How to: Sync Address Book entries with phone numbers to iPhone
By Ronald O Carlson
Are you annoyed that your iPhone includes many records with no phone numbers? Here’s a sweet little trick — including a ground floor primer on copying, compiling and running an AppleScript — to synchronize only Address Book entries that include telephone numbers.
As an iPod touch user, I’m quite happy to have a full copy of my Address Book, both entries with and without phone numbers, in my pocket. Nevertheless, there’s a mindset that wants a 100 percent match between the iPhone’s feature set and the data held inside.
The answer is to create Smart Group using AppleScript, which has been called the programming language for the rest of us. Well, I don’t pretend that level of competence, but the script we need can be downloaded here (text file) or copied n’ pasted from Mac OS X Hints, a place populated with people that are that smart and motivated.
Next, locate Apple Script Editor in the Utilities Folder and fire it up, which should open a blank script file. Copy the script, paste it into the blank, click compile and then Save As to the User Scripts folder (default).
This particular script is designed to create a Smart Group named iPhone, so if you’ve already got a group with that moniker — change it. Or, edit the script so it creates a group with a different name.
Run your script. Address Book will open and display the new Smart Group ready to be synced to your iPhone.
More than a one-trick pony
Also, you can make running your new script easy by putting it in your menu bar. In AppleScript Editor, go to Preferences (⌘ + comma) and click the Show Script menu in menu bar check box.
This not only makes accessing your new script easy, but will also make you aware of the cool scripts that come bundled with OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, such as iTunes Remote Control or Create New Message (Mail).
Got a handy dandy AppleScript or tip you’d like to share? Leave us a note and a link in the comments below…
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