Info DSM 7.0.1 finally finishes off CardDAV Server

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Info DSM 7.0.1 finally finishes off CardDAV Server

fredbert

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While the writing has been on the wall for CardDAV Server for some time there was a stay of execution with the initial general release of DSM 7.0. But that has now come to an end with DSM 7.0.1 severing support this package.

If your NAS can run Synology Contacts then this is your new 'friend'.

1630408012437.png

1630408048358.png
 
Great..... It's gonna be a pain to reconfigure al Android/Outlook clients in my environment to use the new CardDAV URL from the Contacts application.

Idiotic implementations like this where Synology just blatenly completely replace an app with a new one with zero support of migrating to the new tool makes me think more and more about ditching Synology apps and move to Nextcloud or something...
 
Great..... It's gonna be a pain to reconfigure al Android/Outlook clients in my environment to use the new CardDAV URL from the Contacts application.

Idiotic implementations like this where Synology just blatenly completely replace an app with a new one with zero support of migrating to the new tool makes me think more and more about ditching Synology apps and move to Nextcloud or something...
I agree with you. CardDAV server together with DAVx5 on Android side and CalDav synchronizer on Windows PC side was working without any issue. Why they are try to change it completely? Btw. time ago I was reading on some synology community forums that Synology Contacts package has some problems with last standards used for contacts. Did they already fix it?
 
Btw. time ago I was reading on some synology community forums that Synology Contacts package has some problems with last standards used for contacts. Did they already fix it?
If my memory is right, this was in the Beta of Contacts and that the web interface would munge together individual items of an address into a single, unpunctuated value. This has been changed to support address items. Back then if you didn't use the web interface then the backend CardDAV service (different to the one in CardDAV Server) would happily handle address items used by other client apps (e.g. iOS Contacts). It now seems to work ok.
 
Great..... It's gonna be a pain to reconfigure al Android/Outlook clients in my environment to use the new CardDAV URL from the Contacts application.

Idiotic implementations like this where Synology just blatenly completely replace an app with a new one with zero support of migrating to the new tool makes me think more and more about ditching Synology apps and move to Nextcloud or something...
I totally agree. After upgrading to DSM 7.0.1 I am looking for an idea, how to "rescue" all my addresses, stored in the old application.

Does anyone have an idea, how to get the data / address-files whatever, after upgrading to DSM 7.0.1 ?
I can login via ssh to my synology device, but I have no information, how/where this data is stored.
 
If you were using the CardDAV server, presumably you were syncing contacts elsewhere... to a phone perhaps? If so, export these contacts as vCard, then reimport them into your "new" Contacts system. Import either directly to phone and sync to Synology Contacts, or via Synology Contacts.

I don't know of a way to recover them from your DSM7 system.
 
I totally agree. After upgrading to DSM 7.0.1 I am looking for an idea, how to "rescue" all my addresses, stored in the old application.

Does anyone have an idea, how to get the data / address-files whatever, after upgrading to DSM 7.0.1 ?
I can login via ssh to my synology device, but I have no information, how/where this data is stored.
Ok - i found it.

The addresses are stored in the postgres database "caldav" on the DSM.
1. a) Install php on your DSM. b) Download index.php from
synology-carddav-server-contacts-exporter/index.php at master · StephaneTurquay/synology-carddav-server-contacts-exporter
2. Login via ssh to your DSM
3. on DSM -> sudo to root
4. from root: "su - postgres"
5. Execute the php script via /usr/bin/php index.php
-> this will do a sql-export, which will be converted to vcf.

Also valuable information:
 
Ok - i found it.

The addresses are stored in the postgres database "caldav" on the DSM.
1. a) Install php on your DSM. b) Download index.php from
synology-carddav-server-contacts-exporter/index.php at master · StephaneTurquay/synology-carddav-server-contacts-exporter
2. Login via ssh to your DSM
3. on DSM -> sudo to root
4. from root: "su - postgres"
5. Execute the php script via /usr/bin/php index.php
-> this will do a sql-export, which will be converted to vcf.

Also valuable information:

You're a lifesaver. Worked like a charm. Only difference I made is

after login:
sudo /usr/bin/php index.php

and voila!

Cheers mate!
 
Last edited:
Is there still that problem with vCard standard compatibility in Synology Contacts? I mean that issue with separate address data (street, city, ZIP) merged into one record? I don't remember what exactly it was, but result was something like "CardDAV Server is better in terms of vCard standard compatibility that Synology Contacts".
Can anyone here confirm?

