ADDRESS BOOK CRASHES WHEN ADDING CONTACT

Question

Hi guys,
I've been having this problem since Mac OS X v.10.5. I have since (for other purposes) wiped clean my Macbook various times, updated it to Snow Leopard, and wiped it again a couple of times. After each wipe or update, the Address Book application works fine, but after a couple of weeks it starts to crash.
     This happens when I try to add a new contact. I click on the + button and am able to enter the card info, but when I click + again or close the application or anything else, Address Book crashes (with the usual afterward prompt of sending an error report, etc.). When I open it again, the added contact is not there.
PLEASE help me. I use Address Book quite a lot and it's truly bothersome to have it not working.
Thanks!

Answer 1

When you reinstall, do you also restore your contacts from a backup?
If so, you may have brought over whatever it is that is causing you problems.
First, open Address Book and create an Address Book archive (File menu, export…)
Second, go into your user/Library/Application Support/AddressBook folder and delete the
AddressBook-v22.abcddb file. It is an index to the metadata (vCards).
Third, go into your user/Library/Preferences and delete the com.apple.addressbook.plist file. That is the Address Book preferences. So, you will have to edit them back to your liking if everything starts working correctly.
Now, try Address Book and see if it works ok.
If you are syncing with MobileMe, you might consider resetting sync services if the problem returns.
Also, can you post a crash report? You can find them in Console, look in the CrashReporter section under ~/Library/Logs--just copy and paste it here.