Helpful error message

Nasty error message that Apple deals with here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1998

Except that it seems to assume that there are 2 computers being synced and one of them is the more up-to-date. The problem I met with a client was that he had 2000+ contacts that showed up nicely on his iPhone, but none at all on his only Mac.

His iPhone was synced directly from MobileMe, but resetting his Mac’s contacts from the MobileMe copy had produced this error instead of rebuilding his contacts. I was concerned that any fiddling I did might wipe away his contacts on MobileMe with the automatic result that they are deleted from his iPhone too.

Fortunately, though it isn’t mentioned in the knowledge base article, it is possible to export contacts direct from MobileMe webmail to .vcf files. I say, “files” rather than “file” because in the case of over 2000 contacts it was better to break down the list into a few hundred with each export. Just select the contacts and use the cog icon.

After importing them back into Address Book the resetting of MobileMe can continue as per the knowledgebase article.