Btw. I'm still trying to figure out what will be the best solution in DSM 7.1 for me in terms of using and two-way syncing my contacts and calendars. (Yes, I am still on DSM 6.2 on my main/home NAS, because of this). Right now my scenario and workflow is:

Server side: my NAS with WebDAV Server and CalDAV activated (older version of WebDAV which still has the CalDAV option) and CardDAV Server

Several clients:
1) two Windows 10 PCs (one at home, one in the office) with MS Outlook and CalDav Synchronizer installed
2) one Windows 10 laptop with MS Outlook and CalDav Synchronizer installed, used ocassionally
3) Android phone with DAVx5 installed

I don't edit (add, edit, delete etc.) my contacts and calendar events on NAS side, but I do on my PC's and Android phone. What I need is full 2-way syncing between all client devices, which works now perfectly.

But one day I will need to update to DSM 7.1 and I am not sure if Synology Contacts and Synology Calendar can handle it all without any issues and problems.

Anyone here with similar needs? Let me know, how you do that stuff.
 
I predominantly use iCloud for calendars and contacts on Mac and iOS, we have quite a few shared home calendars to separate out different things. But I also have Synology Calendars and Contacts setup as additional accounts on both Mac and iOS, sort of a fallback service (not sync'ed).

Since I don't use them much this may be slightly out of date...

Synology Calendars is your CalDAV service. One thing it doesn't do is have subscriptions to web published .ics calendars: you either import the .ics file and have as a static calendar, or you don't have it. I think sharing is supported between DSM users, but don't quote me.

Synology Contacts is the only CardDAV service. The previous issues of munging address fields into a single unlimited (no commas) value have been long resolved. It seems to work. I don't think Apple Contacts groups are respected/work, and I can't remember if you can have multiple address books. Also the Synology Contacts labels may not work fully with Mac/iOS, I can see they are there in the client apps but updates in web/app don't seem to sync across.

@maravac since you have two DS+ NAS then there is the possibility that you could spin up the free Virtual DSM licences in Virtual Machine Manager. Installing and testing vDSM 7.1 should let you answer many questions before moving across. Plus once moved to DSM 7.1 you could then use VMM to run vDSM 6.2 for older services.
 
I predominantly use iCloud for calendars and contacts on Mac and iOS, we have quite a few shared home calendars to separate out different things. But I also have Synology Calendars and Contacts setup as additional accounts on both Mac and iOS, sort of a fallback service (not sync'ed).

Since I don't use them much this may be slightly out of date...

Synology Calendars is your CalDAV service. One thing it doesn't do is have subscriptions to web published .ics calendars: you either import the .ics file and have as a static calendar, or you don't have it. I think sharing is supported between DSM users, but don't quote me.

Synology Contacts is the only CardDAV service. The previous issues of munging address fields into a single unlimited (no commas) value have been long resolved. It seems to work. I don't think Apple Contacts groups are respected/work, and I can't remember if you can have multiple address books. Also the Synology Contacts labels may not work fully with Mac/iOS, I can see they are there in the client apps but updates in web/app don't seem to sync across.

That is correct that there is some sort of interaction between Apple Contacts groups and Synology Contacts. They simply don't work (whereas they used to work fine on the old Apple Server.app CardDAV server). We found that BusyContacts works with groups hosted on Synology Contacts, so we switched to that.
 
Coming back to the Synology Contacts with macOS and iOS. I'm just playing with this as I had Synology Contacts still open from the weekend.

Uses (lists in app)
Synology Contacts​
macOS Contacts*​
iOS Contacts**​
Personal Address Books
My Contacts (primary address book)​
Yes​
Yes​
Yes​
Suggested​
Yes​
No​
Yes​
Starred​
Yes​
No​
No​
+ secondary address books​
Yes​
No​
Yes​
All address books view?​
No​
No​
Yes​
Group Address Book
Team Contacts​
Yes​
No​
Yes​
Label
Synology labels​
Yes​
No​
No​
Group
macOS groups​
No​
Yes​
Yes​

*using macOS Catalina and Big Sur cos I'm stuck on those.
**using iOS 15.5 and checked on 12.5.5.

As far as I can tell Labels are untouched by macOS and iOS, and Groups are untouched by Synology Contacts. The underlying CardDAV server manages the groups and these aren't accessed by
 

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