My contacts disappeared!

[Mzchyll]

All my contacts disappeared after i made an entry. I went to settings and there is nothing regardng syncing for contacts. Do i have to manually put them back in? Does anyone know how to fix this?

 

[Tim SPRACKLEN]

Another member had this problem and I seem to recall there was a fix for it. I think it was our world-sync expert, twerppoet, who - as usual - came to the rescue - so don't panic. He's on the US West Coast, so he's probably having his early morning coffee - oh - just remembered, he has something bizarre that I'd never heard of...

OK - I've moved this to the Help section where it will hopefully attract his attention.

Tim

 

[Hayles66]

I had this problem once. I was trying, again, to gain space on my laptop and put my contacts onto my hard drive and off C-drive on laptop. Of course that's where iTunes got my contacts from.

So I put them back on laptop and voila! They were back onto iPad.

Not sure if you did this but this is what happened to me.

Welcome by the way!

from Somerset UK on my iPad using IPF app

 

[twerppoet]

All my contacts disappeared after i made an entry. I went to settings and there is nothing regardng syncing for contacts. Do i have to manually put them back in? Does anyone know how to fix this?

This problem has come up before, but I'm not sure I've ever had success fixing it. I will however offer the same advice, just in case it works this time.

First, lets make sure your contacts are really gone.

Check the Search field. If there is anything in this, it will limit your contacts to what matches. That can easily be nothing.

Second, if you have a red ribbon on the left page that says Groups, tap it and see if you have the right address book and/or group selected. The ribbon my not be there, depending on how your contacts are set up.

A restart is always a good idea. Hold down the power button until the power off slider appears. Slide it off. When the iPad finishes shutting down, hold down the power button again until the Apple logo appears.

If your contacts are still in limbo, there is one other possibility.

If you have not synced your iPad to iTunes since the contacts disappeared, they may still be in your last backup.

Open iTunes (without the iPad connected) go to Preferences, and the Devices tab. You'll see a list of backups, only one per device that you sync with iTunes. Check the dates.

While you are there, turn off auto-sync. It will make it easier to manage when you iPad syncs in the future. It's important now, because you do no want the iPad to start syncing when you plug it in. The first thing it would do is overwrite your backup.

If that looks good you can choose to restore your iPad. You will lose everything stored in a app since the last time you backed up the iPad. So go trough all your apps first and save the important files, photos, whatever to the computer, or email them to yourself.

Connect your iPad.

In iTunes, under the Device list, right click on your iPad and choose Restore from Backup. Be sure it says 'from Backup', not just Restore. Select the backup from the list and cross your fingers.

Hopefully that worked. If not, and you don't have your contacts backed up in some other program, you are stuck with entering them again manually.

In the future I recommend syncing your Contacts with an online service like Google. It will be a lot easier to recover them if anything happens to your iPad.

To use a GMail account to sync contacts you have to set it up as an Exchange account. Here are the instructions, in case you decide to use Google.

Setting up Google Sync with your iOS device : Mail, Calendar, & Contacts - Google Mobile Help

 

[Hayles66]

Thank goodness, TwerpPoet to the rescue! I have copied this as well, in case it happens to me in the future!

from Somerset UK on my iPad using IPF app

 

[twerppoet]

Backups, backups, backups. And in the case of iTunes, a backup of the backup file is a good idea.

 

[Hayles66]

Overdoing it maybe!

Yes, totally agree, I used to work for my dad in his supermarket and did all the computer work, accounts, payroll, pricing and had to do a backup every day. Floppy disks, up to ten I think! Took a long time mind, and I never got paid overtime. There's a tip, never work for family!

I always back up, back up, back up!

from Somerset UK on my iPad using IPF app

 

[Mzchyll]

O great and powerful TwetpPoet! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!! The problem is fixed. The link you sent for Google allowed me to fix it through micrsoft exchange. Whhheeewwww! Bless you!, ))))

 

[Hayles66]

O great and powerful TwetpPoet! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!! The problem is fixed. The link you sent for Google allowed me to fix it through micrsoft exchange. Whhheeewwww! Bless you!, ))))

Yay! TwerpPoet strikes again! Please take notes from these guys as you will forget which thread or post you saw it.

from Somerset UK on my iPad using IPF app

 

[SweetPoison]

Please take notes from these guys as you will forget which thread or post you saw it.

What would we do without you?

 

[twerppoet]

O great and powerful TwetpPoet! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!! The problem is fixed. The link you sent for Google allowed me to fix it through micrsoft exchange. Whhheeewwww! Bless you!, ))))

No problem. Glad you got it fixed. No need for the buttering up though, My head is already fat enough.

 

[SweetPoison]

My head is already fat enough.

It could have been bigger.....


I know you know what I mean.

 

[Mzchyll]

No problem. Glad you got it fixed. No need for the buttering up though, My head is already fat enough.

Fat head or not Twerppoet you helped me. Those were my business contacts. I was about to jump in the Chattahoochee River. Lol! Thanks again. ))

Sent from my iPad affectionately known as "MyPad" using iPF