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Level 2

163 points

"Add to existing contact" dialog box has gone

Until recently I had the option of adding, say, and email address to an existing contact by clicking on the address's down arrow in Mac Mail.

I'd click on Add to Contacts and a dialog box would open where I could select which contact to add the address to, or to create a new contact.

Just recently that dialog box has disappeared - all I can do now is create a new contact.

Anybody else noticed this?

All software is the latest version. Happens on iMac and MacBook.

My 1st Apple ll 1982, then-OTHER, iMac, MacBook, iPad, iPhone, Watch

Posted on Mar 5, 2018 4:54 AM

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69 replies

dialabrain

Level 10

122,549 points

Mar 5, 2018 7:36 AM in response to tygb

tygb wrote:

But you wrote in the question -

I'd click on Add to Contacts and a dialog box would open where I could select which…

tygb, you really need to start reading entire posts and try to understand the questions.

From the OP…

Until recently I had the option of adding, say, and email address to an existing contact by clicking on the address's down arrow in Mac Mail.

Jagmurcredrea Author

Level 2

163 points

Mar 5, 2018 7:41 AM in response to Csound1

Csound1 wrote:

Then you need to take your complaint to Apple, clearly most of us here think differently.

I'd have a better chance of having a convivial conversation with the Master of the Universe than penetrating the fortress that is Apple.

And I say that as a long-time shareholder.

Jagmurcredrea Author

Level 2

163 points

Mar 5, 2018 7:54 AM in response to Csound1

Csound1 wrote:

Apple are the Master of this particular Universe

If they were, they'd have a means of adding to an existing contact as well as creating a new contact.

Rocket science it is not, but then I'm not a blinkered fanboy.

Jagmurcredrea Author

Level 2

163 points

Mar 5, 2018 8:52 AM in response to Csound1

Oh boy, are you wilfully misunderstanding, or just not capable of understanding?

I used to be able to access it, until recently, from the dropdown arrow on an email address in the "From" field of an email in Mac Mail. Now I cannot.

John Galt

Level 10

141,162 points

Mar 5, 2018 9:33 AM in response to Jagmurcredrea

ian-apple wrote:

I'm wondering if it was some sort of short-lived feature that came and went between updates - all I know is it was really useful!

I seem to recall something like that, but I may have to go all the way back to Tiger or Snow Leopard to find out. I can do that.

There may be at least two concepts at work: the one I think you're describing is clicking a "from" address in a Mail message. That's what I posted in my screenshot. The screenshot from Free Mac Manual - Mac Help and Tips You Can Use is really really old, besides, it illustrates clicking on a physical address using what Apple calls "data detectors". It's a patented technology and is also pretty complicated, in that it attempts to extract things like mailable addresses, phone numbers and so forth from a variety of content. Hence the reason for their patent. That's not what I thought you described, and if the behavior you're seeking was in fact a feature that existed in the past it's quite possible that it has since been incorporated in those "data detectors".

It's a good excuse to boot my PowerBook G4 to see what it does.

Jagmurcredrea Author

Level 2

163 points

Mar 5, 2018 9:50 AM in response to John Galt

Thanks John - having found a means of opening the dialog box I was originally describing (via a 'found' address in the text of an email) at least you can see that it actually exists, contrary to what all the fanboys thought.

It's come back to me that the dropdown arrow on a "From" address on an email just said Add to Contacts, exactly as it does now - but it opened the dialog box in the screenshot above.

So in a sense, a tiny thing - making Add to Contacts open the dialog box - but as I said, it no longer does. For anybody, it seems.

I miss it because I used it so much over the last few months - I don't know from when it started, as I've only recently had a real need to use it, just that it stopped very recently. My best guess is that it ceased in one of the recent High Sierra Supplemental Updates.

It wasn't a dream, it was there. Hope that helps.

dialabrain

Level 10

122,549 points

Mar 5, 2018 12:41 PM in response to Jagmurcredrea

ian-apple wrote:

Right, this is the actual dialog box I've been talking about, which I've found by clicking on an address within the text of an email.

No, that is the dialog box you weren't talking about. I'm familiar with that dialog box.

I used to be able to access it, until recently, from the dropdown arrow on an email address in the "From" field of an email in Mac Mail. Now I cannot.

No you couldn't, no one could as has been explained ad naseum.

I realise that fanboys won't even see the advantage of using this dialog box via an email address, but I found it useful, while it was there.

Speaking of fanboys, ian-apple, you are the only one in this conversation with the word apple in his name.

And yes dialabrain, it really is a screenshot from a Mac, just like before.

Yes, I know it is. It just has nothing to do with your original question.

Jagmurcredrea Author

Level 2

163 points

Mar 6, 2018 2:06 AM in response to John Galt

Thanks John. It is weird, that the dialog box was triggered for a while.

Like I say, I don't know when it started, i.e. which macOS version, just that it stopped very recently.

I guess we won't get to the bottom of this unless somebody has an un-updated High Sierra installation who can try it out. Just a thought though... wouldn't it make enormous sense to trigger the dialog box from Add to Contacts? Simple, helpful, intuitive.

And thanks for not being a fanboy, I think some of them need to get out more!

dialabrain

Level 10

122,549 points

Mar 6, 2018 2:36 AM in response to Jagmurcredrea

ian-apple wrote:

Please don't stress about not understanding the question.

All of us understand your question now that you explained what you actually meant. lol

It's not what I was originally writing about, as well you know, but it does show the functionality was there.

Exactly.

dialabrain

Level 10

122,549 points

Mar 6, 2018 2:39 AM in response to Jagmurcredrea

ian-apple wrote:

I guess we won't get to the bottom of this unless somebody has an un-updated High Sierra installation who can try it out. Just a thought though... wouldn't it make enormous sense to trigger the dialog box from Add to Contacts? Simple, helpful, intuitive.

I've run every version of High Sierra from the first developer version from last year to the latest version and the "feature" you descibed never existed. so that won't help.

John Galt

Level 10

141,162 points

Mar 8, 2018 7:44 AM in response to Jagmurcredrea

ian-apple wrote:

It's clear to me now that its current absence when adding addresses from the Mail 'From' drop-downs is pointless and ridiculous... it seems to be everywhere else!

Can't say I disagree with that.