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henkony Author

Level 1

5 points

All contacts gone after Yosemite upgrade!

PROBLEM

I upgraded my MacBook Pro 15 (early 2011) from Mavericks to Yosemite and all my contacts disappeared.

I have about 11 000 contacts stored locally on my mac (not using icloud for this, of obvious reasons).

(Note: In system prefs under iCloud I have contacts un-checked, not wanting to sync with any other devices.)

The Contacts Application appears completely empty, however the system files seems to be there, found under:

Username/Library/Application Support/ AddressBook

RESTORING - (Temporary emergency fix.)

From this location: Username/Library/Application Support/ AddressBook I opened Time Machine and restored one recent

AddressBook folder that was backed up prior to my upgrade.

I selected "keep booth" and now had two folders: the default "AddressBook" and "AddressBook (Original)"

I closed down the Contacts Application and then I copied all the files from the restored "AddressBook (Original)" folder

over to the default "AddressBook" folder, choosing to replace all similar files.

When starting the Contacts Application ALL CONTACTS AND GROUPS ARE BACK exactly the way I want them!

BUT

When closing the Contacts application and starting it again THEY ARE ALL GONE AGAIN!

I repeated the procedure by copying the orginal files from the restored "AddressBook (Original)" folder

over to the default "AddressBook" folder, choosing to replace all similar files.

Restarted the Contacts Application with the same result: All contacts are back.

Closing the Contacts application and restarting it again: All contacts are gone.

(Obviously, for now, I can keep the Contacts Application running all the time, and try to avoid restarts but...)

EXPORTING AND IMPORTING - (Not working properly.)

I repeated the copy procedure again, got all the contacts back and selected EXPORT all contacts to a "Contacts Archive (.abbu)"

Closed the Contacts application and restarting it again: All contacts are gone.

I selected IMPORT and picked the created "Contacts Archive (.abbu)".

After some wait a random 1700 contacts out of 11 000 contacts are imported. I repeated this 3 times. Same result.

(It seems like the export is failing to include most of the contacts and the answer may be connected to the observation below)

I also exported one small group into a vCard 2,1 and 3.0 file, but when trying to importing this NOTHING happens. Nothing is imported. No message. Nada.

THE METADATA FOLDER MYSTERY:

The content of my "AddressBook (Original)" folder size is 131MB for 11 471 objects.

After copying all the content to the default "AddressBook" folder, and opening the Contacts Application (all contacts there!)

I checked the content of the "AddressBook" folder size which looks exactly the same comparing the first subfile/folder content but

now says it contains only 82MB for only 27 objects.

Turns out there is a folder called Metadata within the "AddressBook (Original)" folder.

The content of the Metadata folder seems to be all my contacts and when starting the Contacts Application they are obviously read

by the software so they appear as expected but after a 10 secs or so all the 11 471 files in that Metadata folder disappears in front of my eyes!

When opening the folder all files are gone!

I can still see all my contacts in the Application, but when restarting it, they're all gone also in the Application.

So to narrow it down it now seems to be enough to copy the original Metadata folder over to the default "AddressBook" folder

EVERY TIME before I start the Contacts Application. The Metadata folder will always be emptied by the system about 10 secs after Contacts is started.

PLEASE FIX APPLE:

1. The content of the Metadata folder is not transferred properly when migrating to Yosemite. All contacts were gone from the first boot of the system.

2. When manually putting the original Metafolder into the default "AddressBook" folder the contacts are back but are then mysteriously and automatically

erased within about 10 secs causing the next startup of the Contacts Application to again contain NOTHING.

(To be sure that it has nothing to do with an iCloud glitch I turned Wifi off so no unwanted sync could be made. Still all contacts gone.)

3. The Export and Import features does not work as intended.

Anyone experienced the same or have a solid fix for this problem?

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.1)

Posted on Nov 20, 2014 5:24 AM

46 replies

8383

Level 1

8 points

Jan 14, 2015 4:25 PM in response to 8383

Well it gets more and more interesting. Turned iCloud Contacts OFF on my iPhone and kept all contacts on the phone.

Now back to my Mac...

Exported all contacts for a backup.

Exported all contacts as a pdf (140 pages) then junked it because the file is useless with half the contact information not even on the page.

So turned iCloud Contacts Off and lo and behold they dissapear from my Mac again.

Even though a few seconds ago they all showed as On My Mac.

Turn iCloud Contacts on again and they reap[ear but now THERE IS NO On My Mac even shown.

i.e. they can onkly be on iCloud.

So, BIG BROTHER Apple have decided we cannot have contacts on our Mac's any more, they have to be in Apple's iCloud instead where they are subject to all Apple's User Agreements and in other words they are now Apple's Contacts not yours any more.

There is no way to move them from iCloud to your Mac and more. I await to be proven wrong.

Contacts now joins the other Apple Apps that have become useless under their new "Hot As Yosemite" operating system.

A is for .... not Apple anymore A is for Arrogance.

Incidentally, try to import that backup and you can only do it by overwriting and deleting what is already there.

