Addresses being deleted from Address Book

[Muskie]

Today I downloaded an update for Office. I don't know if they are
connected, but I can't help think they are. I also noticed that in my
Address Book, the .APP from Apple my contacts are being removed
presumeably by sync services. They end up in my Entourage Address
Book (ON my Computer) including making duplicates after I manually
exported them and readded them to my Address Book.

Worse I had many groups and they are now all empty and it appears I'll
have to rebuild them even though I can get the addresses back in to
Address Book fromm Entourage.

I am force to use Entourage for Work as we have Exchange. It is not
my main email reader nor is it my main address book. Sync services
doesn't mean much to me, maybe after I get a Blackberry.

Everything was working.

I want the items in my work calendar to go into iCal. That is no
longer working. Though events added in iCal calender "Entourage" do
end up in Entourage. I also want to be able to access my Address Book
from inside Entourage. I want Address Book to be my main Address
book, everything was organized, now I have 23 contacts in it. I have
three thousand in my entourage address book, including doubles...

Help!

Mac OS X 10.4 MS Office 2004

 

[Diane Ross]

I am force to use Entourage for Work as we have Exchange. It is not
my main email reader nor is it my main address book. Sync services
doesn't mean much to me, maybe after I get a Blackberry.

You are using Sync Services to sync to iCal.

Everything was working.

I want the items in my work calendar to go into iCal. That is no
longer working. Though events added in iCal calender "Entourage" do
end up in Entourage. I also want to be able to access my Address Book
from inside Entourage. I want Address Book to be my main Address
book, everything was organized, now I have 23 contacts in it. I have
three thousand in my entourage address book, including doubles...

I wasn't aware that you could sync to both iCal and Entourage. This sounds
like a recipe for disaster when they end up syncing. In order for your iCal
entries to show up in Entourage, they have to be in the "Entourage" calendar
in iCal.

There is no setting for Default Address Book. Why would you expect Entourage
to be able to access your Apple Address Book? Other than having Sync
Services sync your Apple Address Book to Entourage, they are two separate
applications.

To get rid of duplicates use one of the scripts to remove duplicates.

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq_topic/duplicates.html>

I suggest making the Apple Address Book (sounds like it contains the most
data) as your base. Erase everything in Entourage then sync using "Replace
Entourage items with Sync Services items."

It might help to understand the basics of Sync Services:

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

Learn and Troubleshoot Sync Services

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

 

[Muskie]

You are using Sync Services to sync to iCal.

I read and did most of that stuff long ago. 20 minutes ago I had
almost 2000 contacts in my address book. Now I have 693. I had
turned off syncing in between Entrourage and Address Book. I just
added some groups and was going to rebuild my contacts and they're
gone again!

What is going on. I just went away from my desk to return some
scissors I borrowed. 1400 contacts just gone! They didn't end up in
Entourage this time. They are just gone.

 

[Diane Ross]

I read and did most of that stuff long ago. 20 minutes ago I had
almost 2000 contacts in my address book. Now I have 693. I had
turned off syncing in between Entrourage and Address Book. I just
added some groups and was going to rebuild my contacts and they're
gone again!

What is going on. I just went away from my desk to return some
scissors I borrowed. 1400 contacts just gone! They didn't end up in
Entourage this time. They are just gone.

Are you saying you were working in the Apple Address Book when this
happened?

If Entourage is not syncing with the Address Book then you need to look else
where for the problem. Do you sync with .mac, phone, PDA??

 

[Muskie]

Are you saying you were working in the Apple Address Book when this
happened?

If Entourage is not syncing with the Address Book then you need to look else
where for the problem. Do you sync with .mac, phone, PDA??

I turned off all syncing. I eventually rebooted. But I'm saying I
had 2000 contacts got up went to borrow siccors and when I returned I
had 698 or something. It was crazy. They didn't go into entourage
they just disappeared. I spent a lot of time on Thursday and Friday
fixing this but who knows if I lost an address or two...

 

[Diane Ross]

I turned off all syncing. I eventually rebooted. But I'm saying I
had 2000 contacts got up went to borrow siccors and when I returned I
had 698 or something. It was crazy. They didn't go into entourage
they just disappeared. I spent a lot of time on Thursday and Friday
fixing this but who knows if I lost an address or two...

You still did not directly answer my question, but you implied that it was
the Address Book that lost the contacts. If Entourage Sync Services is
turned off then you should be asking on the Apple Discussions lists.

Unless you are specific you will never be able to get real help.

 

[Muskie]

I can't be more specific as I had no clue what happened. But
addresses did get removed from my Address Book and they did end up in
Entourage, the exact ones I was now missing in Address Book. This was
after the most recent update that I downloaded from Microsoft.

Now I don't let Entourage Sync with my Address Book. I'm going to be
adding a Blackberry and even ACT! to the programs my contacts will be
shared with as this is the direction they are heading where I work.

 

[Diane Ross]

I can't be more specific as I had no clue what happened. But
addresses did get removed from my Address Book and they did end up in
Entourage, the exact ones I was now missing in Address Book. This was
after the most recent update that I downloaded from Microsoft.

This is impossible if Entourage Sync Services is turned off. Somehow this
must have been reset. An update cannot do this.

These are the options when syncing:

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

Now I don't let Entourage Sync with my Address Book. I'm going to be
adding a Blackberry and even ACT! to the programs my contacts will be
shared with as this is the direction they are heading where I work.

Understanding what happened is clouded by circumstances. I would recommend
that you keep backups of your important data until you are confident that
your syncs are going as expected.

See this tutorial to help backup your data.

Entourage and Time-Machine like backup (creates chronological backup of
Identity can be used by both Tiger and Leopard)

<http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/2008/01/entourage_and_time_machine.html>