By 
Disclaimer: some users have reported that this method does not work properly. Rest assured that it works, but I only recommend it for people comfortable with the Terminal. There’s a lot of room for error.
Please back up your Address Book before attempting this method. I am not responsible for lost data. Please see the comments below for further commentary.
Here is a little tip for you Mac users out there. We have written about the awesome, cross-platform Dropbox service before (here and here), and while it’s great for keeping ordinary files and folders in sync across the Internet, there are a few more clever uses for it.
With a tiny bit of command-line magic, you can easily keep your Mac OS X Address Book backed up online and synced to other Macs. Here’s how:
Preliminary Steps
First of all, download and install Dropbox on any OS X machines that you wish to sync. Finished? Excellent!
Next, go ahead and make a backup of your Address Book (optional, but strongly recommended). Just go to File → Export → Address Book Archive….
Keep that export handy in case things go wrong.
Link Address Book to Dropbox
Here’s the fun part. To make this process work, Address Book needs to be able to save data to your Dropbox folder. At present, Dropbox can only sync ONE folder (and everything in it). So, you see the problem? Address Book keeps all its data inside ~/Library/Application Support/AddressBook, and we need to trick Address Book into saving to your Dropbox folder.
Symbolic Links to the rescue! We can easily fool Address Book by creating a symlink.
Step 1 – First, we’re going to move the Address Book data files to your Dropbox folder. Make sure Address Book is closed. Launch Terminal (in your Utilities folder), and assuming your Dropbox folder is inside your Home directory, issue this command:
mv ~/Library/Application\ Support/AddressBook ~/Dropbox/
Step 2 – Now, create the symbolic link. The format is ln -s [destination] [name of file or folder]. The syntax does not change as to whether the link is to a file or a folder. Still in Terminal, type:
ln -s ~/Dropbox/AddressBook/ ~/Library/Application\ Support/AddressBook
That’s it. You’re done. Try launching Address Book and make sure your contacts are still there. Now when you add a new contact and it, you should see Dropbox update as well. Notice the tiny, green Dropbox check marks on my AddressBook linked folder:
Adding Other Macs
To add another OS X machine to the mix, just repeat these steps (except for the first mv command). In short, just install Dropbox, make sure Address Book is closed, and then:
- Delete the AddressBook folder from ~/Library/Application Support
- Create the symlink (
ln -s ~/Dropbox/AddressBook/ ~/Library/Application\ Support/AddressBook)
There you go. Address Book will stay syncronized and backed up online.
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This didn’t work for me?
I got it all moved correctly and terminal created a symlink, but the symlink appears as a file alias in finder and doesn’t pretend it’s pointing to the dropbox containing folder.
Any clues?
for my paths:
mv ~/Library/Application\ Support/AddressBook ~/Documents/Dropbox/Backup/
needed to be:
mv ~/Library/Application\ Support/AddressBook ~/Documents/Dropbox/Backup/AddressBook/
coz the symlink was created looking for a directory that didn’t exist (might wanna check your terminal stuff up there).
Anyway it all works well now, so thanks very much!
Ed – your path differs from my instructions in that you added a subfolder called Backup. There’s nothing wrong with that, but if you change the directory structure you have to accommodate for it (which you did).
My Terminal instructions work fine if you don’t mind the AddressBook folder inside the Dropbox folder without any subfolders.
Glad you got it working!
Sounds interesting. I was just about to try Fruux, but since I’m already a Dropbox user, I think I’ll give this a try.
I wonder if this trick would also work for iCal?
Alternate instructions available here: http://wiki.getdropbox.com/TipsAndTricks/SyncOtherFolders
Moving the folder isn’t necessary as you can create the symlink inside the Dropbox folder, pointing at the Address Book folder. Do the same on the other computers and turn synching back on those destinations.
Hey, well I did as the guide said and ended up with an addressbook that doesn’t want to open… What do I type in Terminal to un-do this? Or how do I fix it…
Same here as Spraycan – now my address book won’t open. I guess I’ll need to reinstall it which is a pain. Not convinced these instructions are sound, as I copied them to the letter.
I’m sure you published this with the best of intent, but I think you should take this advice down, as it simply seems to break the address book app.
Spraycan and Simon – I’m sorry that it doesn’t work for you, but I assure you that it DOES work. I’m currently using my Address Book in the manner that I describe.
I will put a disclaimer on the article as there are many things that can go wrong. If your path/folder hierarchy differs, you MUST make accommodations for it. It is also essential to use TAB to auto-complete the path names in the Terminal, because even a single incorrect character (or case) that you type will render the symbolic link useless. Did you remember to escape the space with the backslash character (\)?
The other limitation is that this method will only work on one User account because Dropbox keeps its files inside your Home directory.
