How to Keep Multiple Lists of Contacts on One OS X Account [feedly]

 
 

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How to Keep Multiple Lists of Contacts on One OS X Account

My wife and I share an iMac with OS X 10.8.2. How do I create a second Contacts database for my wife to use? She doesn't want to share my contacts. We currently use Contacts to sync our contacts between our iOS devices. Any options?

While Contacts does not allow for multiple databases (unless you want to use multiple accounts in OS X), there is an easy solution when you have a single shared OS X account: using Groups.

To do this, open the Contacts app, and select File > New Group. The new group will appear in the Contacts left-hand sidebar. Edit the name to your liking (such as "My iPhone," "Her iPhone," etc.), and then proceed to drag the contacts destined for the particular user's iPhone from your All Contacts group to the newly created group. You'll want to do this for as many different iPhone users as you wish to sync. 

Create one group per user—the contacts in this group will be synced to each individual iPhone to avoid unwanted contacts.

By doing this, we've created one group per iPhone user that we will be syncing. When syncing, all contacts will be entered into the All Contacts group, but the iPhone will only sync between the user's group, so your wife won't see your contacts on her iPhone and vice versa. 

When you're ready to sync the groups to your device, head over to iTunes and select your device, then the Info tab. Once there, ensure that "Sync Contacts" is checked, and then select the "Selected groups" radio button, and check the group that you'd like to sync. After doing this, only the contacts in that single group will be available on your iOS device.

iTunes makes it easy to sync just a single group of contacts to your iOS device.

 

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