Manual setup of Contacts.app on Mac OS X

The instructions and screenshots in this setup guide are for Mac OS X 10.12 (Sierra).

Previous versions of OS X may have slight differences. For best compatibility, we recommend upgrading your operating system to the latest version.

Mac contacts needs its own app password to access your information. If you use your normal password or your Fastmail two step verification password on an external account, syncing to an external service won't work and you will see a password error.

The easiest way to configure Mail, Contacts or Calendars on a Mac is via our automatic configuration tool.

If you'd like to manually configure your Calendar, read on:

1. Open Contacts.app, then from the menu bar select Contacts → Add Account….

   

2. Select Other Contacts account….

   

3. Leave the Account Type on CardDAV and Automatic then fill in your Fastmail email address, and password:

   • User Name: Your full Fastmail username, including the domain.
   • Password: Your Mac Contacts app password. (What is an app password?)

   

4. Click the Create button. The account will be created and Contacts.app will start syncing your contacts.

On versions of MacOS prior to 10.11 (El Capitan), you will also need the Server Address: carddav.fastmail.com.

With some older versions of MacOS, there may be an error attempting to create. Click the Continue button to enter some additional details.

• Server Path: /dav/principals/user/<username@domain>/ (with <username@domain> replaced with your Fastmail username and domain)
• Example: If your email address is emailisgreat@example.com the server path is /dav/principals/user/emailisgreat@example.com/
• SSL: Should be checked

When you click the Create button once more, the contacts will start syncing.

Be aware that any pre-existing contacts already on your device do not automatically get copied back up to Fastmail with the sync: you need to import them to Fastmail first.

Shared contacts in a multi-user account

Note that due to OS limitations, Mac OS X only supports a single contact list.

For users in a multi-user account, you can set up shared contacts instead of personal contacts by following these steps:

1. Open the Contacts app.

2. Click Add Account -> other Contacts account.

3. Click Continue.

4. On the following screen, choose Account Type to Manual.

5. Enter your username as username+Shared@domain (substituting your Fastmail username and domain accordingly) and the app password.

6. Follow the directions on the screen to complete the process.