Contacts won't restore from OS 10.4 backup

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Level 1

8 points

Contacts won't restore from OS 10.4 backup

My iBook is pre-Intel running OS 10.4. My new Mac Pro has OS 10.8.

There's no support for iCloud in 10.4. To transfer my contacts, I backed up Address Book in 10.4 from the File menu, resulting in a backup file with the extension ".abbu." When I try to import that file into Contacts in OS 10.8, nothing happens other than erasing my personal V-card. I've repeated the process from start to finish several times, always with the same results.

Is there a fix for this, or a workaround? Thanks much!

Mac Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3)

Posted on May 22, 2013 10:23 AM

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Answer 1

MichaelK Author

Level 1

8 points

May 22, 2013 10:25 AM in response to MichaelK

P.S. - migration wizard didn't import any contacts.

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Answer 2

Eric Root

Level 10

684,039 points

May 22, 2013 1:08 PM in response to MichaelK

You may have a file type problem. Contacts will import: VCF, LDAP Interchange Format (LDIF) or text format (tab-delimited or comma-separated value (CSV)).

Try Address Book/Preferences to see if there is an option to export in one of those formats.

You also might want to post on the 10.4 Tiger community to see if someone can tell you how to export in one of those formats.

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Answer 3

MichaelK Author

Level 1

8 points

May 22, 2013 4:53 PM in response to Eric Root

Hi Eric - thanks for the response. Yes, I saw that here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/PH4648

The problem is here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/PH4653

Both 10.4 and 10.8 export in the .abbu format. The File > Import command is supposed to be able to restore the archive. I have hundreds of contacts and I'm concerned that the fields will get messed up in the other formats.

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Answer 4

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,650 points

May 22, 2013 5:31 PM in response to MichaelK

I had read somewhere that Mountain Lion cannot import from a 10.4 address book, but I cannot confirm that.

The structure is completely different.

If you still have a machine running 10.4, export the contacts as vCards. Transfer that to your 10.8 and double-click. They should then import into Contacts.

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Answer 5

MichaelK Author

Level 1

8 points

May 23, 2013 9:22 AM in response to Barney-15E

Hoo boy... what a colossal waste of time. But if that's the case so be it. Here we go. Thanks, Barney.

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Answer 6

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,650 points

May 23, 2013 9:34 AM in response to MichaelK

It should export as a single vCard file with all selected contacts, so it shouldn't be that difficult.

The biggest problem is if you do not have the old Mac running anymore.

I can't remember the format of the Tiger AddressBook folder, but try right-clicking on the .abbu and select Show Package Contents. There should be an addressbook.data file (or something like that). See if there is also a folder. If there is, look inside and see if there are vCard files in there. You may be able to double-click on those and have them import.

FYI, the .abbu "file" is nothing more than a direct copy of AddressBook folder that is in your user/Library/Application Support/ folder. When you "restore" from the abbu, all it does is replace the contents of your current AddressBook folder with what is in the .abbu. That is why the only option is to replace everything. The storage method of the contacts has change significantly, and Mountain Lion does not convert the contents. I believe Lion would do the conversion, but I'm not certain on that, either.

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Answer 7

MichaelK Author

Level 1

8 points

May 24, 2013 3:30 PM in response to Barney-15E

Thanks Barney --

>>It should export as a single vCard file with all selected contacts, so it shouldn't be that difficult.

Cool - I'd been putting it off, but I'll give it a try.

>>The biggest problem is if you do not have the old Mac running anymore.

Not a problem

>>I can't remember the format of the Tiger AddressBook folder, but try right-clicking on the .abbu and select Show Package Contents. There should be an addressbook.data file (or something like that). See if there is also a folder. If there is, look inside and see if there are vCard files in there. You may be able to double-click on those and have them import.

Good suggestion, so I just tried it. One folder called "Images" with nothing useful, one .plist file and 2 data files that won't import and are unreadable if opened as text.

>> I believe Lion would do the conversion, but I'm not certain on that, either.

I had Lion up until a week ago and it couldn't import. I was hoping Mountain Lion would have a fix built in. I'll report back after trying the V-card export.

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Answer 8

MichaelK Author

Level 1

8 points

May 24, 2013 3:43 PM in response to Barney-15E

Bingo! 1,784 contacts restored by the V-card. Thank you!!

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