Address Book broken

I'm running Mac OS X 10.6.4 and currently Address Book is completely broken. It shows 0 cards in the main application, but the Dashboard widget lists all of my contacts and the contacts sync to my iPhone. The application will not allow me to create a new card -- I press the "+" button or command-N and nothing happens. I've tried deleting the preferences, the App Support folder, and the cache, but once I reopen Address Book, the previous files, including all the contact data, are restored (from where, I don't know). I found a previous thread that describes the same problem, but it's been archived, even though the problem has not been resolved. Here's the link:
http://discussions.info.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=11035844
Apparently the only solution is to reinstall the OS. That's not an option for me right now, so I'm hoping that someone here might have a different solution, or perhaps if the problem is common enough Apple might issue a fix in a future software update.
I don't necessarily need to keep the contacts. I would be happy to have an empty but functioning Address Book. Does anyone know where the contact data is being stored, other than in the usual Address Book locations? Deleting the App Support folder does not delete the contacts; they're restored each time but are never accessible through the Address Book.

Try resetting Sync Services. You can reset sync services via the iSync menu if you hold down the option button while selecting the menu.
Or, you can open iSync, Preferences, and reset the sync history.
Is there an addressbook.data folder in user/Library/Application Support/AddressBook?
Are all of you address cards in the Metadata folder?
If neither of those apply, I would just delete the AddressBook folder and the com.apple.addressbook.plist from your user/Library/Preferences folder.
If you do have something in Metadata, just get rid of everything but the Metadata folder. If you want to keep your recent email recipients, keep that file, too. I don't think it will cause problems, but you might just move it out of the folder and replace it if all starts working. If it then stops, that might be it.

Similar Messages

Address Book broken, won't search

Hello all,
I am have a problem - Address Book is not searching or displaying info when I click on an entry... broken!
Any thoughts?
I have reset the power management, parameter ram and I tried to boot up in safe mode but that does't work.
On support call with Apple now... they are escalating it, I think.
I have exported to copys of Address Book Archive and I am backed up.

Backup address book from inside app
Then trash in your home folder the address book folder
Located. Home / library / application support / address book
In lion u need to hold down option key and go under go menu in finder
You will see library there.
Then either restore backup
Or.
Let iCloud account repopulate it.
Now works great.

Broken USB port - how to save Address Book

I have a BlackBerry 8820 - use it daily - got it Sept 2007. Well I have not backed-up my Address Book and I have 223 names there. Now my USB port (recharger port) is broken and I really would like to back-up the addresses. It's a company BB with an enterprise contract I believe-- but I don't think that automatically backs-up individual address books ???
Is there a way to back up via Bluetooth? I guess if the USB/recharger port was repaired then I'd be OK - the address book is in memory somewhere-- but it seems after 2.5 years and with other things (like the trackball) failing - they will simply replace this BlackBerry
Can I move the address book to the media card? Then I can move it back if I get a new BB.
Thanks for any comments here.
Steve

If you're device is on a BES then it should sync your address book wirelessly if you're using Outlook. If you're using Notes then it may not sync wirelessly. You can check on the device is the Address Book is setup to sync wirelessly by going into the Address Book, hitting the menu button, then choosing Options. See what your wireless synchronization line is set to. If it's turned on then all your names/addresses should be in your email client.
You can also check out this kb article about syncing via Bluetooth: http://www.blackberry.com/btsc/KB04132
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Address Book syncing is completely broken

There are other threads on this, but I'm angry enough to start my own.
Between my mac, .Mac, and my iPhone, I can't keep good contact data, almost ever. Invariably one of those devices will completely screw it up. Lately it has been syncing my iPhone: it will remove all contacts from all groups. The contacts will be present on the phone, the groups will be present, but they will be empty. The phone will infect my Address Book on my mac with this opinion, as well. Once this has happened, the Address Book will never sync to the iPhone again. It will claim to, but it doesn't really.
Another user found that deleting some files in ~/Library/Application Support/AddressBook/ (everything but the metadata folder) fixed things, which worked for me, but now everything's broken again, after I spent a good hour or so re-adding all of my contacts to all of my groups. I am very frustrated.
I have macs because they're not supposed to do this. They're supposed to work together harmoniously. But it's driving me crazy: this is 100% Apple hardware, software, and sync service, with no other weird services involved, and it still messes up. And yes, I've done just about every conceivable combination of resetting sync history and doing one-way force-syncs with .Mac. I can't understand how maintaining what is essentially text data can be this hard to get right.

