Address Book during editing is blank

Using Address Book on a MacBook Air with Lion. Every time I try to edit a Contact, the fields are empty. You can make an entry into a field, but you can't see it. You don't know if you misspelled it until you finish, and exit the Edit. Also, the fields run off the right edge of the Contact Page so you can't read all of it. There doesn't appear to be any way to modify this. The Address Book in Snow Leopard was much better - why even change it?

Forgive what may be a dumb question on my part, but you do have a person's name selected and highlighted, yes?
Assuming you do have a card entry selected and the Edit menu and button still aren't active, where are the contacts kept? Are these local, i.e. "on my Mac", or is this a server account and if so what type?
Regards.

Similar Messages

Address book when I let blank the last name?

Hello,
In my Address book when I let blank the last name.
It automatically recopy the last name to the first name.
If I delete it, it reaper a few minutes later?
How can I avoid that?

Sorry I forgot to write what application. I am printing from Contacts (the address book).

New iMac with OS x Lion. Printing envelopes w/ Address book makes a second blank envelope. Drivers up to date. Have to mark print only first page. Had no problem with Snow Leopard. How to correct.

I recently purchased a new iMac with OS x Lion. Previously was using a four year old iMac with snow Leopard. I have three HP printers with up to date drivers for Lion. When I try to print an envelope from Address Book I have two problems:
1) I have to change the orientation to vertical to get the proper margins, which I never had to do before and
2) It prints a second blank envelope unless I tell it to only print the first page.
Neither of the problems occurred with my previous iMac/w Snow Leopard and it appears to be a Lion/HP software incompatibility. I have worked with a Apple supervisor (Case # 316225300) for hours and finally reinstalled the operating system to no avail.
I do I correct both problems???

Contact HP and ask them to write better drivers for Lion. Find a printer that is more compatible with Lion. I've not printed envelopes with Lion before, though I've had no difficulty with either Epson Artisan 810 or Canon MX700 for regular printing. Sometimes open source drivers also work better than manufacturer drivers. See this FAQ*:
http://www.macmaps.com/printersx.html
While many open source drivers won't give you duplex or printer diagnostics, at least they may work better for other features.
Lastly, I've often found for a more consistent print, saving as PDF, and then printing from Preview can sometimes be the best work around. Someone in the Mac OS X Technologies forum might be able to help you write an automator script to do this in one fell swoop, if you find it works better for your needs.

Address Book Not Editable

I've tried for a couple of days to figure this out. My Address Book App is not editable. when I open it, the bottom left page has two buttons: "Add Contact" and "Share."
All other images I've seen show a "Share" button and an "Edit" button. I have also had trouble synching my address book among three devices: my MacBook, iPad2, and iPhone 4 through MobileMe. My info is not shared automatically among devices.
Anyone have an idea or two? Thanks in advance.

Also

HT2486 I dislike address book because editing is impossible.

I click on the edit menu and the 'edit your card' remains inactive in gray and I'm stuck. Help? Elivia
I have mountain lion 10.8.1 but it never worked before either. VERY FRUSTRATING

Forgive what may be a dumb question on my part, but you do have a person's name selected and highlighted, yes?
Assuming you do have a card entry selected and the Edit menu and button still aren't active, where are the contacts kept? Are these local, i.e. "on my Mac", or is this a server account and if so what type?
Regards.

Can't edit in Address Book

My Address Book stopped accepting any editing whatsoever.
I have a MacBook Intel Core, I work with Tiger 10.4.11, and run address book version 4.0.4.
For a few weeks now, when I get into Address book the Edit button is dimmed, and no change is possible at all. all the edit actions are grey in the drop-menues. I checked old discussions, and found instructions for re-installing the application through optional installs, which I did - I trashed the application and reinstalled. Still nothing.
I also found advice that Disk Warrior may modify Address Book, this may have happen, since when I went to "get info" for Address Book, I saw "last modified" date in October, which is when I last ran DW. If so, what can I do? Is there anything else I should trash apart from the application itself before re-installing?
I also have a copy of the DW application in my Utilities folder - could this be a problem?
I'd appreciate advice.

