How to Sync Mac Address Book via Yahoo without .Mac [Mac Guide]

By Franklin Davis on Nov 1, 2007 filed under Apple, Tips | Comments

This just a quick tip to explain how to sync your Mac Address Book (Leopard only) via Yahoo without needing a .Mac account. If you don’t have a Yahoo account you’ll need to go here and sign up for one. After you have your Yahoo account ready, proceed to step 1.

Step 1

Open Address Book and go to the Preferences-General pane and check the box to enable Synchronize with Yahoo. You’ll be prompted to enter your Yahoo account information, see below.

Step 2

Now open iSync.app and go to the Preferences panel. Check the box to show status in the menu bar (see below).

Step 3

Go the the iSync menu bar icon and select ‘Sync Now’. You will be prompted to replace or merge with your Yahoo Address Book.

menubar icon

Repeat

Simply repeat steps 1-3 on any other Macs where you want your address book to be available.

Congrats - enjoy your freedom from .Mac and be sure to check out the other Leopard Tips listed below.

Known Limitations

1) Yahoo Address Book does not have an Instant Messaging (IM) field, so this information will not sync.

Have something to add? Send me a message on twitter or leave a comment below.

What Now?

Viewing 29 Comments

Dave 1 year ago 1 point
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also, it does not sort categories of your contacts.

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Rob 1 year ago 1 point
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Great article. Clear and useful. Thanks!

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NJ 1 year ago 1 point
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great post. thanks !!

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http://shop.jainsweb.com

Franklin 2 years ago 1 point
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@Annette - Sounds like you might have a corrupted address book database. I'd recommend reverting to a working backup.

@Richard - :)

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Richard 2 years ago 1 point
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Great tip. Works like a charm!

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Annette 2 years ago 1 point
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Hi Franklin, I tried this and I let the sync symbol in the menu bar work for an hour (it was spinning & when I clicked on it, it said "synchronizing") but nothing was syncing, so I stopped it. Has anyone else had this problem? I originally just wanted to back up my Address Book, but since I switched over to Leopard, my Address Book application freezes when I select "Save" after File - Export - Address Book Archive. So... I'm striking out everywhere. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

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Franklin 2 years ago 1 point
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@Sam - Glad to help.

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Sam 2 years ago 1 point
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Hi Franklin, It is now working for me, I did try it several times to make sure I was doing the right thing. The next day I rebooted from a cold start and I tried it and it worked. I now a sync symbol on my top bar. Thanks for your help!

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Franklin 2 years ago 1 point
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@Miguel - Not that I know of, please report back if you find a way to enable auto syncing.

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Franklin 2 years ago 1 point
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@Sam - Ok I started from scratch on a new machine to try and figure out your problem. During step 2, when you have iSync open. Go to iSync preferences and check the 'Enable syncing on this computer' as well as the 'show status in the menubar' option. Close the preferences window but NOT iSync, check the menubar icon to confirm a 'Sync Now' option is available. If it isn't open preferences again and toggle the 'Enable syncing on this computer' option off and back on. Close the preferences window and check the menubar again. Repeat this until you get a 'Sync Now' option, took me a 3 times (some sort of bug). Make sure you quit iSync before you select Sync Now though. Good luck, let me know if it works for you.

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Miguel 2 years ago 1 point
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Great tip, but is there a way to get this done automatically?

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Sam 2 years ago 1 point
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Hello Franklin
I followed your 3 steps and I tried #5 an #13 suggestions you made above. I continue to get the "You cannot sync your computer until you add a device to iSync". Anything else I can try? Thanks.

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Franklin 2 years ago 1 point
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@Brian - Try reseting the sync history. To do so, go to the iSync.app - Preferences and click reset sync history. Quit iSync and try a fresh sync from the menubar.

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brian 2 years ago 1 point
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My yahoo contacts only synced over once, and new changes were not being applied for subsequent syncs, so i it tried to reset everything, i deleted my local contacts, now nothing seems to sync, i ge no errors, and my online contacts are fine, how do i resync them back in?

