279567 - Synchronizing 2 copies of Thunderbird address books on 2 PCs.

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 72399

(Thunderbird :: Address Book, defect)

Description

[Emilio Trampuz]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041107 Firefox/1.0
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041107 Firefox/1.0

People need to be able to synchronize their Address Books on a desktop and a
laptop. Both may be running Thunderbird. But, there seems to be no simple way to
synchronize the two.  Ideally, I owuld like to do what I do with Outlook Express:
- Export the whole address book into a WAB file.
- Copy the WAB file to the other PC.
- Import the WAB file into the Address Book, ... which automatically updates all
the records that have changed, ... and also updates all the Lists (or "Groups",
as they are called in Outlook Express).

There seems to be no way of doing that with 2 PCs running Thunderbird.  There is
no way to synchronize Lists between 2 computers. 

The "comma delimitted" and "tab delimitted" files won't do it, because they work
only on individula records, not Lists.  I also tried using the LDIF format
(which I am unfamiliar with), but that didn't do it either. 

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Export the Thunderbird Address Book to a file 
2. Import the file into Thunderbird
3.

Actual Results:  
Instead of the records gettng updated, after importing, the changed records get
ADDED to a completely separate folder named "Thunderbird Address Book".  This is
totally wrong.  I don't want to add duplicate records and scatter them trhough
several folders (because a new Thunderbird Address Book folder gets created
after every import).  Instead, I want the records to be simply updated based on
the imported file.  Check out how Outlook Express accomplished that very
elegantly by importing and exproting a WAB file.

Expected Results:  
I expect all changed records to be updated  (not added as separate records).
I also expect that Lists would be updated too!  (They are not getting updated now.)

This is a deal-breaker for me. 
I need to be able to syncrhonize my Address Books on 2 or more computers.
I need to be able to also synchronize my Lists. 
As long as Thunderbird lacks these capabilities, I will have to stay with
Outlook Express. 

By the way, I tried "upgrading" to Oultook (from Outlook Express) and found that
the process of synchronizing 2 Outlook address books (or PST files, or whatever
they call them there), turned out to be so complicated that I only managed to
accomplish it once, and that only after receiving some help from the Tech
Suipport guys.  And even after doing it once, I could not remember all the steps
involved the next time.  So I ditched Outlook as being too complicated.  Only
Outlook Express seems to be doing a good job of synchronizing 2 Address Books.

Comment 1

[Peter Lairo]

I'd *like to* be able to confirm this bug.

Comment 2

[Emilio Trampuz]

(In reply to comment #1)
> I'd *like to* be able to confirm this bug.

What do you mean?  Just try it, and see what happens.  You don't even need 2 
computers for that. Simply do this:
1. Make a small change to one of your Address Book records;
2. Export the complete Address Book to a file;
3. Undo your change manually. That is, restore the record to how it was in the 
beginning.
4. Import the file you had prepared in step 2.  (This should automatically 
update the modified record. At least I wish it would.)

You will notice that the modified record will not be changed. Instead, it will 
appear as a brand new record in a brand new folder, 
named: "AddressThunderbird", which is different from the "Personal Address 
Book" folder formed when I first installed Thunderbird and imported all my 
records initially.  

Moreover, EVERY time you import an address file, another 
new "AddressThunderbird" folder will be created. After several such attempts, 
you will have multiple "Address Thunderbird" folders.

So, it appears that Address Books simply cannot be synchronized between two 
computers.  All that happens is that the modified record get added as 
duplicated (but in a separate folder).

Comment 3

[Peter Lairo]

(In reply to comment #2)
> So, it appears that Address Books simply cannot be synchronized between two 
> computers.  All that happens is that the modified record get added as 
> duplicated (but in a separate folder).

Sounds like you are also confirming this bug. :-\

Comment 4

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This is an automated message, with ID "auto-resolve01".

This bug has had no comments for a long time. Statistically, we have found that
bug reports that have not been confirmed by a second user after three months are
highly unlikely to be the source of a fix to the code.

While your input is very important to us, our resources are limited and so we
are asking for your help in focussing our efforts. If you can still reproduce
this problem in the latest version of the product (see below for how to obtain a
copy) or, for feature requests, if it's not present in the latest version and
you still believe we should implement it, please visit the URL of this bug
(given at the top of this mail) and add a comment to that effect, giving more
reproduction information if you have it.

If it is not a problem any longer, you need take no action. If this bug is not
changed in any way in the next two weeks, it will be automatically resolved.
Thank you for your help in this matter.

The latest beta releases can be obtained from:
Firefox:     http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/
Thunderbird: http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/releases/1.5beta1.html
Seamonkey:   http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/

Comment 5

[Emilio Trampuz]

I hear that this bug will be soon removed because it is unimportant or hasn't 
been confirmed by others.

You mean to tell me that we will NEVER be able to synchronize two Thunderbird 
address books (on a laptop and a desktop, for example)?  This is not important 
to people?  

Sure, you can synchronize individual records (using the comma-separated 
files), but that doesn't synchronize Groups of Contacts (Distribution Lists). 

