Unable to restore contacts from time machine

[novanut]

For unknown reasons my contacts seem to be gone with only one remaining.
I have tried to use my time machine backup drive to copy the contacts app but the apps are grayed out.
I then tried using migrate assistant. It supposedly copied all the apps from time machine. However, when I opened the contacts app nothing had changed; the single contact.
I even tried using copy/paste from time machine to desktop. Again, single contact.

Appreciate all comments.

 

[Buerkletucson]

For unknown reasons my contacts seem to be gone with only one remaining.
I have tried to use my time machine backup drive to copy the contacts app but the apps are grayed out.
I then tried using migrate assistant. It supposedly copied all the apps from time machine. However, when I opened the contacts app nothing had changed; the single contact.
I even tried using copy/paste from time machine to desktop. Again, single contact.

Appreciate all comments.

Contacts come from your iCloud account......
Are you logged into iCloud and have Contacts turned on?

 

[russell_314]

For unknown reasons my contacts seem to be gone with only one remaining.
I have tried to use my time machine backup drive to copy the contacts app but the apps are grayed out.
I then tried using migrate assistant. It supposedly copied all the apps from time machine. However, when I opened the contacts app nothing had changed; the single contact.
I even tried using copy/paste from time machine to desktop. Again, single contact.

Appreciate all comments.

From my understanding Time Machine only backs up things on the computers drive. Contacts are normally stored on iCloud or at least that's how they are stored by default.


The first thing that came to my mind is, do you have the proper list selected? In the contacts app, there should be something on the left that says "All Contacts". Make sure that's selected. This in an area to the left of the search field area. If you don't see this area, go to the menu bar on top, then click "View" then "Show Lists"

 

[BrianBaughn]

The OP never said anything about where the contacts sync or if his contacts sync with a service at all. iCloud is just one of several possibilities and there's the possibility that they've just been stored locally (On My Mac).

If the OP's got an iCloud account the OP should check the website to see if they're there. Same goes for Google, etc.

If they were "On My Mac" they wouldn't be stored in the Contacts app itself. They're in database form in ~/Library/Application Support/AddressBook (the User's invisible Library folder) and grabbing an old version of that folder in Time Machine might bring them back.

 

[Buerkletucson]

The OP never said anything about where the contacts sync or if his contacts sync with a service at all. iCloud is just one of several possibilities and there's the possibility that they've just been stored locally (On My Mac).

If the OP's got an iCloud account the OP should check the website to see if they're there. Same goes for Google, etc.

If they were "On My Mac" they wouldn't be stored in the Contacts app itself. They're in database form in ~/Library/Application Support/AddressBook (the User's invisible Library folder) and grabbing an old version of that folder in Time Machine might bring them back.

Probably because he doesn't know where they are stored.....based on his post.
The vast majority of users use iCloud as it's the default and provides huge convenience features if you have more than one Apple product. Thus my response...
Storing locally is silly IMHO....

 

[Chancha]

You can enter Time Machine with the Contacts app active, then once the backup history is loaded you will stay inside the Contacts app, and you can go back in each backup time to see which was the latest where your whole contact list was still present. Once there, you can select all of those contacts and restore from it.

 

[novanut]

Contacts come from your iCloud account......
Are you logged into iCloud and have Contacts turned on?

View attachment 2150350

Thanks to everyone! What a great forum.

This is defiantly above my pay grade. I do not use iCloud. Call me a conspiracy nut but I don't trust it. I thought that by backing up using time machine I could go back and simply choose contacts to restore what was lose. But when I saw that contacts, and others, were grayed out I knew I was in trouble.

Buerkletucson: I don't use iCloud but have enough trouble with the clouds in my head. :{​

Russell: I went to 'all contacts' and it only showed the one. Not sure what/where the proper lists are stored.

Brian: Looked for address book and only found this;
which was in the 'user/library' tab, not the other/first library one.

Chancha: As stated earlier I opened contacts on the mini, then opened time machine>latest backup>applications and the apps/contacts were grayed out so not sure if I understand what you suggested. (Being an O M ((Old Man)) probably has nothing to do with it) :}

I may end up going through all my emails (10+k) and re-enter them by copy/paste. Ugh!

Thanks very much again for all your suggestions! God Bless.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Brian: Looked for address book and only found this;
which was in the 'user/library' tab, not the other/first library one.

That is in System/Library.

To get to the proper folder go to Finder, hold down the "option" key, select the "Go" menu and you'll see "Library" in the menu.

