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iCloud produces dozens of copies of my address book entries

I've been using several Apple products for quite a while now, most of them without any problems. But two or three month ago my Apple address book/contacts started to double again and again and again. I've already deleted the address book on each and every device and inside the cloud in order to rewrite every single entry - which was quite a bit of work, since I have had some hundred entries to reenter.


Unfortunately, the problem still appears. It seems, that with each new addition or change, the address book makes a new copy of the group, in which I have put that entry. Another problem: Quotation marks are being added as well, which change the order of my groups within the address book.


I've already read within a German online community, that there might be a sync problem on Apple's part. Seemingly, Apple does not take any effort to find a solution.


Hopefully, someone here can give me a good advice.


(All my devices - iPhone 6, MacBook Pro 2015, iPad Mini 2 - have the latest software versions.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.3)

Posted on Mar 5, 2016 6:12 AM

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3 replies

Mar 6, 2016 11:42 AM in response to ingrid d.

You are welcome.

Do a backup, using either Time Machine or a cloning program, to ensure files/data can be recovered. Two backups are better than one.


Try setting up another admin user account to see if the same problem continues. If Back-to-My Mac is selected in System Preferences, the Guest account will not work. The intent is to see if it is specific to one account or a system wide problem. This account can be deleted later.


Isolating an issue by using another user account


If the problem is still there, try booting into the Safe Mode using your normal account. Disconnect all peripherals except those needed for the test. Shut down the computer and then power it back up after waiting 10 seconds. Immediately after hearing the startup chime, hold down the shift key and continue to hold it until the gray Apple icon and a progress bar appear. The boot up is significantly slower than normal. This will reset some caches, forces a directory check, and disables all startup and login items, among other things. When you reboot normally, the initial reboot may be slower than normal. If the system operates normally, there may be 3rd party applications which are causing a problem. Try deleting/disabling the third party applications after a restart by using the application un-installer. For each disable/delete, you will need to restart if you don't do them all at once.





Safe Mode - About El Capitan


Safe Mode Startup – El Capitan.

iCloud produces dozens of copies of my address book entries

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