For me, this is a deal-breaker.  From time to time I download a fresh copy of 
Thunderbitd just to see if the Address Book is finally fully usable or not. 
Sadly, the ansewer is alsway NO, because I cannot import Groups, and I cannot 
synchronize Groups of records.  As long as this situation persists, I will, 
sadley, never be able to use Thunderbird.

I depend far too much on Groups. I have doens of them.  I am surprised that 
nobody else is complaining about this.  Don't Mozilla users have any friends 
or co-workers that they need to communicate with as a Group?

Comment 6

[Matt Tovey]

I'm also looking for this functionality - I use Mozilla at work and Thunderbird at home, and need a way to keep the address books synchronized.

When I export my address book, and then import it again, the imported address book appears as a new entry under "Address Books", which isn't what is needed - how about being given the option to merge an imported address-book with an existing address book?

Ideally this could be automated, but it can't see how. But I can imagine selecting a "Sync address books" option that would export my address books, and email them to a given address. Upon receiving such an email, Thunderbird could recognise this as a request to update the address books, and give the user the option to merge these into his address books...

Or perhaps there's another way to do this? One central address-book? I don't know LDAP very well, but is it conceivable to allow Thunderbird to maintain an Internet-accessible LDAP database over a secure link?

Cheers, Matt

Comment 7

[Emilio Trampuz]

I couldn't resist adding a comment to Matt's recent message. 

I can't understand why it's taking so long to make address books synchronizable.  I posted a comment about this a year ago. It shouldn't be such a big problem, especially as it has already been solved many, many years ago in the Outlook Express "Windows Address Book".  

Outlook Express is the only email software I know that can synchronize two address books, and it does it beautifully and easily.  It will even synchronize all your "Groups" (or "Distribution Lists" - as it is called in Outlook).  Strangely, Outlook doesn't have that same ability, ... or if it does - it is so complicated and unfriendly that it is not worth the effort.  I tried it once, and it is totally counter-intuitive, involving many complicated steps. On the other hand, in Outlook Express, it is a simple matter of exporting and importing the .WAB file.

Outlook Express obviously has some internal date showing when the record was last updated.  When I import records, it compares which one is the newest one, and that one over-writes the older one.   Of course, it helps for me to keep track of which Address Book is my "master copy" at any one time. 

But, most importantly, it is important to be able to synchronize Groups (Lists). No address book I have tried so far is capable of doing this.  Only Outlook Express can do it.  Since I use at least a dozen different groups, I can't live without that feature.  That is the only thing that forces me to stay with Outlook Express.

Why can nobody else duplicate this feature?
I have given up hope that I will ever see this feature in Thunderbird or Mozilla. Which means I will never be able to get away from Outlook Express. 

Comment 8

[Peter Lairo]

(In reply to comment #7)

Emilio, I feel your pain! I'm at least as frustrated as you.

But please read https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/page.cgi?id=etiquette.html

Could someone please confirm this bug?

Reporter: Please change Severity to "Enhancement".

Comment 9

[Brian Cupp]

I can confirm this, but don't know how to set the status as confirmed.
Steps to confirm:
1.) Open Address Book
2.) Select any Address Book
3.) Select Tools | Export
4.) Name the file what ever you want (in my case I called it "Test Address Book") and select the Save as Type to "LDIF (*.ldi, *.ldif)" and select Save
5.) Select Tools | Import
6.) Select Address Book and select Next
7.) Select "Text file LDIF, .tab, .csv, .txt) and select Next
8.) Select the Exported Address Book from step 4 and select Open. The Address Book will import.
9.) Select Finish.
NOTE: The Address Book Name is the exact same name as the file name.
10.) Repeat steps 5-9. 

Step 10 is where the bug/feature request is. When importing the same Address Book multiple times you get multiple Address Books. What should happen is the user should be asked to Overwrite the existing Address Book, merge the Address Book, or rename the Address Book. Caution: when using the option of merge there could be duplicate cards and the user should be given the option to Keep or Delete Duplicates with the ability to select an option for Apply to All.


Thunderbird version 1.5 (20051025)

Comment 10

[Brian Cupp]

I also have a feature which can go along the same lines as this. See Below or the forum 
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?p=1874654#1874654

Problem:
Currently in Thunderbird the only way to keep address books identical is with LDAP or by Exporting a file, email the file to specific people, and then have end user import a file.

When you have a small group of people setting up an LDAP Server is not cost effective. Having an end user manually import the Address Book doesn't always work because of some people not being computer savy.

Solution A:
Be able to send an email with an attachment and a link in the body. When the user receives the email they can click on the link and the Address Book will be installed. If an Address Book with the same name exists the user will be prompted to either overwite the Address Book, rename the new Address Book, or Cancel.

Solution B:
Be able to send an email with an attachment that has a unique name and header. When the user opens the email Thunderbird would see the unique name and header and would begin the process of installing the Address Book as above.

Comment 11

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

duplicate.

if you voted for or cced on this bug then you want to do so on Bug 72399.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 72399 ***