Sooooooooo useful Apple. Shambles....

Pablorbg

Level 1

0 points

Jan 20, 2015 9:45 PM in response to henkony

When I upgraded I also lost everything I went to the address book folder and in there I erased the v22 files then rebooted. Afterwards I went back into the same folder and opened a zip file called migration. I then double clicked the file and it opened address book and prompted me that it would replace everything I accepted and I got all my contacts back. Maybe you guys can try that.

8383

Level 1

8 points

Mar 18, 2015 1:57 AM in response to henkony

Apple in it's infinite wisdom has decided we don't need groups and simply deleted them all. REALLY HELPFUL Apple.

Newkkl

Level 1

21 points

Mar 19, 2015 10:03 AM in response to henkony

I have this problem too, and deleting all the -v22 files files solved it immediately. Thank you, thank you! Now I'm off to see if there is a similar solution for why none of my stored ,emails show up in Yosemite's version of Mail.

Eric Root

Level 10

684,045 points

Mar 19, 2015 10:19 AM in response to 8383

Apple doesn’t routinely monitor the discussions. These are mostly user to user discussions.

Send Apple feedback. They won't answer, but at least will know there is a problem. If enough people send feedback, it may get the problem solved sooner.

Feedback

Or you can use your Apple ID to register with this site and go the Apple BugReporter. Supposedly you will get an answer if you submit feedback.

Feedback via Apple Developer

Newkkl

Level 1

21 points

Mar 19, 2015 10:34 AM in response to Eric Root

Yes, I always report bugs and feedback to Apple when I run into these issues. I expect they're a little sick of hearing from me after all these years!

Patru

Level 1

0 points

Apr 26, 2015 10:25 AM in response to Barney-15E

In the end I could restore my contacts by just replacing all the files from the TimeMachine Backup, but it was somewhat frightening that AddressBook did not manage to find *any* contact in the backup. For me the problem would *not* be solved if I just removed the .v22 files, but replacing all the files in the Application Support/AddressBook solved the problem and brought back all the contacts. Still thanks for sharing this tip, maybe you could elaborate on the sequence of deleting/starting the app which would solve the problem reliably.

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,782 points

Apr 26, 2015 7:53 PM in response to Patru

The contact cards are stored in the metadata folder.

The database indexes those cards into what you see in the application.

Normally, it is only the index that is damaged or missing. Deleting it cause the cards in the metadata folder to be indexed.

If there aren't any cards in the metadata, then there is nothing to index and deleting the database won't help.

Also, in the Sources folder, there are the same file structure for any online address accounts like iCloud. The files directly in the AddressBook folder are the "On My Mac" address account.

8383

Level 1

8 points

Jun 6, 2015 1:01 AM in response to henkony

Why should we have to do this ? My contacts and groups were just fine until this disaster they call Yosemite came along. What they havn't stuffed in the upgrade they are stuffing in "new enhancements". Unbelievable crap everywhere...

Aug 10, 2015 2:50 PM in response to Barney-15E

I too have just discovered that Contacts is now empty since the upgrade to Yosemite. I have tried your suggestion of deleting all the v22 files but they just get reinstated. I send them to Trash but then cannot delete them from Trash because I get the message that the application is still in use even though I do not have contacts open. So I then end up with the v22 files in Trash and in the Address Book library. I have tried running disk repair but that doesn´t help. Grateful for your advice.

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,782 points

Aug 10, 2015 5:03 PM in response to octavia2004

octavia2004 wrote:

I too have just discovered that Contacts is now empty since the upgrade to Yosemite. I have tried your suggestion of deleting all the v22 files but they just get reinstated.

They are supposed to get recreated. They are necessary for the app to function. As I explained before, those files are the index of the actual vCards in the Metadata folder. The app uses the index to display the info quickly instead of having to scan each individual card to display the list of contacts.

You must delete them while the app is closed. You should then be able to empty the trash. When you re-open Contacts, it will scan the vCards and re-create the index.

Aug 11, 2015 2:07 AM in response to Barney-15E

Thanks for your reply. I did close the Contacts app (even went to the forced close option to make sure it was closed) before deleting the v22 files but same problem. Cannot remove them from Trash because says they are still in use. Here are screen shots in reverse order of the steps I took deleting the v22 files (after closing the app), getting the still in use message and then the empty contacts again. Do I have to close all open apps and windows do you think, including "mail"?

Aug 11, 2015 2:14 AM in response to Barney-15E

Further my last message thought should send you an full version of the screenshot of the Address Book files. Here it is.

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,782 points

Aug 11, 2015 5:04 AM in response to octavia2004

Log out, then log back in. That should release those files and allow them to be deleted.

Aug 11, 2015 7:12 AM in response to Barney-15E

Nope, that didn't work. They all came back again. By log out and in do you mean turn off the iMac and reboot as I don't use a log in for my account as am a sole user.

If you look at the last screen shot I sent it was the first 6 items under Address Book I am trying to delete. Is that right or should I be trying to delete more?

All contacts gone after Yosemite upgrade!