REPRODUCIBILITY: Always
OS VERSION: 5.0.73
HARDWARE:XA2
UI LANGUAGE:
REGRESSION:
DESCRIPTION:
I switched my Mail, Calendar and Contacts provider from Gmail to Mailbox. Contacts are synced via CARDDAV. Syncing works OK in both directions. However, after syncing the Contacts (via settings, accounts), all favorites in my contacts app are ‘deleted’ (contacts are still there, but not starred).
A second problem occurs with the field “Note”. During the export process, a generic note was included in the vCard of every contact (“NOTE: Umgezogen am 11.02.2026 um 12:43:06 durch den Umzugservice.“). After deleting the ‘note’ in Sailfish contacts, the note reappears after syncing. Changing the content of the note, however, works fine.
The problem is probably that during sync, the server-side assumes that the contact has a missing note. Deleting the note on the server side, however, seems to work. Maybe this problem could be solved if Sailfish Contacts saves the contact on the phone with an explicit ‘NOTE:null’.
This could very well be a problem with mailbox.org’s Cal/CardDAV server configuration.
OTOH I have also had inconsistencies that could be attributed to SFOS.
Until you dig deeper it will be hard to assign responsibility. Unless one blames SFOS by default because it does not account for all possible edge cases. Also keep in mind that Google deliberately fucks up their Cal/CardDAV implementation to keep in control of things - and most customers will be using Google devices.
Q: the favorites disappear every time you sync, or only the first time? AFAIR that’s a separate, SFOS-specific field. Maybe mailbox.org deletes such fields.
The favorites disappear every time I sync. If I export a vcf contact, no field for favorites are exposed. The vcf appears to be the same when starred and not starred. An example is given.
The question is, are favorites are even part of the vcf profile (can’t spot it in the specifications of vcard 3.0).
BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
N:Milke;Werner;;;
FN:Werner Milke
NOTE:null
item1.TEL;waid=47158251453:+47 123 452242
item1.X-ABLabel:Mobil
item2.TEL:+47 123 522145
item2.X-ABLabel:Geschäftlich
BDAY;value=date:1959-02-28
END:VCARD
Another question is: Are favorites kept with other CARDDAV providers? (with google online accounts it worked).
I just want an addressbook sync without google. Tried nextcloud already, but this messed up my whole addressbook (a different known issue).
First of all, I cannot reproduce the issue of favorites disappearing after each sync but I vaguely remember hearing about the problem.
Your vCard looks pretty different from mine.
Example:
BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
X-EVOLUTION-FILE-AS:Lastname\, Firstname
UID:{nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn}
ADR;TYPE=OTHER,HOME,HOME:;;Street 19=;Town;;;
EMAIL;TYPE=OTHER:firstname.lastname@gmail.com
FN:Firstname Lastname
N:Lastname;Firstname;;;
REV:2026-02-12T20:14:33Z
TEL;TYPE=CELL;X-EVOLUTION-E164=1234567:01234567
X-QTPROJECT-EXTENDED-DETAIL:etag\;[\n "\\"nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
nn\\""\n]\n
X-EVOLUTION-WEBDAV-ETAG:nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
nnnnnnnnnnn
END:VCARD
This is a vcard I downloaded through evolution after adding that contact as a favorite in SFOS & syncing.
The “X-EVOLUTION” naming point to Evolution adding/changing these, and not SFOS.
The X-QTPROJECT-EXTENDED-DETAIL does not change even when I remove the contact from favorites and sync again.
My guess is that favorites are indeed not stored inside the vcards (and I vaguely remember being told so before).
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Thank you for your reply. Knowing that it’s not an issue of CardDav in general is helpful. If this bug does not affect multiple users, I probably won’t dig deeper.
As another user of mailbox.org, the issue would affect me - if I bothered using the favourite/star function of SailfishOS contacts. I tested marking a contact as favourite yesterday just to test the issue, and yes, it’s not just you.
A couple facts so far:
- Syncing with Google keeps the favourite mark.
- Syncing with mailbox.org loses the same marking.
Question to test:
- What happens with other CardDav providers? (I assume Google uses some other method for its sync)
(While I personally don’t use the favourite marking, the issue does annoy me as I have been recommending mailbox.org to other users.)
I discovered a workaround:
- Add a new contact on the phone that has identical information as the old contact.
- This newly created contact doesn’t lose the favorites status after syncing.
- The problem seems to be somehow related to incompatibilities between the vcard formats. However, an vcf export does not reveal any differences between a “corrupt“ contact and a working one. Both are identical.
I found instructions to collect logs to reveal sync problems ( CalDAV and CardDAV Community Contributions | Sailfish OS Documentation ). I could collect them, if somebody has interest in solving the problem in a more general way.
Not promising anything, but interested I would be.
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