How to Sync Yahoo! and Google Contacts With Apple's Address Book

Consolidating all your contacts can be a chore if you have more than one place for them. Google's Gmail and Yahoo! Mail both store contacts. Gmail adds a new one every time you send an email to a new address, and Yahoo! has its own contact manager. If you have a lot of contacts spread in several different places, a great feature to get them all in one spot is Apple's Address Book. This only works if you own and have synced an iPhone or iPod touch with your computer. Here are ways to do it.

Things You'll Need

• Apple Macintosh Computer running Mac OS 10.5.3 +
• Gmail and/or Yahoo! Mail account
• iPhone or iPod Touch
• iTunes 7.6.2 or later

Instructions

How to Back Up Your Contacts in Address Book

1. 

   Launch Address Book. It's on the Dock or in your Applications folder.

2. 

   On the top menu, select "File" > "Export."

3. 

   Select "Address Book Archive."

4. 

   Click "Save."

   If you want to change the name of the file, type in a new name in the "Save As" field. Also, save it where you'll be able to locate it later. Click the drop-down box labeled "Where" to select a place to save your Address Book Archive.

How to Sync Yahoo! Mail Contacts Using iTunes

1. 

   Launch iTunes.

2. Dock your iPod Touch or iPhone, or hook up the charge/sync cable to your Macintosh Computer.

3. 

   Select your iPhone or iPod Touch in iTunes. It's under "Devices" on the left panel of the iTunes window.

4. 

   Click on the "Info" tab.

5. 

   Click the check box next to "Sync Yahoo! Address Book Contacts" under the "Contacts" section of the "Info" tab on iTunes.

6. 

   Type in your Yahoo! Mail user ID and Password.

7. Click "OK."

How to Sync Yahoo! Mail Contacts Using Address Book

1. 

   Launch Apple's Address Book.

2. 

   Go to Address Book's Preferences. On the top menu select "Address Book" and "Preferences" or you can use the keyboard shortcut Command-, (comma).

3. 

   Select the check box next to "Synchronize with Yahoo!."

4. 

   Click "Agree" on the disclaimer that shows up.

5. 

   Type in your Yahoo! ID and Password. Click "OK" when you're done.

How to Sync Google Contacts Using Address Book

1. 

   Launch Apple's Address Book.

2. 

   Go to Address Book's preferences (see Section 3 for how to do it).

3. 

   Click on the check box next to "Synchronize with Google."

4. 

   Hit the "Agree" button in the disclaimer window.

5. 

   Type in your Google Account name ([e-mail]) and your password.

6. Click "OK."

Tips & Warnings

• Backing up your Contacts is a necessary step. If your sync fails or corrupts your Address Book, you'll want a clean copy to restore your contacts.

• You only need to use one method (using iTunes or Address Book) to sync your contacts.

• Google's Gmail automatically adds contacts when you email a new person. This means you may have lots of clutter. It would be a good idea to go through and clear out the junk in your contacts before you sync.

Resources

• GMail
• Yahoo! Mail