Contacts won't let me add a new contact

Question

Level 1

40 points

Contacts won't let me add a new contact

Re-opening this thread. This is a real annoyance - I start adding a contact and after typing in the first and last name and part of the phone number, it disappears. I've tried removing the plist/preferences file (as referenced in earlier thread) and it did not help.

This has been a problem consistently on my M1/Monterey (M1, 2020, 12.6 and earlier) Macbook Air (Contacts 2498.5) for the nearly 2 years I've owned it. It is NOT an issue on my old MacBook Air (Intel) running Catalina (10.15.7) and Contacts Version 12.0 (2421.28).

@apple: Please fix.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Oct 19, 2022 02:07 PM

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Answer 1

Old Toad

Level 10

214,296 points

Oct 23, 2022 10:59 AM in response to ssd550

Have you installed and run any "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus or VPN apps on your Mac?

Give this a try: boot into Safe Mode according to How to use safe mode on your Mac and test to see if the problem persists. Reboot normally and test again.

NOTE 1: Safe Mode boot can take up to 3 - 5 minutes as it's doing the following;

• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed

• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)

• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically

• Disables user-installed fonts

• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files

NOTE 2: if you have a wireless keyboard with rechargeable batteries connect it with its charging cable before booting into Safe Mode. This makes it act as a wired keyboard as will insure a successful boot into Safe Mode.

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Answer 2

ssd550 Author

Level 1

40 points

Oct 25, 2022 06:26 PM in response to Barney-15E

I do have a google account with contacts synching (and it is the default for contacts). So if others are reporting a problem with that then there may actually be a problem.

I can make it happen every time. When All Contacts is selected, or when my google account is selected, it fails, but not when iCloud is selected. It happens after about 10-12 seconds, no typing is needed. If I then select the "No Name" entry that it leaves behind and edit it, it works and the contact is saved to google contacts.

This happens with vCard formats 3.0 and 2.1.

Seems like there is something to fix. If google contact creation is not supported (or rather is no longer supported as it works fine on my older MBA), then it should not be enabled. Being dropped into the basement is not what one would expect.

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Answer 3

Barney-15E

Level 10

121,244 points

Oct 26, 2022 03:59 AM in response to ssd550

I've never heard of it actually working with Goolag contacts. I believe it is similar to the Drafts behavior when using Gmail in Mail, although it doesn't seem to happen to everyone. Every change to the email is stored as a new draft because Goolag wants to gobble up all of the data immediately. None of their systems follow the standards for the protocol they claim to support, IMAP, CardDAV, etc. They are the only ones who can make their interfaces totally compliant with existing standards.

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