Batch Change in Address Book

I'd like to start a "smart group" for co-workers. I'd like to set it up so that if I add "contact" to notes, they will be added. But I already have 40 or so people I'd like to be in that group. Is there a way I can easily change all their cards to have "contact" in their notes?
Thanks, in advance, for any assistance.
Brian

paste the following into Script Editor (it's in /Applications/utilities). select the people you want to add "contact" to in AB and press "run" in Script Editor.
<pre style="
font-family: Monaco, 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;
font-size: 10px;
margin: 0px;
padding: 5px;
border: 1px solid #000000;
width: 720px;
color: #000000;
background-color: #ADD8E6;
overflow: auto;"
title="this text can be pasted into the Script Editor">
tell application "Address Book"
set mlist to selection
repeat with eachPerson in mlist
set note of eachPerson to "Contact " & note of eachPerson
end repeat
save addressbook
end tell</pre>

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Batch Changes In Address Book

Hi,
I am trying to find a 3rd party program or is there a way in Address Book where I can update the contacts details from another contact.
example: I have multiple people working at the same company and I want to update all of their work address, phone numbers and company to match the company address I have filed in address book?
In iTunes, I can select a range of songs and click on get info and I can make batch changes.
Can this be done the same way in address book?
Any ideas???
Even if I use a 3rd party program might be helpful.
At the moment, I am just typing in the same information to each contact which is annoying, I know you can copy and paste but I am still moving back and forth from one card to another.
Thanks
Dean

ok, the following Apple Script should do it. paste it into Script editor and change all the address entries as needed.
select all the people in Address book you want to apply the changes to (you can make a group of them so it's easy to select) and run the script.
<pre style="
font-family: Monaco, 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;
font-size: 10px;
margin: 0px;
padding: 5px;
border: 1px solid #000000;
width: 720px;
color: #000000;
background-color: #ADD8E6;
overflow: auto;"
title="this text can be pasted into the Script Editor">
tell application "Address Book"
activate
set mlist to selection
repeat with thePerson in mlist
make new address at end of addresses of thePerson with properties {label:"Work", street:"123 Anystreet", city:"Anytown", state:"PA", zip:"99999", country:"USA"}
make new phone at end of phones of thePerson with properties {label:"Work", value:"888.555.5555"}
end repeat
end tell</pre>

Can't change my Address Book picture??

Does anyone know how I can change my Address Book picture? I drag a photo I want to the current vcard pic, and the edit window opens up and I adjust the zoom and everything, but when I click "Set" the old picture is still there.
I've tried changing this on my iMac and on my iBook and the same thing happens (old picture remains).
Anyone know what I am doing wrong?

Click on your card, choose Address Book>Card>Clear Custom Image...then Address Book>Card>Choose Custom Image.

How to reflect changes to Address Book entries?

I have 2 SL clients connected to a SL server with Address Book bound. But when I make a change to the one my "Office Contacts" entries, the change doesn't get reflected anywhere (only locally). Even if I make the change in Workgroup Manager, I still have to remove the old entry from Address Book and re-add it so that the new information is displayed. Shouldn't changes to an Open Directory user "Info" be reflected in Address Book?

OK. Note that I haven't got 10.7, so haven't tested it on 10.7
Start by making a backup copy of the Address Book data. You will probably need to use Finder's Go/Go to folder to navigate to Library in your Home directory, and look in it's Application Support folder to make a copy of the Address Book folder.
Then run Script Editor, paste in this script and click Run. It should find any numbers that match your spec, and display to you what it will be changed to. When you are happy with the changes being offered click Cancel instead of OK and, in the script, put -- (two minus signs) before the line
display dialog (NewNumb as text) and remove the -- from the line below it. Run the script again and it should make the changes.
--Change phone numbers beginning with 041 11 to 041 11 9
--AK July 2012
tell application "Address Book"
          repeat with Acontact in people
                    repeat with APhone in phones of Acontact
                              if (value of APhone as text) starts with "041 11" then
                                        set NewNumb to (value of APhone as text)
                                        set NewNumb to characters 7 thru -1 of NewNumb
                                        set NewNumb to "041 11 9" & NewNumb
display dialog (NewNumb as text)
--set value of APhone to NewNumb
                              end if
                    end repeat
          end repeat
end tell

I just got my first mac and can anyone tell me how to change my address book to look like an actual book?

