[PinkPrincess]

Hey, my dad just gave me his iPhone 3GS for my birthday. My problem is his contacts stayed in my iPhone 3GS and none of my contacts were saved. He is needing his contacts immediately so how am I going to transfer his contacts to my laptop? And I googled about it but I have no idea on what OUTLOOK, ADRESS BOOK or whatsoever stuff are they talking about. I can't save my dad's contacts one by one bec. they are a thousand or less already >.<
So can anyone help me? Please? Btw, I'm new here. Thank you.

[Alli]

Give the phone back to your dad, have him sync to his computer with Contacts checked in iTunes - sync to Outlook contacts.

Once he has double checked that his contacts are in Outlook, you need to reset the iPhone to factory settings to wipe all his stuff off the iPhone so that you can start putting your stuff on it.

[anon(4698833)]

If he uses a mac...simply hit "Sync to address book" and you're good to go...

[chobbs1]

But remember not to synch it to your computer. After he has synced it to his computer and gotten all the info, then do as alli stated, restore as new on your computer.

Frankly, I am surprised that your dad handed the phone over to you without wiping the info clean. Is your dad new to the iPhone too???

[PinkPrincess]

I already sync my contacts to outlook. and my contacts are now gone on my iphone. but i dont know where the contacts now. really appreciate your help thanks.

[Alli]

Either you can sync an iPhone to your pc with your contacts and your Outlook, or you can sync an iPhone to your pc with Dad's contacts to your Outlook. You may have overwritten your Outlook with his contacts.

Are there any contacts anywhere at this point?

[PinkPrincess]

I don't know where to find my contacts in Outlook and I'm already done with syncing .

[chobbs1]

It sounds like you have overwritten your contacts with your father's. If that is the case your contacts are gone. I hope you had a backup of your contacts somewhere.

[jerrydavid]

yeah, make a backup of your contacts in Outlook.

[Alli]

It doesn't sound like she has any contacts in Outlook to backup.

It's a great argument for syncing your contacts with Google.

[PinkPrincess]

I don't have any contacts in my Outlook, actually it's my 1st time to use it. So my problem is; I can't find any contacts in Outlook and my dad's contacts are not in my iPhone already... I should find his contacts or else I'm dead ... Anyway, I really appreciate your help ^^

[chobbs1]

So your dads contacts are gone too? IMO it is just as much his fault as it is yours.

So you have zero contacts on your phone or on the computer? Give us a step by step if what happened. And let us know if there is more than one computer involved. If your father has his own coputer then perhaps he was wise enough to make a backup of his phone?

@alli, I use MobileMe rather than google.

[anon(4698833)]

She did a sync/restore with her own account (which didnt have a contact back up of her own contacts) and, in doing so, erased her dad's contacts as well...that's what she did.

Perhaps he was smart enough to do a backup of his own and she would be able to restore it to its former by connecting it to his itunes account and doing a restore with his old backup.

I get this odd feeling that PinkPrincess is a teenager with very little computer knowledge, so some of these very basic instructions prob look like japanese to her.

[ladytonya]

Yeah, I think Dad needs to do the work here. If he had thousands of contacts on his phone, I can't believe he's never synched the phone anywhere. He should have a backup of at least some version on his computer. PinkPrincess, has your Dad synched with his computer through iTunes? If so, a backup was created and somewhere on his computer there should be an old backup that has his contacts. He shouldn't be mad at you, he should be mad at himself for giving you his phone before making sure he had all the info he needed!

[PinkPrincess]

Ok wait... It's true I have lil' computer knowledge, like my dad. He's not really into computers, he uses it for office matters only. And he didn't synced his contacts to his computer. Oh and I'm saying "I'M DEAD", well I'm just exaggerating ya know? Cause he doesn't have a thousand of contacts, 600+. My problem is really this; I did synced his contacts already.... After syncing I checked my contacts and found no contacts. So what I'm thinking is my dad's contacts are transferred in MS Outlook already. After that, I checked the MS Outlook and there were no contacts . Whoa! You guys are really helpful! Thanks for helping. Hope I'll solve this soon .

[anon(4698833)]

So...as someone asked before...are you guys using the same computer with the same iTunes account to sync this iPhone? Or two separate computers with 2 different iTunes accounts?

[PinkPrincess]

we are using the same computer but he doesnt have any account in itunes. so i guess he doesnt have any old backup.

when i made an account thats the 1st time i sync the contacts. and now idk where to find them.

[chobbs1]

They are gone. You erased them when you syced.

[PinkPrincess]

( But how can I recover them?

[chobbs1]

Since your father never did a backup and based on the incomplete information you have given us(very difficult to discern), your fathers contacts are gone and I do not know of a way to recover them.

[PinkPrincess]

Well I have a cousin whose course is I.T. So he's helping me right now. Anyway, thank you so much for your help ^^. I might comment here again if we have questions.

[chobbs1]

Let us know how it works out