Duplicate contacts keep multiplying after "merge"

I have multiple duplicate contacts. When I ran a card > look for duplicates > merge duplicates on my Mac, the duplicates merged for a brief period, but then each of those cards duplicated again. So I started with 22 duplicates and after the merge, I had 44, then 88 and so on. I'm afraid to keep trying as the duplication is exponential.

Posted on Sep 16, 2023 6:00 PM

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Merging duplicate contacts This is what it says in the Mac help: MacBook Pro (13-inch, M1, 2020)Open Contacts for me MacOS 12.6 In the Contacts app on your Mac, do any of the following: Look for duplicate cards and merge them: Choose Card > Look for Duplicates, then click Merge. Merge duplicate cards: In the list of contacts, select the duplicate cards you want to merge, then choose Card > Merge Selected Cards. This does not work - there is no ability to select just the contacts that you wish to merge as it's all or nothing. Linking does not work - I still end up with two contacts. Anyway I want select the prime contact and merge the other one with it - this used to be possible. Help please. Si
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PROBLEM WITH DUPLICATES. My laptop Contacts have hundreds of duplicates. When I go to Card/Look for Duplicates it says No Duplicates Found. I can link them one at a time but each one takes 30 seconds or so, so it's impractical. Any ideas? BTW, I swear it used to say "merge selected cards" and now there is no option for that, only "link selected cards". Could that be related?
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This solution doesn't work on MacBook Air Contacts Program (OSX Monterey). This solution doesn't work on MacBook Air Contacts Program (OSX Monterey). If you see duplicate contacts after setting up iCloud Contacts - Apple Support I've run the instructions - particularly for the Mac - steps On your Mac On your Mac 2. Open Contacts. 3. From the Card menu, select Card > Look for Duplicates. 4. When asked, click Merge. 5. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until no duplicates are found. I've repeated those steps more than a dozen times and every time I get a seeming random number of cards. After running the steps, I literally watch as duplicate cards come right back and repopulate in contacts on my Mac. Also, what's the point of steps 1 and 6. So, you've made copies? What's the point? I have confirmed the duplicates are NOT in iCloud. And, Contacts is ONLY linked to my Apple iCould account - not other card accounts (e.g. Google). There is no need to tell me to make sure I have updated software, latest version of MacOS X, etc. and similar cut and paste - here's a whole lot of worthless things. Those instructions are insulting and nothing more than a user/forum "points" grab. Also, Apple's own instructions above are poorly written (in addition to not working). The implication of "repeat" step 2 is to Open contacts. So, shouldn't there be a step 4.5 to quit/close contacts before returning to step 2 to Open contacts and run step 3? And, by implication, are you supposed to NOT repeat step 4 each time you're told in step 5 to "repeat steps 2 and 3."
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2 replies

tygb

Level 9

65,010 points

Sep 17, 2023 8:39 AM in response to MitchJess

Mac address book is corrupted , erase the hard drive and reinstall Mac OS Erase and reinstall macOS - Apple Support

Use the same Apple ID and credentials to set up Mac Set up your Mac - Apple Support , your iCloud data including contacts won't ne lost , they will sync once again .

MitchJess Author

Level 1

17 points

Sep 17, 2023 10:05 PM in response to tygb

Thank you. I thought your advice this couldn't be correct, so I contacted Apple support. After some troubleshooting, they recommended that I do exactly what you recommend--reinstalling MacOS. I did so, but unfortunately the problem has not resolved. Apparently Apple is already aware of this problem and it will be fixed with the next update. In the meantime Apple has escalated my issue to their "engineers." So we'll see what happens.

But thanks for your advice!

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Duplicate contacts keep multiplying after "merge"