Monterey Causing Repeated Contacts?

Question

Level 2

240 points

Monterey Causing Repeated Contacts?

So, shortly after upgrading to Monterey - all my contacts are suddenly in quadruplet. Now, I realize there may (normally) be some duplications for various reasons - but, even very recently added contacts are in quadruplet. And, it appears that EVERY contact is in (at minimum) quadruplet. I'm like: What!?!!?

The screen captures below show contacts from (in) Google and iCloud - both are quadruplet as shown. In the iCloud screen capture "Account" is two separate eateries - therefore you see eight total.

I don't mind the occasional duplicate - but this is just ridiculous.

How could I go about cleaning this mess up?

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 12.0

Posted on Dec 7, 2021 2:37 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

karina184

Community Specialist

Dec 8, 2021 12:50 PM in response to silver_mica

Hello silver_mica,

Thank you for reaching out to Apple Support Communities, and we'll be happy to help in any way we can. We understand you're having issues with contacts that have multiple repeating entries after updating to macOS Monterey. To start, try the steps listed here to see if it helps with the repeating contacts: If you see duplicate contacts after setting up iCloud Contacts

If the issue persists, please reach out to Apple directly here: Get Support

We hope this helps.

Cheers!

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Answer 2

PRP_53

Level 10

85,543 points

Dec 8, 2021 1:58 PM in response to silver_mica

Have a look see at a well crafted piece by respected and long time contributor @ Barney 15-E. It may offer some Insurance-ights and possible solutions.

Any credit goes to the author

Fix corrupted Contacts database

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Answer 3

Dec 15, 2021 5:14 PM in response to silver_mica

It may be possible to create an Automator script to help clean up your Contacts file by exporting vCards for each individual. Duplicate vCards could be discarded and the Contacts file rebuilt.

- Pie Lover

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Answer 4

silver_mica Author

Level 2

240 points

Feb 3, 2022 11:55 AM in response to smlphoto

It's only a matter of time before macOS is every bit as dysfunctional as Microsoft Windows =(

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Answer 5

PRP_53

Level 10

85,543 points

Dec 12, 2021 2:08 PM in response to silver_mica

That is too bad.

These ASC forums have a lot to offer and persons with ions of experience, skills, knowledge and experience to offer.

All the above by fellow Apple User helping other Apple Users and on a volunteer basis - not costs involved.

Get assistance without a Big Credit Limit is a luxury these days.

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Answer 6

Dec 12, 2021 4:30 PM in response to silver_mica

I don't have much to add but I did see duplicate entries at one point. I changed Contacts to use iCloud (which also syncs an iPad) and redid the (small) contact lists for the 2 accounts on the Mac.

The contact lists are stable but I did notice that there can be additional information added by Siri (e.g. a phone number gleaned from Apple Mail).

- Pie Lover

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Answer 7

silver_mica Author

Level 2

240 points

Dec 15, 2021 3:52 PM in response to BlueberryLover

@BlueberryLover - I am using iCloud for some of my contacts - the rest are Google. However ALL contacts are suddenly in quadruplet (after upgrading to Monterey). This is unusable now - because if I want to amend an existing contact which of the four contacts would I amend? Or, from now on - would I need to make identical changes to each of the four? And, it isn't a simple matter of just deleting three of the four duplicates - because I have hundreds and hundreds of contacts going back 16 years.

This is why you shouldn't upgrade your operating system.

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Answer 8

silver_mica Author

Level 2

240 points

Dec 19, 2021 3:39 PM in response to silver_mica

What I ended up doing was clicking some button somewhere that said something like 'look for duplicates' then I clicked another button that said something along the lines of 'merge'. It was rather scary considering I have 15+ years of contacts - but I did it - and seemingly with no incident. So, I guess it's all good now.

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Answer 9

smlphoto

Level 1

12 points

Jan 26, 2022 5:33 PM in response to silver_mica

Same thing happen to me. Duplicate of every contact (4,000+) and every group (70+). Apple support had me merge the duplicate contacts, but I had to delete the duplicate groups one by one. Annoying. Now I want to upgrade my work computer to Monterey, and am concerned it will happen again.

I hate upgrading!

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Answer 10

SeanNWT

Level 1

14 points

Feb 11, 2022 11:09 AM in response to smlphoto

Same thing here. Duplicate merge works, despite being scary as heck. And deleting duplicate groups is painful. The scariest part is that it's happening because something is wrong with the way Apple is handling my data. Where else is it duplicating it to? What happens when it just decides to delete it instead of duplicating it?

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Answer 11

scy321

Level 1

12 points

Feb 20, 2022 11:12 PM in response to silver_mica

yes, you did the right thing- in Contacts, select all, card> look for duplicates> merge. it takes about 30 seconds and your problem should get solved. you might have taken longer time since quadruplicate.

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Answer 12

silver_mica Author

Level 2

240 points

Mar 11, 2022 9:04 AM in response to lab89

Back in Dec. of 2021, when I created this post, I called Apple support about this problem - the kid on the other end seemed highly annoyed that I had this problem and that I did not know what to do. I'm sure he didn't know what to do either. I have since resolved this problem by letting the software automatically find duplicates and delete duplicates. But, that was a scary moment for me since I have at least 15 years of Google contacts.

Although it is super convenient to let companies place all your information in the cloud - all it takes is one oops (on their part) and you've lost years (decades?) of data with no recourse.