 

[novanut]

Good morning Brian.
I did as you suggested and do not find 'applications support' or 'address book'.
What am i doing wrong?
Thanks.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Good morning Brian.
I did as you suggested and do not find 'applications support' or 'address book'.
What am i doing wrong?
Thanks.

I don't know.

In Finder, press shift-command-G, put the following in and press return.

~/Library/Application Support/AddressBook

 

[novanut]

This is what was returned.

 

[BrianBaughn]

It's case sensitive and you need slashes where they're supposed to go.

 

[adrianlondon]

This is what was returned.

~/Library not ~library.

As posted above, you need to type it accurately; it won't guess.

 

[Chancha]

EDIT: scratch this. didn't realize the OP doesn't even use iCloud.

 

[novanut]

It's case sensitive and you need slashes where they're supposed to go.

Success! Thanks again! Now I have time machine open and the apps, including contacts are not grayed out. Not sure what happens next. Do I copy paste or drag and drop?
Maybe there's a glimmer of hope for this OM...

 

[novanut]

I need to add that the address book that came up was on the mini, not the time machine. Don't know it that's important...

 

[BrianBaughn]

I believe if you have that AddressBook window open and then enter Time Machine you can see the contents from long, long ago.

 

[Buerkletucson]

Just think.....if you would have used iCloud you could have avoided all this hassle.

It's a needless phobia IMHO......synching all your contacts, bookmarks, photos, calendars, Notes and more between Apple devices sure works well.

 

[novanut]

I believe if you have that AddressBook window open and then enter Time Machine you can see the contents from long, long ago.

Thanks again Brian,
Please advise how to proceed with copying that address book information back into my contacts app. Not sure how to go about it.
Thanks.

 

[novanut]

Just think.....if you would have used iCloud you could have avoided all this hassle.

It's a needless phobia IMHO......synching all your contacts, bookmarks, photos, calendars, Notes and more between Apple devices sure works well.

Thank you for your thoughts. It's a phobia I've picked up over the years. I probably should not have read "1984" by George Orwell, or "The Great Reset" by Klaus Schwab.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Thanks again Brian,
Please advise how to proceed with copying that address book information back into my contacts app. Not sure how to go about it.
Thanks.

There's no guarantee this is going to help as I don't know for sure what's on your computer, how you had Contacts set up or if your Time Machine backups were done correctly.

You should probably print these instructions before starting.

First, quit all your running applications.

Next, navigate to the AddressBook folder as you did before.

Then, click the Time Machine icon in the Menubar and select "Browse Time Machine Backups".

On the right side of the screen, navigate to and click a date when you're pretty sure you had all your contacts. This will magically transport the open AddressBook folder to that date.

Select all the items in the folder. Click the "Restore" button and follow the instructions to replace the files in the current folder with the ones from the TM backup.

Escape out of TM if it doesn't happen automatically.

Now, open Contacts and see if they're back.

 

[novanut]

There's no guarantee this is going to help as I don't know for sure what's on your computer, how you had Contacts set up or if your Time Machine backups were done correctly.

You should probably print these instructions before starting.

First, quit all your running applications.

Next, navigate to the AddressBook folder as you did before.

Then, click the Time Machine icon in the Menubar and select "Browse Time Machine Backups".

On the right side of the screen, navigate to and click a date when you're pretty sure you had all your contacts. This will magically transport the open AddressBook folder to that date.

Select all the items in the folder. Click the "Restore" button and follow the instructions to replace the files in the current folder with the ones from the TM backup.

Escape out of TM if it doesn't happen automatically.

Now, open Contacts and see if they're back.

Thanks again.
I followed your instructions.
-the menu bar didn't display the browse Time Machine backups. Just opened the desktop icon,
- navigated to the date,
- selected all the items in the address book,
-could not find, anywhere, the 'restore' button. What did I miss?

 

[posguy99]

It's a needless phobia IMHO......synching all your contacts, bookmarks, photos, calendars, Notes and more between Apple devices sure works well.

Until it doesn't. You can't even back them up. Never let Apple be authoritative for anything you care about. Learned that the hard way.

 

[novanut]

Until it doesn't. You can't even back them up. Never let Apple be authoritative for anything you care about. Learned that the hard way.

Thank you for your thoughts.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Thanks again.
I followed your instructions.
-the menu bar didn't display the browse Time Machine backups. Just opened the desktop icon,
- navigated to the date,
- selected all the items in the address book,
-could not find, anywhere, the 'restore' button. What did I miss?

If you're in one of the TM versions of the AddressBook folder just "select all", copy, navigate to the present day version of the AddressBook folder and paste the older stuff there.