Address Book imported all of my email addresses from Mail without warning

My Address Book suddenly was full of new contacts, every single email I got in the past had it's sender copied to my address book without me importing anything. They were just there. A total mess. I now have to manually erase all the contacts I don't want
How can I prevent this from happening again?

I have no clue. Just opened Address Book today and there they were. stuff like [email protected], mails that I got only once, or five different email addresses from the same contact, each as a single contact file. I am no stranger to isync and address book, never experienced anything like that.
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How can Address Book groups select the right email address?

Hello
I am wondering about what should be a common problem, but I don't see any discussions of it.
Most of my contacts have more than one email entry: e.g., work, home, etc..
When I construct a group, let's say "Widget Group" and drag Mary Brown, Bob Smith, and Barak Obama into it, and then mail using the group address, it selects the FIRST email address to send to, even if I have tried to rearranged the template, set up a new field called "preferred" etc..
There seems no way to have a group email send to some specified email address, which REALLY makes the address book cumbersome. I suppose I"ll have to have separate contacts: Mary Smith--Work; Mary Smith—home etc..
SURELY there is a better way. Help!
Thank you.

Thank you. I assure you I had checked throgh the apple help menu extensively, searching with various rubrics. This DOES work, however. Thanks! Not a very intuitive way to do things, I think.

Why is it that the latest update for FF wiped out all my Google email accounts and passwords, without warning me it is going to effect my settings, usernames and passwords on all my computers?

Why did the current (past few days) automatic update for FF delete my saved user-names and passwords for my gmail accounts?

My daughter has had her Razr for about 9 months now. About two weeks ago she picked up her phone in the morning on her way to school when she noticed two cracks, both starting at the camera lens. One goes completely to the bottom and the other goes sharply to the side. She has never dropped it and me and my husband went over it with a fine tooth comb. We looked under a magnifying glass and could no find any reason for the glass to crack. Not one ding, scratch or bang. Our daughter really takes good care of her stuff, but we still wanted to make sure before we sent it in for repairs. Well we did and we got a reply from Motorola with a picture of the cracks saying this was customer abuse and that it is not covered under warranty. Even though they did not find any physical damage to back it up. Well I e-mailed them back and told them I did a little research and found pages of people having the same problems. Well I did not hear from them until I received a notice from Fed Ex that they were sending the phone back. NOT FIXED!!! I went to look up why and guess what there is no case open any more for the phone. It has been wiped clean. I put in the RMA # it comes back not found, I put in the ID #, the SN# and all comes back not found. Yet a day earlier all the info was there. I know there is a lot more people like me and all of you, but they just don't want to be bothered so they pay to have it fix, just to have it do it again. Unless they have found the problem and only fixing it on a customer pay only set up. I am furious and will not be recommending this phone to anyone. And to think I was considering this phone for my next up grade! NOT!!!!

How do I select multiple email address for a single person in my address book when creating a new email?

I am coordinating a large group of people and created a group list of over one hunderd people. The group is families and each person in the address book has several e-mail addresses. How do I select all the email address under each person in the address book so every family member recieves the e-mails?
It appears I can select any ONE email address but selecting multiples from any one person is not allowed, why is that? Any tips would be appreciated, thanks.
LBD

Not sure about this problem. But if you don't get an answer soon, go here which is the Mail forum for Leopard (which you listed in your sig).
https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os/mac_os_x_v10.5_leopard?view=discu ssions#/?tagSet=1017

HT2486 How can I send an email to all of the email addresses associated with one contact? Similarly, in regard to group lists, how do you include for distribution all email addresses associated with each contact in the group?

Often times there are multiple email addresses associated with a single contact in address book. How can I included all of these email addresses when creating an address book group?

Don't be surprised.
Apple offers free, basic Mail and Address Book apps and creates paid, more sophisticated solutions, also allowing Developers to provide more sophisticated solutions for sale in the marketplace.
When I need to repeatedly email to multiple contacts, I create a blank draft email, and use the Address Book button to list the appropriate address book group. With the Address Book window open, it's easy to click to add multiple email addresses for a single contact name. Each is added to the message email address list. Then I save that blank email to iCloud Drafts, and it retains the email addreses I've entered. Next time I need to send a message I double-click on it in Drafts to open it, and drag it to one of my other email accounts to add Subject and details, then send from the other account.
Message was edited by: kostby

Apparently when I send to a Group of Contacts they can all see every email address and this is not acceptable how do I avoid that

I need to send to a group of about 50 parents. Their addresses are held in a Group of Contacts. I highlight the group name to distribute a message to all of them and what I am being told is that they can then all see every email address. This is not acceptable as many do not want their email address being made public in this way. Surely this should not happen or at least there should be a way to avoid it.