I want to reiterate this problem, and see if there are any known solutions out there.
To update: I have a major problem syncing my iPhone to my computers. After a day, it think it's the authority on Contacts and Calendars, and wants to delete and replace everything on my computer. Doing this has undesirable consequences, like corrupting my Groups in my Address Book.
Here's what I have done: I have removed all computers from .Mac syncing. I added one back in, and forced .Mac to replace its data, using that computer. I then readded my other machines, and force-replaced all data on them using the .Mac data. I then synced my iPhone, and force-overwrote all info on the iPhone. At this point, everything should be a good agreement.
But no: today, the iPhone thinks that once again, it has all new data. It wants to delete 300 contacts and add 300 contacts on my computer. It wants to delete 800 calendar events and add 800 calendar events. It gets this way every day. I end up always force-writing to the iPhone, to keep it from messing up the data on my computer, and forcing a bad chain-reaction of syncs across machines. Does anyone else experience these same problems?
This. Should. Not. Be. This. Hard.

Help! Address Book search is broken (on MacBook)

The search function on Address Book no longer works on my MacBook running 10.7.5
There seem to be a number of other related problems. Two of them are:
- Contacts won't open
- Difficult to create new contacts
- Difficult to delete cards
It would be too long to go into details, which seem to change by the day anyway. All I know is it's broken. Is there a way to reinstall? Or do some kind of diagnostic?
Many thanks!
PS: I tried to post a similar discussion last week, but there seems to be no record of it. If you find it (it has the same title) please let me know.

Hello aliapis,
Welcome to the forums.
In this case we can try to reload the software on the BlackBerry® smartphone to make sure it is running the latest version and there are no issues with the OS.
Here is how to backup your BlackBerry smartphone http://bbry.lv/oPVWXc
Once you have backed up your BlackBerry smartphone please follow the link below to complete a clean reload of the BlackBerry smartphone software.
Link: http://www.blackberry.com/btsc/KB03621
Once completed test it and proceed with a selective restore, here is how to restore http://bbry.lv/qgQxLo
Thank you
-SR
Come follow your BlackBerry Technical Team on twitter! @BlackBerryHelp
Be sure to click Kudos! for those who have helped you.Click Solution? for posts that have solved your issue(s)!

Carddav broken in 10.6.4 Address Book. Will it be fixed before 10.6.5 ?

The Carddav Yahoo is still broken and doesn't work on 10.6.4. Can't get synced with Yahoo. My settings are correct exactly as described in Yahoo help and in the post below. It's not Yahoo fault because Yahoo Carddav works with other applications, tested in Windows at least. I am wondering whether this is going to be fixed before 10.6.5. It's disappointing, I had expected this to be a no-brainer when I bought my first Mac few weeks months ago.
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=11974279
Error message is: "Shared address book configuration error".

I came across a workaround for this. Now I can have multiple address books in Address Book on Mac. This won't give a full address book but at least ability to search for contacts which are stored on Yahoo, GMail, MSN within OSX Address Book.
1) Setup an account at www.memotoo.com
2) Link it with your email account address book
3) Follow the instructions on their site... which is...
3) Create new address book on Mac
4) Select LDAP type of account
5) Enter "ldap.memotoo.com" port 389, enter the [search based sting] (you find it on Memotoo website), username & password.
6) Now it's possible to search for contacts from multiple address books
Works pretty well.
LDAP is mostly used to enable "search as you type" functionality when entering new email addresses in emails. This is same functionality you find on Outlook, however LDAP similar as CardDad and Caldav are platform independent.

I have an iphone 4S with broken wifi (!) and I need to sync my contacts before I set up my new iphone 6. I thought contacts synced automatically with itunes but seems not. I've found my Apple address book but contacts are outdated. What to do? Help!

