DISQUS

Robert Goldman · 1 year ago

Anyone know if this will work on Macs that have the Missing Sync installed to work with phones? Any chance that the Google syncing will mess up the Palm (or other mobile) sync?

Christopher Ellis · 1 year ago

You can add to you list of known limitations a lack of support for contacts with Suffixes. The Address Book-Google Contacts sync will "duplicate" these contacts creating a new false record where the suffixes become concatenated (in a variety of ways) with the middle and last names, data is shifted, etc.

Franklin · 1 year ago

Thanks for the tip, I added the limitation to the list. Any other troubles?

Seb · 1 year ago

I followed your step by step guide to the T, but it failed at the last hurdle (sync'ing). As I had the option in Address Book for Google, but pressing Sync Now on the toolbar span for awhile, stopped and did nothing.

I found the solution was to:
- Install Xcode Tools from OS 10.5 disc (under Optional Installs/Xcode Tools/XcodeTools.mpkg)
- cd /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/GoogleContactSync.framework/Versions/Current/Resources
- sudo ./gconsync --register 1
- Open Syncrospector (/Developer/Applications/Utilities/Syncrospector.app)
- Click Google Contacts press the Sync icon
- After that it prompted me to replace or merge!

Only problem now is that I think that its a manual process of using Syncrospector each time to sync my contacts, unless anyone knows the command line option to do this as a cron job?

Franklin · 1 year ago

Sorry to hear you are having troubles. I can assure you that I didn't have use Syncrospector to get mine working, that certainly sounds like a lot of trouble. A couple of questions.
1) Do you have any devices setup in iSync?
2) Have you tried deleting your Gmail Contacts before the first sync? That was my method since you can always add them back via AtoG.app if the sync fails.

Keep me informed on your progress, I'm sure we can get it working without requiring a cron job.

Franklin · 1 year ago

Everyone,
I've discovered that without a mobile phone or PDA setup in iSync you will need to enable both yahoo and google syncing in Address Book for the 'Sync Now' option to show up in the menubar. This should fix the troubles some readers were having.

Pie Eater · 1 year ago

Hi all,

I was getting stuck on Step 4 - I could not get iSync menu option or Syncrospect to allow me to manually sync. But I did run this command in /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/GoogleContactSync.framework/Versions/Current/Resources and it worked: ./gconsync --sync gconclid --register 1 --username myusername@gmail.com --password mypassword --syncmode fast

if you just run ./gconsync it tells you some command line options that you may wish to change. Once I ran this, I started resolving conflicts and my Address Book entries grew by about 400% or something like that

Hope that's another clue for some of you.

Franklin · 1 year ago

Did you enable Yahoo syncing as well as Google? You will need to enable Yahoo syncing or alternatively have a device (such as a phone or PDA) configured in iSync for the Sync Now option to show up. Let me know if this doesn't fix your issue. Might try a restart after step 3 if you are having trouble. I promise you it will eventually show up.

Pie Eater · 1 year ago

I personally don't have a Yahoo account to setup, and my experience has been that it won't enable sync without being able to sign in to the yahoo service.

Franklin · 1 year ago

You are correct about needing the Yahoo account for iSync's 'Sync Now' to show up in the menubar. Do you perhaps have a device you could add to iSync or a .Mac account? Here is the list of iSync compatible devices,

http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/isync/

Tim · 1 year ago

Seems like gmail adds the email address to its address book for every person I email. So I'm not sure if I want my apple address book of email addresses i will never use.

Franklin · 1 year ago

That is certainly an issue, I'm hoping Google will in the future allow users to disable this feature in the settings.

wbacon · 1 year ago

Does anybody know anything about htis:

http://www.google.com/support/contactsync/

Franklin · 1 year ago

That page is the google support page for the sync ability described above. To confirm bring up the 'Address Book Help' window. Then search for google and click Show the 'Synchronizing with Google Contacts ' topic. The link to the google page is at the bottom. Note, be sure to bring up the help window then search, searching from the menubar doesn't work for this topic. Too bad the directions from the help topic omit the required tips listed above. I'm thinking 10.5.4 might remove some of these troubles.

panrobal · 1 year ago

Hello,

I'd also like to have this working but unfortunately i don't have the file: com.apple.iPod.plist because I've never attached an iPod to my Mac.
I could use some help with that.

