Address book synchronization is now available on the beta channel. For Thunderbird, you need to manually install version 0.2.1.2b of the Thunderbird integration add-on. The feature complete and almost ready to land in the release channel late December or early January; if you run into any issues, feel free to contact me here or through the bug tracker.
I'm pleased to announce the begin of public testing of address book synchronization with GeneralSync, even a little bit earlier than expected 
To try it out, you need to register for a GeneralSync account (if you haven't yet), visit the the license manager and select the beta update channel below the download buttons. If you use Thunderbird, you also need to manually install version 0.2.1.2b of the Thunderbird integration add-on. Your installations will then automatically update to a version with address book support built in – except for installations managed by Google Play, for which you can enable beta testing by visiting this link (Google account required).
Address books can be used in the same way as calendars: on Android, they are automatically displayed in all contact-aware apps, on Thunderbird you need to add each address book individually in order to see it (open the address book window and select File|New|GeneralSync Address Book).
Please note that some Android apps (most notably, the official contact app) are affected by a bug causing them to permit write-access even to read-only address books. Any changes on read-only address books will not be preserved or synced by GeneralSync and are reverted automatically. Sadly, this issue would need to get fixed in the contact app itself, and I'm not aware of any workarounds.
The current beta version is feature-complete, and will probably be pushed to the release channel in a few days. If you run into any issues, or have suggestions on how to improve the feature or GeneralSync as a whole, feel free to contact me.
Happy syncing!
Important note: The experimental versions of the Thunderbird add-on will only receive automatic updates after this feature became available on the release channel. I'll update this post with the most recent download links whenever I release a new version.
Update (2.12.2016): added note on missing updates for the Thunderbird version, updated for Thunderbird add-on version 0.2.1.0b
Update (10.12.2016): now feature-complete except importing on Android, updated for Thunderbird add-on version 0.2.1.1b
Update (13.12.2016): now feature-complete on Android as well.
Update (19.12.2016): updated for Thunderbird add-on version 0.2.1.2b
Last edited by ds (2016-12-19 08:46:58)
