Sunday, August 20, 2006

Sync your Samsung phone with your Mac Address Book using Bluetooth

I bought a new Samsung phone this weekend. Overall I am quite happy with the phone; however, it is missing one key feature: it does not work with iSync. Some quick research revealed that Samsung failed to implement SyncML; therefore, sync'ing with my Mac wasn't going to happen.

Despite the fact that using iSync isn't an option, I did find some information on how I could transfer my numbers from Address Book to my new phone. The steps I took varied slightly, thus the reason for this blog entry.
  1. Open Address Book
  2. Address Book -> Preferences -> vCard: Set vCard Format to 2.1.
  3. File -> Export Group vCard: Save Group vCard to a new folder anywhere.
  4. Download vCard Splitter and install.
  5. Open your saved Group vCard using vCard Splitter.
  6. System Preferences -> Bluetooth -> Devices -> Set Up New Device: Pair your phone with your Mac.
  7. System Preferences -> Bluetooth -> Settings: Show Bluetooth status in the menu bar.
  8. Menu Bar -> Bluetooth Status -> Turn Bluetooth On
  9. Menu Bar -> Bluetooth Status -> Send File -> Select all the vCards generated by vCard Splitter -> Select your paired phone.
At this point your phone should receive each vCard one at a time and add them to your phone's contact list. It's not the best long term solution; however, it will get you started and is much better than having to enter people one at a time.

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# posted by Jay Fields : 10:23 AM
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Comments:
Jay,

Thank you for this solution, works very well. I was going to take the Samsung back to the store.
# posted by Anonymous Jon : 2:02 PM
 
I hope this posting is right, since I am now going to buy a Samsung phone I wouldn't have otherwise bought
# posted by Anonymous Ned : 5:50 PM
 
After numerous tries with various sync programs resulted in failure, I was about to give up until I found your post. Simple, and it works.
# posted by Blogger kevinpm : 9:44 PM
 
Thanks for this post. Simple, yet I didn't think of this myself (and I couldn't find it explained elsewhere).

This worked very well for my Samsung X680, but it had some problems with names that contain accents. I fixed those manually.
# posted by Anonymous bdf : 4:58 AM
 
This worked for me, thanks. Too bad we have to resort to this just to send phone numbers.
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 1:34 PM
 
I just tried this with my new A870, and got the message "Device does not have the necessary services." This phone might go back so I can get the basic Motorola & a sync cable. :-(

Anne
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 8:38 AM
 
i love you. where do i send my first born!
# posted by Blogger Marla : 9:38 AM
 
After following all the instructions, for some reason my phone will not accept the files. It tells me that the file tranfer failed. Any reccomendations?
# posted by Blogger Michael : 7:43 PM
 
michael,
sorry, I've not seen that error. In the end I gave up on my Samsung and went to a Motorola. I found I couldn't live without sync'ing my calendar (and address book)
# posted by Blogger Jay Fields : 10:05 AM
 
also got an internal error message. not sure where to go from here. but thanks for tip.
# posted by Blogger automated : 3:28 PM
 
Hi,

thanks for the tips, worked fine for me, even better than expected:

http://blog.gramels.info/blog/archives/109-Samsung-SHG-X820-no-iSync-workaround.html

(I wish blogger.com would support trackback)

-gramels
# posted by Anonymous gramels : 4:09 PM
 
Before sending your vCards to your phone, pair your phone and authorize your blurtooth connection. This will avoid the phone asking for approval for each vCard and your thumb will not wear out.
# posted by Blogger Nigel : 9:40 AM
 
s very useful guys but most people actually want to go the otherway.. ie back up phone details to address book.... how do you do that with a samsung....
# posted by Blogger xian : 4:08 PM
 
even better, select all and then do the transfer. Worked for me. Thanks so much!!!!
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 4:14 PM
 
thanks for the ideas, but i am really saddened that we can't have a standard iSync. I'm actually more interested in syncing in the other direction - phone to mac.
# posted by Anonymous Justin : 4:19 PM
 
