My MAC address book no longer works
I am on a MacBook Pro, using Venture 13.4.1.
It started with my being unable to add contacts to my address book groups (I have about 20-30 groups and about 5,000 contacts).
Then it became hard to enter new contacts. then when I tried to open a contact, the ball started spinning.
I have worked for months with an Apple tech online. He could not find a solution. He contacted engineering, documented everything, recorded everything that was happening, and no reply from them.
I just contacted the top Mac expert in our area. He said there is no solution.
Someone suggested I switch to outlook, but outlook is phasing out email groups.
I cannot work without access to contacts, groups, etc. Can someone please advise or tell me a way to work around this. I thought of saving contacts, deleting address book, and then opening a new address book and starting by importing contacts and then rebuilding groups. But I was told this would not work.
What can I do? Please help if you can.
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 13.4