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dkkerr Author

Level 1

84 points

updated to macOs Sequoia now contacts gone

I updated to macOs Sequoia 2 days ago and none of my 1000+ contacts are visible in the Contacts App. I have an iMac 5K 2020, and my contacts are fortunately on my other devices and in iCloud. After searching Apple Support and the web, the most up-to-date (Aug 28, 2024 or last month) help was on iDownloadBlog (thanks Ankur Thakur) and I tried everything suggested (eg restart, force quit, sign out of contacts on my iCloud settings & re-sign in, rename the Addressbook folder in Library and even to copy the .vcf from iCloud and paste locally.)

Nothing helped. The closest I came was when I tried pasting the copied cumulative .vcf file from iCloud, there was a greyed out or ghost of my contacts visible for a moment behind the dialogue box, but it then became a repeating "No Name" 1000+ times after clicking the blue Import button. (confusing description but the best I could do)

Any ideas? Thx

Posted on Sep 21, 2024 11:44 AM

Top-ranking reply

Nick Peronti

Level 1

39 points

Posted on Nov 8, 2024 8:04 AM

Think I have this figured out.

I had multiple folders called "Contacts" in ~/Library/Containers/. At least the Finder was calling them "Contacts".

If you copy them to the Desktop you see they are actually named "com.apple.AddressBook", "com.apple.PeopleViewService", "com.apple.PeopleViewService.PeopleWidget-macOS".

Assuming you have all your contacts safe and sound in icloud, try the following:

Turn off contacts syncing in your icloud settings.
Close the Contacts.app.
In the Finder, click the Go menu then Go to Folder and paste in: ~/Library/Containers
In there, look to see if you have multiple folders called "Contacts". Drag all of them to the Desktop.
Now turn contact syncing back on in icloud settings and open the Contacts.app.

Hopefully everything is groovy after that. If it is, I think you can safely delete those folders dragged to the desktop.

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69 replies

Axel Foley

Level 10

149,598 points

Oct 29, 2024 2:12 PM in response to AlWeir

The information and the procedure in the link above does not work in this case. This is because the contacts sync perfectly with the Mac, however, are not displayed by the Contacts app. This issue is bigger than just syncing contacts. I suspect that this involves corrupt data/files that are associated with the Contacts app in macOS Sequoia for some folks. Still in search of a solution….

Axel F.

OCMG

Level 1

64 points

Oct 1, 2024 7:44 AM in response to Ron Klein

Attempted to Migrate my user account from TimeMachine - this didn’t work either

My thinking was that since I was able to create a new computer account and see all of my contacts in that connected account, migration of my old account after upgrade may be worth revisiting. For those interested in details:

In Sequoia (chose not to downgrade—yet), I

Created a new, temporary user account with admin privileges in Users & Accounts
Used Disk Utility to run first aid on my Time Machine drive
- Just in case inconsistencies in backup existed, fix them
- Went shopping - it took hours
- No issues
Said goodbye to my user account
- Shut off Find My Mac just in case?
- Signed out of my Apple Account and didn’t save copies of anything from iCloud
- Logged out
Logged into temp account, didn’t bother with any Apple Account or Touch ID stuff
Started Migration Assistant to make doubly sure I could migrate my user from the Time Machine, pre-upgrade
Quit Migration Assistant
Logged back into temp account
Went to Users & Accounts in System Settings and deleted my old user account. Did not save it.
Started Migration Assistant
Selected my Time Machine drive
Under user data, chose the day before upgrade
Only chose to migrate my user account from list of items
Waited again. About two hours
Signed into new “old” account and Apple Account
No Contacs!

It should be noted that the last version of macOS Sonoma I was using before upgrade to Sequoia was NOT v14.7. I had chosen to skip the final update prior to upgrade. I wonder if…

Sep 24, 2024 8:05 AM in response to dkkerr

I have the same issue (Macbook Pro M1 Max). Luckily they still exist on my iPad + iPhone – and also on iCloud.com.

But not on my Mac. Not sure what to do....

dkkerr Author

Level 1

84 points

Sep 24, 2024 3:32 PM in response to DhaveYorke

Thank you. Yes, I spent 1+ hours with a polite Apple Support person as well; we tried the creation of another admin user but unfortunate for me that didn't work. Good for you, though.

