contacts on mac says no cards

Have you tried turning off Contacts under iCloud System Preferences (untick box), it should ask if you wish to save data on your machine, say no. Wait a minute then open the Contacts App and check if it's empty, if not, delete manually, then close. Lastly go back and turn on iCloud Contacts (re tick the box) so your data can sync back down again from the cloud, wait a minute then open Contacts and see if your data is back again.

With respect to your first question, yes, I did mean delete all so no data exists (I usually ctrl-click the name and select "Delete card") and from your last post it appears you did just that (with the exception of Gmail which I'm not sure about because I do not use).

What's confusing is that you are only seeing the "names" and no associated information, even after re-syncing, you could try same on one of your iDevices (say iPad) and see what happens!

I would think your issue is one of two possibilities, corruption of the contact data or problem with Contacts App itself on the Mac, if the re-sync on the iPad works then I would say that proves the data is ok leaving only the App on the Mac, but that's just my guess.

This link talks of a similar issue which was resolved by using Time Machine (see bottom of first page by xoxosage), you could try and see what happens. contacts disappeared in Sierra upgrade

Failing that it's down to messing about with the Contacts App itself by deleting key data files from ~/Library/Application Support/AddressBook to try and rebuild it's database, but that comes with a risk so you need to be sure of what you are doing, again, the link does go through some of this as well as talking about permissions and how to reset.

From what I've read your best option if possible is to try and Restore from TM as per xoxosage, best of luck.

Pete Marchant wrote:

In the meantime, I've taken a slightly different route and created a new account on the same Mac. Intriguingly, this is operating Contacts and all iCloud linked apps entirely correctly and, in general, the Mac is running much faster in this account than my older account. Both are set up for administration. The new account has only two login items; iTunes helper and PIA.

So far so good and greatly relieved but I'd be really interested in what everybody thinks are the implications of this. Can a Mac 'account' be corrupt?

Not sure about "corrupt" but things can certainly go wrong, especially when third party apps do note function as expected with the result conflicts can then arise, this might then be compounded if a utility is used to clean-out a drive or to try and gain back some space because again, things don't always go to plan and you may end up removing some wanted stuff along the way.

But generally if you use a system as intended things do build up over time and can have a negative effect on performance but it usually still keeps working and in fact macOS is quite good at trying to maintain performance by how it manages things in the back ground so most of use will probably never notice.

It's interesting you have tried the "new account" approach and that it's apparently proved that your current account is behind the issue, you could spend time trying to resolve the old account or (and I'm not sure about this so you may have to read up) go the way of just using the new account and restore your information back from TM, when you are happy all is ok with the new account then delete the old one.

Sorry if this obvious, but is there some text in the search box?

"Have you tried turning off Contacts under iCloud System Preferences (untick box), it should ask if you wish to save data on your machine, say no. Wait a minute then open the Contacts App and check if it's empty, if not, delete manually, then close. Lastly go back and turn on iCloud Contacts (re tick the box) so your data can sync back down again from the cloud, wait a minute then open Contacts and see if your data is back again."

Have tried this:

• After un-checking the Contacts box in iCloud System preferences pane I received no request to save any data.
• Upon opening Contacts I found that all contacts had been removed except those from a linked GMail account - they still had "No Cards" in the details pane.
• It was not possible to delete this data manually - I presume I would have to unlink the GMail account from Contacts.
• I quit Contacts and re-checked (ticked) the Contacts box in iCloud System preferences pane. There was a short delay wth a note about 'setting up'.
• I re-opened Contacts. All of the contacts were back in place but again, when highlighted, each one showed "No Cards" in the details pane.

I have this problem as well. I am running 10.13.3 and have had this issue since upgrading to High Sierra.

The database of contacts on my Mac Mini (late 2012) appears to be intact, however, if a name is highlighted the details window displays the words "No Cards". I have checked with iCloud online and all of the data is there; contacts, and their card details. Similarly, my contacts are all working on my iPhone 6s running IOS 11.2.6. I have used the 'refresh contacts' facility whilst in 'Contacts' on iCloud online via my Chrome browser. I have also gone to 'Settings' in iCloud online and used the 'restore contacts' procedure. All of these have been to no avail. The database should all be backed up in Time Machine as well.

If I create new contacts, both online and on my phone. These new contacts duly appear as new names in my desktop version of Contacts however, no cards, or details in those cards, appear alongside them. Both Contacts in iCloud online and Contacts on my iPhone sync quickly and accurately regardless of whether the new entry is made on the phone or online.

