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address browser in Yosemite Mail - it's GONE?

Arrgghh - WHY does Apple do stuff like this?

I have long been a user of Apple Mail, and I ALWAYS have the Address Browser window open down the left side of the app. From the Window/Address Browser menu item. I could flick from one group of contacts to another, I could see which email address was being used - and select which one I wanted to use - and I could select multiple contacts.

But in the new Yosemite Mail - IT'S GONE!!!???

I have searched high and low, and I cannot find any way to display a list of contacts' email addresses in the Mail app.

Having the Contacts app open at the same time just doesn't cut it - it doesn't display just a lit of email addresses, for example, like the Address Browser did.

This is one change that I am now really regretting from the upgrade to Yosemite.

My Mail app has been CRIPPLED! How the **** can you have a mail app that doesn't have direct access to your list of email addresses from directly within the app?

What am I missing here? Where has the Address Browser gone, and how do I get it back?

And WHY, for f*ck's sake, does Apple keep on DOING stuff like this - like getting rid of the sidebar in iTunes, for example? Why remove something that works? Is it just change for the sake of change?

BUT I NEED MY ADDRESS BROWSER BACK IN MAIL.... aarrgggghhhhh!!!!!!!

iMac (27-inch, Late 2013), OS X Yosemite (10.10)

Posted on Oct 17, 2014 1:14 AM

40 replies

timmy2g

Level 1

5 points

Nov 30, 2014 7:58 AM in response to Original_NightStalker

I'm having same problem, horrible. Today I opened contacts and they were gone, could not get them back. Had to reload from previous contacts. I'm ready to go back to maverick!

Nov 30, 2014 9:31 AM in response to Original_NightStalker

I have moved to Thunderbird, it uses the Apple Contacts list. Unfortunately it does not allow one to pick and choose recipients (clicking on the box next to the name) from a group either. But Thunderbird does have a better relationship to Contacts, because there is a direct link (still called Address Book in Thunderbird) that Mail is missing. Opening the Address Book in Thunderbird allows you to drag and drop single, multiple or the whole group of recipients to the email.

The view/presentation of Thunderbird is not as good as Mail, it looks crowded. If Mail regains the functionality of choosing recipients I will probably move back.

herbio

Level 1

9 points

Jan 1, 2015 11:26 AM in response to Original_NightStalker

This is such a stupid omission by Apple I can't believe it. I see that some of the beta testers pointed it out. As a former software and system developer I am appalled. I have been losing confidence in Apple the last couple of years. This is just another example of their going downhill.

Mar 24, 2015 9:13 AM in response to herbio

Maybe I've been missing something here, but, if you know the name of the group of recipients you wish to send a message to, just start typing it and let Mail auto-complete it for you. You can do this in the To, the cc and the bcc fields for group names or individual contacts. Now for those who wish to choose a subset of that group or various other portions of the entire Address Book, that's where the issue comes into play.

Mar 26, 2015 6:45 AM in response to Evanspat77

I agree The address Browser was an excellent way to forward emails to those who you choose instead of a group.. It would not be very nice to send a PG email to a young grandchild just because they are in your family group now would it?

Mar 26, 2015 11:18 AM in response to Eric Root

Eric, thanks for your post. You are the highest level to reply here, and your suggestion to send feedback is valid. But the absence of a Level 10 suggests to me there is no way to restore what is missing.

I, too, am distressed with the change.

I wonder if this is Apple's way to introduce us to using Dictation and Speech to enter addresses as wall as typing the name. If so, there are plenty of Apple users with speech impairments, and dictation just will not work in Mail where dictation and speech can be used wherever there is a text entry block.

Add my voice - I don't want anything new here in mail, I only want what we had in 10.6.8 and Mavericks!!!

kwkoonce

Level 1

4 points

Apr 1, 2015 5:58 AM in response to Original_NightStalker

Sending mail to multiple recipients has become such a slow, laborious process now. I thought Apple was about simplicity and intuition. What's intuitive about having to hit a a + sign and having to add one recipient at a time. It use to be so easy: check, check, check the address panel recipients and send. BRING BACK THE ADDRESS PANEL! Wishing I hadn't upgraded to Yosemite. Looking for another mail program. Any recommendations out there?

Apr 1, 2015 8:21 AM in response to kwkoonce

kwkoonce, Hi!

May I suggest you contact Apple with your feedback? You may do so here;

Mail - http://www.apple.com/feedback/mail.html

Mac OS X http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

And the home "feedback" page: http://www.apple.com/feedback/

Not that Apple will do anything about this in response to you, and not that you will feel a little bit less angered because you are trying to do something about it. Do it to help everyone else - the more complaints Apple gets, the better the chances of them doing something about it. Maybe.

Please note this response from me is nice and calm, which belies the anger I have for making my Apple iMac and Apple MacBook experience HARDER!

Apple, when can we expect a Yosemite update to fix Mail addressing and Safari history clearing (without clearing website data)?

kwkoonce

Level 1

4 points

Apr 1, 2015 9:57 AM in response to Webhead1990

Already sent comments to Apple/Feedback. Hoping they get the message.

wrw627

Level 1

5 points

May 18, 2015 9:54 AM in response to Original_NightStalker

Let's say I created an email in Yosemite's Mail and wanted to send it to perhaps nine people in my Contacts app that weren't necessarily part of a "group" I had created.......and perhaps I wasn't sure of which people in the 200 or so names in my Contacts I wanted to send the message to: can you imagine the amount of scrolling and number of clicks it would take before one could click the "send" button? Compare that to the simple efficiency of the pre-Yosemite Mail application where there was a little "people" icon you could hit and holding the Option/Command keys, make multiple selections for address panels. Incidentally, I have the same ***** about iOS 8.3 on my iPad....there is no way to group-select there AT ALL! It never ceases to amaze me that the wizards at Apple think they know what is best for their immense number of users; makes one wonder if they ever do a focus group to see if people want a feature.......or if they think they will miss something they decide in their infinite wisdom to remove. Like ports. Or Superdrives.

address browser in Yosemite Mail - it's GONE?