How to Merge and Remove Duplicate Contacts in macOS and iCloud

[MacRumors]

If you've been maintaining and migrating the same Contacts list across Macs over the years then you've probably come across your fair share of duplicate contact cards. They can also appear seemingly out of nowhere after setting up iCloud Contacts on your Mac for the first time.

Unless you intentionally keep certain information for the same contact separated out for whatever reason, duplicate cards will add nothing but irritation to your day, so here we're going to show you how to merge and/or remove them, whether you're sat at your Mac or not.


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Article Link: How to Merge and Remove Duplicate Contacts in macOS and iCloud

 

[Jesse Waugh]

This should be automatic. It’s a bug.

 

[Arne-IC]

If you've been maintaining and migrating the same Contacts list across Macs over the years then you've probably come across your fair share of duplicate contact cards. They can also appear seemingly out of nowhere after setting up iCloud Contacts on your Mac for the first time.

Unless you intentionally keep certain information for the same contact separated out for whatever reason, duplicate cards will add nothing but irritation to your day, so here we're going to show you how to merge and/or remove them, whether you're sat at your Mac or not.


Click here to read more...

Article Link: How to Merge and Remove Duplicate Contacts in macOS and iCloud

[doublepost=1519288550][/doublepost]I use the iOS app OneContact. It's simple and works perfectly well for me. And it is even free.

 

[Abazigal]

The last time I did that, I ended up losing some of my contacts permanently.

 

[garrick2007]

The last time I did that, I ended up losing some of my contacts permanently.

File>Export>Contacts Archive

 

[Xenc]

If you are having contacts duplicate constantly, ensure you keep syncing enabled across all devices while you carry out these steps. Goodbye thousands of duplicates!

 

[garrick2007]

Dont know how but recently all of my contacts got duplicated, Really needed this thanks.

 

[Xenc]

The last time I did that, I ended up losing some of my contacts permanently.

You can roll back your contacts to an earlier date on iCloud.com

 

[Abazigal]

You can roll back your contacts to an earlier date on iCloud.com

It happened quite some time back. Wish I had known about it sooner. I ended up just getting the contacts again from my friends and colleagues and keying then in manually.

 

[Kaaarl]

FullContact is a nice service to get rid of duplicates and get all your address books in sync. I use it daily and don't have any duplicates in my contacts anymore.

 

[NightFox]

So is there no way to check the duplicates before you allow them to be merged, or select which ones you want to be merged?

 

[iBungie]

Using Contacts in MacOS/OSX it is straightforward to use the export feature (File menu) to create an archive of your contacts list. If after a clean up of duplicates some are accidentally deleted then click on the archive contacts file and the option to use this to replace the current contacts is offered allowing you to restore to your 'pre-cleanup' state so you can try again.

 

[Wildkraut]

icloud.com on iOS just works ***cough - cough*** what a professional device...

 

[Mike MA]

It's all getting worse if you have family contacts and calenders active. Great read though.

 

[Wanted797]

After having iPhones since 2008 I have gained 230 contacts.

80% of which I never use. I’d love a bulk delete anyone I haven’t had contact with for 5 years plus.

 

[newyorksole]

I have a question that hopefully someone can answer...

Let’s say on December 1st I had 100 contacts and had contacts turned on in iCloud as well as a backup from that day.

Then let’s say I turn off my iCloud backup, but still leave contacts turned on.

Fast forward to today, February 1st, I have 200 contacts, but my last iCloud backup was December 1st.

If I get a new iPhone and restore it from an iCloud backup from December 1st, will I have 100 contacts or all 200?

Because even tho I turned off my iCloud backup, I left the contacts tab on so they could constantly sync/save.

Really hope someone can answer this.

 

[NightFox]

Using Contacts in MacOS/OSX it is straightforward to use the export feature (File menu) to create an archive of your contacts list. If after a clean up of duplicates some are accidentally deleted then click on the archive contacts file and the option to use this to replace the current contacts is offered allowing you to restore to your 'pre-cleanup' state so you can try again.