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Franklin 2 years ago 1 point
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@Cary - I'm glad that you found it useful.

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Cary Gordon 2 years ago 1 point
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Amazing that Yahoo couldn't get this right on their site.

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Franklin 2 years ago 1 point
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@John - Try deleting the iSync preferences file(~/Library/Preferences/ com.apple.isync.plist) and then repeating the steps described above.

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john wohlwend 2 years ago 1 point
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Hi.

I have tried your advice to Tracy, had same issue regarding sync now not appearing on menu bar. mine still does not work. Any other thoughts?

thanks

john

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Franklin 2 years ago 1 point
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@Winnie - The sync process will delete any entries from yahoo that you delete locally. This change should then propagate to the other synced machines. As for getting the initial message for merge or replace, you could try deleting (or temporarily moving to desktop) the isync preference file located in ~/Library/Preferences/ and then re-syncing.

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Winnie 2 years ago 1 point
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Couple questions. If I delete a bunch of address book entries on one computer, and it merges my address book with what is at yahoo, I'm presuming those entries won't be deleted on my yahoo address book. If I replace what is on the yahoo address book, then they would be deleted on my first computer and at yahoo, but my last computer can only replace the yahoo address book or merge. So how do you ever delete something and have it reflected on both computers.

Second. I originally chose to merge rather than replace. If I would now like to change that option and replace, how can I do that. I can find any place I can change it after making the original choice.

Thanks for your help.

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Aaron M. Clay 2 years ago 1 point
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I just wanted to leave a thank you for this quick article. I'm a long time computer user first time mac user and this is the first helpful article (and comments) that have helped me get used to working in an entirely different way. I must say that I too had the same issue Tracey had except I didn't know what the "menu bar was". I am a NOOB! I'm finding the mac community to be quite helpful and nerdy...my kinda of people. =) Again, thanks for the article and the help.

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Franklin 2 years ago 1 point
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@Uri - When you go to System Preferences - .Mac, is your account information filled in here? For myself I never filled this out so I see a 'Try .Mac for 60 days at no charge' window. Also open iSync and check to see if .Mac shows up in the iSync window, mine is blank except for the Sync button.

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Uri 2 years ago 1 point
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Hi Franklin,
Thanks for the tip. I had the same problems as Tracy but then it worked for me too. My only thing is that I get an error message every time I sync telling me that my .mac account has expired. Any thoughts?

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tracy 2 years ago 1 point
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Franklin, you're the best :) I did that, at first nothing changed. But then, I restarted my computer, and now the "Sync Now" appears and all works great. I've synced my Yahoo contacts with my Address Book. Thanks!!

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Franklin 2 years ago 1 point
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@tracy - I think I know what your problem is. Open iSync, go to Preferences, and make sure 'Enable syncing on this computer' is checked. Confirm that 'Sync Now' shows up in the menubar before closing the preferences window. Then close the preferences window and quit iSync. Once iSync is closed give the 'Sync Now' a try.

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tracy 2 years ago 1 point
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Hi Franklin, Thanks. I see the two arrows making a circle shape, the menubar sync icon right? When I click on it, three options appear. The first two are grayed out: "Never syncronized .Mac" and "Syncing disabled." The third link, which is clickable, says "Open .Mac Sync Preferences." Maybe I'm clicking on the wrong thing?

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Franklin 2 years ago 1 point
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@tracy - make sure you are initiating the sync from the menubar, not from iSync. If the iSync window is open it will not work without a device. just click on the menubar icon and select 'Sync Now'. Let me know if that doesn't work for you

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tracy 2 years ago 1 point
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Thanks for the instructions above, but when I follow the instructions, my iSync says: "you cannot sync your computer and devices until you add a devise to iSync. At which point I can choose from Cancel or Add Device. (Add Device tries to connect to Bluetooth. Doesn't bring up options about Yahoo) Any suggestions? I have Leopard and haven't used the Address Book.

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Muthu 2 years ago 1 point
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Good article. i had a hurdle to have it working in one shot. But once you do it from the top toolbar, it all worked. thanks.

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