Re-installing should be unnecessary. To restore your Address Book files, just drag-and-drop them from Dropbox back to the appropriate place (~/Library/Application Support/AddressBook).
Once again, I assure you that this method works. There’s just a lot of room for error.
Best wishes.
It worked for me!
Here’s what I did:
I quit AddressBook on my desktop mac.
I used Finder to move the “AddressBook” folder from “/Library/Application Support” to my dropbox folder.
Leaving the two Finder windows open, I then opened up Terminal.
I made the sym link by typing this “ln -s ” (note the space at the end and don’t type the quotes and don’t press Return)
Then I dragged the Dropbox/AddressBook folder from the finder window into the Terminal window. Terminal now looks like this:
ln -s /Users/mike/Dropbox/AddressBook
Then I dragged the “Application Support” folder into the Terminal window. It now looks like this:
/Users/mike/Dropbox/AddressBook /Users/mike/Library/Application\ Support
(I dragged the folders into Terminal to avoid typing errors)
Nowwww hit Return.
Then on my portable mac:
Quit Address Book
Delete the Address Book folder from “/Library/Application Support”
Create the sym link using terminal, just like I did on the desktop mac.
On both machines, the AddressBook folder shows as an “Alias” in the Application Support folder.
Mike!! You saved my life man! I followed your tips and it worked like a charm….
works perfect for me! great suggestion! thanks heeps.
Brain, thanks for the howto!
For those people having an issue with these instructions, MAKE SURE THAT YOU DONT ADD ANY EXTRA SPACES TO THE END OF THE COMMANDS BEFORE YOU HIT ENTER.
If you copy and paste into terminal, you can often get an extraneous blank character at the end of the command line.
To verify that your symlink is working correctly, try ‘cd’ing’ into your symlink after creating it.
cd ~/Library/Application\ Support/AddressBookyou should be able to ‘ls -l’ and see something like this:
-rw-r--r-- 1 john staff 372736 Jan 30 08:37 AddressBook-v22.abcddb
drwxr-xr-x 23 john staff 782 Jan 30 08:21 Images
-rw-r--r-- 1 john staff 114688 Jan 29 23:01 MailRecents-v4.abcdmr
drwxr-xr-x 89 john staff 3026 Jan 30 08:37 Metadata
If so, launch Address Book. If not, don’t blame Brian for your mistakes – instead, try again, and again, until you get it right. You’ll only end up more knowledgeable for your efforts.
One trick, taken from a document off the dropbox website suggests that while creating simlinks and such that you temporarialy disable dropbox itself.
See the following document for further instructions…
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/87620/Dropbox%20Tutorials/OS%20X%20Symlinks/Dropbox%20Tutorial%20-%20OS%20X%20Symlinks.pdf
and this…
http://wiki.getdropbox.com/TipsAndTricks/SyncOtherFolders
I have multiple “external” folders all syncing right now. I did, however, opt to use simlinks within the dropobox folder as opposed to keeping data there and putting the simlinks elsewhere
Thanks for the idea! worls great!!
The ical sync also works like charm!!
for the ical settings, type this..
mv ~/Library/Calendars ~/Dropbox/
and
ln -s ~/Dropbox/Calendars/ ~/Library/Calendars
Even works for google earth – type this:
mv ~/Library/Application\ Support/Google\ Earth ~/Dropbox/
and
ln -s ~/Dropbox/Google\ Earth/ ~/Library/Application\ Support/Google\ Earth
Hope this is useful!!
This is a great tip that Brian wrote, and it uses a tactic that would work equally well for syncing bookmarks, preferences, even your iTunes library (but watch out with anything that uses large files).
For those users who struggle with the Terminal commands that were outlined above, I recommend just doing a standard drag-and-drop using OS X’s Finder. And if you must use a Terminal command, try dragging the file or folder directly to the Terminal — this will cause its path & name to appear in the Terminal. This will help ensure that the correct path is generated for use by the Terminal commands.
For example, instead of using the Terminal’s “mv” (i.e. move) command, just drag your ~/Library/Application\ Support/AddressBook folder directly over to your DropBox folder. Then to create the symbolic link, open up the Terminal and type:
ln -s
but DON’T hit enter yet. Drag your Address Book folder (from inside your DropBox folder) into the Terminal window. You should now see something like:
ln -s /Users/everett/Dropbox/Private/AddressBook
DON’T hit enter yet. You still need to paste in the text for where you’re creating this symlink. Paste in the final bit of text using the standard copy/paste technique: ~/Library/Application\ Support/AddressBook
so that your full command looks something like this
ln -s /Users/everett/Dropbox/Private/AddressBook ~/Library/Application\ Support/AddressBook
Now, hit enter in the Terminal and the command will execute. Doing it this way is less prone to error.
