If you’ve already switched Mac or iPhone several times, your address book will slowly fill up with old or duplicate contacts. In this tip, you can read how to merge or delete these duplicate contacts.
Clean up address book on your Mac
Over the years, more and more contacts are added to your address book. For example, if you add an e-mail account, this also includes address details. Over time, this can make for a pretty messy list, both locally and in your iCloud account. Follow the steps below to get rid of the duplicate contacts from your Mac address book.
- Open the Contacts app;
- In the left menu go to ‘All contacts’;
- Click on ‘Map> Search duplicate entries’ at the top of the menu bar;
- Once the address book finds your duplicate contacts, choose the Merge option.
It is good to know that you cannot manage your contacts in this way on your iPhone or iPad without an external app. So if you have your entire address book in iCloud, the step-by-step plan above is the best option to clean up your contacts. In this tip, you can learn how to delete your duplicate contacts on your iPhone, if you prefer.
If you can’t access your Mac for a while, or only have access to a PC, you can also use the iCloud website. To do this, log in at iCloud.com and choose ‘Contacts’. Then select the duplicate contacts, open the menu via the gear wheel and click on ‘Delete’. With this you cannot merge duplicate contacts, only delete them.
Looking for more tips? Check out the big iPhone & Mac tip overview!