Address book group member w/ multiple emails

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Level 1

35 points

Address book group member w/ multiple emails

I submitted this question a while back and never got a solid answer on it...I'm hoping something has changed in Lion that will fix this issue.

I have groups in Address Book but can't figure out a way to have the group include multiple emails for one person. I have some people that prefer to get emails at home and at work so they can insure that they get it, but address book automatically uses the most recently used email address for that person. I can change which one it goes to in the email, but I can't select more than one for one person without adding that person a second time to the email message. I would prefer to not have to create duplicate contacts with diffferent emails if possible. Any thoughts on a fix for this?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.1)

Posted on Aug 30, 2011 7:21 AM

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Answer 1

Aug 30, 2011 7:24 AM in response to Mallen32

Perhaps the discussion in this thread will be helpful:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2133454

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Answer 2

Aug 30, 2011 7:25 AM in response to Mallen32

you can create multiple contacts (with different email addresses) and put them onto one group with the name of the person, when typing it you get the grup, click enter, and you have all addresses.

The other method is to save multiple email addresses in one contact and email shows you every address when typing the person's name. you have to type the name for every email and select a different email from the dropdown menu each time.

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Answer 3

Mallen32 Author

Level 1

35 points

Aug 30, 2011 9:10 AM in response to John Hammer1

Can someone explain this more clearly?

I tested this. You can, in fact, simply drag multiple group into any other group, thereby "concatenating" the dragged groups into the one. Here's what I have found:

The resulting "all" list will show the other groups with a "group" icon at the top, then the individual contacts within all "nested" groups will be listed below. There will only be one entry for each contact.

One does not edit the Distribution List for this "All" group; each contact within the list- if it is displayed- will only show a single address selected. Instead, one edits the Distribution Lists of thenested groups as appropriate.

Now, while only one contact listing, with one address each, will appear in the "All" group, an email addressed to this group will be populated with all addresses from all "nested" groups.

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Answer 4

Aug 30, 2011 9:43 AM in response to Mallen32

I'm sorry, I don't understand what you mean with that.

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Answer 5

Mallen32 Author

Level 1

35 points

Aug 30, 2011 9:55 AM in response to Mallen32

BTW - This is a quote from the thread recommended by John Hammer1. It's seemingly the solution the problem, but I don't quite understand it.

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Answer 6

Aug 30, 2011 10:05 AM in response to Mallen32

I got that. I didn't get the meaning though neither. But is my second methd so difficult? (if it's 2-3 email addresses?)

save multiple email addresses in one contact
mail.app shows you every address when typing the person's name
you have to type the name and choose the first address from a person from the dropdown menu
you have to type the name and choose the second address from a person from the dropdown menu
you have to type the name and choose the third address from a person from the dropdown menu
...

I do it like this. I understand it's silly if you have 10 email addresses, but imagine the person who gets your email. I wouldn't like getting the same email multiple times, every time in a different inbox.

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Answer 7

Mallen32 Author

Level 1

35 points

Aug 30, 2011 11:17 AM in response to coolest___

True...it's not that difficult, but when you have a group with 50 people in it, and 15-20 have asked you to send emails to both home and work addresses, that means I have to add the group to the "To" field, then go thru and type each of those 15-20 names to select the other email. Not the end of the world by any means, but if I can avoid that I would prefer to.

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Answer 8

Aug 30, 2011 12:04 PM in response to Mallen32

I understand...

So I would say, what's recommended in the link by John Hammer1 is that you can drag groups onto other groups. So if you have a group called "Family" (with all your family members' email addresses) and a group with all your business partners' email addresses, and you decide to make a party and invite them all (😀), you can instead of typing "Family" and "Business" into the "To:"-field, and instead of making a third group containig all the addresses of both groups, instead of that you can drag the "Family"-group onto a third group, and drag the "Business"-group onto the third group as well. Now if the group name of the third group is "3rd group" and you type "3rd group into the "To:"-field in your new email, you get the addresses from the Familygroup and from the Businessgroup. And all that is called "nested groups" because the Familygroup and the Businessgroup are nested, also called "sub-groups".

That's what's meant in the post, John Hammer1 recommended, not sure though, if that can be called "helpful".

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