Delete address book

I accidently sync'd 8000 work contacts with my iphone. I don't want 8000 contacts on my iphone. How do I start over? Deleting the Address Book Cards one-by-one on my iMac is driving me insane. Any way to delete the entire Address Book dbase?
Or can someone take me thru a Time Machine restore of just the Address Book from a couple days ago?
iMac running latest version of Lion
Iphone 4s
Thanks!

The entire address book database is located in your invisible (use the free TinkerTool)
I don't quite know what will happen if any of these files were deleted or removed from the folder, likely addressbook would recreate the data files with no entires.
test with care, if it doesn't work then replace them
I wouldn't leave invisble items visible, use Tinkertool to set all those files invisible again.
http://bresink.de/osx/0TinkerTool/download.php5
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16276201#16276201

Similar Messages

HT2500 delete address book entries

How do you delete address book entries?

Welcome to Apple Support Communities.
With Address Book open, select the entry to be deleted in the Name (middle) column by clicking on it.
Now select Edit, Delete Card from the top menubar.
The option to delete a card does not appear unless a card is selected first.

Why can't I edit or delete Address Book "On My Mac" or sync with iCloud?

Why can't I edit or delete Address Book cards on my Macs, now that I've migrated to iCloud? I can edit/delete if I go to iCloud, but the changes don't sync with my Macs. What's happening, and what's a solution? Just wait for Apple to fix a bug?

On your mac, if your look at the left panel of the Address Book, you'll find general categories of "iCloud" and possibly "On my mac" - if you have contacts in the latter, then they are only local to your mac, they are not shared with iCloud. If you don't have an "iCloud" category, then your mac(s) is not set up of iCloud. Go to system preferences and look in iCloud. Is the mac signed into iCloud, are contacts turned on for syncing?

TS2755 Is there a fix to deleting already deleted address book contact, from messages search? i.e. when you type in say letter c in messages search, all contact with a c, past already deleted and current all appear? How do you make the old deleted ones a

Is there a fix to deleting already deleted address book contact, from messages search? i.e. when you type in say letter c in messages search, all contact with a c, past already deleted and current all appear? How do you make the old deleted ones appear?

only way is to restore the phone as new. OR wait until IOS 7 comes out in the fall.

Deleted Address Book - HELP!

I accidentally deleted Address Book. I was moving it to my Dock and missed, so it went to the desktop, then I put it on the dock and deleted it from my desktop. Aparently, that was the program and not a duplicate. Is there any way I can download it or pull it off one of the installation CDs?

You should be able to load it from your installation DVD as one of the optional installations.
AK

Accidentally deleted address book

hi , am running leopard on a mac mini and accidentally deleted the address book program that was moved to the desktop from the applications folder and hiding behind the dock .
Time machine wasn't set up to backup any data yet , and i'm afraid the entire address book has been lost . Just before the trash was emptied , there were numerous updates performed thru software update , for the iwork and ilife suites , and the computer has been restarted one time . I had also reinstalled the 10.5.1 update . is there any way to retrieve the deleted address book without having to use 3rd party software like pacifist to pull a new copy of address book from the leopard install disc and rebuild it from scratch ?

Not that I know of.
However, you only lost the application.
You apparently did not loose all the information.
The information is located in Users/Home/Library/Application Support/AddressBook folder.
If that AddressBook folder is still there, then so is all of your information.
Joseph Kriz

Delete Address Book entries

I've been trying to find out, whether with Automator or AppleScript, how to delete specific contacts from Address Book and am not having any luck. My ultimate goal is to back up 10 specific vCards and then delete them. I've gotten Automator to export the vCards of 10 people, but that's where I get stuck. Automator doesn't seem to have any actions that delete cards. I've tried Google for AppleScript on deleting Address Book cards but I really can't find anything. I can't even find a list of what actions I can use with AppleScript on Address Book. Any help would be appreciated.

Anybody?

Unable to delete Address Book File

I am unable to delete nor copy over an Address Book file that I have on an external HD connected via Airport Extreme. When I connect the HD directly to my Macbook Pro, I am able to delete the file - but not via Airport Extreme. When I attempt to delete the file, I get a message from Trash as follows: The operation cannot be completed because the item "Metadata" is in use. Same message when I attempt to replace the file with a new file. In other words, I am unable to use AE to transfer my Address Book file to my external HD, unless I change the name of the file. What is going on here?