I have an iphone 4S with broken wif i :-( and I need to sync my contacts before I set up my new iphone 6. I thought contacts synced automatically with itunes but seems not. I've found my Apple address book but contacts are outdated. What to do? Help!

If your Bluetooth is working, you may be able to tether your phone to another device, and backup that way. Either via iCloud or one of many Apps that send yourself a VCF file containing your contacts.
You may have to update to a later IOS via USB and iTunes, not sure if IOS 6 has Bluetooth Tethering.
I would have thought you could also switch off cloud sync'ing for your contacts, this should ask a question if you want to keep the contacts on your phone. An iTunes Backup and then Restore to your new iPhone should restore the local contacts. Then sync these back to the iCloud.
Hope this helps.

Address book sync with Google broken?

I've been having a hard time getting the address book to sync cleanly with my Gmail account. I'm using a standard Gmail account (not Google Apps), which seems to be supported. I set this up by going into the address book preferences, checking the box for "Synchronize with Google" and putting in my username/password. It seems to accept the login information.
At first, I wasn't able to get it to sync at all, even when I manually clicked the sync button on the menu bar. Sometimes, when I would go back into preferences, the "Synchronize with Google" box would be unchecked. So I'd check it again, then a few minutes later it would be unchecked again.
Somebody suggested also setting it up to sync with a Yahoo! account, so I tried that and it worked. Once I configured it to sync with a Yahoo! account, it successfully sync'd to my Gmail account.
However, it still doesn't work a lot of the time. Sometimes it syncs, sometimes it doesn't. I don't get any error messages, it just doesn't do anything. And sometimes I still go back into preferences and find the box unchecked again.
I've also found a problem where after my initial sync with Gmail, it detected two conflicts, but I can't seem to resolve them. When I click "Review conflicts now" nothing happens. Then when I sync again, I'm told there are two conflicts. But I'm never shown what those conflicts are, and the "Review conflicts now" option never seems to work.
Gmail syncing works perfectly on my iPhone using Activesync, but it hardly works at all on OSX which is really strange and frustrating.

Try this fix http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2481501

ISync does not properly retrieve address book data, links broken

Hello,
My syncing attempts with my Motorola phone keep failing (no data is transmitted to the phone; the phone has no contacts currently). I think I can see the problem: iSync has different groups of contacts in its list than that exist in address book. What I mean is: in the dropdown menu in iSync where you can select what group of contacts to sync, it has the groups that I once had in address book, but which are now changed. I think this happened since I installed snowleopard. During my leopard days, I moved some apps to different folders; with the install of snowleopard, I think the links between the apps have not been reset well.
Do you know how to fix this?

The most likely solution is to launch iSync application ,and then in the preferences menu, click on Reset Sync History button. This resets configurations for the iTunes synchronization of calendars and address books.

Address Book: Text File Import broken??

In the Apple Address Book application, the File > Import > Text File... does not work for me. I get the field-mapping dialog and I can match up the fields OK, but then:
+ The OK button doesn't do anything (that I can tell).
+ Clicking the right arrow to see the first imported record works, but the left arrow is still grayed out. If I keep clicking the right arrow until I reach the last record, the right arrow grays out and the left arrow is enabled and I can back up. When backing up, both arrows are correctly enabled.
+ When browsing through the records, the spinning gear next to the arrows appears and never disappears, even though the next card has been displayed and I can go to the next card.
+ Cancel does work, and seems to be the only thing I can do.
Can someone confirm this behavior? It smells like first-draft code, and I can't believe that Apple would ship something this buggy.
If it matters: the file I'm trying to import is a csv exported from Thunderbird. Please don't tell me to use ldif; the ldif import misses a bunch of fields, which is why I wanted to use the text import where I control the field mapping myself.
Thanks in advance,
-- Philip

I have no solution, but I've encountered the same behaviour with the spinning wheel, grayed out back arrow and the other symptoms you describe with a Tab-Text file. The spinning wheel appears as soon as I try to assign an address field, while names, phone numbers and such seem to correctly preview, though no import happens. Most annoying.

Address Book - is it broken or just ME ?