An easier method would be to just pair the phone, open Address Book, and select the cards you want, then menu Card -> Send these Cards... and select your phone. This will do all the hard work for you.
# posted by Blogger James Wardle : 7:59 AM
 
coooooool, thanx that you found out this solution...
# posted by Anonymous lombo : 11:18 AM
 
Great solution, but how does this work backwards??? I mean how can I send all my Vcards from my samsung to the computer? thanks
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 10:36 AM
 
Worked perfectly on my m610. Thank you a ton.
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 7:18 PM
 
Thanks for the extremely useful post. For the hell of it, I tried uploading the whole vCard file rather than splitting it to my Samsung a501 phone (Telstra's bottom of the line standard issue) and it worked like a charm...
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 11:57 PM
 
Thanks for your very helpful info. One thing to add: the v-card splitter program can create a few v-card file names with odd characters, "/" and the like. At least with my set up the result is that a batch of v-cards will upload via bluetooth and then stop when they hit a v-card file with an unusual character in its file name. To get them to all upload in one go, simply remove the strange characters from the file names.
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 3:16 PM
 
AWESOME
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 10:39 PM
 
great.it works perfecty.
do you know the way to import event from ical too?
# posted by Blogger andrea : 6:42 AM
 
Can i get this to go backwards. Samsung to mac?

Thanks!
# posted by Blogger Josh : 7:19 PM
 
Jay,

Thank you so much! I was about to go crazy!

Take care,

Michael
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 10:49 PM
 
i figured out that on a blackjack atleast if you accept one and then wait a lil bit and then hit accept they all build up and it says there is a total of ___ items waiting to be saved and they all build up so you dont have to hit yes on everyone
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 5:54 PM
 
Thanks!!!!!!!!
# posted by Anonymous Lola Brooks : 6:23 PM
 
Wow... life saver. Love the phone but was totally bummed I couldn't move my contacts! Thanks goodness an Angel helped me out by locating your page! Many thanks! :-)
# posted by Anonymous thetimster : 1:32 PM
 
amazing solution.
thankyou so much
# posted by Blogger Lukey : 9:53 AM
 
Thank you so much for posting the answer. Works as described.
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 12:22 AM
 
Jay - THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!
# posted by Anonymous Kevin : 10:53 AM
 
Great!
Thank you so very much for finding this solution!!!
Beate from Germany
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 10:47 AM
 
Any chance theres a way to get numbers off the phone onto a Mac?
# posted by Blogger UVAcavs47 : 1:48 PM
 
JAY: You save me a lot of time! Thanks! worked transfering my macbook address book to my samsung r470 two step. conroman@gmail.com
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 10:23 PM
 
Thanks SOOO much! It worked beautifully!
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 1:19 AM
 
Just wanted to give my thanks. Worked for SGH-t456 over bluetooth.
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 4:29 PM
 
works for SGH L700. thanks. I almost lost it trying to export in a format that could be read by Samsung's PC Studio on my windows machine...
# posted by Anonymous cristi : 1:34 PM
 
Works for the SGH-a777 - you are a lifesaver for posting this. Along with everyone else, I want to say Thank You!
# posted by Blogger Cameron : 2:22 PM
 
Jay, I liked your posts before. Now I'm very thankful.
# posted by Blogger Shawn : 10:05 AM
 
Thank you SO much! worked perfectly on a Samsung S3600, I'm forever grateful :)
# posted by Anonymous Claudia : 6:52 AM
 
Great solution - Thanks so much!

