Lion - Address Book Duplicates

Almost every one of my address book entries is duplicated. Some are identical and most of the others simply have the phone numbers in a different order. I went through a Card/Look for Duplicates. It said that it found about 2,000 duplicate entries. I told it to merge them, and it crunched for a while, but nothing seemed to change. Running it again doesn't find any duplicates, however.
I still have about 2,000 duplicate entries. If I try to manually merge two identical entries, by highlighting them both and clicking Card/Merge Selected Cards, I get the message 'The cards could not be merged because they came from different accounts'. I would really like to know *** that means.
Any help appreciated.

--russell wrote:
I posted this in another thread on Address Book duplicates and iCloud. Did this start after the iCloud hoopla? After I tried iCloud, I ended up with duplicate contacts on my computer. The "Look for Duplicates" command in Address Book gave me soemthing to the effect, "No duplicates found," which raised my blood pressure as I could see them right there.
Going to System Preferences did the trick for me. Click on iCloud under Internet & Wireless. Untick the checkbox for Contacts. You'll then be given a choice of keeping your iCloud contacts on your computer, with the options of Delete from Mac or Keep Contacts. No, you don't want to delete the contacts from your box, so choose Keep Contacts. Let it do its thing, then re-tick the Contacts checkbox.
Like I said, at least for me this solved the problem with no more duplicate entries on my box or my iPhone.
You realize that your contacts will now no longer sync between your Mac and your iPhone right?

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Lion Address Book doesn't accommodate "yyyy-mm-dd" date format..., Lion Address Book doesn't accommodate "yyyy-mm-dd" date format...

Help! How do I get Lion Address Book to accommodate "yyyy-mm-dd" date format?

Nor does Lion appear to accurately insert "long" date format in Word 2011.
Although long date format appears correctly in Language & Text Preferences, when inserted in Word the year inserts only the last two digits of year, e.g., July 27, 11 -- should be July 27, 2011.

Address Book duplicates some names.

The address book duplicates parts of the names of those I sent to.
Example:
Babineau Babineau Cheryl
Currier Nita D. Currier D.
Miller Harvey Harvey
But not every person to whom I send has their name duplicated as above.
I have used "Edit" on these and cleaned them up many time and finalize with Save. Duplicates always reappear. I want this to stop.
Using: Address Bk 4.0.3 and 10.4.6
iMac, G4 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

With AB open and active, click TM in the dock to enter it. Go back in the timeline until the addresses you are looking for appear in AB. Select all addresses you need and click restore. You will be asked then to import the addresses into AB.
Once done, I would suggest you uncheck contacts from the iCloud preferences and delete the contacts from the computer, then recheck contacts in iCloud. This will rebuild the iCloud database files on the computer and should resolve any issues if any exist.

Contact / address book duplicates

WHile led I see lots of suggestions how to fix Contact / address book duplicates - I don't know what causes them.
I only have 1 mail account - exchange. What am I doing wrong to see duplicates constantly being created?
thanks. Be gentle!

Hi, have a similar but bigger problem. card --> Look for duplicates does not solve it.
from original 2000 adresses I now have 550,000 many of them massive duplicates. Causes MASSIVE time waste and delays.
Event correlates with me installing Outlook for Mac2011 sync programme.
now want to just delete address book and sync again and stay with Mac Address/Cal and disconnect from Microsoft.
question: can I simply delete address book in Finder? what happens when I go back into it? does it get newly created?
any other suggestion how to tackle?
thanks for desperate help

Lion Address Book not functioning properly

I am finding OSX Lion Address Book very frustrating.
The search feature sometimes works, sometimes does not.
Even when it finds and highlights the searched contact, that contact's information does not show up.
I have bookmarked one contact and that is the only contact that shows up unless I double-click the contact in the list, then it opens in a separate window.
This is so very inconvenient.
What am I doing wrong?
How does one properly use the Address Book to make it smooth-sailing?
Thanks
Nancy