OK, but if you've got a few hundred contacts, you're probably not going to notice that one has been borked until you actually come to use it, maybe several months later - or does the 'merge duplicates' function provide a summary of what it's merged when it's finished doing its thing?

 

[Kaaarl]

OK, but if you've got a few hundred contacts, you're probably not going to notice that one has been borked until you actually come to use it, maybe several months later - or does the 'merge duplicates' function provide a summary of what it's merged when it's finished doing its thing?

No, macOS Contacts app does not provide any summary about what contacts were merged. Just the number.

 

[iBungie]

OK, but if you've got a few hundred contacts, you're probably not going to notice that one has been borked until you actually come to use it, maybe several months later - or does the 'merge duplicates' function provide a summary of what it's merged when it's finished doing its thing?

The archive is just one form of back up available within Contacts within OSX/MacOS - vCards are another as is the option to create a .pdf - these may be easier to look back on in future for a missing contact as accessing these files doesn't replace your current contacts.

I tend to deal with duplicates manually. The automatic merging may not give much of a report (how many merged) however many merged contacts I have contain data in the note field which indicates they have been changed.

Always worth making an archive/backup before editing contacts

 

[JosephAW]

For those of us who've been using iOS since the iPhone 3GS or iPod Touch our contacts can be quite a mess.

There's too much tapping to get to the point where you can edit a contact or insert a photo and the buttons are too small.

There needs to be a way to drag and drop multiple contacts visually without doing one at a time in iOS.
In MacOS at least you can merge multiple contacts at a time.

We also need an option where apps who access our contacts can be assigned to only see a specified group and not all our contacts.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

I have a question that hopefully someone can answer...

Let’s say on December 1st I had 100 contacts and had contacts turned on in iCloud as well as a backup from that day.

Then let’s say I turn off my iCloud backup, but still leave contacts turned on.

Fast forward to today, February 1st, I have 200 contacts, but my last iCloud backup was December 1st.

If I get a new iPhone and restore it from an iCloud backup from December 1st, will I have 100 contacts or all 200?

Because even tho I turned off my iCloud backup, I left the contacts tab on so they could constantly sync/save.

Really hope someone can answer this.

Here goes... The short answer is, "all 200," presuming you both restore from iCloud Backup and turn on the Contacts toggle in iCloud settings (which happens by default).

If you have iCloud-synced features enabled (primarily Contacts, Calendars, iCloud Photo Library, documents in iCloud/iCloud Drive, Notes, Reminders), then the synced data is stored separately from your iCloud backups. Apple does not include them in your iCloud backup because it would be redundant - a waste of storage. It also means you don't need to make iCloud backups at all in order to preserve Contacts data in the cloud (so long as you have Contacts toggled-on in iCloud Settings).

Now, if you have "On My iPhone" contacts, notes, etc. in addition to iCloud contacts, notes, etc., then the On My iPhone data will be part of your iCloud backup. This is true of your Camera Roll, too (if you have one). It's one of the reasons Camera Roll disappears when you use iCloud Photo Library.

These articles have additional info on what iCloud backup does and doesn't include: https://support.apple.com/HT207428 https://support.apple.com/HT204136

 

[ignatius345]

So is there no way to check the duplicates before you allow them to be merged, or select which ones you want to be merged?

There definitely used to be. It would show you each card and ask you to pick which one to use, as I recall -- or it could actually merge the information from both cards into one.

No way in hell I'm clicking "merge" without seeing what it's about to do.
[doublepost=1519319634][/doublepost]I sync my contacts with Google instead of iCloud, since I use Gmail a lot. That lets me use Google's contact management features through the web interface. It also syncs over whatever contact photos people have added to their own Gmail accounts (and like 99% of the people I email use Gmail, so this is basically everyone).

 

[Rlittle89]

This should be automatic. It’s a bug.

"It just works"

 

[MacMan988]

Is it possible to keep contact's pictures in sync with facebook without using third party apps?

 

[kylew1212]

Is it possible to keep contact's pictures in sync with facebook without using third party apps?

Facebook integration was removed which to my knowledge means that this is no longer possible. Honestly, it didn't work very well for me anyway..