How to Restore a Mac Address Book

Restore your previous Address Book on your Macintosh computer.

An operating system upgrade on your Macintosh computer may not import your Address Book information if you did not archive your previous settings prior to the upgrade. Thankfully, the previous address book can be imported to the current application by locating its folder in your Home folder on your hard drive. According to the Apple site, performing this task writes over existing contacts in your Address Book application. Back up any current contacts in the application prior to performing the restoration to maintain current and old information.

Things You'll Need

• Mac OS X v.10.2 or later

Instructions

1. Click "Go" at the top of the computer screen's menu bar, click "Applications" on the sub-menu and press the "Control" button on your keyboarding while clicking the "Address Book" icon.

2. Release the "Control" button, and click "Open" on the short cut menu to launch the application. Click "File" on the menu bar, move your cursor to "Export" and click "Address Book Archive" on the sub-menu.

3. Click the "Save" button to save your current address book to your Documents folder. Click "Address Book" on the menu bar and click "Quit Address Book" on the submenu to exit the application.

4. Click the "Finder" icon on your computer screen's dock, and click the tab of your old Home folder in the Finder's side bar. Open the "Library" folder, and open the "Application Support" folder.

5. Hold the "Control" button and click the "Address Book" folder icon. Release the "Control" button and click "Copy Address Book" in the shortcut menu.

6. Open your current Home folder and go to "Library/Application Support." Click "Edit" at the top of the screen's menu bar and click "Paste Item" in the submenu.

7. Click "Replace" in the pop-up window to confirm you wish to replace the existing folder, and launch the Address Book application.

8. Click the name of the Address Book backup in the Documents folder, and click the "Open" button to import the address book. Click "Card" on the screen's menu bar, and click "Look for Duplicates" to erase any duplicate entries that may be in your application.

9. Click "Done" if no duplicates are found, or click "Merge" to merge duplicates into existing contacts.

References

• Apple: AddressBook 4.0 Help - Addresses are Missing After Upgrading Mac OS X