Sync Yahoo and Gmail Contacts with Leopard's AddressBook

Both Yahoo and Google provide a method for importing and exporting email addresses to and from OS X AddressBook but I wanted an easier way to keep things synchronized. Fortunately, if you are running OS X 10.5 (Leopard), the AddressBook application provides a straight forward way to do so.

Image representing Google as depicted in Crunc...
Image via CrunchBase

Both Yahoo and Google provide a method for importing and exporting email addresses to and from OS X AddressBook but I wanted an easier way to keep things synchronized. Fortunately, if you are running OS X 10.5 (Leopard), the AddressBook application provides a straight forward way to do so.

Google is special

Like most people I use a web based email service like Yahoo! Mail or Gmail. And like most people I have been using one of these services for quite a long time and I have quite a large number of email addresses that I have saved in the contact list of each of those services, especially Gmail.

Setup

Setup

Gmail account info
Setup is quick and easy. Go into the Preferences for AddressBook. On the General tab you will see three check boxes for each of the following services: MobileMe, Exchange, Yahoo and Google. You can select all (or none) of these check boxes to enable syncing with each of those services. Google is my preferred service for email so tha's the service I setup. Once you select the checkbox, AddressBook will prompt you for your Gmail username and password. Enter that information and click OK to complete setup. If you have a large AddressBook it could take a while for the sync to complete.

Finish Up

Remote duplicatesYou may already have some contacts in AddressBook that are also in Yahoo or Google and you may find duplicates in your AddressBook once the sync is complete. These are easy to remove. From the AddressBook menu select Card->Look for duplicates. AddressBook will find and merge duplicates entries into just one entry. Any changes or additions to your AddressBook contacts will update your online Google or Yahoo contacts and vice versa.

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While Microsoft is busy, fighting over the desktop Apple is busy getting people to carry the desktop with them. If you have an iPod Touch or an iPhone you know how much that product has displaced your laptop. You also realize that for most people an iPod touch or iPhone is enough computer. And this time “enough” is competitively priced.

by Chris Seibold Apr 14, 2009

Welcoming "MackieMac" to our family

CUPERTINO, CA - AUGUST 7: People check out the...
Image by Getty Images via Daylife

With the addition of a 20" iMac for the kids (and an Ikea Vika Amon desk to display it), we are now wholly a Windows-free house. This development was an important goal for me. I am an anal-retentive obsessive-compulsive type who likes everything "just so." It isn't good. I buy all my clothes from the same retailer/brand: shirts, undershirts, pants, underpants, undershirts, shoes, coats. My last three cars were all made by Honda. My TV, DVD player, stereo, and alarm clock are all made by Sony.

What started as new found love for a Mac mini and an iPod shuffle in 2005 wound up being an obsession to do everything the Apple way. We are a family of four; I have an iPod Touch (and maybe an iPhone this summer), my wife has a Red iPod Nano, my son has an iPod nano, and my daughter has the original shuffle (she's the youngest). An Apple Time Capsule, AirPort Extreme and AirPort Express provide regular backups, ubiquitous wireless access, and music streaming around the house.

Where my kids used to argue over who crashed the Dell, now they argue who spent more time with "MackieMac." Parental Controls was one of the first features I enabled. My kids are addicted to Pokemon, Webkinz, American Girl crack. They get to spend one hour each day; 3 hours on the weekend. Enough to keep them out of the Disney clinic for recovering screen addicts. Being kids, their favourite application is Photo Booth. This fact might be worse than letting them catch another Chimchar. They have also relieved me of the Bluetooth Mighty Mouse I used on my MacBook.

duct taped dell
Dell Inspiron 2600 - Circa 2001

My wife is enjoying computing life without duct tape. She was previously addicted to the iTunes Bollywood edition, but the lack of Windows crashes now allows her to up her habit slightly. Hits by Lata and A.R Rahman are helping fill the 120GB hard drive on her new White MacBook. She has also upgraded to scolding me via iChat Video.

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G4 Mac mini

Meanwhile, the Mac mini that started the obsession serves the most critical role; as a media server and repository for all our family photos and videos. Mac mini has been upgraded from Tiger to Leopard; from iLife 06 to iLife 09; from 512MB of RAM to 1 GB. He's the one that paved the path for the others to follow. Apple turned a $500 customer into a lifelong addict.