The step following that was to dismantle the System Library support files for Contacts (as though there was a corrupted file in there). Again no luck

My next step is to re-install Sequoia. I am taking a week away from home, so we'll see what that brings after a while.

snf123

Level 1

8 points

Sep 25, 2024 11:38 PM in response to Ron Klein

Interesting Ron,

I tried all that you mention with the same results. However, then added another user I named "Test", signed into my iCloud account and hey presto contacts were there. So looks like the issue is somewhere in the user configurations.

Then wiped the hard drive completely and re-installed Sonoma. Again updated to Sequoia and Contacts not showing.

Currently gone back to Sonoma until Apple supplies a patch.

Stephen

OCMG

Level 1

64 points

Sep 27, 2024 8:58 AM in response to dkkerr

dkkerr,

Any luck with re-installation? I have two "Address" books; one that contains merely my card, that is synced to my main Apple Account, and the other that my wife and I each use as secondary accounts for the purpose of keeping a joint book of contacts. This holds the 3k+ contacts we both use. I was able to create another account on my 2023 M2 Pro mini and sign into the adjunct account like snf123 did and see the contacts in that Contacts.app. Still trying to avoid the pain of going back then re-installing Sequoia unless it looks like it solved the problem for some folks.

In closing, I tip my hat to all those "weather ships" doing the re-install, and await your amazing results!

Cheers

dkkerr Author

Level 1

84 points

Oct 5, 2024 11:28 AM in response to OCMG

OCMG, Ron Klein thanks for the continued updates. I appreciate the input.

I also wish that the 15.0.1 update would have included a fix for this bug. I do appreciate the rapid security fixes.

I discovered another bug that has a similar (frustrated group) thread; macOs Sequoia took some of my Documents out of their like-named folder and put them in the iCloud Archive. Quite an unpleasant surprise to find more important files "gone".

jp_leif

Level 1

80 points

Oct 16, 2024 10:06 AM in response to plsemail

Synching works, all your contacts are sync'ed to your Mac, but the contact app didn't show them. That's the problem Apple has to fix. Still hope this will happens with 15.1. As I wrote before you can also use apps like Alfred or Raycast to access your contacts on the Mac until Apple fixed the problem. I just installed and check Raycast, it works pretty good. You have only to enable the extension "Search Contacts".

jp_leif

Level 1

80 points

Oct 29, 2024 2:45 PM in response to Axel Foley

I suspect that this involves corrupt data/files that are associated with the Contacts app in macOS Sequoia for some folks. Still in search of a solution….

Axel F.

I agree, this was also my assumption, but it seems that at least my support contact has no clue which files could be involved. Hope somebody from development will at the end get some time to find and fix it. I have still some hope. Meanwhile Raycast is my friend ;-)

jp_leif

Level 1

80 points

Oct 29, 2024 2:52 PM in response to bikinijack

bikinijack wrote:

Agreed. I can tell you that if you create an additional user on your Mac, the contacts do show up. But that still doesn't fix the problem...

I know, I checked it out already in September. One of the first things I did to check if the app might be corrupted ;-)

dkkerr Author

Level 1

84 points

Oct 29, 2024 5:15 PM in response to jp_leif

jp_leif good perspective, judging by your posts you have put a lot of time and work into this problem. Agree 100% that this is not synching but something in Core System.

One of the other posters has already been into the next bug fix eval, and I believe they said Apple hadn’t found a solution. Sometimes I wonder if there are only so many engineers and they have a “numbers” algorithm. In other words if we had >100 in this thread, they would work on this before other complaints.

I used to have a friend in the company but he was in shipping, which was fun but not very helpful. You are right, keep pushing Apple Support.

jp_leif

Level 1

80 points

Nov 9, 2024 2:25 AM in response to Nick Peronti

Thanks a lot! It works. I had some trouble because of my German system. The only folder I found was on called Contact. So if you are on another system language, look for the right name ;-) Beside the addressBook, I had com.apple.PeopleViewService and com.apple.PeopleViewService.PeopleWidget-macOS with the name "Contacts/Kontakte". currently the are not rebuild. Not sure if that will happen, when starting another app. Thanks again!