Some Tips...
Here are some helpful tips for working with the plugins and Address Book in general.
- Properly format the addresses in Address Book. If you have an address in the UK, format it as such! The same goes for any country. Turn on the Edit button at the bottom of the Address Book window and click on the label next to the address that you'd like to change. Then, at the bottom of the menu is an item called "Change Address Format":
- Google Maps does not work well with apartment numbers unless they're formated properly. I've tried to work around this, but it still works best if the apartment number is on a separate line. Or try PostCheck to properly format your addresses.
- Put the parts of the address in the proper fields. Do not put the country in the postal code field, for example. =)
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I uninstall the plugins?
Quit Address Book and remove the following files to completely remove any trace of the plugins. (The tilde ~ represents your home folder.)
- ~/Library/Address Book Plug-Ins/BTGoogleMaps.bundle
- ~/Library/Address Book Plug-Ins/BTGoogleEarth.bundle
- ~/Library/Address Book Plug-Ins/BTGoogleDirections.bundle
- ~/Library/Address Book Plug-Ins/BTGooglePreferences.bundle
- ~/Library/Frameworks/GoogleMapsShared.framework
- ~/Library/Caches/BTGoogleEarth
- ~/Library/Preferences/com.briantoth.addressboook.google*
- Repeat for the main Library folder on your hard drive as well, just in case the plugins were moved.
The web browser opens, but Google Maps just displays the entire country, not the location of the address.
This means that Google Maps could not find the address.
- Check that you're using the latest version of the the plugin.
- Check the address that is in the Google Maps search field and see if it's a complete address that makes sense.
- Try searching for the address yourself on Google Maps. If you can't find it, the plugin won't either. If you can find the address yourself, please compare the address you typed in to what the plugin is displaying, that may give me an idea of a change that needs to be made in the future. (Please remember that some preferences may alter the address that is sent to Google Maps.)
A search for an address in the UK finds a bunch of locations that are not the address.
This is because Google Maps seems to have issues finding locations in the UK when searching for a complete address (from my testing anyway).
- Check that you're using the latest version of the the plugin.
- Turn on the option to look up UK addresses by postcode rather than by the complete address (should be on by default). Then, check that the postcode is a valid UK postcode.
- If none of the above helps, do a manual search for the address on Google Maps. If you can't find it that way, the plugin won't either.
Japanese addresses are not working.
- Please format your address like Apple does — with the Prefecture by itself and the rest of the address in the "County/City" field. Google Maps does not seem to work reliably with postal codes or any "Further Divisions" for Japanese addresses, from the limited testing I've been able to do.
- Check that the format of the address is set to "Japan".
Still Not Working?
If none of the above was helpful, please contact me directly by email at btsoft@speakeasy.net. Please be descriptive about the problem and, if the plugin is crashing, please send along a copy of your Console logs. If you're having a problem with an address, a vCard of the address would be most helpful to test with.
To send a Console log, you can open the Console application (/Applications/Utilities/Console.app), click the "Logs" toolbar button and select "console.log" on the left. From the File menu, choose Save a Copy As...
To send a vCard, open Address Book, select the contact and from the File menu choose Export vCard...
Thanks!
Last updated September 25, 2006.