No matter how hard I try, I cannot delete any contacts from the Address Book in iOS Lion. I've tried rebuilding permissions, updating the Library permissions to ensure read and write etc etc. but no avail. The delete command is greyed out within the Address Book program.
IMac
May you delete them but when sync it appear again..Anyway i can just choosing the contact and clicking delete,sorry about that.
So as easy as that sounds, I tried to do the same thing, highlighting a contact and clicked delete, But didn't work. My screen flashes and the contact stays. Tried cmd-delete, Same. Tried dragging contacts to the trash. Nothing. Doesn't drop in the trash or anything. I'm pretty stumped. Its even grayed out in the menu bar. Any further suggestions?
I guess u just have to try harder 🙂
Have u tried temporarily removing anything that looks like
com.apple.AddressBook...plist (use spotlight to find)
to a temporary location?
Anyway, it's working on all my machines here...mobileme will see the delete and update all the machines on that account.
On the left side of the address book, do you have the "last import" group selected. If so, you cannot delete addresses from this group. It is just a reference to the last imported addresses. The address cards can only be delete if you are viewing them through a group other than the "Smart Groups". For example, go to a group in the "On My Mac" section, then you should be able to delete individual address cards.
Tried everything. checked your suggestions, created new groups, created new cards in the new groups etc, etc- Nothing works. Still have the greyed out delete command in the pull down menu. It took me some time to get the preview app working due to a permissions issue, with the only solution coming from this forum, not Apple. I'm sure my address book issue is somehow permissions related.
As a last attempt I thought I'd just resynchronise the contacts with my phone and loose the few minor changes i'd made on the imac since last synchronisation. As a final nail in the coffin of my extreme dissatisfaction with Lion, I've just discovered that iSync has been removed in this update. And appears from an initial internet search that I no longer have any means to synchronise my Nokia. Of course the offical Apple solution will be to buy an iPhone...
So far I've spent +10 hours, attempting to get my imac back to a level of functionality before this supposed "upgrade" and I still have several major issues, and these issues are not with 3rd party software (which I'd expect to a degree) but applications that were packaged as part of Lion. Just not acceptable.
I don't have much hair left to tear out, but I'll keep trying...
o.k. After a few more hours have managed (I think) to fix my initial address book problem. As suspected it seems to have been a permissions related. followed the guideline in the help search;
- Open Finder
- choose Go to folder... (in go menu)
- type ~/Library
- choose File >Get info
- I had to ensure that I was listed as the owner and had "Read&write" access, and also had to apply to all enclosed items...
After this it now allows me edit & delete as normal. It's odd, as I am certain I followed this procedure many times already without success. Just seems that today it works... I guess I'll just have to chalk this one up to experience, although am still not satisfied with Lion- no means anymore to synchronic my 'non-iphone' phone as the isync front end has disappeared! 2 steps forward 1 step back...
I finally got it to work! Finally! So basically...
• I had to quit Address Book,
•Then go into:
~/Library/Application Support/
And I had to Trash the whole AddressBook folder.
I made sure to EXPORT my contacts as a Address Book Archive to BACK UP my contacts, just in case.
After I trashed that addressbook folder, I re-oppened Address Book, and it was empty. Seconds later my contacts Pre-Populated themselves back into the application and I was able to delete unwanted contacts!!
Success!!!
Thank you!!!
I have no idea why this works but it does. I want to love Lion, but before I've even had a chance to learn and enjoy the new features, it's causing me headaches left and right.
This forum is really useless. I have recently bought my first apple and contrary to what I thought it's so **** complicated that even for the stupidest thing I have to ask a question to the internet and obviously one of the first places where google redirects me is this forum, because apparently I'm not the only one who finds complicated even the stupidest thing like deleting a contact. And to add even more frustration, there is always more than one person here who has apparently solved the problem in different ways, and neither of the ways end up working for me! So disappointed by apple. So disappointed.
p.s. did you guys really solve the issue?? because I followed step by step all your instructions above and all it did was to make me waste more time and have still the same problem.
Open your address book; go to the PREFERENCES menu across the top and select ACCOUNTS. Look Under the Accounts listed there on the left side of that page and make sure you have highlighted the right account--which is probably "On My Mac." Good luck!
Cannot delete contacts from address book