I'm glad you got your problem solved. Mine was a different solution as shown below.
Thanks for updating.
This solved my question by Barney-15E on Jul 29, 2011 3:20 PM
Give this a shot.
If you are syncing your contacts with something, disable that for now.
Archive your Address book by going to File menu, Export, Address book Archive.
Close Address Book.
Go to the Finder and while holding down the Option key, select Library from the Go menu.
Navigate into Application Support/AddressBook.
Delete addressbook.abcddb.
Open Address Book and see how it works
Turn Syncing back on if applicable.
The file you deleted is a database that indexes the raw data to make display, search, etc faster. However, it does seem to get corrupted with updates.
See the answer in context

Lion address book search

lion address book search no longer works - it did a few days ago.. any ideas how to fix?
have just made spotlight reindex the disc. no joy.

Barney 15E has a fix:
If you have MobileMe or any other syncing of your contacts, turn it off.
Open Address Book and archive your Address Book (File, Export, Address Book Archive).
Close Address Book
Go into your user/Library/Application Support/AddressBook folder and delete the addressbook.abcddb file.
Start Address Book and see if all is ok.
If so, turn syncing back on if appropriate.
I don't know if this will work for your problem. I haven't seen those errors, but I haven't looked for them, either.
The addressbook.abcddb is database that indexes the contacts that are stored in the metadata folder. If that gets corrupted, you'll see things like you describe. Address Book will recreate it when you delete it.

ICloud/Solution for cleaning up address book duplicates

I so identify with anyone who has this problem of having address book duplicates. Took me at least five tries to get it right!!!!
The directions that Apple gives only really work if you only have one device. There are very few articles that deal with the problem of coordinating multiple devices so it was a trial and error effort to make things work.
I have 6 desktop and mobile devices attached to my account and wanted them all to sync using ICLOUD. I'd get one or two set up and then the next one would add in the duplicates. Was making me crazy. Here is what I finally did to solve the problem:
1. Using your desktop app, export a clean copy of your address book to your desktop. If your file is contaminated with duplicates already, go back and find an older copy.
2. Using your desktop app, delete all of the entries. Then go to System preferences and turn on the Cloud for Address Book. It should be empty.
3. Turn the cloud off for each and every device you own. It will ask if you want to save the contacts or delete them. Choose delete.
4. Every device will now be empty of data.
5. I was unsuccessful at bringing my data back in using the Cloud web site. So I went back to my desktop app and brought it in that way. Then, I turned the Cloud back on. If you've done it right, all you should see is the Cloud symbol above where it says ALL CONTACTS. Immediately, all of my devices filled up with the same information. I double checked by adding a new data entry. And all of the devices updated with it.
The next day, I noticed that my desktop app was not doing the cloud updates, although all of my other devices were. So I went to the desktop app preferences, deleted the entries and then turned the cloud back on. Immediately the desktop app updated with cloud contacts. Now, it syncs just fine.
BTW, everything is done by an "air sync" and if you actually connect your device to ITUNES, the address book will be greyed out. Don't change the setting. You don't ever want to sync the data with ITUNES again -- or you'll get your duplicates back!
The iCloud is genius. Sure makes life simpler and easier. So if you have problems in the beginning, don't give up. The end result is so worth it!!!
Good luck!

Hi guys,
This hasn't helped with me as the MobileMe account won't allow me to disable it or even delete it from the desktop app.
Here's my issue (https://discussions.apple.com/message/18525465#18525465):
I am having real problems with Address Book after transfering from MobileMe to iCloud.
I have two accounts running at the moment:
MobileMe - xxxxxx
iCloud - xxxxx (using my Apple ID as they suggest)
This means that I have two accounts in my Address book with duplicate details.
I have turned off the MobileMe account on my iMac - and they still show in Address Book.
I have gone in to Address Book preferences and tried to disable the MobileMe Account by unchecking the 'Enable this account' button ... but it simply checks itself again. So I still have duplicates.
I have removed the MobileMe account altogether from the Address Book Accounts pane, but when I restart the app they just come back again!
I have gone on to the MobileMe Address Book online and deleted all of the contacts - but they have not been deleted off of my Address Book.
Can someone please tell me how I can remove this account from my Address Book as it's driving me mad, I dont want it anymore and it also means that I now have a duplicate Birthdays account in my iCal as well!!!
Any idea of any fixes for this?
<Edited By Host>