Andrew · 11 months ago

I have the same problem. Would it be possible to just make a dummy com.apple.iPod.plist file? Does someone have a file we can download or the text that should go in the plist? I tried creating the file with the info above but this didn't seem to work.

-Thanks

Andrew · 11 months ago

Ok, to answer my own question and panrobal's, I just copied the plist from here:
http://lifehacker.com/393855/enable-google-cont...
and I made sure to save it in the right folder as binary type plist

txdesi · 1 year ago

hey franklin....i tried all of your options in trying to get "sync now" option available on the drop down menu...but for some reason it STILL doesnt work....do u have any more suggestions?

Franklin · 1 year ago

did you enable yahoo syncing and try a reboot?

if that doesn't work, trash the iSync plist file and try again ...

Peter Radcliffe · 10 months ago

You can actually do the plist editing with one command if you already have synced with any ipod;
defaults write ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iPod Devices -dict-add foo '{ "Device Class" = iPod; "Family ID" = 10001; }'

Once you have then set it up in Address Book preferences you can run the sync by hand with;
/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/GoogleContactSync.framework/Versions/A/Resources/gconsync --sync com.google.ContactSync --report 1 --entitynames "com.apple.contacts.Contact,com.apple.contacts.Email Address,com.apple.contacts.IM,com.apple.contacts.Phone Number,com.apple.contacts.Street Address"

I'm using this with success at the moment...

P.

Franklin · 10 months ago

Excellent Tip! I wasn't aware of the manual sync script. You could also add this as an alias in your local .bashrc file for quick execution, i.e.,

alias gsync='/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/GoogleContactSync.framework/Versions/A/Resources/gconsync --sync com.google.ContactSync --report 1 --entitynames "com.apple.contacts.Contact,com.apple.contacts.Email Address,com.apple.contacts.IM,com.apple.contacts.Phone Number,com.apple.contacts.Street Address"'

note, that is a double quote followed by a single quote at the end there.

Cheers!

Jonathan · 10 months ago

Great article! Thanks for the tips! Unfortunately, I haven't gotten it to completely work.

At, first, I was able to get it to function perfectly: my gmail contacts and address book synced perfectly, and address book even synced with my cell phone. But because of some duplications and formatting differences, I decide to start from scratch: I discontinued the sync and completely deleted my Mac address book and the contacts in my phone (a Motorola PEBL). When I set up the sync again, my address book didn't sync with my gmail contacts. I tried a whole combination of different things like restarting address book, firefox, the computer; syncing with my cell phone, syncing without my cellphone; but nothing worked. I ended up just importing my gmail contacts backup vcard file into address book. But even after that, it still wouldn't sync (I created 2 test contacts, one in gmail, one in address book to see if they would sync with each other, they didn't).

Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated. Oh, and I don't know if this will help, but I'm using a first generation MacBook running Mac OS X 10.5.6, Address Book version 4.1.1 (699), and using a Motorola PEBL cell phone.

Justin · 10 months ago

This part makes no sense to me:
"Note: You may want to duplicate the iPod entry to prevent this from being disabled by future iPod syncs. To do so copy everything contained within the <dict> and </dict> below, ..... and paste just below the original entry. Then simply change the <key> number slightly to prevent overwriting"

Can you make that more clear please? Do you add in another <key> 000B27111236C6CB</key> line and change that key slightly? Or just copy the contents between the 3rd <dict> </dict> (it's like 21 lines that describes the iPod device) and paste them below the first </dict>? Sorry it is kind of confusing and I'm trying to get around the problem of an iPod sync overwriting my file.

Thx.

ben · 10 months ago

works wonderful with my Gphone , gmail , and mac address book - thanks to your yahoo tip - thanks!!!!

ben · 9 months ago

ehm, no it doesn't! i thought it did, but then i realized that i suddenly had twice as many contacts in my Mac Addressbook, and therefore, also in my gmailaccount/gphone! I think it's the yahoo's fault - when will there be a way to sync google directly without having to also sync with yahoo??? argh

i'll have to live with double 3500 contacts for now instead of with 1750!!!

