Duplicate contacts from Yahoo

OK, I've been having the same problem, here's what I did.

Please note: I'm using the new Yahoo! mail, so your naviagation may be a bit different:

1. Go into your Yahoo! Mail Contacts and remove all duplicates (again).
2. From the Yahoo! Mail Contacts\Tools, select export and export your contacts to Yahoo! CSV.
3. Make a backup copy of the CSV file, then open the CSV file with an Excel compatible spreadsheet program and verify that all is well (this is also a great time to clean up your junk entries).
4. From Yahoo! Mail Contacts, select all of your contacts and delete them.
5. Re-sync your ipod, which will remove all of the contacts that came from your Yahoo! account.
6. From Yahoo! Mail Contacts\Tools, select import Import... then the Others button. Unselect Other Yahoo! Account, then select "A desktop email program (Outlook, AppleMail, etc...)" and select your CSV file, and let it import, with all of your contacts selected.
7. It will ask if you want to send an email to all of your contacts, click on the "Skip this step and continue" (or words like that) link.
8. Resync your ipod with iTunes and you're all set.

Worked like a champ for me.

OK, we can remove all the contacts from both Yahoo and the iTouch, and sync again to get clean contacts...but then the next time my girlfriend syncs, contacts are duplicated AGAIN, both on Yahoo and the device.

What gives? Anyone have any ideas?

I'm also having this problem, and it seems to stem from a conflict in managing Yahoo's "categories" designations. The iPod sync duplicates the Yahoo contact, but with the Yahoo-designated category replaced by "unfiled." Would certainly like Apple to figure this one out ASAP! Please?

duplicate contacts = frustrating.

I highly suspect it's to do with Yahoo sync, so won't sync with Yahoo anymore until I see this has been resolved.

This is how I *turned Yahoo Sync off* (to prevent it in the short term), simply:
1. Open Address Book
2. Navigate in the top menu to Address Book> Preferences> Accounts> On my Mac (Local)
3. Un-tick the "Synchronize with Yahoo!" tick-box
4. Close the Preferences window

Now for the Duplicate Contact Merging (this is applicable for those of you who have the following setup - I synchronise my macbook with mobileme, and my iphone with mobileme, but am careful to make sure that in my iTunes iPhone preferences I am NOT synchronising my iphone with my macbook).

1. Within the Address Book application > Select All Contacts
2. Select one of the contacts, and then press Apple (or Command) +A keys together (this selects all contacts)
3. Navigate in the top menu to Card>Look for Duplicates
4. Follow the instructions (that are applicable to you) and press Merge
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until all duplicate cards are merged.
6. Perform a synchronisation with MobileMe, and accept the changes.

1. For Yahoo> Log in to your Yahoo mail
2. Navigate to Contacts
3. Under "Popular Tools"> "Enjoy a Clean Contact List"> "Fix Duplicate Entries"
4. The message "Please wait while we check for duplicate entries" (this may take some time)
5. Press "merge all EXACT" button
6. Repeat until all duplicates are merged

I hope that this helps even one of you with the same issue not have to spend a whole Saturday figuring it out.

Many users are reporting they then get duplicate contacts and I'm one of them. I've been using this Mac outlook and encountered same problem. A total headache as I have hundreds even thousand of contacts duplicated.,.you can imagine how frustrating it was. This deal breaker for me. Until I found Scrubly.I really need this for life. This is also been used by my friends and family. I'm very thankful of having this tool. I think you should also try this. Hope it helps =)

Welcome me to the club.

I've been enjoying Yahoo contact sync on my iPod Touch 2G (via iTunes on WinXP) since new. I always sync manually, only when needed and always replace all the contacts on the iPod since I manage all my contacts strictly on-line.

Last week I did a sync and again specified that the contacts on the iPod be replaced. They weren't and when I checked my Yahoo account I had the duplications. Bugger! It was like a one-way sync occurred but the wrong way.

I cleaned up that mess and manually wiped the contacts on my iPod to try and start over. Now it won't sync at all. No error message, no nothing. It looks like it contacts Yahoo but just doesn't download the contacts.

So I just bought myself a new MacBook Air. Guess what - Yahoo contact sync doesn't work with that either - not with the desktop address book client or on my iPod via iTunes. I am sure everything is set up correctly too.

(As an aside I am able to perfectly sync my Yahoo Calendar on both my MBA and over the air on my iPod).

I can't really pinpoint a cause but I'm wondering if it started happening the last time I updated iTunes beyond version 8.

Would love to hear an acknowledgment of this issue by Yahoo and/or Apple and would be ecstatic if a solution could be found!

Thanks all.

An update:

I think this is really all on Yahoo's side.

I was able to sync with a few newly created Yahoo contacts. The old contacts were still ignored.

So I exported all of my contacts, deleted them from Yahoo and then re-imported them. I now can sync with ALL contacts again but there are still lingering issues. It just doesn't work the way it used to!

Since Yahoo is my main database I'll just be exporting to .vcf and importing to MacBook Air when I want to update that. With my iPod I'll continue to make sure it's a complete overwrite with every sync from iTunes (I haven't upgraded to iOS_4 to do wireless syncing yet and probably won't).

Residual problem is that Yahoo categories are not preserved when re-importing back to Yahoo or importing to Mac address book...

i had been syncing yahoo contacts since ipod touch 2nd gen was new, i have always gotten new software as soon as it was available, and got the newest ipod touch when they each came out. and i think it was mid december when my contacts started duplicating. i would have two of everyone, 5 of one specific person, and alot of deleted contacts were suddenly resurrected.

"merge all exact duplicates" in yahoo never worked, and i think this arose with the first iOS 4 update. not the very first version of it, but the first UPDATE from the original iOS 4. i have just turned off sync and i'm managing all my contacts on my ipod touch 4th gen now, unless i have a large email to send, then i'll use my laptop.

will be following this thread if apple or yahoo solves this

zeb the cyclops

I'm having the same problem. I've cleaned up my yahoo contacts twice now, only to discover the multiple entries have returned. Can anyone help?

This same thing happens to me. Sometimes it can take only 20 minutes of idle time before Yahoo creates over 400 duplicate contacts.

Any ideas?

Yea, I'm having the same problem. Must be a yahoo bug. Any ideas????

Count me in!
Iphone 3G to Yahoo sync creates dups on my Yahoo account.
I clean it up with Yahoo dupliate tool, but next time I sync... boom! duplicates again.

What the heck!!

I am having this same issue. It is silly. Time to fix it.

Sorry, I have nothing to contribute. The "delete duplicates" thing works, but the next time you sync, it dupes again.