High Sierra contacts not working

After my last message, I followed these instructions.

Prior to syncing Contacts with iCloud, suggestd is still failing (via Console). i.e. there is no address book at this point. At this point, the Contacts app opens, although it is empty, of course. I note also, that Contacts doesn’t have the separate section for On this Device and iCloud; only All Contacts. If I try to add a contact, the Contacts app beachballs.

After syncing with iCloud, the Contacts app no longer loads.

In addition, while ~/Library/Suggestions is being populated in my test account, it remains empty in the problematic account.

The issue -- as I suspected back in October -- is most likely with suggestd (and the whole suggestions engine and a tight coupling with contacts therein) rather than Contacts and the address book. Without better diagnostics in suggestd -- which I fail to understand why Apple won't fix -- I doubt this be fixed. At present the script returns: 1. That's not meaningful. It's been the same for three months now.

Furthermore, if I turn off SIPs, attempt to load the Contacts app (upon which nothing happens), then later run launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.suggestd.plist`, the Contacts app loads.

I'm not sure what else a user can do here if Apple will neither engage nor improve the quality of its diagnostic messages.

Diane-

I walked through your steps multiple times and worked with Apple for over 3 months. I ended up having to switch to CardHop because I just couldn't live without my contacts any longer. My problem was definitely with the User folder.

10.13.4 fixed it for me. Delighted. I had a related problem where I could not successfully complete a TimeMachine backup. I went for the 90+ days without a successful backup--you can imagine I was sweating it. 10.13.4 restored my capacity to successfully backup, too.

I never encourage anyone to go to a beta without appropriate precautions, but I was ready to send me MacBook Pro off the front roof. So happy a fix became available within the public beta.

Thanks for all your contribution, here.

Hi everybody,

I received a message from Apple saying that the original bug report 35087630 has been closed.

Also, I read that 10.13.4 beta solved the problem.

So, I believe that 10.13.4 will solve the problem and is due very soon.

Follow the steps here to fix.

Re: High Sierra contacts not working

10,13.4 (beta) resolved the problem for me.

So I tried this...

At first I lost all the pictures of my contacts.

And now I am in a strange position.

Whenever I edit a contact on the Mac it seems like I loose the sync to iCloud. Changes don't get through. What I can do is manually do the same edits in iCloud.com and once Mac and iCloud (+ iOS) are back in Sync, everything is fine again. Editing contacts in iOS or iCloud.com works and these changes are instantly synced to the mac. Just editing contacts on the Mac doesn't work.

This is an improvement, but still not what I was hoping for..

Anyway Apple has to adress this in an update, there's no other (permanent) solution.

You can have a strange combination of log ins and log outs, export and import and all these things may be a solution in the first moment, because the set the Mac contacts back to where they should be. But that's only temporary.

Long time solution still needed.

Glad to hear the beta 10.13.4 build 1 fixed your problem. Just be sure to backup before updating to build 2 due out soonish.

Software used to Clone:

CarbonCopyCloner http://www.bombich.com/download.html (All options are available free for 30 days)

SuperDuper! http://www.shirt-pocket.com/ (Free forever to do an erase and install. Purchased version allows for smart updates and schedules)

or why:

a) never install a new Mac operating system until it has been out at least 4 months

b) keep a second Mac within reach of the first with an older operating system so you have something that works

I gave up (for the time being) trying to enter new contacts on my newest MacBook with High Sierra, and now make all those entries on the adjoining MacBook running 10.10.5. They enter without problem and appear seamlessly on my newer Mac through iCloud. So many of the elaborate fixes offered in this forum are often not needed and cured by later updates. I find 9 times out of 10, problems I have are not anything specific to my Mac, just operating system bugs that updates later cure.

I suggest you send your "fix" to Apple feedback.

BugReporter http://bugreporter.apple.com

Free ADC (Apple Developer Connection) account needed for BugReporter. Setup a free account

http://developer.apple.com/programs/register/

Mac OS X Feedback (no account needed)

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

Here is the cold, formal, and hollow answer I got from Apple:

I've already performed a reinstall. It didn't fix the problem unfortunately.

I'm currently having to work with SIP off and suggestd unloaded. I'm not happy about this, but I really have no other option if I wish to access my contacts, which is about as fundamental an action as I can imagine these days. It's also been a massive time-sink trying to unearth the issue.

If you are talking about clean install ( cleaning the hard drive completely ) and after that no unidentified apps are installed the machine will be as in new condition also there are no issues in hardware .

In my system sometimes if an issue is there in any application and creating a new user account also not helps , then what to do its an immediate decision to install the operating system , also after installation cleaners , apps , anti virus are not be installed , that will create more and more issues .

This is an experience , but in the forum the members can only given suggestions , implementation to follow or not follow totally goes to the user .

And regarding SIP do not disable it by terminal command , let it be enabled .

Try to use the system in a very easy way , the more apps are installed probability of computer malfunctioning increases .

Thanks !

I will try unload/load suggestd. Contacts could just be waiting for a flag that never occurs.

Nov 10 07:22:42 sati com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.suggestd[22525]): Service exited with abnormal code: 1

Nov 10 07:22:42 sati com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.suggestd): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 3 seconds.

Nov 10 07:22:45 sati com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.suggestd[22526]): Service exited with abnormal code: 1

Nov 10 07:22:45 sati com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.suggestd): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 3 seconds.

Nov 10 07:22:48 sati com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.suggestd[22527]): Service exited with abnormal code: 1

Nov 10 07:22:48 sati com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.suggestd): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 3 seconds.

Nov 10 07:22:51 sati com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.suggestd[22529]): Service exited with abnormal code: 1

Nov 10 07:22:51 sati com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.suggestd): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 3 seconds.

Nov 10 07:22:54 sati com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.suggestd[22530]): Service exited with abnormal code: 1

Nov 10 07:22:54 sati com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.suggestd): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 3 seconds.

Nov 10 07:22:57 sati com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.suggestd[22531]): Service exited with abnormal code: 1

Nov 10 07:22:57 sati com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.suggestd): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 3 seconds.

Nov 10 07:23:00 sati com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.suggestd[22532]): Service exited with abnormal code: 1

Nov 10 07:23:00 sati com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.suggestd): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 3 seconds.

Nov 10 07:23:03 sati com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.suggestd[22533]): Service exited with abnormal code: 1

Nov 10 07:23:03 sati com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.suggestd): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 3 seconds.

Nov 10 07:23:06 sati com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.suggestd[22534]): Service exited with abnormal code: 1

Nov 10 07:23:06 sati com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.suggestd): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 3 seconds.

Nov 10 07:23:09 sati com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.suggestd[22535]): Service exited with abnormal code: 1

Nov 10 07:23:09 sati com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.suggestd): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 3 seconds.

Nov 10 07:23:12 sati com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.suggestd[22537]): Service exited with abnormal code: 1

Nov 10 07:23:12 sati com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.suggestd): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 3 seconds.

Nov 10 07:23:16 sati com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.suggestd[22538]): Service exited with abnormal code: 1

Nov 10 07:23:16 sati com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.suggestd): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 3 seconds.

So, somewhere in our configs we have a file -- probably just one -- that isn't quite what High Sierra's suggestd finds acceptable.

Unfortunately, the suggestd plist calls a bunch of other things, and because the error message is so poor, it's impossible to know where the root of the problem might be.

Now would be an ideal time for an Apple dev to jump in.

Removing everything should work since it's the same as testing in a new User. If you followed the steps exactly you should have working contacts. If you can't get this to work, consider moving to the new User.