Ruth:
We are going to try to restore you Mail data and settings. If you have added new stuff in your Mail folders since your backup it may get overwritten. Is that important to you? If it is, we can try to work around it. If not here is what you need to do:
• If your backup is on an external HDD connect it to your computer.
• Open two Finder windows on your computer desktop (Command + N).
• Place them one above the other the top will be Source (your backup) the lower will be the Destination (your computer).
• Navigate to the location indicated in the directions below in both windows so you will be moving the item directly to the same location from which you are copying it.
Move the following items:
/Home/Library/Mail (copy the whole folder)
/Home/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist (* This is a very important file which contains all email account settings and general mail preferences.)
If you are sure it's OK to delete any stuff currently in your Mail when you are asked if it's OK to replace, click replace. If you don't want to replace, post back.
cornelius

Can't edit Vcards in Address Book

In Address Book, the "edit card" in Edit drop-down menu is grayed out (as is the "delete"). In addition, on the bottom of an individual Address Book page, the "EDIT" option no longer appears. Each Adress Book page shows only the Add and Share options at the bottom.

Hi Tony ...
Might be corrupted preferences. (It's a Mac thing)
Quit the Address Book app if it's open. Command + Q on your keyboard or from the Address Book menu bar click Address Book > Quit.
Go to ~/Library/Preferences. Move the com.apple.AddressBook.plist file from the Preferences folder to the Desktop.
Launch Address Book. If you can edit your contacts now, move the .plist file to the Trash. If not, just move it back to the Preferences folder.
If that didn't work, go to ~/LIbrary/Caches/com.apple.AddressBook/Cahce.db
Move the Cache.db file to the Trash.
Quit then relaunch Address Book. See if you can edit your contacts now.
~ (Tilde) character represents the Home folder.
For Lion v10.7x: To find the Home folder in OS X Lion, open the Finder, hold the Option key, and choose Go > Library
You can open a Finder window by clicking the Finder icon in your Dock (first icon on the left side of the Dock)

HT2486 Editing contact photos in Address Book doesn't work

Whenever I try to edit a contact picture in Address Book, the edits don't hold. I might reframe or recrop the image, and then click "done." And everything seems to be fine, for two or three seconds. Then it simply snaps back and reverts to the way it was. Sometimes after it reverts, it also shifts upward in the square, leaving a large black space at the bottom of the frame.
Why is this happening and how can it be stopped?!

Quit Address Book and go into your Library/Application Support/AddressBook folder and delete AddressBook-v22.abcddb. Open Address Book and it should recreate the index. See if that makes a difference.

Address Book Notes for New Contacts Appear Only In Edit Mode

When I create a new contact in +Address Book+, exit Edit mode, and then add a Note to that new contact, the note is visible only when the contact is switched to Edit mode. This does not effect existing contacts. This problem first appeared yesterday. I didn't do anything unusual with +Address Book+ before the emergence of the problem.
I followed these instructions to rebuild the +Address Book+ database but it had no effect on this problem: "Quit Address Book and drag ~/Library/Application Support/AddressBook/AddressBook-v22.abcddb to the desktop. It will be rebuilt from the details in Metadata when you restart AB."
Thank you in advance for any ideas you have!
Steven

I exported the contact list and deleted Library/Application support/Address book and then re-imported. Everything is fine now.

Address Book no longer editable

I recently had to have my hard drive replaced. The Apple Authorized Service Center that did the job also restored my data, though there have been many problems with this. One of those problems is that my Address Book contents were lost. I was able to restore those from my Time Machine backup. However, for some reason my Address Book is now not editable. The Edit button is disabled.
I added myself as a read/write user to the permissions on all files related to the Address Book, which did not solve the problem (I assume I had permissions before I did this anyway, because my user profile is an Administrator, and Admin already had read/write).
I am serving in the Peace Corps and am still overseas, so I do not have access to my operating system disks; thus, I cannot just reinstall. Is there anything else I can do to fix this problem?

