Instead of another tutorial on syncing MobileMe, I thought I’d try a video! Check it out.
Something Ain’t Right
The connection between MobileMe, my iPhone and my iMac has been a little rocky lately. Not sure what the problem is, but the data is not flowing between my Apple love triangle like it used to. You might say poor communication is killing the relationship.
Contacts Not Syncing
I added new contacts to my iPhone 2 days ago. They didn’t show up on my Mac or in MobileMe.
Today I added a new contact to MobileMe, hoping it would push the info to my Mac & iPhone. Unfortunately, it didn’t work either. I checked my iPhone about 50 times to make sure. Now what?
Backup Everything Before Doing Anything
It’s time to get intimate with my Apple electronics. Big changes must be made to get the system working again. And you gotta protect your data!
Knowing I’ll be rolling the dice with my precious contact list, email settings and everything critical to my ability to communicate with another human, I backed up everything. iPhone backup via iTunes. And backing up my iMac with Time Machine. (By the way, if you’re not using Time Machine… Shame on you!)
Scary System Preferences
It can be a little frightening to go digging around in your Mac’s system preferences. But, syncing my data is critical to survival – so you’ll have to be brave and be ready to get your hands dirty.
Plus, we’re only dealing with the MobileMe settings, which can easily be reversed. But you should backup everything just in case!
I was going to write out all the steps, but I already did that once. You can read my MobileMe sync tutorial, but the video up top is quicker and easier to follow.
It Works
Good news : The sync worked and all of my Apple products are best friends again. They talk all the time. In fact, it’s kind of annoying. You know what I’m sayin’.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I use MacBook Pro w/Leopard and all current updates.
Your solution interested me but my problem is slightly different. Ref your screen shot: I show Sync checked and Automatically displayed in grey, but sub boxes remain unchecked and the system will not let me check them. Status: Registering computer; after which it says: Never sync’ed. If I switch to Account or iDisc then back to Sync, then Sync with MobileMe is now unchecked. I’ve tried many suggestions to resolve this problem, but have yet to find a solution. Also, iDisk will not sync, I am unable to publish to iWeb, and when I check my Account it tell’s me all systems are operating normally. I also use FileMaker 9 w/9.0v3 update, but files will not open. Leopard has screwed my operations. Suggestion will be much appreciated.
Hi Sandar. Unfortunately, I don’t have any suggestions for you – other than taking your Mac to the Genius Bar. I fumbled around with my settings, but couldn’t guess what the problem might be. Sorry, I can’t help.
Super article. I managed to do all of this last night before reading your article. Now I am at a point where i need advice. My MacPro is in sync with MM + iPhone. Recently bought an iMac. What are the right steps to accomplish this task without losing the perfect info I now have on iPhone, laptop and MM? Is it as simple as the steps above?
When it comes to MAIL, it scares because the more I wait, the worse it gets. it is different already. I need to do it soon. I wish I could do a backup of Entourage before, but when I read the following (taken on another site), I resist doing it because of an article i read on another site: ….. when done you can drag & drop your archived messages to other folders located in Entourage (for example, your Inbox).
Does that mean that all the mail messages will be transported into only ONE folder (inbox)? Is there any good way to make backups of Entourage? thanks a lot.
Hi Ginette. Are you trying to replace your MacBook Pro? OR are you trying to sync your MacBook, iPhone and new iMac to 1 MobileMe account?
I’ve never used Entourage, so I’m not much help. You might have to call your local Apple Store.
However, before you do anything, you should backup all of your files with Time Machine. Click here to see my tutorial on setting up Time Machine.
Excellent articles. I am trialling MobileMe. I have got iCal and my Contacts to sync with the “Cloud” from my macbook but not Mail. All I have on the Cloud is 2 emails from MobileMe. I have tried to sync manually but no luck. Is there a size limit in the Trial – my Mail folder is about 1.3 Gb?
Hi Doug. I’m guessing you have an email address at your own website (doug@mycompany.com). You need to set it up a new POP account in MobileMe. Login at http://www.me.com. Go to email. Click the Actions button (to the right of the Compose Mail button). And select Preferences. Now click Other. Then check the box next to “Check mail from an external POP account”. Enter the required information and click Save. Now you’ll be able to read email via MobileMe.