Address Book disapears

[joelorr]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel
Email Client: pop

I moved to Entourage 2008 3 days ago. Import from Mail and Address Book went fine. Sync with iCal worked. Once I grokked the "calendar vs. category" issue, MobileMe syncs fine to my iPhone.

Yesterday, my Address Book disappeared without a trace. I still had the vcf from Apple Address Book on my desktop, so I dragged it in again, and everything seemed fine.

Today it happened again.

I suspect SyncServices, and I turned off syncing with Address Book for now. But since I actually need it, my workaround will be a daily archive before turning sync back on.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks!

Joel

 

[Diane Ross]

I moved to Entourage 2008 3 days ago. Import from Mail and Address Book went
fine. Sync with iCal worked. Once I grokked the "calendar vs. category" issue,
MobileMe syncs fine to my iPhone.

Sync categories in Entourage with groups in Address Book (use to sync my
"Cell Phone" category contacts with my phone using iSync.)

Yesterday, my Address Book disappeared without a trace. I still had the vcf
from Apple Address Book on my desktop, so I dragged it in again, and
everything seemed fine.

Sounds like you selected the wrong choice when enabling Sync Services.

There's a dialog that pops-up in Entourage when you turn on synching of a
calendar or address book that asks something like: "You have enabled Sync
Services for a folder, do you want to?"

Replace Entourage items with Sync Services items
Replace Sync Services items with Entourage items
Merge Entourage items with Sync Services items

See this page for a description of the choices.

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/syncservices/basics.html>

 

[joelorr]

I thought I had chosen "Merge," but maybe not. I just did, and am hoping for the best.

Thank you very much for your speedy and comprehensive response, Diane.

Warmly,
Joel

 

[Diane Ross]

I thought I had chosen "Merge," but maybe not. I just did, and am hoping for
the best.

Thank you very much for your speedy and comprehensive response, Diane.

Hope that works for you. Sync Services is a bit of a muddle now. Some users
find that selecting only one sync works best and/or turning sync off and
doing it manually every so often. We are all hoping Snow Leopard will bring
improvements.

 

[joelorr]

Alas, just went to look for an address and found it gone again. Any other thoughts?

Joel

 

[Diane Ross]

Alas, just went to look for an address and found it gone again. Any other
thoughts?

Turn off Sync Services. Only turn on one item at a time. Sync. Then turn
off.

 

[joelorr]

Doing as suggested. Only now, sync of calendar doesn't work at all...:-(

Is there some kind of reset procedure?

Also, Entourage crashes 1-2 times a day (shades of PC Outlook! ) Anything I can do about it?

Warmly,
Joel

 

[Diane Ross]

Doing as suggested. Only now, sync of calendar doesn't work at all...:-(

You can leave one on at a time and see if that works without problems.

Is there some kind of reset procedure?

Also, Entourage crashes 1-2 times a day (shades of PC Outlook! ) Anything I
can do about it?

What type of account? (POP, IMAP, Exchange)

It could be database corruption. Imported Identities can be problematic.
Once you export your data and import into a new Identity Entourage 2008 is
usually rock solid.

How to manually move your data. (when import fails and/or you need to move
to a new Identity same version or revert to an older version)

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/install/manual_install.html>

It could be problems in your User's folder like fonts, caches, preferences.
To eliminate your User's folder Go to System Preferences --> Create a New
User in Accounts. Switch to the New User by logging out/in or use Fast User
Switching. This gives you a clean environment to test your applications. For
Entourage be sure to set "leave on server" under the options tab when
testing.

Are you a new Mac user? If yes, then download the Apple combo updater and
run it for good measure. Links and why here:

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/troubleshoot/combo.html>

Anytime you can download a combo rather then use the Software Updater, it is
always the best option.