Help Eris Contacts Problem

[Sailingmaster]

A friend of mine has an Eris. Somehow he's gotten things where his contacts won't sync with Google anymore. About 90% of them won't. He couldn't explain to me what exactly happened, but he says they're no longer on his GMail contact list, and they don't sync back from his phone. All the contacts he's created since, sync. He's been using Missing Sync for Android, and so far he's created multiple entries on the phone, but not gotten them to re-sync with GMail.

I've never had anything like that happen on my DInc. And, I'm usually who he goes to for tech support. I'll take any suggestions at this point.

He's a Mac user, so keep that in mind for help suggestions please.

Thank you kindly!

 

[doogald]

A friend of mine has an Eris. Somehow he's gotten things where his contacts won't sync with Google anymore. About 90% of them won't. He couldn't explain to me what exactly happened, but he says they're no longer on his GMail contact list, and they don't sync back from his phone. All the contacts he's created since, sync. He's been using Missing Sync for Android, and so far he's created multiple entries on the phone, but not gotten them to re-sync with GMail.

I've never had anything like that happen on my DInc. And, I'm usually who he goes to for tech support. I'll take any suggestions at this point.

He's a Mac user, so keep that in mind for help suggestions please.

Thank you kindly!

Missing Sync may have been the cause - I tried that when I had a WM phone and it was never reliable (though I never lost contacts - it would just constantly start throwing up sync errors with weird number codes and no way to tell what was causing the error.)

Address Book on the Mac has built-in support to sync contacts with a Gmail account. There are other for-pay sync solutions that are a little more robust (Spanning Sync, BusySync), but all that you need is in Address Book.

Start Address Book, preferences - under the Accounts tab, you can choose to sync with Google.

The same goes for iCal - you can sync calendars with Google calendar, so there is no reason to use Missing Sync for that.

This way, you are using Google online as the center of your syncing, and Google syncs with your phone and with your computer. By using Missing Sync, your phone was syncing with Google and with your Mac. Using the built-in tools, you never have to tether the phone to the Mac to sync - both the phone and the Mac sync with Google.

Oh, all of this is assuming that he has Snow Leopard (10.6). I think updated versions of Leopard/10.5 will also sync - so long as your friend is keeping up with Mac updates, it should be all set.

 

[copestag]

just guessing here since without looking at it I couldnt be sure but it sounds like the contacts arent "google" contacts and thats why they wont sync.......

have him go through and delete all the duplicates so that he has a good list on his phone......

then from the main 'People' window select MENU > Import/Export > and export the contacts to the SD card

then delete all contacts

then from the main 'People' window select MENU> Import/Export > and import the contacts from the SD card as all 'Google' contacts

then they should sync with Gmail

 

[Alex Taylor]

Hi, you can advise your friend to take a look at SyncMate, it allows syncing Mac and Android devices. At least, he can test it for free - SyncMate Free edition allows you syncing contacts & calendars, Expert edition offers additional options.

Just download and inastall SyncMate on Mac and sync it with Android.

 

[doogald]

just guessing here since without looking at it I couldnt be sure but it sounds like the contacts arent "google" contacts and thats why they wont sync.......

I hadn't even thought of that. It could be that as well.

I still think that apps like Missing Sync and SyncMate are unnecessary for Mac users. Cloud sync is the way to go, especially if you have an Android phone and a Gmail account with a Mac. Why tether if you don't have to?

(I also tried SyncMate back in the Windows Mobile days and I couldn't even get that to sync. I was so much happier when I switched to an Exchange-based sync with GMail/Google Calendar with Windows Mobile and syncing directly from Mac apps to Gmail/Gcal. SailingMaster's friend, of course, may decide differently.)

By the way, an article about syncing Macs with MobileMe or Google that details some of the steps that you can take to make this work: Sync data using MobileMe or Google | Business Center | Working Mac | Macworld

 

[metlcat]

I still think that apps like Missing Sync and SyncMate are unnecessary for Mac users. Cloud sync is the way to go, especially if you have an Android phone and a Gmail account with a Mac. Why tether if you don't have to?

I agree, especially if you have upgraded to Snow Leopard. All contacts and calendar appointments sync with your google information which syncs with the phone. That's the main reason I upgraded.