If I create a new contact on my desktop, Contacts will successfully show both the new contact's name and their card with all details correct details, however, the new contact will not show up in either iCloud online or on my iPhone at all regardless of how many times I refresh the data. If I shut the desktop version of Contacts down and then restart it the newly created contact is still there but the detail pane now shows 'No Cards'. The data has not been retained although the name of the card has stayed in the list of contacts.

I also run 'Informant' v1.02 (50397). All newly created contact data as well as existing contact data is perfectly preserved whether created online, on my iPhone or in Contacts on my desktop. As far as I know, it is not possible to create new contacts in Informant so I have not been able to check whether data is saved back to Contacts on any platform.

Re the response from tygb above: My 'Me' card appears to be set up correctly with the silhouette icon next to my name although the words 'No Card Selected' appears in the detail pane when I highlight my name. I can see no details in my Contacts to be able to ascertain whether cards are linked or otherwise.

All of my other iCloud apps appear to be working correctly.

Here are the etrecheck results as requested:

EtreCheck version: 4.1.3 (4A188)

Report generated: 2018-03-12 19:04:51

Runtime: 12:41

Performance: Poor

Problem: Other problem

Description:

Contacts on OSX is not syncing with iCloud or Contacts on iPhone

Major Issues:

Anything that appears on this list needs immediate attention.

Adware - Adware detected.

Poor performance - EtreCheck report took over 10 minutes to run. This is very unusual.

Minor Issues:

These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems.

Unsigned files - There is unsigned software installed. They appear to be legitimate but should be reviewed.

32-bit Apps - This machine has 32-bits apps that may have problems in the future.

Hardware Information:

Mac mini (Late 2012)

Mac mini Model: Macmini6,2

1 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7 (i7-3615QM) CPU: 4-core

16 GB RAM At maximum

BANK 0/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1600 ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1600 ok

Video Information:

Intel HD Graphics 4000 - VRAM: 1536 MB

SyncMaster 1920 x 1080 @ 60 Hz

Drives:

disk0 - APPLE HDD HTS541010A9E662 1.00 TB (Mechanical)

Internal SATA 3 Gigabit Serial ATA

disk0s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB

disk0s2 - F***************D (Journaled HFS+) 999.35 GB

disk0s3 - Recovery HD (Journaled HFS+) [Recovery] 650 MB

disk1 - Seagate Backup+ Desk 4.00 TB

External USB 5 Gbit/s

disk1s1 - EFI [EFI] 315 MB

disk1s2 - S*****s (Journaled HFS+) 2.00 TB

disk1s3 - D*******r (Journaled HFS+) 2.00 TB

disk2 - USB Flash DISK 8.10 GB

External USB 480 Mbit/s

disk2s1 - P********S (MS-DOS FAT32) 8.09 GB

disk3 - Apple Inc. MacBook Air SuperDrive 424 MB

External USB 480 Mbit/s

disk3s1 - H******************N 41 MB

disk3s2 - H******************N 37 MB

disk3s3 - H******************N 33 MB

disk3s4 - H******************N 30 MB

disk3s5 - H******************N 73 MB

disk3s6 - H******************N 23 MB

disk3s7 - H******************N 26 MB

disk3s8 - H******************N 42 MB

disk3s9 - H******************N 26 MB

disk3s10 - H******************N 30 MB

disk3s11 - H******************N 28 MB

disk3s12 - H******************N 36 MB

Mounted Volumes:

disk0s2 - F***************D 999.35 GB (313.36 GB free)

Journaled HFS+

Mount point: /

disk1s2 - S*****s 2.00 TB (1.21 TB free)

Journaled HFS+

Mount point: /Volumes/S*****s

disk1s3 - D*******r 2.00 TB (1.50 TB free)

Journaled HFS+

Mount point: /Volumes/D*******r

disk2s1 - P********S 8.09 GB (6.71 GB free)

MS-DOS FAT32

Mount point: /Volumes/P********S

disk4s2 - T******************s 1.96 TB (143.32 GB free)

Case-sensitive Journaled HFS+

Mount point: /Volumes/T******************s

Network:

Interface en0: Ethernet

One IPv4 address

Interface fw0: FireWire

Interface en1: Wi-Fi

802.11 a/b/g/n

One IPv4 address

Interface en3: Bluetooth PAN

Interface bridge0: Thunderbolt Bridge

iCloud Quota: 168.16 GB available

System Software:

macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 (17D102)

