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Suddenly, I have duplicate contacts on iMac, not iPhone. Not all contacts are duplicated (~80%). I see no commonality, i.e. not limited to companies, etc. Manually remove about 200 dups? Why did this happen?
Thanks
iMac 24″, macOS 13.0
Hello PaulD_,
You are able to merge the cards with the steps under Merge contact cards in Contacts on Mac - Apple Support so that can help avoid the time consuming task of deleting them.
"In the Contacts app on your Mac, do any of the following:
As for the causes, that we can't say. However, let us know if duplicates persist after merging.
Thanks!
Hello PaulD_,
You are able to merge the cards with the steps under Merge contact cards in Contacts on Mac - Apple Support so that can help avoid the time consuming task of deleting them.
"In the Contacts app on your Mac, do any of the following:
As for the causes, that we can't say. However, let us know if duplicates persist after merging.
Thanks!
Thanks for clarifying PaulD_,
If you use both iCloud and Gmail to sync contacts, it is quite possible the duplication is occurring due to the same contact being synced from both locations. You can turn off just the contact sync feature of one to see if that resolves the duplication. The following Apple Support resources address duplicate contacts on your Mac and may provide some assistance moving forward:
If you see duplicate contacts after setting up iCloud Contacts - Apple Support
Merge contact cards in Contacts on Mac - Apple Support
Resolve duplicates while importing contacts into Contacts on Mac - Apple Support
Best!
Hi PaulD_,
To clarify, did you recently make any changes to your contacts or Mac? Such as an update, new imports, adding a new email account?
Contacts are typically synced through an email address such as iCloud or a 3rd party account like Gmail or Outlook. If a new account was added that can account for the duplicated contacts. You can see what contacts are synced to your Mac under System Settings > Internet Accounts. Tap on the relevant account and then see if contacts is toggled on.
If it is, toggle it off. If your duplicated contacts disappear, they came from that account.
Cheers!
Thanks DerekM87,
First,I did not change emails, do imports. I think there was a Mac update. I notice it when a contact goes missing and I look in Contacts. This happens periodically and it seems to be related to system updates? By the time I see it I have missing Contacts in one or the other listing.
Can I fix this be syncing the two lists and deleting one? Turn off Google, or iCloud email service?
I think that was my last remedy.
Further study: I have 240 names in iCloud account and 78 in Google. Some Google are duped in iCloud, others are missing in iCloud. How do I get all of them in iCloud? Then I can remove dupes, I think?
Secondly, if I turn off Contacts in Google account I shouldn't have this problem again, right? But this happens about once a year... magically! Any explanation would be appreciated.
Duplicate contacts