How do I import addresses from Address Book Ver 4.1.2 to the Lion Address Book version 7.0? Mountain Lion will not allow me to open Address book Version 4.1.2

How do I import addresses from Address Book Ver 4.1.2 to the Lion Address Book version 7.0? Mountain Lion will not allow me to open Address book Version 4.1.2

Do you have any addresses in the Lion version?
If not, copy the AddressBook folder from your username/Library/Application Support/ folder on the old mac (or backup).
Copy it to the same location on your new Mac, replacing the one that is there. Start Address Book in Mountain Lion and it should convert the files to the correct format.
If you do have addresses, it is a little more complicated.
First, create a Contacts Archive (from File>Export menu). This will be your backup.
Next, export the current contacts as vCards.
Then, follow the steps above.
Then, import all the cards you exported. If you select all and double-click, it will ask if you want to add them. You'll then have to add them to whatever groups you had set up.

How do I import addresses from Address Book Ver 4.1.2 to the Lion Address Book version 6.1? Lion will not allow me to open Address book Version 4.1.2

How do I import addresses from Address Book Ver 4.1.2 to the Lion Address Book version 6.1? Lion will not allow me to open Address book Version 4.1.2 to get to the addresses to copy

Do you have any addresses in the Lion version?
If not, copy the AddressBook folder from your username/Library/Application Support/ folder on the old mac (or backup).
Copy it to the same location on your new Mac, replacing the one that is there. Start Address Book in Mountain Lion and it should convert the files to the correct format.
If you do have addresses, it is a little more complicated.
First, create a Contacts Archive (from File>Export menu). This will be your backup.
Next, export the current contacts as vCards.
Then, follow the steps above.
Then, import all the cards you exported. If you select all and double-click, it will ask if you want to add them. You'll then have to add them to whatever groups you had set up.

HT2486 mac lion address book overlaps my 13" monitor screen - unable to view the entire book - hugh problem

Hello
mac lion address book overlaps my 13" monitor screen - unable to view the entire book - hugh problem
any suggestions?

THANKS

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

Lion Address Book no longer syncs to iCloud and will not SEARCH

I use a MBAir i7, Lion, and Address Book (all system updates current as of date).
My issue:
#1– for no apparent reason the search function within address book has ceased functioning.
#2– entries are no longer updating to iCloud.
How long has this been going on:
A few days. However, I have had similar issues in the past that were resolved, such as the ridiculous issues regarding duplicate syncs, etc...all these issues were so time consuming to resolve. But the issues could have been resolved with QUALITY PROGRAMMING. Uh oh here it goes...the rant is exploding out of me...It baffles me how incompetent the programming has been with iCloud. As long as I've been an Apple owner (since way back in the Quadra days) this has got to be one of the most frustrating experiences and BLUNDERS I have *ever* had using an Apple product. I'm sorry ladies and gentlemen, i promised myself i would not digress to a rant. But the truth is, I am so incensed by this complete botch since it results in such a MASSIVE WASTE OF MY TIME...sorry, again.
My attempts at resolution (for this specific issue):
#1– Logging out (no avail).
#2– Restarting (no avail).
#3– Changing WiFi locations (no avail).
#4– Running diskcheck to fix permissions (only a few permissions came up bad) (no avail).
#5– Spending about 2+ hours searching the internet for solutions (no avail).
#6– ^Deleting some preference files related to AB (no avail).
#7– ^Unsyncing AB from iCloud / deleting contacts on MBA / resyncing to iCloud (this works but shortly returns).
Does anyone else have suggestions on how to fix this problem?
...i remember before the iPhone came out, I owned a motorola flip phone. I remember all I really wanted was a way to sync my AB contacts to that motorola phone. There was a sync program available, and the syncing was so horrible that it was basically not usable. For example, the sync process would not recognize the entries on the phone or the computer or vice-versa, which resulted in duplicate entries every time a sync was performed. It was really impractical to go and delete, say entries 2, 4, 6, etc. from the AB database. Even worse, the phone would truncate some of the data, so the benefit of syncing contacts to computer was at the expense of duplicating entries which would have to be deleted. Then, the iPhone came out. The iPhone propelled the standard for a mobile phone to a distant galaxy– and every commercial we heard for years was, "this new product is the iPhone killer"...The truth is that nothing has caught up with the iPhone. And, all I thought I wanted was the ability to sync my contacts with my mobile phone.
So where do I stand in the year 2012? Right back where I was in the day of my old P.O.S. motorola flip phone.