Time since boot: Less than an hour

System Load: 2.49 (1 min ago) 1.98 (5 min ago) 1.19 (15 min ago)

Security:

Adware:

Launchd: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.pcv.hlpramcn.plist

Reason: Adware name match

Executable: ~/Library/Application Support/amc/helperamc.app/Contents/MacOS/helperamc

Unsigned Files:

Launchd: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.amazon.music.startup.plist

Executable: /Applications/Amazon Music.app/Contents/MacOS/Amazon Music

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.amazon.music.plist

Executable: /Applications/Amazon Music.app/Contents/MacOS/Amazon Music Helper

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/tv.plex.player-helper.plist

Executable: /Applications/Plex Media Player.app/Contents/MacOS/../Resources/PMP Helper

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: /Library/LaunchAgents/com.privateinternetaccess.osx.PIA-VPN.plist

Executable: /Applications/Private Internet Access.app/Contents/MacOS/startup.sh

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.UltraSearchApp.plist

Executable: ~/Library/Application Support/com.UltraSearchApp/UltraSearchApp r

Details: Domain name invalid - possibly adware

32-bit Applications:

Kernel Extensions:

/Library/Extensions

[Loaded] LogitechHIDDevices.kext (Logitech Inc., 3.9.5 - SDK 10.8)

[Loaded] LogitechUnifying.kext (Logitech Inc., 1.3.5 - SDK 10.8)

System Launch Agents:

System Launch Daemons:

Launch Agents:

Launch Daemons:

User Launch Agents:

User Login Items:

Plex Media Server Application (Plex Inc.

(/Applications/Plex Media Server.app)

Backup and sync from Google Application (Google, Inc.

(/Applications/Backup and Sync.app)

iTunesHelper Application (Apple, Inc. - installed 2018-01-24)

(/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)

iTunes Application (Apple, Inc.

(/Applications/iTunes.app)

Google Chrome Application (Google, Inc.

(/Applications/Google Chrome.app)

Dropbox Application (Dropbox, Inc.

(/Applications/Dropbox.app)

ShazamHelper SMLoginItem (Mac App Store - installed 2017-12-19)

(/Applications/Shazam.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/ShazamHelper.app)

WZC4362K6S.com.fanaticsoftware.informant.helper SMLoginItem (Web Information Solutions, Inc. - installed 2018-03-07)

(/Applications/Informant.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/Informant Helper.app)

2Do Helper SMLoginItem (Mac App Store - installed 2018-01-30)

(/Applications/2Do.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/EKT6323JY3.com.guidedways.To doMac.Helper.app)

DashlaneAutoStartHelper SMLoginItem (Dashlane - installed 2018-03-11)

(/Applications/Dashlane.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/DashlaneAutoStartHelper .app)

DashlaneAgent SMLoginItem (installed 2018-03-11)

(/Applications/Dashlane.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/DashlaneAgent.app)

Internet Plug-ins:

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 17.012.20098 (installed 2018-02-25)

FlashPlayer-10.6: 28.0.0.161 (installed 2018-03-04)

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2018-01-24)

AdobePDFViewer: 18.011.20038 (installed 2018-02-25)

Flash Player: 28.0.0.161 (installed 2018-03-04)

JavaAppletPlugin: 15.0.1 (installed 2017-09-11)

User Internet Plug-ins:

CitrixOnlineWebDeploymentPlugin: 1.0.105 (installed 2013-04-26)

Safari Extensions:

3rd Party Preference Panes:

Backblaze Backup (installed 2018-02-01)

Flash Player (installed 2018-02-01)

Logitech Control Center (installed 2016-11-27)

Time Machine:

Skip System Files: No

Mobile backups: No

Auto backup: Yes

Volumes being backed up:

F***************D: Disk size: 999.35 GB - Disk used: 685.99 GB

Destinations:

T*****************r [Network] (Last used)

Total size: 1.96 TB

Total number of backups: 78

Oldest backup: 2017-03-12 01:20:23

Last backup: 2018-03-12 11:56:33

Top Processes by CPU:

Top Processes by Memory:

Top Processes by Network Use:

Top Processes by Energy Use:

Virtual Memory Information:

Software Installs (past 30 days):

Clean up:

com.fanaticsoftware.informant.helper -

Diagnostics Information (past 7 days):

2018-03-12 18:41:12 Last Shutdown Cause: 0 - Power loss (once)

2018-03-11 22:53:00 quicklookd.app Crash (once)

2018-03-10 14:32:36 Ableton Live 10 Trial.app CPU (once)

2018-03-09 13:06:49 Plex Media Server.app Hang (once)

End of report

You have installed advanced Mac cleaner , BackBlaze , Loigitec control cleaner , lot of stuff is in login items and unsigned files .

