Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Birthdays don't show up in Calendar

Birthdays entered in Contacts are not showing up in the OS X Calendar, even though the "Show Birthdays" option is selected in preferences, and I'm "subscribed" to that calendar. I have iCloud synching my calendars and contacts, and birthdays show up on my iPhone calendar app.


Any suggestions?


The last time I posted this question it was removed by censors at Apple, who apparently don't like people criticising their software. Personallity I don't consider the birthday issue, or the ability to snooze an alert for as long as I deem fit, as advanced functionallity. Why does the Calendar on what's touted as the most advanced operating system lack the funcitonality of Windows in the 1990s?

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion, 8GB Ram

Posted on Jun 6, 2013 7:35 PM

Reply
Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Mar 23, 2017 3:11 AM

I had the exact same issue. I fixed mine by creating a new user and logging into that account and starting the calendar app. I logged out of that user and back into my original user with the birthday problem. The birthdays were showing again when I started the calendar app.

16 replies

Jun 6, 2013 8:11 PM in response to Lloyd Deane

Why does the Calendar on what's touted as the most advanced operating system lack the funcitonality of Windows in the 1990s?


Windows wasn't really useful until 1995.


Birthdays show up for me in Calendar, on three different Macs. Other than your post, I've never seen any other evidence that this is an issue.

Jun 7, 2013 7:15 AM in response to Lanny

Thanks for the question. Initially I tried looking for the Calendar preferences (plist) but couldn't find one. I tried turning my Calendar and iCloud settings off and on, then quitting between each iteration, in a systematic way.


My latest attempt was to install the demo version of BusyCal2. It displayed the birthdays with no problem, so clearly the problem isn't with Contacts or iCloud. Maybe I should just swallow the $30 for BusyCal, which deals with snoozing alarms perfectly too.

Jun 7, 2013 3:25 PM in response to Lloyd Deane

The purpose of this test is to show whether the problem is with your user account setup. It appears that it is.


Most likely reason is that, in the past, you installed some kind of 3rd party software, on that user account that is interfering with the process. It would most likely be a software that interfaces with Calendar or Contacts. Only you would know. By process of elimination, you could add them back to the new user account and observe which one causes the issue.

Jun 12, 2013 12:22 PM in response to Lloyd Deane

Hi Lloyd, did you ever find a solution to this? I just encountered the same problem. Show Birthday Calendar is checked and the Birthday subscriptions button is checked. The birthdays are showing up fine in my synced iPhone but not on the calendar app on my MacBook. I had just synced all of my contacts so that I have the same list on iCloud, in my iPhone's memory and in my MacBook's memory and that's when the problem started.

Jun 12, 2013 12:34 PM in response to Brantman1

Yes and no. I didn't find a solution to the issue with Apple's Calendar, so installed BusyCal2 instead. Not only does it resolve the birthday issue, it also resolves the issue I had with the Apple Calendar's inability to allow me to snooze an alarm for as long as I, me, the lowly user, chooses, instead of Apple dictating a 15 minute default snooze interval and providing only their snooze options. BusyCal is exactly what I need, but now I have to decide whether to pay $30 for a better calendar.


Best of luck, I know how frustrating the problem is. Btw, BusyCal2 has a 30 day trial version.

Birthdays don't show up in Calendar

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