iPod: Frequently Asked Questions
iTunes 10 for Mac: Sync contacts, calendars, and other info with iPod, iPhone, or iPad
iPod Nano 5th Gen. User Manual

In Mountain Lion Address Book there is the message CoreDAVErrorDomain error 1 on startup. Any idea?

After installing 10.8, when opening address book appears a sync wheel near the icloud and it becomes a warning sign the means "operation can not be concluded (CoreDAVErrorDomain error 1.)
I think this prevents the syncing process between the imac and icloud.
How can it be solved?

I had same message
I could not sync between iCloud and my Mac. My Mac and iCloud/iPhone had about 10 or so different contacts each.
I solved the sync problem in Mountain Lion by:
1. De-duplicate Mac contacts
2. Export all contacts as vCard
3. Go to System Preferences on my Mac and uncheck Contacts
4. Answer dialogue to delete from my Mac.
5. Verify that all contacts on Mac deleted.
6. Go to System Preferences on Mac and check Contacts.
7. Wait a minute for the Contacts to be imported from iCloud.
8. Verify that Mac is syncing
9. Import vCard from step 2.
10. Keep old contacts and apply to all.

Upgraded MacBook Pro 5,1 to Lion - Address Book/RAM Question - PLEASE HELP!

So, I upgraded to Lion. Flawless.
Except, when I was trying to set up iCloud, I had Address Book open and decided to select the "Look for Duplicates" function to try to clear some of the double entries in my Address Book.
The process took over an hour.
I had Fusion running.
After an hour, I got an error message that said I have run out of disk space. It prompted me to force quit some applications.
I have 4 GB of RAM and 400 GB free on a 750 GB Hard Drive.
What caused this? Is it serious? Any advice?
I am trying to run it again, but it is taking forever.
Please help!

I finally solved the problem by myself.
For anyone reading this thread and having similar issues, I quickly describe how I did it:
Basically, I changed totally nothing on either Soft- or Hardware side.
But what I did was disassemble my MBP, remove one of those 2 memory chips, un- and replugged the SSD, turned the system on with just one memory chip, let it run for a while (did some stress tests on the SSD that ususally lead to massive problems) and everything worked smooth.
At first I thought the one memory I removed was bad, but to my surprise the system continued to work stable after I put it in again.
Since 6 days my MBP runs smooth without any troubles like spinning wheels or whatsoever.
I've read many threads from other people having similiar issues with this configuration, coming up with a lot of ideas and workarounds.
Although this seems to be weird, I hope that it helps some of you facing the same weird behaviour.

Address book duplicates, address book duplicates

My Address book is duplicating contacts. It will not search. I cannot merge duplicates as it freezes/hangs on the merging sequence. What to do? I have Mac OS X Lion Version 10.7.2 with a 2.8 GHz Intel Core i5 Processor and 16 GB 1333 MHz DDR3, my Graphics ATI Rdeon HD 5750 1024 MB.

You have duplicates because you are using two accounts that have the same information in them. You need to eliminate one of the accounts and then check again. If you still need help then navigate to the iCloud on my Mac forum and someone can provide more insight on how to fix the issue.

Lion - Address Book Duplicates

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