Dave, I’m completely clueless when it comes to programming, so I have a question that hopefully has an easy answer. Can I get the contacts in Palm’s software into the Mac OS X Address Book without too much difficulty?
You can indeed. Here are the exact steps you need to go through:
First off, launch your Palm desktop application, then from the File menu choose Export. You’ll get a window that looks like this:
As you can see, I’ve chosen Addresses as the module, and vCard as the format.
Now click on the “Export” button and you’ll have a new file on your desktop. That’s all we need Palm Desktop for, so you can quit it if you want.
Next, it’s time to launch Address Book. Choose File –> Import –> vCards and select your newly created data file in the window:
That’s basically it. Address Book will import all your contacts and you’ll be good to go!
Hope that helps you out.
Good morning Dave, is there any possible way to go from IPhone {contacts} back to Palm contacts? I synced my Palm TX about six months ago, like I did every day, and it showed ZERO contacts. I made the mistake of trying to sync again and I guess that elimanated any chance of recovery. In order to prevent losing EVERYTHING again, I was hoping to back up my {since purchased} IPhone’s contacts into my Palm TX without having to do it tediously one by one manually again.
Thank you in advance.
I had a Palm Centro on Windows and in Jan10 switched to Iphone. I had to go through Outlook to be ableto download the addresses from Palm to the iphone. Now, Outlook locked up and can’t get to my addressbook. I purchased a Mac and got Palm to help me transfer the address from the PC to the MAC but they were not able to put it in the MAC’s addressbook. Apple could not do it either. I did exactly what you said above and it didnt work either. Any other suggestions??? Thanks
I have a Tungsten E2 Palm that has many, many years worth of calendar info, contacts, memos (subdivided into many folders, each labeled) and tasks. Is there a way of transferring all of this data into an ipod touch w/o losing data or formats? If so, how? I do not want to purchase an ipod touch unless I can easily transfer the data from my Palm. I work on a Mac OS X version 10.4.11. All my data is on my Palm desktop. I “HotSyn” every day. Thanks for your help.
Liz
Read the whole thing before you try this solution because there is a bid caveat if you have hundreds of contacts. I had the above problem of the Mac Palm OS ver 4.2.1 crashing occurring using both the drag and drop and export to vcard feature. Finally I went back to the Palm desktop on my PC/Windows and did File>Export to vcard, then gave it a random file name and saved to a flash drive. I went back to the Mac inserted the flash drive and double clicked on the .vcf file (like someone suggested above) which in turn opened Address book. I then received a message stating that I had 12 duplicates. I reviewed and accepted the duplicates to be on the safe side (my contacts are very old) and then selected OK. Address book imported all the vcards. HOWEVER here is the catch: all the cards are “Untitled” and therefor not easily searchable until you update the “untitled” field by copying and pasting the contact name that imported to the secondary field. Hope this makes sense. You can delete the untitld cards if renaming them is too much of a chore.
How Can I import my addresses from Palm Cle to I-Pod ? the first part per Dave is easy – I export the address book to my desk top as vcard. But how do I import tis to my Ipod ?
Can I transfer Palm V Contacts and Calendar to new iPhone 3G?
I’m a pc user.
Thanks-
Elizabeth
I can copy my contacts from my Plam to my desktop — I created a folder in Windows address book and tried to copy to the new folder — the contacts went into the the main identity folder and merged with my iphone contacts — I would like to move the contacts to the folder I created and then copy them to Microsoft Outlook — any ideas ?
You can convert your Palm Datebook to CSV format (which is readable and importable by just about everything) by using this site:
http://www.kmoser.com/palm2csv/
It’s fast, free, easy, and there’s nothing to download or install.
Do you know of any fixes yet for getting custom fields from Address Book to sync with an iPod?
I found a simple solution! Simply double-clicking on the vCard file caused it to open in Address Book.
I’m unable to import the vCard file created by Palm into Address Book. When I select Import, the vcard file is gray in the file list, so I can’t select it. Any suggestions? I’m using Palm Desktop 4.2.1 and OS 10.6.3. I also tried exporting as Tab and Return, but Address Book wouldn’t open that either.
hi, i have a macbook w/snow leopard. i exported my contacts from palm desktop in vcal format. it DID crash just as it finished, although i think i got most if not all my contacts in there. i tried dragging the file into address book, but it gave me an error message. but when i doubleclicked the vcard file (while address book was open), it asked me if i wanted to import all the addresses into address book! success! thank you!
