[Philg]

I am switching from an 8700 to and 8800 and have set up desktop manager 4.3. Everything transfers fine except for my address book which is the main thing.
Is there any way to transfer an entire address book. I dont use outlook and dont want to. Anything else?? I use gmail and have t mobile as my carrier. Thanks

[aiharkness]

Wirelessly posted (8700g: BlackBerry8700/4.2.1 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

Are you using switch device wizard or backup/restore? I've read sometimes people have had issues with the wizard. If that's the case, you can try backup/restore instead.

Also, I believe you can selectively restore just one database (address book). Take a look at that.

[Philg]

yep tried both and no luck!! I looked to see if I am doing anything wrong but it is pretty straight forward but, nothing. I thought it would be easy......

[juwaack68]

Are you just doing a straight backup/restore, or are you using the Advanced restore and just restoring the address book from your backup file to the new device?

[Philg]

I did the basic backup and then restore first and then tried to select it from the advance menu and it would not allow me to select it?

[juwaack68]

What do you mean? When you opened the backup file, the Address Book was greyed out?

[Philg]

yep, i was going to move it into the box on the right I believe but it was greyed out.

[juwaack68]

Hmmm...the only time I've seen that is when a device is connected to a BES. But you're not, correct?

[Philg]

What is a BES? I would guess that means not. Thanks for the help, I do appreciate it.

[aiharkness]

BES = blackberry enterprise server . . . From your original post, it doesn't sound like your blackberry is wirelessly sync'd to a corporate server.

To be clear (me), you can backup the contacts to the computer, but not restore them to the new blackberry.

Just throwing out ideas here: Is it possible the address book on the 8700 is corrupted or has empty entries, and if so would this cause a problem trying to restore to another blackberry? Is there an IT policy on either blackberry, and if so could that cause this problem? I've read of google apps but haven't paid real attention, but it is possible to upload the contacts to google and then download to the new blackberry? (Possibly you could accomplish this with Yahoo using desktop manager sync with Yahoo.) Just stab in the dark for what it's worth.

EDIT: Another idea. Can you do something with the ASCII Importer/Exporter in desktop manager. At the least, maybe get the contacts into a file you can examine. Maybe, export from the 8700 and then sync to the 8800? I don't know. Just throwing it out as a possibility.

[RobM]

I would say if all else fails...call tech support from your carrier and ask to speak with the RIM techs or call RIM direct

[rambo47]

Maybe try deleting DM 4.3 and using DM 4.2 SP 2 instead. The newer 4.3 version has been giving some users fits.

[aiharkness]

Originally Posted by rambo47

Maybe try deleting DM 4.3 and using DM 4.2 SP 2 instead. The newer 4.3 version has been giving some users fits.

That's not a bad idea. I missed the 4.3 in the OP. This would be the thing to try next.

[Philg]

Thanks for all the help guys. I am going to try deleting 4.3 and use 4.2 and see if that works.

[MERK350Z]

Originally Posted by Philg

I am switching from an 8700 to and 8800 and have set up desktop manager 4.3. Everything transfers fine except for my address book which is the main thing.
Is there any way to transfer an entire address book. I dont use outlook and dont want to. Anything else?? I use gmail and have t mobile as my carrier. Thanks

well you can def do a backup and then do a restore on certin items and that would be the best way to do with out using outlook.

[aiharkness]

Originally Posted by Philg

Thanks for all the help guys. I am going to try deleting 4.3 and use 4.2 and see if that works.

Come back and give us an update when you can. I'm hoping that's all it takes. Doesn't make sense that the other databases transferred ok and address book wouldn't.

[Philg]

well. deleted 4.3 and installed 4.2 and still didnt work! So I it up and then connected my 8800 and opened the backup file in restore and the address book along with a couple others was greyed out. Think I will try to uninstall everything and start fresh. We will see

[aiharkness]

Originally Posted by Philg

well. deleted 4.3 and installed 4.2 and still didnt work! So I it up and then connected my 8800 and opened the backup file in restore and the address book along with a couple others was greyed out. Think I will try to uninstall everything and start fresh. We will see

Darn! I really thought that was going to work. Does anything I asked in post #10 jump out at you? Just wondering if the database on the 8700 was boogered up. Well, maybe starting over is the wise move. Will be watching for update.

[Philg]

After uninstalling, reinstalling, going to older versions of software, talking on the phone, reading forums and everything else I finally had enough and entered all of my contacts manually. Gave me a chance to clean out the contacts list (that is how I make myself feel better about having to do this). Is there a way to save the entire address book to the sim now from the 8800 so that I dont have to do this again. Thanks again for the help and troubleshooting. Much appreciated.

[aiharkness]

Wirelessly posted (8700g: BlackBerry8700/4.2.1 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

SIM is limited. Name and number only, right. And do you have to do one contact at a time?

My advice is backup your blackberry frequently and keep several old backups at a time, deleting the older files as you go along. And sync to something. With desktop manager now you can sync to outlook. Or maybe play with the ascii importer/exporter.

I'm guessing your address book was corrupted somehow/someway. If you have several backup files days apart, you can at least work backwards to the last clean file you have if you ever find yourself in this situation again.