re: and I quote "they can then all see every email address. This is not acceptable "
I showed you the basic method of sending a group as Bcc - which is what you initially asked for.
As you now specify that not only do you want to know how to use Bcc but every email needs to be personalised - not just distributing a message to all of them, then I would agree with Matt and advise you use Mail Merge. This creates separate emails - not a bulk email to several recipients, so using a TO field will only send to that person - other people will not see other email addresses.
Matt has offered the link.
Here is some more info regarding Mail Merge.
'''How to install Add-ons:'''
download the .xpi file to your computer eg: desktop or downloads folder.
In Thunderbird
'Tools' > 'Add-ons' OR 'Menu Icon' > 'Add-ons'
click on the gear wheel icon and select 'Install addon from file'
see first image below as aid.
locate the file you downloaded and click on 'Open'
You may need to restart Thunderbird.
Mail Merge will appear in the list.
see second image below.
'''How to set up a Template emails for Mail Merge:'''
Create a Template email, which contains the 'personalised' sections.
see example - third image below.
I set the Subject as 'Mail Merge' so it is easily identifiable.
Save it as a Template email.
It will get stored in the 'Templates' folder. If you do not see a Templates folder, this is auto created when you create the first email and store as template.
'''When you want to use Mail Merge.'''
Select the Template folder.
Select the 'Mail Merge' template
either double click on the email in the list or right click on email and select 'Edit as new message'
you can then change the Subject and compose or edit the message - but do not change the sections in the curly brackets - the point of saving this as a template saves you from typing it each time.
'File ' > 'Mail Merge' (see third image)
This will open a new small window
see the fourth image below.
I would suggest you use 'Send Later' option . this will put all the emails in your Outbox, but it does allow you to check the email is correct - or do spot checks. Then you can choose to send them all in one go.
Right click on 'Outbox' folder and select 'Send unsent messages'.
Hope this info helps you.
As you are new to Thunderbird, you may or maynot have managed to locate all your toolbars.
The fifth image shows you how to enable all toolbars to make life much easier.
In addition some very useful info on maintaining a healthy Thunderbird and all about compacting- what it does and why it is important.
* http://kb.mozillazine.org/Keep_it_working_-_Thunderbird
* http://kb.mozillazine.org/Compacting_folders

Address book import

I have a file of comma delimited email addresses that I have attempted to import. Import.text file. I keep getting a message 'The file you selected does not appear to be a valid comma separated values (csv) file nor a valid tab delimited file, please choose another file.'
Is there a way to import just a list of email addresses?

Hi cpatmath, and a warm welcome to the forums!
Try Address Book Importer...
http://homepage.mac.com/sroy/addressbookimporter/
Great APP free for single use.

HT204053 Specific: I have 2 .mac email accounts, one of them has a sub-address. Can I keep all 3 .mac email addresses in iCloud?

I have 2 .mac email accounts, one of them has a sub-address. Can I keep all 3 .mac email addresses in iCloud?

You will need to migrate each account seperately using the Move website, the alias will also be migrated to iCloud with whichever account it is under (the only problem with aliases, occurs when you have more than 3 in an account)
When you log into iCloud on the computer running Lion, iCloud will update your mail accounts for you, on the computers running Snow Leopard you will have to set up the mail accounts manually. Delete your mail account from Mail preferences and set it up again using the Mail Server Information.
Some users have apparently encountered issues using this information in pre-Lion set ups (I haven't), Roger Wilmut has kindly provided instructions for those who find themselves with this problem.
Entering iCloud email settings manually in Snow Leopard or Leopard
You won't be able to use your iCloud contacts and calendars on the computers running snow leopard with Address book and iCal, but can access them from the web interface at iCloud.com

How do i send a contact list from address book to another person via email?

how do i send a contact list from address book to another person via email?

And your destination user uses a mac?
Click on the group name.
Go to the menu File > Export VCard . . .
Save that file and send it.
The recipient should go to File > Import to import your list.
MtD

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.

Lion Address Book problem - all of over 2,000 contacts disappeared - one mysteriously reappeared - then they all reappeared during resync with Gmail!

