Syncing AOL contacts into Gmail (or other software)

Finally there’s a way to sync contacts out of AOL and into something free. Since AOL Sync is based on Funambol, it uses SyncML, and the Funambol clients.

You’ll need Java, and then:

1. Download the Funambol Google Plug-In. If you want to sync into Outlook, use the AOL Sync client, or look at the other Funambol plug-ins for other systems.
2. Extract it, and run it — look in the funambol, pug-ins, then bin folders. The file is called “runGoogle.cmd” on Windows, and “runGoogle.sh” for Unix systems.
3. Go to Edit, then Communication Settings
4. Put in http://m.sync.aol.com/sync for the Server URL. Fill in your AOL username and password, and your Gmail username and password.
5. Hit OK
6. Hit Synchronize

Voila, your contacts are in Gmail

Say good-bye to a provider that has until now worked very hard on locking your contacts in.