Great tip, Brian.
Awesome. Worked for me perfect.
I used this method for a while, but there are edge cases where it might go wrong (because of file locking issues), for instance when accessing on both Macs at the same time. Dropbox is great for filesyncing, but for syncing contacts and ical stuff there are other tools which are more suitable. Like SpanningSync, BusySync or my personal favorite fruux.
Just a quick update, for whatever reason hitting option-apple and dragging to create the alias to AddressBook into the support folder didn’t work at all. AddressBook just quit on open. Using the terminal command “ln -s ” allowed the application to load without needing to do anything else.
it appears i have file locking issues that Josh spoke of above. since trying to sync my address book w/dropbox, i can no longer open address book on my imac (os x 10.5.7). can anyone help?
Have got this working but somehow the individual machines have created their individual contents we are sharing the same dropbox location
I have all these files in the dropbox:
(Graeme’s conflicted copy 2009-05-27).info
ABPerson.skIndexInverted
ABSubscribedPerson.skIndexInverted
AddressBook-v22.abcddb
AddressBook.data
AddressBook.data.previous
Images
LastImport.plist
MailRecents-v4.abcdmr
Metadata
The metadata files are named like:
6A784012-E458-11DC-AC35-000A95D48A26/ABPerson.abcdp
How can i get back to one single source in the dropbox so changes made on one machine are reflected on both systems. Both sytsems are sharing the same dropbox there are no additional files in application support just the link to the dropbox
Have tried deleting the extra files. One machine keeps its data the other loses all content ends up with an empty address book.
Help
I did this yesterday to sync my addressbook between my MacPro and my MacBook Pro. It was working great, at first!.
Then this morning, I opened AddressBook on the MacPro and there was nothing! But the addressoobk accessed through Mail was still there. But after I exited Mail and restarted, there are now no addresses there as well.
Same thing on my MacBook Pro.
Interestingly enough, the AddressBook folder in Dropbox still seems to be updating because the Date Modified field changes everytine I do something with AddressBook.
You can use this on a networked shared hard drive instead of Dropbox.
Great for AddressBook and iCal.
Enjoy…..
What if the DropBox method for Address Book date involves two DropBox accounts with a shared folder? Imagine a family wanting to share and update a single Address Book – would it work?
Thanks so much – works a treat on many apps!
Thanks for sharing. Would be cool, if dropbox could also be used when dragging files to mail.app!
Lu (Dropbox descripion in German)
Brian’s disclaimer “some users have reported that this method does not work properly. Rest assured that it works” ignores the problem of conflicts. If you are one person sharing AddressBook across machines you may be fine, but if you are sharing between people (as my wife and I are), this data is prone to conflicts.
One symptom for me is opening AB and seeing no cards at all; Chuck M and I may be experiencing the same problem.
I don’t have a solution yet.
1Password, for one, seems much more robust re: conflicts over Dropbox.
Dropbox’s nice for syncing, worked fine for my purposes. Though now I’ve found a free alternative called SyncMate, I may use it further on, but need to test for a couple of days.
hi, for some reason I cannot get it to work. I have tiger, I think there might be some path issues which differ slightly. both copy&paste and the dragging didn’t do the trick, the first computer syncs into dropbox, the second does not. any help? regards, leo
all sorted now. it was me being a bit thick as usual with these matters. regards, leonardo
OP is right. This does indeed work. However, there are A LOT of caveats to syncing the addressbook. You SHOULD calculate DATALOSS in there. Dropbox is a very SIMPLE synchronizer and should be used with great CAUTION and ONLY after making continuous backups.
If someone is suffering from heart disease or high blood pressure…. DONT EVEN BEGIN TO USE DROPBOX
That been said, Dropbox beats the H**** out of Mobile Me which is even worse.
I found that the problem of address book refusing to open was cause when syncing a mac running snow leopard with a mac running just plain leopard.
heres the fix
-assuming u have already done the stem above delete the symlink that is in /Library/Application\ Support
-then open address book (notice a new address book folder is created in Application support)
-now quit address book
-go into your dropbox folder and open Address book folder
-rightclick on Metadata
-Make Alias
-move that alias into /Library/Application\ Support/AddressBook
-and lastly remove “alias” from “Metadata alias”
-open adress book and you are done
My question is this… if your data is then being stored online (via Dropbox) will you still be able to access your contacts if your computer is not online or if the site goes down for some reason?
[...] Some savvy folks have used Dropbox to keep their address books and bookmarks synced between multiple computers. I can only confirm that this works on Mac and Linux. Also, you need to be comfortable with the terminal. If you’re interested, you can find out more here. [...]