Donovan · 9 months ago

I experimented with this and got it going. It was a shame though having to enable syncing with Yahoo in order to sync my contacts with google. The only way that I am aware of getting away from this is to use the fee based "Spanning Sync". It's a pity, so close so far.

Also, still looking for a way to sync my tasks on my mac (to do list) with google. Hopefully 21st technology will catch up some time!

zaphu · 9 months ago

test

Scott · 9 months ago

Just use "A to G". Google it. Took 3 seconds to do the whole process.

It turns your Address book into a .CSV file and you log into gmail and just import it!

Simple.

Franklin · 9 months ago

good suggestion - in fact I used to use that method myself. however, there are two problems with it:
1) isn't really syncing, rather one way update
2) kills all authorization for gtalk - this one is the real annoyance since you'll have to reauthorize all your chat friends each time you update your contacts via AtoG

polzifer · 9 months ago

I am completely missing the option in Addressbooks'preferences where it says "Sync with google"...

Syncing via csv might be the solution or is the Syncing directly doing something like converting to Googles format as well?

Franklin · 9 months ago

you'll need to alter the "com.apple.iPod.plist" file as described above to see the sync with google option ...

mac_user · 9 months ago

My blackberry contacts will sync to and from gmail but I can't get the mac contacts to sync to gmail in either direction. Any suggestions???

Franklin · 9 months ago

did you follow the above directions?

David CH · 9 months ago

I found a solution to the "Sync Now disabled" problem when enabling Google sync in Address Book. By default, the sync client for Google is an "app client", which means it requires some other address book to run (MobileMe,Yahoo,Exchange or an iPod contact sync) to run.

To enable Google sync client to operate as a full sync client, one has to change the client type from "app" to "server". This will enable the "Sync now" button even when Yahoo sync is not selected, and will make sure Google sync is run every time a sync is run.

To change the Google sync client type, open a terminal window and type (one line)
sudo defaults write /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/GoogleContactSync.framework/Resources/ClientDescription Type 'server'

Then type the following one line command to restore the permissions on the plist file:
sudo chmod 644 /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/GoogleContactSync.framework/Resources/ClientDescription.plist

You can now go in Address Book's preferences and enable Google contacts sync, without needing to enable Yahoo sync or plug an iPod for sync to work.

Enjoy!

Franklin · 9 months ago

thanks for the tip! i'll give it a try and report back.

Joe · 8 months ago

Worked like a charm. Thank you for taking the time to figure this out!

Ken · 8 months ago

Thank you, David. Worked like a charm. I like this method because I only connect my iPhone to the Mac to perform firmware updates.

Ivaylo · 8 months ago

There is no com.apple.iPod.plist file in the /libraby/preferences folder.
Do you know why this is?

Background Check · 8 months ago

Thank you, David. Worked really well. I only connect my iPhone to the Mac to perform firmware updates and that is really easy.

Corey · 8 months ago

Hi, I was trying out your handy tip "How to Enable Mac Address Book to Sync with Google’s Gmail Contacts without an iPhone or .Mac [Mac Guide]" but the "com.apple.iPod.plist" file is missing completely from my computer. So I'm not sure what to do at this point.

Thanks

Mattresses · 7 months ago

Are you logged in as Admin..

Golden Retriever Puppies · 7 months ago

Thanks for a great post, I have been facing this problem with my Imac for sometime and just could not figure this out. You have put it up in a very simple way.. Just made my life easier.. Thanks again..

CakePoker · 7 months ago

This is exactly the information I need, and this was not a piece of cake. Nowadays there are so many portals that it is very confusing plus they are not always easily interface-able. I mean it is still not a piece of cake, as there are many steps to follow. Let's see if I can do it. CakePoker

Wedding Favors · 7 months ago

Thanks for sharing, I have recently bought a MAC and a beginner as a Mac user, have always been into Windows based systems.
I actually have been struggling to get things done. It was really nice to know the ways you have demonstrated.. very useful

Sprinklers · 7 months ago

I am getting the data change alert and have been accepting but somehow it is not happening not sure what the issue is?

Vancouver Web Design · 7 months ago

Thanks for your post, was really useful to know the synchronizing process..

