gContactSync FAQs

Also see Troubleshooting gContactSync

Why do some of my contacts have strange e-mail addresses?

Those contacts had blank e-mail addresses in Gmail, but Thunderbird can't handle contacts like that in mailing lists. So I had to write a workaround that would add an e-mail address to those contacts. If you only synchronize the 'My Contacts' group I can let you know how to get rid of those dummy e-mail addresses. The e-mail addresses are in the form: "nobody....@nowhere.invalid". I know it is ugly, but the alternative is having a broken, unsynchronizable address book.

I filed Bug 492695 for the bug in Thunderbird. See Dummy E-mail Addresses for more details.

When will birthdays and photos be synchronized?

Version 0.3 will sync all recently added fields in both Thunderbird and Google. This includes birthdays, websites, and photos.

Why do I get an "Unresponsive Script" error?

Some people have reported an "Unresponsive Script" error while gContactSync is synchronizing a large address book.
That message appears when some JavaScript? has been running for a certain amount of time as a precaution. I have never managed to get stuck in an infinite loop with gContactSync (which is what this dialog allows you to break out of), so it is safe to click Continue.

If you want to stop receiving these messages you can do the following:
Go to Tools -> Options (or Edit -> Preferences).
Next, go to the Advanced tab then General.
Click on Config Editor...
Type or paste dom.max_chrome_script_run_time into the textbox.
Double-click the row that appears and enter a higher number. You can enter 0 if you never want to see that message, but that also prevents the dialog from appearing when it actually should.

Why don't the phone columns match between the top and bottom half of the address book?

You may also have noticed the new phone number types added by the pre-existing phone number fields when you edit (and create in TB 3) contacts. These types were added to make phone numbers in Thunderbird more closely match those in Gmail. However, different phone number fields can now be of multiple types (Home, Work, Mobile, etc.) so it is impossible to accurately label a column. Please see this forum post for a more detailed explanation.

Why do some contacts get updated when I haven't changed them?

Thunderbird keeps track of the number of times you have received or sent e-mail to a certain contact, so gContactSync sees that the contact has changed and updates it.

Why doesn't drag and drop work to mailing lists?

Mailing lists are buggy in Thunderbird (see the section above for one example) and drag and drop doesn't work well to mailing lists. I also modify the drag and drop method to copy over extra attributes that gContactSync adds. I am currently trying to fix drag and drop in gContactSync, and may try to make a patch or two for Thunderbird.

How can I add contacts to my address book without drag and drop?

You can copy the contacts to your main address book without many problems. Once they are in there, synchronize. The best way to get them into individual groups is through Gmail, although you can try using Thunderbird.

Can I synchronize to multiple address books instead of mailing lists?

Not yet, unfortunately. It seems like it would be simple and straightforward, but it isn't. ;) This may be possible in version 0.3 or 0.4.

Why does gContactSync always say "Synchronizing..."?

There was probably an error during the synchronization. Every error I have seen recently has been relating to mailing lists. Unfortunately, when a mailing list is broken you must 'reset' that address book. Read the two previous questions for why mailing lists might break.

You should also enable verbose logging (see Troubleshooting gContactSync) and check the log.

Why are the phone numbers different?

This is by design since Google can synchronize multiple numbers of the same type and Thunderbird cannot without gContactSync. gContactSync ignores the actual names of the phone number fields in Thunderbird and instead adds types (Work, Home, Mobile, etc) to make it match Gmail, and improve the address book IMO.

I do see why this mapping can be a problem after disabling or uninstalling gContactSync, or even when using another sync app with Thunderbird. I'd be happy to explain how to use the new phone fields and types to any other extension author if necessary. I filed Bug 20962 for looking into this, but I cannot make any promises yet.

I sure would like the convenience of the automatic contact sync, but adding my gmail login credentials to this (or any) plugin makes me uneasy. How can I be sure this is secure?

gContactSync has not been officially reviewed by the addons.mozilla.org team yet (which is why it is labeled "Experimental"), so there is no independent guarantee of security. However, gContactSync is completely open source, so anyone who knows JavaScript? can view the source and check if it is secure (http://gcontactsync.mozdev.org/source.html).

gContactSync asks for your username and password so it can send them (securely, more info later) to Google and trade it for a token that will allow access to your contacts without gContactSync needing to store your password for future use (http://code.google.com/apis/accounts/docs/AuthForInstalledApps.html). After the username and password are traded for the token, gContactSync discards the password. If anything happens to that token then gContactSync asks you for the password again.

In any case, extensions have access to the login manager which stores your credentials for e-mail accounts. If you have a master password then you are prompted to enter it before an extension can access the login manager. gContactSync uses the login manager to store only the authentication token.

Whenever gContactSync sends anything to Google, it is encrypted with TLS/SSL to prevent eavesdropping. You can verify this with a tool called Wireshark (http://www.wireshark.org/).

In conclusion, if you are concerned about the security of this add-on please wait until version 0.3 is released and reviewed. You should only install add-ons that you trust.

I like gContactSync but don't know how to program, can I help?

Absolutely. It is a completely open source project and I'll gladly accept any kind of help:

• Helping people on the forum
• Finding and reporting bugs
• Creating icons, especially for the Sync button.

I like gContactSync and know how (or want to learn how) to program, can I help?

Definitely. Most of the source is in JavaScript?, and there is some XUL (XML User interface Language) and CSS as well. If you don't know one or more of these they are all simple to learn, I'm happy to teach, and MDC is a great reference.
I have the JSDoc for the JavaScript? files on my website.

---