Just got my first Mac and cant find how to change the appearance of my address book. Can anyone help?

Check out the built-in Address Book Help guide on your Mac (in Address Book, choose Address Book Help from the Help menu. I dont think you can change the way the address book looks in terms of changing its appearance to look more book like, but I could be wrong. I checked out a few google searches and did not find anything that stated how to do what you are asking. If you find you cant change it to your desired specifications, you can always make the suggestion to Apple: http://www.apple.com/feedback/

How can I change my Address Book on iCloud to be the same as my Mac Book, How can I change my Address Book on iCloud to be the same as my Mac Book

I have a new Address Book on my Mac Book and wish to have it on my iCloud iPad and iPhone. I cannot seem to find how to change the iCloud to read the address book off my Mac.Any thoughts?

Hi ...
Select Contacts in System Preferences > iCloud
On your iPad tap Settings > iCloud. Make sure Contacts is ON.
Same for your iPhone.

Changing How Address Book Displays Search Results

When I use Search in Address Book the result everytime shows as the bottom item in the resulting list with extraneous items above it. It seems to me that the items below the first result are more pertinent to my search, but they aren't displayed, I have to scroll down to see them. Is there a way to change that so that the top item is my first result and the items below it appear?
PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

That's an interesting question, so I tried it myself.
I found that all of the cards listed contained the search term, as expected, but the term was not necessarily in the name. So there seems to be no weighting given to the location of the search term (eg Finding it in the Notes could be less important than in the name). I can't disagree with this strategy.
Secondly, the found set of cards are listed in the normal order I'd defined in the preferences 'Sort by' option, again just as expected.
So the question returns as to why the result chooses the particular card it does. And the answer seems to be that the chosen card is the last one with the most matches.
I searched for St, and got many matchiing cards, and the chosen one had 3 occurences. I looked through the list, and there were a few other cards with 3 occurences of the match, but none with 4 occurences. So the chosen card was the last one with the most matches.
I then chose a card without a match and added some notes which had 4 occurences, and the following search for St then picked that card.
So you're actually getting what you have asked for (the last of the best matches). Its just unfortunate that generally the card you want is not the one with most matches.
Andrew

I upgraded to Snow Leopard, made a change to Address Book that I need to correct, tried to use Time Machine to find the prior version and it keeps pulling up the later ones info. How do I use Time Machine to restore Address Book from a few hours ago?

This morning, I upgraded to Snow Leopard from v10.5.8. Then, I exported 11 contacts from our old Now Contact database, intending to import that info into Address Book. It was an experiment, as we have 1199 contacts in 20+ categories and want to eventually get them into Bento from Address Book. The export automatically created a file called Export.vcf on the desktop, after I highlighted the 11 contacts. I tried to look at the info, but when clicked it opens Address Book, which then simply asked if I wanted to import the 11 contacts to it. I clicked yes. Then in checking Address Book 7, not 11 contacts appeared. I clicked on "All Contacts" and there were 1630. We only have 1199, so where did the extra 400+ come from? Since I had already clicked twice on the Address Book window, I couldn't undo the import. So I thought 'Ok, I'll trash Address Book and go to Time Machine, find Address Book, go to right after the upgrade to SL, hit Restore and bingo. Nope. I keep getting the post-import info, not pre. Con someone direct me to a solution? I want to get rid of the import contacts plus the extra 300 or so ( I already had a hundred or so in several categories)? Then, I need to figure out (1) why ALL the old records were exported from Now Contact, (2) where they were hiding in that .vcf file when Address Book recognized that I only wanted to export 11, (3) why Address Book showed only 7 imports in the "Last Import" group, but showed ALL my contacts in the "All Contact" group, even though they should nearly all have been safely untouched in the Now Contact DBase file. PS, I am not especially computer savvy. Thanks for any enlightenment.