Party Supplies · 7 months ago

Thanks for the iSync part you made my life much easier now..

Jimin · 6 months ago

Thanks for this tip. it works after I read this instruction.

DFdisqus · 5 months ago

Hi, thanks for the guide, but there is one problem. the .com.apple.ipod.plist file doesn't exist (apparently) unless you have connected an Ipod to your Mac. While I'm pretty comfortable hacking around, I'm new to Mac so I don't know if it is as simple as creating the file using a plist editor or not. I have a STUPID LG phone which I found out after buying it, won't sync with anything. Apparently LG refused to adopt a standard that nokia, sony, etc... did. I am adding this comment in case you want to share it with people. I would never have bought the phone.
But anyway, what do I do now, both your method and the alternative assume the plist file exists.
Thanks
Joe Nicholson

Nick Young · 5 months ago

Thank you so much for this. For a while I have been manually trying to sync two systems, this works like a charm.

Thanks.
Nick

Hilton Crews · 5 months ago

Can you describe how to do this on Leopard 10.5.7?
Thanks,
Hilton

dovcohn · 5 months ago

I have several ipods and when looking plist file there are 12 different Devices listed? Which on should I update?

Jered · 5 months ago

Yes, Is there any difference with Leopard 10.5.7 as the user before me asks? I followed STEP 1 completely (along with the "sudo" updates you posted 3 months ago... then I opened Address Book and found that there is no "Google Sync" available under Preferences/General.

I'm hoping I can get this to work.

I'm a new Mac user and hope that I didn't screw anything up.

dovcohn · 5 months ago

What do I do if I have a number of Ipods listed in the plist file? Which one should I update the Family ID on?

muffin9129 · 4 months ago

This worked like a charm, who knew it could be so easy, here I have been fighting with it for quite some time. I thought about just going and getting an iPhone!

david · 4 months ago

Good post!
Thanks for sharing

jagsv · 3 months ago

didn't work for me.... don't know why... any ideas?
Im running on OS 10.5.7, processor 2.4 ghz intel core 2 duo

I did as followed, but i hit the sync but and i don't get on my gmail contacts the recently added contacts in my address book....

wierd, but trully!

Appreciate help!

Thankx

Pat_R · 3 months ago

Who needs a .Mac guide when you have... you. LOL. This helped a lot I thought it was going to take me forever but it seems to be functioning perfectly.

Jordan · 3 months ago

If "syncing disabled" appears in the isync menubar dropdown, I found a really ghetto (but satisfactory) fix. If you don't really care about Yahoo! having a copy of your contacts, you can create a bogus Yahoo! account, then enable Yahoo syncing as well. Since Yahoo sync is supported without hacking, the iSync "sync now" option will be enabled.

fjcmurphy · 2 months ago

Hi!
I just upgraded to Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6), with all its SW updates. Somehow the sync between Google contacts and Mac Address Book works fine fioe from the beginning; but now the sync of my iCal and Contacts via iTunes with my iPod (not iPod Touch) does not work anymore. Your "trick" you described above with the plist does not work anymore. It used to work pre-Snow Leopard.

Any hints? Thanks

JaySmith · 1 month ago

Yeah I actually did what Jordan is talking about below and it actually does work. But I didnt find it in the isync menu bar. But in the regualr menu bar.

e cigarettes man

Cynthia Blue · 1 month ago

It's working for me although I don't like to have to sync to Yahoo at the same time... what takes precedence, yahoo or google contacts? I tried what David suggested, to try to not require the Yahoo sync portion, but it hasn't worked. I'm on Leopard.

I'm a brand new Mac user too, only had my MacBook for a month. I love it! Never going back to winblows!

Cynthia Blue · 1 month ago

Plus... it's doubled up all my contacts in my Mac Address book. Hrm...

Cynthia Blue · 1 month ago

Actually, my Mac Address book is not syncing with Google Contacts at all. Even following all this. It is syncing with Yahoo Contacts but since I have a G1 that doesn't do me any good. I need to sinc with Google Contacts!

nlgordaz · 2 weeks ago

Google has a how to guide on their blog about this: http://googlemac.blogspot.com/2008/05/mac-os-x-...


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