The subject iine pretty much describes what happened.
I am wondering if it is anything to do with what looks like an odd file in the directory ~ Library -> Application Support -> Address Book
As well as the "real" database file there is this zero bytes one:
AddressBook-v22.abcddb.0F392545-78F2-4AE6-8D30-457C138332B2.unknown
From the date, it might be something to do with installing and linking Cobook to Address Book maybe?
These are the files and folders in that directory (sub-directory files not shown):
I have enabled the debug menu in Address Book but have not been able to find any info about how to use it. I lie! I did read that I might possibly have been able to "retrieve" the contacts using the debug menu "Force Refresh" - however that was after I had started to resync with Gmail contacts.
I realised that something odd was going on during resync when I saw that there were over 4,000 contacts being processed rather than the 2,000 or so that I was expecting. Initially, none of the contacts groups from Gmail were showing in Address Book after this partial sync (I stopped it when I saw what was happening). However, after quitting and restarting Address Book, the groups appeared again.
I have not lost my contact data - as well as Gmail contacts I also have an Address Book backup from about two weeks ago and also the backup created by Cobook about two weeks ago. (Installed Cobook as it looked like a very efficient way of getting to view individual contacts quickly - Quicksilver just isn't finding them at all). I used third party app "Contacts Sync for Google Gmail" to link Address Book with Gmail as it gives you options about what to do for each duplicate card that it identifies.
I then spent a lot of time sorting through the contacts on Address Book, finding duplicates, updating data, etc. with the intention of managing contacts in Address Book from then on, rather than in Gmail. Not all of these changes are reflected in the Cobook backup or Gmail.
My worry is, with Lion being such a god-awful Pig's Ear in so many more ways than this, that this Address Book mess might happen again.
I seem to have spent most of my time over the last month wrestling with the numerous problems that keep cropping up with Lion and getting little to show for it.
WARNING! FOOT-STAMPING WHINGE ABOUT LION - LOOK AWAY AND DOWN TO THE HOWLING FACES - IT WON'T BE ANYTHING THAT YOU HAVEN'T HEARD BEFORE:
I gave up on OSX when I tried Panther - that was dreadful - but was lured back by Tiger, have used Leopard very comfortably for about 5 years, had a very happy couple of months with Snow Leopard and now - this mess that is Lion! I have repaired OSX install permissions and "home user" permissions time and again, TinkerTooled it until I am blue in the face and it seems that every few days I manage to fix something and then almost immediately something else screws up. I can't upgrade to Mountain Lion on this machine and am seriously considering installing or running Linux as these problems with Lion are just never-ending - and then there are all the other stupid changes that have subsequently been sensibly reverted, mitigated or worked around in ML).
I have never bothered much with Address Book or Mail in the past as I have found them too limited. I have used either the Gmail web interface or Thunderbird. However, Gmail has started crashing my favourite browsers (Seamonkey and Firefox), Thunderbird has got just a bit too complicated and I cannot get Quicksilver to play ball with Gmail. The Lion version of Address Book is better than Gmail Contacts and Mail Smart Folders can emulate Gmail filters and labels - a huge improvement. So, just when these apps look good enough to be worth bothering with, they come part and parcel with what I have seen mocked, and rightly, as "Apple Vista"!
Sorry for that but I am about at the end of my tether with it all ;-/
I would be very grateful if anyone can offer any advice about:
1) That strange looking zero bytes file in the Address Book folder.
2) Whether the Address Book debug menu options might be of any help in this situation?
There seem to be lots of people having problems with Address Book in both Lion and Mountain Lion, if not exactly this issue, so maybe the answers will help others too.
Fingers crossed!
Ms Mousette
ps. In the product list to tick for this question they are grouped so I cannot specify that this is actually nothing to do with the iPhone. I have got a load of contacts on my iPhone too but I am not going to sync them until I have got this issue sorted out.

Could this font be the cause of the problem?
Possibly, since that font is not the one that Address Book uses and there is no method to specify or change the font used by Address Book. You could have recovered your Address Book contacts without syncing, so that could also be part of the problem. You should always make a keep a backup of your Address Book on your computer and in another safe location whenever you make any change to it.
May I ask why you haven't updated to 10.4.11 yet, as it provides various bug fixes and security enhancements?
Mulder

I created a Group and put in all names and email addresses but cannot get the group to appear in an outgoing email message. What am I doing wrong?

I created a Group and put in all names and email addresses but cannot get the group to appear in an outgoing email message. What am I doing wrong?

This may help.
Can't connect to the iTunes Store
What happens whenyou try to connect? Error messages?

Address book data ALL GONE

I got a blackberry bold recently with a few contacts in it. Wanting to wipe it first before I sync it, I changed "user/library/application support/AddressBook" to "user/library/application support/AddressBook2" hoping that it would clean all the data in my blackberry first.
Well, address book is all empty that's for sure, but when I rename AddressBook2 to AddressBook, nothing happened. ALL my data is GONE.
Please I beg for your help.

I'm sorry but if there are no .abcd cards in the Metadata folder then your address book data is really gone and there is no way to retrieve it. you can try using data recovery software like Filesalvage or Data Rescue II but chances of getting it back are very slim. In the future I strongly recommend you start backing up to an external drive. there are plenty of excellent backup programs for Mac and external drives are quite cheap these days. see this post http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7495315#7495315

In Itunes I cannot chose MS Outlook when syncing contacts. I can only chose Google contacts, Windows contacts and Yahoo! Address book. The reply for email and calender is email and calender program cannot be found. Although I have MS Outlook installed an

In Itunes I cannot chose MS Outlook when syncing contacts for Iphone 4. I can only chose Google contacts, Windows contacts and Yahoo! Address book. The reply for email and calender is email and calender program cannot be found. Although I have MS Outlook installed and fully operational. Have anyone a solution to this issue?

Which operating system is on your computer?
and is itunes up to date
can you tell whether it worked before?
think as first step i would reinstall itunes

Why won't my computer's address book sync ALL of my contacts with my iPhone? no MobileMe, no iCloud, just straight from computer to phone.

Why won't my computer's address book sync ALL of my contacts with my iPhone? No MobileMe, no iCloud, just straight from computer to phone. I have checked all the settings and all seems correct. It simply won't pull in all of the contacts. Last time, it added some new ones, but deleted others.

I found the route of the problem! All the songs under 'On This Phone' are completely grayed out! The only question is now how do I ungray them???

Address Book imported all of my email addresses from Mail without warning

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