My customized Contacts template has been corrupted. Where is the template file located in OS X Yosemite? I’d like to try and restore it from a back-up.
17" MacBook Pro, mid-2010, 8Gb RAM-OTHER, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5), 1TB Samsung 850 EVO SSD
Use the Finder>Go>Go to Folder copy and paste:
~/Library/Application Support/AddressBook
Thank you, Mr. Douglas. I have found the folder. Which file is the template?
wendyfromreidsville wrote:
Thank you, Mr. Douglas. I have found the folder. Which file is the template?
Did you try Restoring the entire folder prior to the corruption?
It’s a long story, but as I said, my current user’s Contacts database is corrupted. It’s a nightmare. I’ve been struggling with this severely handicapped app since April when I upgraded from Mavericks. I do not sync that DB with iCloud or any other cloud for security reasons. Everything was fine until I ugraded to Yosemite. I have finally succeeded — after creating a new user, importing the DB to its Contacts app, exporting the DB from the new user, destroying that user because the Contacts app had the same problems as the original user’s, and creating yet another new user — in establishing a usable Contacts.app, i.e. one that doesn’t behave as if it is palsied and so spastic that it takes 10 seconds to enter or edit anything or tab to a new field or scroll down an editable contact page or display whatever you’ve typed backwards because it can’t keep up. I don’t think that restoring the folder from a Time Machine or other backup — both of which are available — made subsequent to upgrading to Yosemite is going to solve anything; it will probably send me back to where I was two weeks ago. Restoring from a Mavericks backup would mean losing everything I’ve so painfully added to it since the beginning of April. Right now I’d just like to see if I can get my heavily customized template back.
I really appreciate your help.
I don't see anything that refers to the "template file" exactly. However, since changes to the Contacts template is via Preferences it might be that your Contacts (formerly Address Book) preferences are corrupt. There are two preferences files:
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.AddressBook.plist
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.AddressBook.abd.plist
So before moving those preference files, consider manually backing up your Contacts. Quit Contacts. Drag the preference files to your Desktop. Re-launch Contacts which will automatically create new preference files. If all is fine, then delete the old preference files.
HTH
I exported up my Contacts DB to an .abbu archive (I have done this many times in the last three months) and removed the (2) plist files you listed. There was no discernible improvement in the speed of entering data or editing contacts and the template remained the same.
After quitting Contacts, I noticed that the AddressBook.plist file had been regenerated but the AddressBook.abd.plist had not. There are several other AddressBook plists dating back to 2012 in that Preferences folder:
Do you know of any reason why I should not remove these as well?
Thank you for your help.
You can remove any of those files without causing problems. If any are needed, they will be replaced with a fresh default file. However, the only one that will get replaced is the com.apple.AddressBook.plist file.
Have you tried the steps that wizdomwheels with similar issues reported to work in this thread? Note: I know you stated that you don't sync Contacts to iCloud, so just skip the steps that don't pertain to you. Also, although that thread pertains to macOS 10.9, user GooglePerplexed followed those steps with macOS 10.10 with success.
Since you reported that the issue started after upgrading to Yosemite and having similar issues after creating a new user, you might consider validating and checking for duplicate fonts using Font Book.
One other thought is verifying your hard disk using Disk Utility (in Utilities folder) and while there, run Repair Disk Permissions.
Thanks. I removed them. Nothing notable has happened as a result.
My question remains: where is the Contacts/AddressBook template file located? What is its name?
Yes, I have been through everything in wizdomwheels’ post several times without success.
Re Font Book, I have been using FontExplorer X Pro since 2010 and it’s up to date. I don’t know whether or not I can run Font Book without uninstalling FontExporer. EtreCheck didn’t flag anything having to do with fonts.
I don't know where that specific file is. The template file itself is probably part of the Contact application package itself. I'm not sure where the user changes are stored. I would have though it would have been the com.apple.AddressBook.plist file that stored those changes.
You can try moving the com.apple.AddressBooks folder (the whole folder) from the user library/Containers folder to the Trash. Open Contacts and see if it fixes your problem. If not, or if other problems arise, you can always quit Contacts and put back that folder.
I ran Disk Utility and repaired permissions. No change.
Even though EtreCheck didn't report any font problems, you might try running the FontExplorer Pro Tool menu options, "Clean...".
Check your Safe Preferences folder (~/Library/Safe Preferences/) for another version of com.apple.AddressBook.plist. See What are Safe Preferences as it that might be helpful...
I've also heard of non-alphanumeric characters in certain fields wreaking havoc...
Where is the Contacts/AddressBook template file located?