Replying to my own message to add details:
I found and read the long thread at ADDRESS BOOK - NO EDIT. Should have posted this there. Anyway, just wanted to say, that I did choose "Apply to enclosed items" when I adding myself to permissions. Still uneditable. Then I selected my user name and chose Make "(me)" the owner.
That worked! So, no need to respond to this. Dead thread. Thanks anyway!

Address Book auto update (sync?)

I'm having an issue where when I send an email, the contact it is attached to in address book is being automatically updated, so I'm having to go into address book and fix the change. For example:
In Address Book I have a friend named in Jessica. When she sends me an email it reads in mail as coming from "Jessica -" (I guess this is how it's configured with her mail provider). So when I reply to that email Address Book updates "Jessica"'s entry to read "Jessica -" (first & last name), when I don't want a last name at all.
Also, when I compose a blank email, I start typing Jessica and the To: field displays as "jessica - <[email protected]>" until I change fields and then it displays as "Jessica <[email protected]>". However, once the email is sent, Address Book is edited so her entry is "Jessica -".
I've tried looking in the preferences of both programs, but don't see where this action is controlled. Any help is appreciated.

Greetings,
Is there some reason why you can't enter your recipient's last name, since that's how she has it in her mail program? There could be many different people you know, all named Jessica, and you know that would not work in Address Book without a last name to distinguish each of them.
Address Book is updated automatically when you receive email from someone that is in your contacts already, and it will change the name and/or email address to whatever your sender has. That's why you need to get in the habit of using first and last names for everyone, even if you only address them personally by their first name.
You can't see where this is controlled, so you shouldn't look for it; you won't find it. There is a way to stop it, but it will also stop anyone from being added to the Previous Recipients list. If that's what you really want to do, I can tell you how. But it's much easier to do what I suggested above.

No options when adding new e-mail address to Address Book

When I receive an e-mail from someone not in my Address Book, it's very easy to add that address. However, during that process, there seems to be no way to directly edit the new address entry, for example to add a last name, or prefix (Dr., etc.), or some other info. I found a mail script that will allow me to choose which Group the new address goes into, but nothing that will allow me to easily edit the information without having to go to Address Book, find the new address, and edit there.
In contrast, when adding a new e-mail address in Entourage, the Address Book entry pops up and allows me to make all necessary additions and changes very easily.
Is there some way to do that easily in Mail?

Thanks for the reply. That doesn't always work for some reason. Your reply came into my .mac address inbox. I right-clicked on the address and sure enough an editable Address Book card popped up. However, in another account mailbox I right-clicked on the address of a recent email sent by a client and when I chose "Add to Address Book", no editable card popped up, though the address was added to my address book.
Also, that client's email address is already in my address book. Since the client is Japanese, his email comes under his name in Japanese, while I have his name in English in the Address book. However, Mail seems to think that it is a new address, as that is the option it gives me when I right-click on the address. In fact, the address is already in the Address book, though filed under a different name.
So, two problems. 1. The editable pop-up window doesn't always appear when right-clicking an address in Mail. 2. Mail doesn't know that an email address is already in my Address book, though it might be filed under a different name.
Any ideas? Thanks again.

Address Book -- Importing CSV File created by Numbers

I'm trying to import a csv file generated from MS outlook into address book. When I attempt to import the csv file that Outlook created, Address Book is able to recognize the file. However, I need to modify the file before importing. To do that, I opened in Numbers, deleted some columns and renamed some columns. Then, I exported from Numbers as a .CSV file. However, when I try to import the .CSV file created by numbers, I get the error that I have modified with Numbers, I get the error "Text file import failure".
Does anybody know why address book can't import a CSV file created by Numbers?