First - I looked for an Address Book forum --- hmm ,,,, do not see one
Ever since upgrading to 10.7 in address book on notes section - the cursor will jump to the top of the notes and I continue typing ... messing up the data ... wish Icould type and NOT look at the keyboard ... but
No one has this problem ?
on both work and home mac laptops using external keyboards
Help ?
Thanks
Greg H

Hi Alonski
It seems to happen less often ... but since I type looking at the keys ( not the screen ) -- can get really messed up when it happens ....
My original problem ,,,,, "Ever since upgrading to 10.7 in address book on notes section - the cursor will jump to the top of the notes and I continue typing ... messing up the data ... wish Icould type and NOT look at the keyboard ... but"
Anyone with a fix .... I really have not warmed up to the new address book yet ...
Greg

Address Book printing completely broken

I cannot print at all from Address Book. I am trying to print labels on an iMac G5 with 10.5.8. Here's what happens:
I have a group with about 25 contacts selected in the left column, then choose File>Print. (Often the first time I choose print it does nothing, so I choose print again.) When the print dialog opens, the preview is blank and underneath it says "Sorting..." but never seems to stop. If I then choose the "Layout" tab and click on any of the drop-down menus, the addresses show up in the preview, but "Sorting..." never goes away. The number of addresses reported and previewed in the print dialog is seemingly random (11 or 13 or 22 of the actual 25).
At this point, if I click "Print," the Address Book print settings disappear from the dialog and nothing happens. If I press cancel, either the same thing happens or the whole app crashes. Print to pdf doesn't work either.
I tried printing from a MacBook that is synced to my iMac with MobileMe, but got the same results. I also reinstalled the 10.5.8 combo update and repaired permissions.

Okay, the one test I didn't try before posting turned out to be the answer. The group included some contacts that did not have complete addresses. I didn't realize how badly that would screw things up. After selecting only the contacts with complete addresses everything worked as expected.

VERY VERY angry at Apple - Address Book problems, easy to fix, but broken.

Hello
I have lost the addresses in my address book. I had my entire user folder backed up onto a separate hard drive. In that folder, there is a Library > Application Support > AddressBook directory.
In that directory is a "AddressBook.data" file and an "AddressBook.data.beforesave" file. I am unable to get these into my Address book to replace my lost addresses.
If I drag the "AddressBook" folder into my new application support directory and replace the existing one, then when I open address book, it is empty.
Apple, how hard is it to just base the address book file on a text document that actually works in this case? A simple tab delimited document, or another simple type of document would work fine. Or, you could just write the functionality into Address Book to read these files directly. The info is there, I can open them in BBedit and see the data!!!
I just cannot believe that this is a problem. I am so disappointed in Apple for not making this simpler. It is very un-like Apple to do this, and even more un-like Apple to not fix it.

I just had Mail crash while Address Book was open, that subsequently caused a couple of other Mac apps to crash as well: Safari, ICal. After running Disk Utility to repair permissions, I restarted and went back to Mail, and my entire address book is GONE. ***??????????? I'm so irritated right now, I've been a Mac user for 15 years and have never had something like this happen.

I don't get it: Address Book's low quality, UI mess, and bugs stand out...

