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Is it possible for me to use Google's excellent CardDAV contact sync service on my OS X (10.8) computer?

It works very well on iOS, but the same settings do not work on a computer.

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On Snow Leopard, I had to use iSync to sync Google contacts with the Address Book. You might want to try that, too. – str Dec 8 '12 at 14:32
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@str iSync was removed with Mountain Lion :( – Redandwhite Dec 9 '12 at 16:10

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Yes. I use it on Mountain Lion.

Details here:http://tech.kateva.org/2013/02/google-contact-sync-on-mountain-lion.html.

It's not clear to me how Contacts.app is merging Google/iCloud duplicates that arise if you use iCloud, or handling editing of those duplicates. There's no support for Google Group/Tag relationships or Mac Group/Tag relationships.

Nobody has gotten it working on Snow Leopard, though if you want to try that (do publish) Hsiaoi's technique is a good start (http://www.hsiaoi.com/blog/?p=512). I suspect SSL is a problem.

I believe it also works on Lion but I've not tested.

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up vote 1 down vote

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like CardDAV sync feature is only avaliable from iOS devices. I did however find an article showing how you can do so on your mac, it could be worth a try.

After opening Contacts, go to the app’s preferences pane. Navigate to the “Accounts” section: http://ismh.s3.amazonaws.com/2012-12-16-google-contacts-1.png
Hit the plus sign to add an account. Here are the required settings:
Account type: CardDAV:
Username: Your Gmail Account
Your password
Server address: google.com

Hit the “Create” button: http://ismh.s3.amazonaws.com/2012-12-16-google-contacts-2.png
Contacts.app will then ask if you want use these credentials for other types of information. Select what you wish and press the “Create” button again.

Once the account is listed in Contact.app’s preferences, go to the “General” section and set your Google account to be the default account: http://ismh.s3.amazonaws.com/2012-12-16-google-contacts-3.png

By default, the application defaults to saving vCards locally on the Mac, which means information added from other programs won’t end up in the Google cloud.

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That last tip about setting it as the default was what I needed, as recently CardDAV started working. Many thanks! – Redandwhite Feb 9 at 12:15
You're welcome! :) – Emil Feb 9 at 12:24
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The Accounts tab of the Contacts preferences give you an option to add a CardDAV acount:

Simply use that. If that doesn't work for you, please post a more specific problem description.

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This option doesn't work, unfortunately. I had tried this option, and also mentioned it in my question. – Redandwhite Dec 8 '12 at 18:22
You weren't very specific about that. How exactly "doesn't it work"? – slhck Dec 8 '12 at 18:32
I receive this error message when trying to set it up: evernote.com/shard/s1/sh/99068c76-b570-4798-a452-ecbe90c3d0a7/… – Redandwhite Dec 8 '12 at 18:40
I've just done it, and its working in OSX 10.8.2, But I configured it in System Preferences -> Mail contacts & Calendars -> add other accont -> CardDAV. – maseth Feb 16 at 17:51

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