Many people have run into this problem, including myself. I had worked many hours on a spreadsheet in Numbers, exported to CSV, and received the error message when trying to import into Address Book. The answers to this dilemma are out there, but tidbits of the whole answer are spread around discussion boards. So I hope to consolidate those answers here.
The main problem for me -- and it's reasonable to assume that others receive the "Text File import error" for the same reason -- is that 1) I had commas in my spreadsheet, and 2) I had hidden RETURNs in the spreadsheet. Once I got rid of those two things, I had no problem importing into Address Book.
Deleting Commas>
The problem with commas in your spreadsheet is that the CSV format uses commas to distinguish when a new cell is formed. So having other commas will inevitably confuse Address Book during the attempted import. I didn't have too many commas in my spreadsheet, so I was able to quickly remove them. Yet, if you have dozens or hundreds of cells with commas in them, you'll need an easier solution. I imagine opening Number's Inspector>Cell Inspector>Format will have the solution of removing commas from, say, currency amounts or something else. Yet, how many commas arise in contact information? Perhaps the easiest way is to use the same method of removing those hidden RETURNs. Read on...
Deleting Hidden RETURNs>
You can't see them, and I couldn't find a "show invisibles" option in Numbers. So you need to search and find them. Yet, how do you search for something hidden? Do the Command-F thing to bring up the search field. The search bar should automatically be ready to search what you type. Hitting the Return key will do nothing for you, but hitting Shift-Option-Return will (you'll likely need to hit Return again to actually perform the search). Numbers will point out how many times these hidden returns are in your spreadsheet, which cells contain them, and give you the option to automatically replace them with something else (a space is a safe option). You can do the same search and replace with commas too.
Save your spreadsheet, export it as CSV, and -- as long as the only errors stemmed from commas and hidden RETURNs -- you shouldn't have a problem having Address Book import it. Good luck!
PS- After importing my spreadsheet, I noticed that some of my Smart Groups in Address Book were not showing some people who should have automatically been in there. The problem was that the Smart Group search had straight apostrophes in it, but the imported contact had curved apostrophes. The computer saw these as two unrelated characters. After some copying and pasting, the problem was solved.

Address Book: Importing vcards with embedded photos

Hi folks,
This question would perhaps be more at home in the Apple Developer Connection Forums, but as I can't access those without a paid ADC account, I thought I'd try here on the off chance someone knows.
In short, I'm writing an application that does clever things with vcards, and it would be great if it could export them to Address Book.
That in itself is simple, but I'd also like to embed a photograph in each vcard. So, I'm successfully encoding the image into a base64 string (tested), and other applications like Entourage will happily open and see the image, but Address Book won't.
After much Google-ing I've learned that apparently Address Book expects very specific formatting (and possibly whitespace) in and around the base64 string, which is all well and good, except no one seems to know what that formatting is!
I've looked in the ADC Reference Library but it doesn't go into enough detail.
So, is there anyone who happens to know how to format a base64 string for Address Book?
EDIT: I am aware that Address Book doesn't require the string to be wrapped, and I have tried not wrapping my base64 string and if I do that then my vcards will successfully import with their photos (Entourage seems happy with unwrapped strings too).
However, this is not an ideal solution as other vcard applications may not be so accepting, and I don't believe vcards can have multiple photo fields.
Message was edited by: JavaScript

Thanks, but right now I can't afford the $500 I'd have to spend in order to buy the sufficient level of ADC membership to use the developer forums. I just thought I'd ask here on the off chance, as I know there are sometimes a few developers lurking around.
Having said that, after reading posts such as this: http://markmail.org/message/5dbslpeyhjcjxug4
I'm beginning to think there are only a handful of people who know the answer, so I may have to give up and use a work-around.

Address book groups: can't customize contacts with multiple email

I have many groups setup in address book and frequently like to use them. Additionally, several of my contacts assigned to groups have multiple email addresses. Is there a way to specifiy which email address of a contact's associates itself with the group? I have not been able to figure this out and am aggravated when I send out personal emails to my friends' work addresses, much to their chagrin.
Thanks in advance for the help and ideas!
-Brian

chesternd08 wrote:
Thanks Lanny, but that is related to an iCloud issue. My issue is not iCloud related at all, rather when I use a group on any platform.
I am hoping there is someway to set a default email to a group for a contact having more than one email? I haven't seen any other forums discussing that issue, but if you are aware of one I would very much appreciate your help. Thanks!
Then you would use the, "Edit Distribution List" from the Address Book's Edit menu. Select the applicable group and then select which email address that you want the group to use.

Address Book during editing is blank

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