You must uninstall all third party apps and in safari extensions keep it as off .

Use Malwarebytes | Malwarebytes for Mac

And scan the system .

karenthegreat wrote:

I have the same problem but here is a little something interesting... I can share a contact/vCard via mail and all the vCard information is there!. Additionally, my iMessage has no contact info displayed but has "Maybe:" then a contact name displayed.

Your comment regards changes to how Messages displays contact information reminded me of these discussions.

Contact names missing in messages

a contact no longer shows up in imessage

Messages - Known Contacts are "Maybe"

Not sure how/if there is a link with missing cards in Contacts but could try what was reported to have fixed the Messages issue, go into Contacts Settings and toggle and/or change the various options under “Short Name” or in the section above for Sort/Display Order. Also toggling Nicknames under the same settings and adding said nickname to the problem contact using edit can kick things into working again.

I've seen the missing names under Messages when updating someones phone number, it appears removing old number to add the new breaks link to any messages that used it, so name disappears and only the old phone is shown (which is no longer in your Contacts). Strangely if you try adding back the old number (leaving the new one in place) all that happens is the message then displays name but with "Maybe" in front of it.

It got me so mad trying to sort just a couple of these Messages discussions that in the end I deleted all texts and started from scratch!

Note, this wasn't consistent across devices, so while iPhone had issue iMac was ok (or other way round, can't quite remember).

See this article Set up your me card in Contacts on Mac - Apple Support

Did you right click the card or cards and deleted them .

Or see these options .

Read this article also Link contacts from different accounts on Mac - Apple Support

"You have installed advanced Mac cleaner , BackBlaze , Loigitec control cleaner , lot of stuff is in login items and unsigned files .

You must uninstall all third party apps and in safari extensions keep it as off .

Use Malwarebytes | Malwarebytes for Mac

And scan the system ."

Sorry, "use Malwarebytes for Mac" to do what? I can see from your level 5 that you must be very engaged in supporting other people in communities, however, I would need much more direction to make progress on this issue. Your suggestions seem to be about stripping my mac back to basics, presumably to avoid conflicts between third party software and Apple recommended apps. I think this is interesting although I should point out that I'm not aware of this issue occurring until I installed High Sierra.

In the meantime, I've taken a slightly different route and created a new account on the same Mac. Intriguingly, this is operating Contacts and all iCloud linked apps entirely correctly and, in general, the Mac is running much faster in this account than my older account. Both are set up for administration. The new account has only two login items; iTunes helper and PIA.

So far so good and greatly relieved but I'd be really interested in what everybody thinks are the implications of this. Can a Mac 'account' be corrupt?

Malware bytes is designed by the member in this forum , many of us use it and take benefits to remove adwares / malware .

Pete Marchant wrote:

Is this the 'majority view now - that we should stay exclusively 'in-house' or suffer the consequences?

This is just my view but I do now tend to "limit" what I chuck on my Mac to some degree, I will check if any reports exist of issues or conflicts and look into how easy it could be to remove, then decide if I really need it and will it be "keeper", only then will I install - but once done I then try and leave alone.

The above has resulted in less trial and error so to speak and consequently reduced the "baggage" that can build up with time that could slow a system down, but it can also restrict you to some degree. For example I no longer use Adobe products but instead go for "lighter" editing packages that have less of a tendency to spread themselves all around the system.

It's very much a personal choice and largely comes down to your needs, but I view it like keeping the house tidy, too much stuff around and you start to trip over things.

Pete Marchant wrote:

I accept that according to Etrecheck there may be bigger underlying problems that will inevitably show themselves in time the more I use this new account.

With respect to your new account, and again it's just my view and others with more experience may correct me, but if the "issue" didn't spread in to the System but stayed within your old account, then you should be ok and the problem shouldn't return unless you do again what caused it to happen in the first place!

ok... and?

Were they stored in iCloud? Were they stored "On My Mac"? Do you have a backup? Etc.