I have the Samsung s3500 (bought in India) over here in Canada... and I only have a MacBook (I think the software for the phone is for Windows only.)
# posted by Blogger Jar : 5:37 PM
 
Thanks a million for this work around. It worked great with my A777. Although it made doubles of each on the phone. No big deal.
# posted by Anonymous jonathan & Sara : 12:11 PM
 
Works very well. One advantage I noticed with this method is that it is much easier to discriminate what you put in your phone. Make a group called "phone contacts" in the address book and include in that group ONLY those contacts you want in your phone before you do the group export. I have a lot of contact information on my computer that I don't want on my phone - and they are not there. I like that. Thanks, Jay. Great work around.
# posted by Anonymous Markustee : 2:24 PM
 
Works great on the t456. Thanks!
# posted by Blogger Adam : 1:11 AM
 
thanks, you saved my day!
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 8:52 AM
 
It worked right away! You are my hero. Internet wouldn't be the same without you :)
# posted by Anonymous Shamswung : 5:14 AM
 
Worked graet for me!
# posted by Blogger Hugo : 6:18 PM
 
Your advice worked perfectly for me. But the Samsung A777 is a late model, so I started experimenting. Sure enough, I can skip the vCard Splitter. I just select contacts from the Address Book, export them to a single file in vCard 3.0 format, and "Send" that one file to the A777 which opens the file and adds the numbers properly. In short, I get exactly the right result.
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 8:51 PM
 
...saved me lots of hassle!! Ride on!!
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 2:58 AM
 
Wow! thanks very much! Although i would like to ask one more question. Will it be possible to sync contacts back from the Star to our macs?
# posted by Blogger Carlo : 10:49 AM
 
Jay,
Found your article and was hopeful that I could sync my Samsung Intensity that I just bought with my MacBook address book. I followed your instructions, but got a -1409 error message when I tried to open the address book file with the v-split software...any ideas?
Thanks!
# posted by Blogger john : 5:59 PM
 
Really appreciate this workaround, works a treat
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 5:06 PM
 
Have a AT&T Samsung Rugby SGH-A837 and want to go the other way...sync the phone's contacts to my Mac Address Book. The contacts were transferred from my old phone to the Rugby so do not have all of them in my Mac address book. Will this work to do that? What will?
# posted by Anonymous Becky : 10:12 PM
 
Great advice!! Works perfectly. Thanks.
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 8:17 PM
 
thank you very much works like a charm
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 9:26 PM
 
Great post! Just worked for the Samsung D980!
# posted by Anonymous Petra : 11:55 AM
 
Does not work with Snowleopard - plz fix. :)
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 4:11 PM
 
Works great with Snow leopard .. many thanks .. screw Samsung and their Windows only support
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 9:49 AM
 
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
# posted by Anonymous Matthieu : 11:43 PM
 
bluetooth won't recognize the device
# posted by Blogger merzaynenda : 7:34 PM
 
This post has been removed by the author.
# posted by Blogger merzaynenda : 7:34 PM
 
bluetooth won't recogize my device
# posted by Blogger merzaynenda : 7:35 PM
 
bluetooth won't recognize my device
# posted by Blogger merzaynenda : 7:36 PM
 
sorry for the repeats
# posted by Blogger merzaynenda : 8:05 PM
 
solved - you've got to turn Bluetooth on on your Samsung... -:)
# posted by Blogger merzaynenda : 12:56 AM
 
Great stuff works perfectly
# posted by Blogger Paul : 2:58 PM
 
Any thoughts on how to sync the iCal calendar?
# posted by Anonymous Jared Kennedy : 8:13 PM
 
Works a treat!!
# posted by Anonymous mactastic : 6:56 AM
 
Excellent! Thank you ever so very much. I googled, your tip was the first one to come up, and I didn't have to look any further (as says Dennis Edwards). As it says on the tin...
# posted by Anonymous MAX : 10:13 PM
 
Awesome! Just what I needed. Thanks for sharing.
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 10:24 PM
 
Works wonderfully! Further question though, how do you send ringtones/music files to the samsung intensity? when i try to send using file transfer, it says that the file format is not supported.
# posted by Blogger Sarah : 1:47 PM
 
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