... especially compared to all other great Leopard apps.
Hi Folks. I'm a switcher from Windows XP, and generally I've been very impressed with 10.5.2, and happy with my decision (Macbook Pro 2GB, 2.2GHz). However, one of the most incredibly painful experiences I've had is using the Address Book application.
Please forgive my sounding negative, but compared to the other apps on OS X, it is really, really crappy. This is after having imported and edited around 1,000 contacts. The ultimate deal-breaker here is trust: I put many hours into this thing, to find it's extremely easy to lose entries/data. The undo, UI mess, and save problems combine to make me nervous as **** every time I edit. Hit escape? Where'd that phone number go? Hit undo? You might have undone something three edits ago!
I don't want to be unfair to Apple - OS X is really good, and I recommend it. But this one program just is not ready for prime time... Three things:
First, can anyone give some background on this program? Not to be rude here, it just feels like something that was thrown together without much thought, was a very low priority, or was a summer assignment to an intern as a "learn the API" demo, but who didn't have the experience to put together a solid, functional program.
Second, can anyone recommend a usable replacement that works well? I have Office 2008, with Entourage, but I frankly don't trust MS apps to work well either, or to play nice with others (e.g., Spotlight).
Finally, below are a few observations after using the program for a week - not complete bug reports (sorry, I'm too busy to debug for you, Apple) but just a few examples of the pain the program's caused me. Am I alone in this?
matt
o #1 problem: It's lost my trust - the ultimate sin of a program. If I
hadn't created a backup, more than once I would have been extremely
screwed. Cards someone disappearing, field edits lost, etc.
o Edit/view modes: Bad. Apple: go read your own UI guidelines on this.
o What's up with Save? It seems to be automatic (saves when I exit),
but also has a command. Sadly, there is a bug in which Save disabled
when in View (not Edit) mode, >> even if changes have been made <<
(e.g., in the notes field, which can be edited in non-Edit
mode. Another example: add a smart group, try to save - gets a beep.
o Selection in Notes field: I can not figure out the selection
logic. Clicking on it selects all, but seems crazy inconsistent, e.g.,
it re-selects all when trying to make an edit. Want to really see
problems? Try shift-clicking!
o Undo is horribly unpredictable - It should simply undo the last
edit, whether it was typing in a field, merging cards, deleting a
card, etc. Unfortunately, it's not consistent. For example: delete a
card, edit a few others, then undo - undoes the delete, not the
edits. Many other problems with undo...
o Escape key: I can't figure this out: Does it undo, clear, or abort
editing? It's a mess.
o Printing formats: I can't say enough how terribly limited this
is. For example, it doesn't support classic planner sizes, and the
compact format is ungodly.
o Non-mouse navigation and editing is extremely frustrating, and 100%
keyboard operation seems impossible. For example, you can't select
field pop-ups (work, mobile, etc) or check the "Company" checkbox.
o CSV import just plain broken - unusable. I read practically every
post here on the topic, and it's terrible. I was able to work-around
the bug by using vCard instead, which does work. Had to convert from
CSV to vCard using an external program (Gmail). Ugh.
o BUG: Creating a new note puts an extra space character in the field.
o No support for encrypted information in Notes field. Isn't this
built in to OS X?
o I'd really like to be able to copy an address in one card, and
paste it into a new contact with fields preserved.
o BUG: Can't print multiple smart groups: Shift-select two ore more
smart groups, type command-P, it de-selects!
o Bug: Editing fields sometimes allows selection of the field name
itself, e.g., you can select the "Note:" tag on left.
o Q: Any way to filter items that are printed by whether a field is
empty or not? I have some without phone numbers, and I don't want to
print them...
EOF

Are you using the access control list on the AirPort Extreme base station (AEBS)? If so, turn it off.
Open the Network preference pane. Drag AirPort to the top of the list. Better yet, disable Ethernet. Can it connect?
If that isn't it... the list of possibilities is short. The IP address starting with 169 indicates that it is not properly connecting with the DHCP server on the AEBS. Apparently, reading through your text, you have successfully established the wireless connection with the AEBS it is the communication with the DHCP server that is failing.
Have you been able to try the MacBook on other wireless networks?
Did you accidently configure this AEBS to use WDS? If so there is an option that prevents wireless clients from joining.
If you do have WDS enabled, you should disable it since you aren't wirelessly connecting any other base stations.

My Address Book has been emptied of addresses, both personal and group. How can I get them back? Is it because of the IDN update?

When I go in address book, then on either or personal or group, nothing desirable happens. Under 'group' my name appears broken seemingly into columns, as well as my user name, and my email addy for my gmail account. Funny about that gmail name, as I have never intentionally linked it to my tbird account. Please help this old granny, it is driving me insane. Not to mention that i've written this mozilla support bit at least 5 times and something wipes it out before I can submit it.

What happened when this change occurred? What is an "IDN update"?
Can you provide a screenshot (suitably obfuscated) to demonstrate the "my name appears broken seemingly into columns" effect?
I don't know of anything formally called a "group" in Thunderbird's address book, so any other words or names that appear might help here. For instance, my Address Book has mentions of Address Book Contact, Address Book and List. The "List" is perhaps the closest to the group concept used in other address book environments.
Finally, what version of Thunderbird and what OS are you usng?

Address Book broken

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