Booting From Snow Leopard Installer Disc
1. Insert Snow Leopard Installer Disc into the optical drive.
2. Restart the computer.
3. Immediately after the chime press and hold down the "C" key.
4. Release the key when the spinning gear below the dark gray Apple logo appears.
5. Wait for installer to finish loading.
Drive Preparation and Installation
1. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
7. After formatting is complete quit DU and return to the installer. Install Snow Leopard.

Apparently I inadverdently clicked on something that changed my address book listings to showing only the first three letters of each name -

the column showing my address book now shows only the first three characters of each name
it's like they have all been abbreviated
I have to try and decipher the name from those three characters before clicking
to see the
person's address window with the full information
I would like to be able to read the entire name- first & last like before
Thank you in advance

try dragging the column heading to make the column wider

Can i change address book font? and size?

can I change my address book font and font size? operating system is OS 10.9

OK, I just answered my own question. But since there have been so many questions on this forum over the years - about changing fonts/sizes/colors - I thought I would share what I learned with others. Remember that I'm using OS 10.9 and Contacts 8.0. and this may not apply to older or future versions:
Whe you are in "Contacts," click on "File" and drop down to "print." Click on "Print."
A printer page will come up. On this page, look at the lower righthand quadrant. You are given a choice to select either "layout" or "label." Click on "label." Now you will see, the bottom of that block, the word "Font." Immediately following that word, you will read the name of the font that "Contacts" is pre-set for, which, in my case says "System Font Regualr-12.0." To change this font, you now click on the button to the right that says "Set." When you click on "set" a drop down menu will appear. Voila! From here you can choose your preferred typeface, color, and font size.
Have fun. Glad I could help myself. Hope this helps you!

How do I change Syncing settings for Address Book, iCal, etc?

I remember when I setup my operating system, it asked what percent of changes
to Address Book, iCal, etc. I wanted to set between my computers, before I was notified. I think the default was 5%. But I'd like to change that setting. Does anyone know where I can find that?
Thanks,
Paul

Barney-15E,
Thanks that's it.
I always forget to open iSync.
I tried looking in the MobileMe.
Thanks,
Paul

Gconsync drops postal addresses with big Address Book changes?

After many years of procrastinating, I've thrown a lot of contacts into my Address Book just in time to send Christmas cards. I've configured Address Book to talk with Gmail, which causes gconsync to run once an hour.
I've observed that when I do large amounts of changes in Address Book, like a dozen or so in an hour, the postal addresses of random contacts get lost at the Google end. Once this happens, efforts to fix the contacts one-by-one seem pointless. I have to save/export my Mac Address Book, delete contacts at both ends, then reload from my backup to make things right.
Anyone else seen this behavior?

Finally fixed it. I am quite sure one of your address books is messed up. To fix it:
1. Figure out which address book is messed up. I have three, iPhone, iPad, iMac. Shut off iCloud on one of them and try address book updates on the other two. When the problem disappears, you will know which address book is messed up.
2. Next fix the address book on the errant device. I did it by restoring, WITHOUT using a backup. Can't use a backup because the same error will be there. This is a pain because you need to reorganize your aps, logins etc. So, you might want to try shutting off iCloud and removing the address book from the device. Then turn iCloud back on. It will load a new address book. I don't know if this will fix the problem. Might be hidden files that have the problem.
3. This, by the way, also caused a huge power drain for me. You can tell if you have the same problem by opening address book and checking if it is continually trying to sync.
Bob
[email protected]