I have a work laptop with my Palm (Clie) software. Can you help me transfer the info from it to an iMac and then to my iTouch? I need to move the Calendar, Address/Contacts, and Memo Pad.
>Is there any way I can tell the Import which Custom Field in the
> Palm database to link to which Custom Field in Addressbook?
> Posted by: Irma at March 22, 2007 5:48 PM
This seems to be a hard question; I’m looking into it from a different angle, having used MissingSync. See >Is there any way I can tell the Import which Custom Field in the
> Palm database to link to which Custom Field in Addressbook?
> Posted by: Irma at March 22, 2007 5:48 PM
This seems to be a hard question; I’m looking into it from a different angle, having used MissingSync. See forums . markspace . c om/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7282&p=27153#p27153 for details.
Thanks, this saved alot of time!
Dave… You’re a godsend. I thought I was going to be unable to transfer all my 1300 addresses and contacts from my palm software on to my iPhone and Mac address book. I did it in three minutes at the most. Thanks man!
Your instructions are the BEST. Perfect. Easy. Accurate. Thank you. I bought you a cup of coffee. However, when I tried the same process to transfer my Palm Datebook to Ical, I got four years of dates compressed into one year (e.g., everything I’ve done on January 16 2007, 8, 9, & 10 all appear in the current 2010 calendar). How do I make the data from each year flow into the proper year so the ical is both historically accurate and currently useful? Oh Dave, please help. Many thanks, happy Starbucks.
Nada. “No importable cards were found” is what OS X Address Book says, though examining the vCard file clearly shows 249 cards.
Dave (or whoever), can you tell me how to convert my Palm Desktop date book (version 4.2.2 of Palm Desktop) to iCal so I can transfer it to an iPhone? My computer knowledge is very limited. Please email me at RL5050@gmail.com if there is a relatively easy solution to this. Thank you.
Do you have a method to transfer Memo data from Palm on Mac to ipod touch? Thank you
I have a Palm tungsten E2 and have been using my calendar & contacts for several years. I am afraid my Palm may be on its last leg and PDAs are becoming obsolete. I wonder which type of phone or new PDA device can the calendar and contacts be transferred to. I sync daily to my PC so hopefully I won’t lose years of contacts and data. Thanks so much!
Same problem as others. Palm Desktop 4.2.1 D (Mac) crashes just as it is about to finish vDate export.
I have all my Palm V contacts on my PC, which is synched with the Palm via a serial port connected Palm V Cradle. I just bought a MacBook. How do I transfer the data in my Palm V (and also in my PC) to my MacBook, which only has a USB port?
Thanks for the info! Worked perfectly 1st time. After syncing my Palm the app crashed as others mentioned. Deleted some weird addresses from the Palm & it worked perfectly again.
hi dave! first, thanks for this site:) i’m trying to export my palm contacts into my new imac.
i have palm version 4.2.1 – do i need to update the software to get the “export” option?
my software only has the “import” option under File.
i look forward to your reply.
thanks!!!!
Thank you for helping me sync my Palm contacts with my new iPhone. I saw so many other websites with convoluted and ineffective methods. Worked perfectly. Thanks.
You are a miracle worker! Thank you for saving me hours of tedious work.
I am having the problem of crashing with Palm Desktop 4.2.2 which I believe is the highest number of new software for Palm Desktop. What is my solution if it stops some where between 3204 and 3326 contacts and then Palm Desktop quits. It exports a zero kb file that is worthless and empty with no contacts in it.
I was able to move Date Book to Ical this way- no problem, but I too crash when trying to move my (12,000) contacts. Could it be that I have too many? Will try to drag and drop.
Thanks !
(Dave- your site is the best!)
Palm Datebook to Iphone/ICal — Got a new Iphone and want to transfer my Datebook to iCal with no success. Everytime I go to export using vCal the application crashes halfway through the export. (BTW successfully exported my Addresses). In browsing the web I notice others have the same experience. Anyone have a successful formula?
Thanks
I have my Palm contacts in address book. How do I move the addresses to the iphone? Thanks.