Hello Bob.
You may be having a problem with some Firefox add-on that is hindering your Firefox's normal behavior. Have you tried disabling all add-ons (just to check), to see if Firefox goes back to normal?
Whenever you have a problem with Firefox, whatever it is, you should make sure it's not coming from one of your installed add-ons, be it an extension, a theme or a plugin. To do that easily and cleanly, run Firefox in [http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Safe+Mode safe mode] and select ''Disable all add-ons''. If the problem disappears, you know it's from an add-on. Disable them all in normal mode, and enable them one at a time until you find the source of the problem. See [http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes this article] for information about troubleshooting extensions and theme. You can troubleshoot plugins the same way.
If you want support for one of your add-ons, you'll need to contact its author.

How can I recover my accidentaly deleted address book?

I was working in my address book this morning and selected a contact that I wanted to delete. When I pressed the delete button, all of a sudden my entire address book dissapeared. I'm fairly sure I only selected the specific contact, but apparently somehow my entire address book got deleted with it.
I can still see the two default address books of thunderbird on the left side, but they always have been and still are empty. The third address book (the one that I've been using the past years), is completely gone.
I have tried to recover the address book in multiple ways:
- looked in the recycle bin of my computer and of thunderbird, but there was nothing to be found in both of them
- I used the 'undo' button about 4 to 5 times, but nothing happened unfortunately. Ctrl+z didn't give any response as well
- I waited with closing thunderbird, untiI I looked up my Thunderbird profile in user/appdata/roaming/thunderbird/profiles/****.defaul. I copied the abook.mab file to another directory, closed thunderbird and restarted it. Unfortunately this didn't help either.
- I've also tried to recover any deleted files on my entire computer using Recuva software. I haven't been able to find anything related to the address book thought.
Is there any way to retrieve/recover my thunderbird address book?
I haven't been able to find a good solution online as of yet. But I figure it can't just be completely gone after I've clicked teh delete button by accident, right?
I'm using thunderbird 24.4.0 on Windows 8.1. Currently I am not using a tool to synchronise the address book to my google account, because I'm working with the maillinglist and I haven't found a way to synchronise them fully. So there's no recent backup of the address book unfortunately.
I really hope you can help me with this. Thanks in advance!

Thanks a lot for your fast reply!
I've tried both options you gave, but unfortunately didn't manage to restore/retrieve any data from the file. The MoreFunctionsForAddressBook add on is very user friendly however and easy to work with.
I also found a few threads that explain that it is possibe to open the original abook.mab file in a text editor and delete some entries in it, to 'turn back' the command that said to delete the addressbook in the first place.
This is the one I've found and tried to follow: http://www.pirules.org/blog/?page_id=312 and
I've played around with it a bit, and managed to retrieve the specific address I was meaning to delete at the time the whole addressbook got accidentaly deleted. I didn't manage to retrieve the full addressbook though, mostly because I have a hard time understanding the code language that is used in the file....
Could this be an option for me? And if so, how do I determine which entry to delete from the file and which one to leave alone?

Deleting Address Book URL list

How can I delete the URL lists that come up when I begin to type in the address book window?

You're welcome.
I was hoping there is a way to delete that info w/o clearing everything else.
Unfortunately not. I suggest sending feedback to Apple via the Safari Menu>Report Bugs to Apple. Always good to make one's needs known.

Since I moved to iCloud I can't Edit or Delete Address Book Contacts using my MacBook Pro

Is not funny at all, everything was fine using Mobile Me but since I switch to iCloud I can't Edit or Delete my Address Book Contacts using my MacBook Pro or my MacPro.
In my MacBook Pro, i open Address Book and on the left I have te list of all contacts, on the right the selected contact informations, below I only have "Add Contact" or "Share", my friend have "Edit" instead of "Add Contact".
If I click on "Add Contact" this is the result:
Are you sure you want to import 1 card? 1 card is a duplicate and will be updated.
Everything fine using my iPhone or the website.
Apple, what's going on?

Here is some information and instructions from Apple:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3998
Please note that iCloud is geared towards being an instantaneous (and in some cases temporary) parking place for various things with iDevices; the access and useability from a computer is more difficult and, for most things, has to be done via the website icloud.com.

Deleting Address Book Notes with Automator

I imported all my contacts from Yahoo and now there's a bunch of jibberish under all my contacts notes...well most of them. Is there anything I can run from automator to delete all notes from all contacts? I don't need any notes. Thanks!

paste the following into AppleScript Editor (it's in /Applications/Utilities) and press "run".
<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"
repeat with per in people
set note of per to ""
save
end repeat
end tell</pre>
Note: it might take a while for it to finish working if you have a lot of contacts.

Deleting Address Book addresses

How does one delete an address from the Address Book?