Synching iphone/contacts & macbook/address book no longer works

I've had an iphone 3G and macbook pro for about 2 years and until now they've synched just fine. Today I cleaned up my address book on the mac (eliminated some duplicates, added, renamed, and deleted groups, updated individuals' information) and then synched my iphone with my mac using itunes. (I don't have a mobileme account.)
A few of the changes I made to address book (e.g., new contacts) were updated in contacts on the iphone, but most were not. It didn't update changes to existing contacts and the groups were not changed. Updates to ical and safari bookmarks were synched just fine.
Here are the things I've tried without success:
1. In itunes info tab, under address book I selected "all contacts," deselected all other updates (ical, etc.) except address book, and then synched.
2. Same as above, PLUS in the advanced section, under "replace information on this phone" I selected contacts. then I synched.
3. Same as #1 above, except instead of "all contacts" I selected "selected groups" and checked all the groups listed, and then synched.
4. I rebooted the macbook and repeated the steps above.
5. I opened isync and selected "reset sync history." then I repeated steps 1 and 2 above.
I also tested making a change to a contact on the iphone to see if the change was made on the mac. It was not.
About 2 months ago I upgraded to snow leopard. It's possible this problem has been going on since then, and I just didn't notice until today when I made all the changes to address book.
I don't know what to try next. Please help.

status update -- I tried a lot of other things but finally solved the problem after I removed all the groups from mac address book. (thank-you to my son Ben)
FYI -- along the way I tried doing the reset sync history, which deleted all contacts from the iphone. I initially thought that was a good thing, until I discovered that nothing I tried after that would put the contacts back on the iphone. Next I restored factory settings on the iphone and set up as a new user, but that didn't work either. Or maybe it did; maybe deleting the groups wouldn't have solved the problem if I hadn't deleted all contacts and reset the iphone first.

ITunes 9.1 no longer synching iPhone Contacts to Mac Address Book

Since installing iTunes 9.1 (79) today. my iPhone will no longer synch to the Mac Address Book. iPhone software 3.1.3, Mac OS 10.6.3 MacBook Pro 3.1. The only thing I can think of is that my iTunes library is on an external drive (not with me). Everything else seems to be working OK. I tried resetting the iPhone (but did not erase content) to no avail.
Any ideas why this is happening and what to do?

Can anyone help with this? This has been an issue for me for weeks. Changes to contacts on my iPhone (the original one) don't show up in Address Book and changes in Address Book on my iMac don't sync with my iPhone contacts. Both seemed to be separate from each other. Prior to this, it has done so flawlessly since I have owed it.
I just tried the following, from this thread (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=476130):
*1. open address book, go to File > Export > Address Book Archive, save to desktop*
*2. delete all contact info (including groups) from address book, quit address book*
*3. select "sync address book contacts" (all contacts) in itunes info tab (highlight your iphone on the left of the window)*
*4. under "advanced" at the bottom, select contacts under "replace information on this iphone / ipod".*
*5. sync.*
*6. uncheck #'s 3 & 4 above*
*7. back in address book, import your address book archive file to restore your address book.*
*that should do it- sorry if this was unclear, need to hit the hay.*
My Address Book imported back in fine. Now my iPhone contacts are empty and won't sync back with what is on the computer. When I click on my iPhone in iTunes and go to Info to click "Sync Address Book Contacts," there is nothing in the box. Prior to attempting the above fix, the iPhone's contacts showed up in that box, but not the most recent version of Address Book on my computer.
I have not lost my Address Book contacts, they are backed up, but I just want to be able to sync it all with my iPhone again. My iPhone contacts are currently empty and I could use them for work today.
Any ideas would be much appreciated -- thanks!

Address book groups not updated in iSync and iTunes-iPod-info sync

Changes to address book groups are not reflected in iSync and iTunes. I.e. if I remove a group or add a group it is still the old list of groups that is listed in iSync and iTunes available for syncing with my phone or iPod. How do I get these list to be updated and reflect the present list in Address Book?

The suggested resolution essentially said "delete the address book and start over."
Ok, I can see how this will help but... a few questions:
1. How to I re-load the address book with my 500+ contacts without loosing my groups and all the data? The suggestion in the other discussion doesn't give any guidance on this
2. What caused the problem to begin with? In other words, how can I prevent it from happening again?
I discovered the syncing problem about the time I did the following three things:
1. Upgraded to 10.5.2
2. Upgraded my iPhone (and iTunes) to 1.1.4
3. Installed Bento (possibly a red herring) -- but it DOES connect to address book

Batch Change in Address Book

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