How do you export/import an Address Book archive from OS 10.6 to OS 10.5?

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Level 1

8 points

How do you export/import an Address Book archive from OS 10.6 to OS 10.5?

I'm using an iMac with Mac OS 10.5.8 as a desktop and a MacBook with 10.6.8 when I travel. I want to transfer my entire Address Book from the MacBook back to my iMac. I have done the reverse multiple times with no problem by simply creating an archive with Address Book (v.4.1.2) and importing it on my MacBook (Address Book v. 5.0.3). But when I do the reverse, the only vcards that show up are the ones I've updated while using my MacBook. All the rest are gone. I know I can recover all the vcards by shift-clicking the entire list and copying them as a file. However, I want to revover all my group lists, which are too many to recreate.

Thanks.

Posted on Mar 19, 2012 11:03 AM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

250,379 points

Mar 19, 2012 1:10 PM in response to Andeolais

Have you tried selecting a Group or maybe a number of groups & choose File>Export Group vCard?

I'm on 10.4.11 at the moment so cant see or test it.

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Answer 2

Andeolais Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 20, 2012 1:17 AM in response to BDAqua

Thanks for the tip, but this doesn't work. It only duplicates the same cards I already have in the "All" category, but doesn't recreate the group.

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Answer 3

BDAqua

Level 10

250,379 points

Mar 20, 2012 10:02 AM in response to Andeolais

Sorry, forgot to test it when I had 10.6 available.

I don't know that they're interchangeable, but it seems the relevant files & folders are...

For Address Book, quit AB...

Files...

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.AddressBook.plist

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.AddressBook.abd.plist

Folders...

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Application Support/AddressBook/

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Caches/com.apple.AddressBook/

So back those up if you try replacing them, and of course Permissions may or may not need adjusting on the swap.

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Answer 4

Andeolais Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 20, 2012 12:12 PM in response to BDAqua

I just tried out your suggestion, but the result was the same - the vcards I had copied and pasted are no longer there; the four vcards I had modified while using my MacBook are again the only ones in my Address Book.

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Answer 5

BDAqua

Level 10

250,379 points

Mar 20, 2012 12:49 PM in response to Andeolais

And AB was not running when you did this? Did you also try rebooting before opening AB again?

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