Let me suggest a couple of approaches, as I am not absolutely sure what you are asking.
If you want to delete an address from your previously sent or received Mail messages but not from the Address Book itself—most often because the address in question is not actually stored in an existing Address Book record—then launch Mail, open a new message window, type enough characters in the To: field so that the address itself of a list of near matches appears (from which you can select the address) then click on the blue bubble, press the white triangle on the right, and from the drop-down menu which appears, select Remove from Previous Recipients List item.
If you want to remove an address from an existing Address Book record but want to leave the remainder of the record intact, launch the Address Book, select your record, press the Edit button at the bottom of the window, then remove each address component by highlighting it, pressing the delete or backspace key, then pressing the Tab key to move to the next field.
If you want to remove an existing Address Book record in its entirety, simply launch the Address Book, highlight the record in the Name column, press the delete or backspace key and confirm the deletion by pressing Delete in the dialog which appears.
If you want to remove a record from an Address Book Group but want to retain the record in your Address Book, select the Group, select the contact record, then press the Delete key. Confirm this deletion by pressing the Remove from Group button in the dialog which appears. When you delete a record from your Address Book, the contact represented by that record is also removed from all Groups it may have been a member of.

Where do my deleted Address Book contacts go??

I'm on an exchange server running snow leopard.
I cannot find where the address book app is putting the deleted contacts and folders....
Does anyone know?
I've checked the two logical places, mail trash and the main trash.... no luck.

There are a couple of options.
For the whole computer, you can set up an [Open Firmware password|http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1352]. Follow the same instructions as 10.5. Search for more info on Open Firmware password and what recourses you have if you forget the password.
You can secure your entire home folder using FileVault (Security System Prefs), but that comes with a few headaches. I don't use it, so I can't offer any advice. It will encrypt you Home folder when you log out so nobody can get to your data without the password, even if the computer is stolen. Time Machine waits until you log out to back up your home folder. This would never work for me.
Also on the Security System Prefs is an option to require a password at wake from Sleep or Screen Saver.
You can set your keychain password different for your account so that it doesn't automatically unlock at login. You can also set the keychain to lock after a period of inactivity using the Keychain Access program--Edit>Change settings for Keychain "login"…
While someone can change your login password using the install disk, that won't change your keychain password, so that info will remain locked.
In the Keychain Access Preferences, you can show the status in the menu bar. From that menu you can Lock the Screen, Your keychain, or all keychains.

Time Machine backup automatically deletes address book

I accidentally deleted all contacts in address book. When i attempt to restore the address book from time machine, the address book is restored then automatically deletes all contacts again.

In case it will help anyone else, this is the rather complicated procedure worked out with Apple Support to restore Address Book to an earlier state. Hopefully Apple will consider a switch of some sort to restart or re-initialize the contacts which would greatly simplify the procedure.
If using iCloud, uncheck Contacts box in System Preferences>iCloud
Quit Address Book
Restore Address Book folder in User/LIbrary/Application Support to previous version with Time Machine
Trash all Address Book preferences in User Library/Preferences
Log Out/In or Restart
Start Address Book and verify desired address book version is now available
If not using iCloud you are done, otherwise you need to create new Address Book Folder with current file dates that contains desired previous data
First Go to Web version of iCloud Contacts and erase all contacts
From Address Book Export vCard with All Contacts
Export vCard for each manually defined group
Quit Address Book
Trash Address Book folder in User/Library/Application Support
Trash all Address Book preferences in User Library/Preferences
Log Out/In or Restart
Start Address Book and Import vCard with All Contacts
Import vCard for each defined group one at a time and:
Check review duplicates and keep new
Select Last Import for each group and manually assign to Group Name
Re-Check Contacts box in System Preferences>iCloud
New address book should populate to iCloud and other devices

Can't delete address book entries!

I am trying to sync Address Book with Google Mail, and as part of this, I have to delete all my addresses on one side and then copy from the other side.
When I delete all my addresses in Address Book, quit, and relaunch Address Book, I find... all my addresses. Even if I delete them a few at a time, I still find most of my addresses after quit and relaunch. Is Address Book totally broken?
For instance, I have 668 contacts. I delete one, quit, relaunch and I have 667 contacts. But if I have 667 contacts and delete 31, quit and relaunch and I have 667 contacts!
Yes, all sync software is turned off.
A

Thank you V.K. I tried that, and restored from backup. Same behavior.
Turns out that my address book was corrupted, and it appears that the corruption is preserved in the "abbu" backups. When I deleted the Address Book folder, and then imported from a vcf file, it was fixed. All my groups were gone of course.
Still finding lots of bugs in Address Book not related to corrupt data, but this appears to be fixed

Delete address book

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