All cards duplicated. Contacts says no duplicates found.

Question

Level 1

97 points

All cards duplicated. Contacts says no duplicates found.

All cards were tripled on my Macbook Pro. I looked for duplicates and Contacts found more than a thousand. I merged them. Cards are now only doubled. Contacts says no duplicates found.

Background: I currently have trouble syncing Notes between mac, icloud, and iphone: Notes won't sync phone changes with icloud or mac. After turning off syncing then turning it on again (unsuccessful in fixing Notes), I noticed the triple cards in Contacts. Before this, some but not all were doubled. It appears all were recently tripled. Merging reduced this to only two copies of every card.

Cards on iPhone are normal: no apparent duplicates. Cards on iCloud are normal: no apparent duplicates.

All updates are current.

How do I get rid of the duplicates?

Thank you!

macOS Sierra (10.12.5)

Posted on May 22, 2017 1:38 PM

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Answer 1

Ferd II

Level 10

104,871 points

May 23, 2017 10:26 AM in response to James at 118

James at 118 wrote:

Hi Ferd,

I think I see the problem: iCloud has 2012 cards; On My Mac has 2010 cards. So these are two unique databases. I don’t know which to delete, but I suspect deleting iCloud would take them out of iCloud and off my phone. I’m wary though. I don’t want my cards to be available on my laptop only when I’m online. This has happened with a passworded list of passwords that I want on both phone and mac. I have to download it now and then to keep it available on my Mac.

You definitely fingered the problem. What do you suggest to fix it?

Thank you!

Yes, you definitely have two unique databases.

The "On My Mac" data base will only apply to, and be updated locally on your MacBook Pro. The iCloud contacts can be accessed by any device which is connected to your iCloud account.

Deleting iCloud Contacts will erase them from iCloud, and any device which is signed in to your iCloud account. If you want to keep the database synced, you will have to use iCloud, since the "On My Mac" contacts will not sync with any other device. I would not delete the iCloud contacts. The iCloud contacts will always be available on your MacBook Pro, if you are on, or off line.

Edit: Be sure to backup your "On My Mac" contacts by using Contacts>File>Export>Contacts Archive...

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Answer 2

Ferd II

Level 10

104,871 points

May 23, 2017 7:52 AM in response to James at 118

James,

Have you checked for additional accounts in Contacts>Preferences...>Accounts? You can also select Contacts>Accounts... to determine which accounts are active with contacts.

Also open Contacts, then select View>Show Groups. The sidebar should then be able to display the accounts which are associated with various contacts.

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Answer 3

James at 118 Author

Level 1

97 points

Sep 8, 2017 5:52 PM in response to James at 118

Somehow I have a google account associated with "vcards" in Internet Accounts. However, in Contacts, this google account doesn't show up. Clearing up that particular problem seems to involve deleting the google account which would delete all mail, which is a cure worse than the disease.

In Contacts what I see is that iCloud has 2,005 contacts, and All on My Mac has 1,997. If I delete the All on My Mac cards, will I make my life hard by making all my cards go away? A corollary: if I delete All on My Mac, do I only have access to cards when I'm online? This would be unacceptable is why I ask.

Thank you.

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Answer 4

Eric Root

Level 10

685,311 points

Sep 9, 2017 9:57 AM in response to James at 118

You should have access to the contacts in iCloud even if you are offline. I suggest you select all your On My Mac contacts and then go to Contacts/File/Export/Export as vCard. Save that to somewhere convenient. That is your backup. Then delete all your On My Mac contacts. Quit Contacts and reopen. Make sure everything appears normal. Then go offline to see if you can see your contacts. If you can, delete the exported file.

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Answer 5

tygb

Level 9

65,016 points

May 23, 2017 9:39 AM in response to James at 118

Open Address book ( contacts application ) , press command + comma to open its preferences .

Select general.

Click on drop down arrows in default account > iCloud .

And select the desired one , if you are online ( connected to network ) , contacts are sync through iCloud servers or web servers ( can be gmail or yahoo services ) .

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Answer 6

James at 118 Author

Level 1

97 points

May 23, 2017 9:24 AM in response to Old Toad

Old Toad:

Thank you! It’s my signature and I forgot to delete it before sending. I was wondering how to get rid of it. Very much appreciated!

James

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Answer 7

James at 118 Author

Level 1

97 points

Sep 9, 2017 1:13 PM in response to Eric Root

That did the trick. Thank you! Actions like deleting all your contacts are a little worrying, but in this case it worked out great. THanks again! James

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Answer 8

Eric Root

Level 10

685,311 points

Sep 9, 2017 1:15 PM in response to James at 118

You are welcome.

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Answer 9

James at 118 Author

Level 1

97 points

May 23, 2017 7:40 AM in response to tygb

Hi tygb,

Thanks for responding.

I tried the Look for Duplicates function. This worked to get rid of the third copy of each card, but now, with all cards still duplicated, no duplicates are found.

Neither iCloud nor my iPhone has duplicates, so I wonder whether these are phantoms. Also seems possible that my entire contact list has been associated with a second account, and that that account is not linked to iCloud or my phone.

If there's a way to delete all contacts for an account, I could go through and by elimination find the two accounts and delete contact cards in one. Do you know of a way to do that?

Thank you!

James

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Answer 10

James at 118 Author

Level 1

97 points

May 23, 2017 9:22 AM in response to Ferd II

Hi Ferd,

I think I see the problem: iCloud has 2012 cards; On My Mac has 2010 cards. So these are two unique databases. I don’t know which to delete, but I suspect deleting iCloud would take them out of iCloud and off my phone. I’m wary though. I don’t want my cards to be available on my laptop only when I’m online. This has happened with a passworded list of passwords that I want on both phone and mac. I have to download it now and then to keep it available on my Mac.

You definitely fingered the problem. What do you suggest to fix it?

Thank you!

James ******

Copywriter

******

Loveland, Ohio 45140

******

******
<Personal Information Edited by Host>

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Answer 11

James at 118 Author

Level 1

97 points

May 23, 2017 8:36 AM in response to tygb

Hi tygb,

Are you saying that either the iCloud cards or the On My Mac cards are a group and not actual cards? It would appear that the iCloud cards would be the actual, since there are more of them.

Again, I need to be sure I’m not cutting myself off from my contacts when I happen to be offline.

Is there some way to determine which set is the group? and is there some way to make sure I’ll have access to contacts when I’m not online?

Thank you!

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Answer 12

Ferd II

Level 10

104,871 points

May 22, 2017 1:51 PM in response to James at 118

James,

Follow the steps listed in: If you see duplicate contacts after setting up iCloud Contacts - Apple Support

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Answer 13

Old Toad

Level 10

216,506 points

May 23, 2017 9:20 AM in response to James at 118

James:

Never put your personal information in a reply. It's rip for scammers and spammers to grab and use. I've asked the Hosts to edit your last post to remove your personal information.