Having trouble inputting email in iCloud...

leileilancaster wrote:

I'm having trouble inputting my email address in iCloud. It says "Your email address must be less than 21 characters", mine is 25 characters, and I can't change it because it's a standardised work email. Can I somehow bypass this?

No, you can't have more than 21 characters in your iCloud address.

I am also having trouble setting up icloud and can't get past the email bit. If I use my name @icloud.com it is more than 21 characters and when I shorten it (using only lower case letters) it comes up with.....

Any ideas?

And another thing..... I have just synced my contacts and they have all disappeared AAARRRGGHHH!!!!! The only address in my address book now is Apple Inc.

Hi Csound1,

I have tried cutting down the email to less than 21 characters and it says...

'Your email address can only contain non-accented Roman letters, numbers, underscores (_), and periods (.)'

I have tried everything but it won't let me set up an email address!

Re the contacts - I have restored from my back-up then, merged with the cloud again and the same thing has happened - all my contacts have disappeared and I am left with only Apple Inc.

Oohhhh this is really trying my patience! Thank you for yours!!

I have done that and I still have contacts in my address book....which is good.

I then signed out of the cloud on my Mac, signed in on my ipad and there are still no contacts on my ipad.

Then..... I signed back into icloud on my Mac, checked the contacts box and all my contacts disappeared again!

Only iCloud?

Then you have some other issue, if your contacts are in the iCloud account but don't appear on iCloud there is apparently no connection between your Mac and iCloud.

Take it to an Apple Store, ask them to sort this out.

Did you actually turn Contacts off? your description is what I would expect to happen if you did not.

Try signing completely out of iCloud (in System Preferences), rebooting and signing back in.

Hello again! Sorry - the kids all arrived and needed feeding!

So...... I signed out, rebooted and signed back in...

I currently have no contacts in my address book but I can restore those again. In my address book preferences I have 2 possibilities... iCloud and On My Mac.... currently iCloud is highlighted with a tick in Enable this account.

If I go into On My Mac the options are 'Synchronize with Yahoo or Google

All other iThings in the house are switched off!

I am DETERMINED to make this work!

Let's do a quick test. enter a card in the iCloud account on your Mac, make sure that you do not enter it into the On My Mac account. Then go to www.icloud.com and login, go to your contacts and cofirm that the card you entered on your Mac is now in iCloud. Then enter a new card into the icloud website, go back to Contacts on your Mac and check if the card is there.

Post back

I need clarity

Did you enter a new contact in the Contacts app on your Mac, if yes is that same contact now on the iCloud website?

Then, did you enter a new contact in the Contacts app on the iCloud website, if yes is that same contact now on your Mac?

Sorry - I am nearly in tears now! I don't know! I am just trying to do what you say. I entered the contact on the cloud and it is there on the cloud....of course! But it doesn't work with my computer!

Thankyou for all your help - I guess I am not cut out for this and the cloud is not as easy as it pretends to be!

This is troubleshooting, you have to follow along and do as I ask or tell me that you can't, otherwise figuring the problem out is not possible. You can take your Mac to an Apple Store and ask them to do it for you if you prefer.

You did half of the test and the result shows that your Mac and iCloud are not connected (at least as far as Contacts go).

Post back and let me know if you want to continue.

In Address book Preferences iCloud is highlighted

I am adding a contact to my address book

I have gone to www.icloud.com and signed in

I then click contacts

And suddenly....... a breakthrough!

I just scrolled down in my address book and found a heading called iCloud contacts.....copied all my contacts and dragged them into that folder.....and there they are!

It's taken me months to get here! Thank goodness! Thank you!

It was so simple - but I was so close to giving up!

The issue is that on the apple site it doesn't give you any detailed help at all - but it is so simple! .....

....Look at your address book (which may be off the bottom of your screen) and then copy and paste your contacts into the iCloud folder! And there they are!

If only that had been explained to me before!

Thanks to you for all your help!

Hillyx

I have now got duplicates of everything though..... 'twas ever thus! :-)

I am having the same problem too when I try to turn on Notes on my Mac to linked to iCloud.

21 characters is the limit, you can not use more.

Restore your backup of your contacts.