Hi,
What is the different between Merge and Don't Merge during iCloud setup? I had to sign out of iCloud on my Mac and then sign back in. When I signed out, I chose to keep my contacts and other data on my Mac. When I signed back into iCloud, I clicked "Merge" Contacts, Calendars, etc. This resulted in duplicate contacts across all of my devices, MacBook, iPhone, etc.
What should I have done instead?
Thank you!
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 13.1
Hey there Garrett_1,
Thanks for reaching out to the Apple Support Communities.
To get started, since you chose to keep your data stored on your MacBook when signing out of iCloud, you would not have needed to merge the data when signing back into your account.
For help with removing duplicate data that was resynced to your devices, check out the following resources below that can help:
Let us know if that's able to help.
Have a great day!
Hey there Garrett_1,
Thanks for reaching out to the Apple Support Communities.
To get started, since you chose to keep your data stored on your MacBook when signing out of iCloud, you would not have needed to merge the data when signing back into your account.
For help with removing duplicate data that was resynced to your devices, check out the following resources below that can help:
Let us know if that's able to help.
Have a great day!
Hi Chris_V89,
Thank you so much for your help! I was thinking merging would recognize what data is on my iPhone, Mac, and already on iCloud and detect if there are duplicates before uploading them to iCloud. That evidently didn't happen with my contacts. In case I need it in the future, do you know when I should use Merge?
Thank you!
Hey there Garrett_1,
Great question! You may choose to merge data if the data stored on your device is different from the data already in iCloud.
Have a good one!
Merge vs. Don't Merge During iCloud Setup
