: I'm using OS X 10.8.2 and Contacts 7.1 (1167).

lyseie which approach worked for you?

I unselected 'sync with Google' and closed Address Book.

After a while I reopened the Address Book app, selected the sync checkbox again e filled the Google connection data (username/password).

After pressing OK the syncing restarted, and everything is OK since then.

HTH

O. I'm only seeing the sync checkbox when I'm looking at "On my Mac' account. I'm want to sync with icloud.

That's my case. In sync my Mac's address book with my Google account's address book.

So, I solely use the 'On My Mac' option to do this.

I definitely don't use iCloud but for locating my iPhone if it gets lost.

I strongly recommend to not use iCloud sync AND Google sync at the same time, since it can sync recursively your account, and get a real mess.

I do use the following sync architecture"

iPhone <-> Google <-> Mac

As you see, I don't use iCloud at all.

My experience with iCloud was not good for the purpose of syncing contacts and calendar.

I`ve found a lot of guys over the Internet with the same opinion.

Anyway, I'm not an iCloud expert and cannot say the does not work.

It didn't for me. Only this.

Regards.

ok understand thank you..

It just DOES NOT work as well for me. It took me fifteen minutes to find out that the Sync menu item is an ICON in the top right corner of the screen, not a menu item or a command in the Address Book application. Using that Sync command did NOTHING. This is the worst, most awful user experience I had since TWENTY years in computing! The mouse pointer CONSTANTLY goes away, yes it DISAPPEARS because it makes no sense for me to loose track of the pointer so often. The mouse wheel just does not work. I have to scroll like crazy for it to start scrolling. Installation of SmoothMouse solved part of the issue, but not fully it seems. WHY is it so THOUGH to get ANYTHING done with a Mac? This is beyond me. Everything I tried results in extreme frustration, I am at the point I will get mad and will have to get rid of ALL my computers, PCs and Mac, because of these endless stacks of problems!