Hi, Dave-
I am having the same experience as Randy on July 5, 2007. I am getting:
1-Which modules- contacts
2-Which contacts- all 10
3-Column setup- All
4- Delimiters- Tab & Return or Palm Desktop
5- When I select either, I then hit Okay and get a window asking where to save and a name. I do not get module or format. I then have a folder on my desktop and cannot import it. I also cannot find a way to drag and drop.
Please tell me what I am doing wrong. I am about to purchase a Touch.
Thank you so much.
Amy
is there a simple way to export Palm memos to use on an iPod / Mac Address Book?
your site was SOOOOOO helpful!!!! thank you very, very much from paris, france,
lillian & peter
Thanks for this, moving my addresses across to Address Book on the Mac worked perfectly first time round!
I am slowly moving everything across from my trusty Palm Desktop environment and old Sony Clie to an iPod Touch and this has helped enormously. My final hurdle is to move calendar appointments across and everything has failed in this department so far. It might have to be a manual process… oh joy!
Thank you so very much! Nothing on either MAC or Palm could have put it in such simple terms as you did. Loved the screen shots it helped tremendously as I didnt want to give up my palm unless I could transfer contacts to my i-touch! You are the best!
The transfer was the easiest. Thank you! I guess now I just sinc my Iphone to it? Can you do the same with the Calendar? Thanks again!
Thanks – it worked great.
Dave,
I tried your method of exporting my palm contacts to the address book, but when I hit ‘export’ all I get is a screen wanting to export through ‘addresses’ with absolutely nothing listed? My accounts are there. Strange. There is even an option called ‘export vcard’ That has the same result.
Thanks so much for this site–it was a huge help in moving my contacts from palm to contacts.
Dave: Just want to thank you. I couldn’t figure how to transfer my palm desktop address to my Apple. I found your site and NO PROBLEM!!! Transfer accomplished. THANK YOU!
Thanks for the help, spot on!
How do you transfer palm date book info to iphone… ical?
Hi, I know Palm Desktop 4.1 SP3, 4.1.4 dat file formats. I’ve developed VC++, c# classes for working with Palm Desktop *.dat files: address book , memo, todo, datebook.
Regards.
I have old contacts (from a Palm V PDA) that I can open running Mac classic/9 on my new Mac. When I tried to export them I am not given the vCard option. I’m give 2 “delimiters” to choose from when I export: tab & return OR Palm Desktop. I’ve tried both, and then attempted to import those files to the OSX address book. To no avail. Can’t just drag and drop them either. Any advice??
More advanced Palm-Import-To-Addressbook question:
I have made up several custom fields in Palm Desktop, which, when using the normal vCard export/import method, all get written to the Notes field in Addressbook.
Is there any way I can tell the Import which Custom Field in the Palm database to link to which Custom Field in Addressbook?
Awesome job. I had actually tried doing that before but it must have been incompatible with older versions of both applications.
What I’d like to know though, is there a way of “synching” them? I know I can drag them from Palm to Mac Address and it will give me the option of what to do on the duplicates, but, can I go the other way? Maybe an AppleScript or even and Automator process?
I was trying to figure out how to export palm contacts from mac 10.3 and I came across this page. Just saying hi! btw you can also transfer as a text file into address book.
I just wanted to respond to Bob’s comment from August 10. I too was having problems exporting my contacts from Palm Desktop to Address Book; everytime I tried to export the contacts, Palm Desktop would crash.
The solution? Make sure you’re running the most recent version of Palm Desktop (4.2.1). Launch it and Address Book at the same time. Then, select all of the addresses in Palm Desktop, and drag and drop them into Address Book. They should import perfectly!
Hope this helps you (and anyone else who encounters this issue).
JT
Dave,
I have tried doing this a million times, and every time, Palm Desktop crashes when I try to export my address book in vcf format. I would really prefer to import them into Address Book as vcfs, b/c of some nice importing features and accuracy of labels that gets lost with the tab-return format. How can I get these addresses exported without PD crashing over and over? Sometimes I can drag a single (or even a few) address(es) directly to the desktop to make a vcf of them (each one is created individually this way), but again, half the time, it crashes and Finder gets lost in a long period of thinking unless I relaunch.
Can you help me?
This has happened with more than one install of Palm Desktop, on more than one machine, running everything from 10.2 or so to Tiger.
Thanks,
bob