Thanks Gary. One thing Gary didn't mention, is how to delete an old group (but not contacts within it), you need to press the DELETE key on either your Mac or signed into iCloud on a web browser. Dont think it's possible on IOS. This is not obvious, for me anyway, and takes a while to figure out.
Thanks Gary, really useful. I hadn’t spotted the new iOS and iPadOS functions. I use a Christmas List to print address labels for my Christmas cards. It is very easy to do directly from Contacts and might be worth a video. Also, if you select contacts and drag them into Numbers, you can get a table with headings and rows of the selected data in the contacts database. From Numbers, it is possible to copy and paste into Excel, if preferred.
This was very good and timely as I spent a couple of hours yesterday trying to figure where my Groups had gone and finally figured out the Lists. Great help, thanks.
Gary, thanks for this tutorial on using Contacts. The one thing I noticed was that if the email field in Contacts is not filled in/out you won't be able to 'Send Email' to members you have selected. Just thought I'd mention that so you could include on your next release of this tutorial.
Thank you, I always had duplicates on my iPhone but with your tips it should worked. And my biggest problem is solved. I had trouble with my Icloud ID, some things didn’t worked well, I had to restart my iPhone because numbers didn’t start up. I didn’t had numbers on my iMac pro, my new iMac air was soooo slow that I use to wait when I clicked on a map. So I first change my email, didn’t work. Then I made a second ICloud ID. And that was the solution. Everything works fine now and I am a happy Apple user. But I have to change my email on your newsletter because of the new account. Can’t wait for your next video. Many greetings from the Netherlands
Gary - I have watched a lot of videos on the new ios16 features, but don't recall every seeing anything about this topic. Thank you for this - it will be most useful.
Thanks very much for the video.As someone who's just switched over to iOS, I'm shocked at how horrible Apple's support for dual sim is. Was hoping I could use lists as a workaround for having a different ringtone foe each of sims but that doesn't appear to be the case.
Hey Gary, Very informative. Thank You. You didn't cover the case where you have lists of All Contacts, List A, List B, List C on your Mac and when they are "iClouded" to your iPhone and Apple Watch you only want to "see" say List B, but they show All Contacts, List A, List B, List C. If you "delete" All Contacts, List A, List C on the iPhone and the Apple Watch, are they just "hidden" not actually deleted?
Hi Gary, Got it solved; and feel really stupid about having to ask. All you have to do, when you are in iOS Phone -> Contacts, just tap on < Lists, then select the List of your choice. It will then go back to Contacts and be in the list of your choice. So far it will be the default when you return to Phone -> Contacts from quitting, deselecting, even after a 'hard' reset. Don't know if it will still be the default after a System upgrade.
Thanks, Gary! I have been moving my contacts from Gmail to iCloud, and while I can do it on the Mac, I could not figure out a way to do so on my iPhone. After watching your video, I understand now why this is the case. My Gmail list includes old contacts; I keep them just in case. Is there a way to do so on iPhone now? Tried it after watching your video but no luck.
Thank you Gary, that was very useful! I have one question: Is it possible to include email addresses to a list, that are not in the contacts? Because I want. to use such email lists for my workflows, but there are some email addresses that I don't want to include into my contacts...
Update on the post re blank fields. That problem seems to have resolved itself. Was taking a long time to sync and after an hour or so behaved normally. The only remaining issue is the inability to delete a list on the Mac. I can delete a Smart List on the Mac and can delete a regular List from the iPad, but pressing the "Delete" key on the Mac doesn't do anything.
Amazing. Is there a video explaining how to manage multiple accounts (eg Google + iCloud) and avoid seeing all contacts duplicated? I've seen there is a "LINK" option... but somehow can't batch use it.. and I have over a thousand contacts.. Thanks!
It sounds like you have the same contact in both iCloud and Google. You need to decide if that is OK, or if you want to just have that one contact in one of the two. How you handle it is up to you. You may want to have all of your contacts in one system and not use the other at all. Or, you may want to divide them up depending on how you use those systems and those contacts.
Thank you for this video. I have run into an issue however where I am unable to delete a List that I created in the Contacts app. Nor am I able to add any contacts I have imported to a created list. Could you share your insight as to what I might be doing wrong?
Thanks for the video. What is the difference between "All Contacts", "All on my Mac", and "All iCloud". I would think that they should all be the same now that I changed my settings to "iCloud"??? Thanks again
"On My Mac" in Contacts (and other places) means local-only data and files. So those contacts are just on your Mac and not in iCloud and you wouldn't see them on other devices.
@@macmost Sorry, I don't understand. I thought I had all my contacts backed up on iCloud. I have 230 "All Contacts" and only 190 in "All iCloud? Shouldn't they all be in iCloud?
@@beejaysoo iCloud is not a Backup. It is a cloud service. Sounds like you have 190 in iCloud and 40 more in On My Mac (local-only). Just move those over to iCloud.
On my 2016 MB Pro before & now to my 2021 M1 MB Pro it doesn't let me drag & drop a contact to a list. It never highlight the list when I move over the contact.
Sorry for this question, but how on earth do you trigger an iCloud Backup in Ventura ? Everything has changed and I cannot find the manual iCloud backup in settings. Sorry again for this question
Helpful info, but I wonder if it's possible to create a new list from the iPad. Seems like from your video, that this can only be done on a Mac, and then one can add contacts on the iPad. But can one create a new list one an iPhone or iPad?
Hi Gary, great topic! I've a question about it: I’d like to maintain the contacts I've collected about my previous colleagues but I don't want that they appear visible for WhatsApp. Is there a way to get a specific contacts list on iCloud which could be used only as a kind of “bank contacts” and not as standard contacts as family and current colleagues? Thanks in advance to shine a light!
Hi Gary, Thank you for this. Is it possible to create a list that you can send a text message to? I would like to text all of my accounts from time to time, and was hoping that I could do this by creating a list ... is that possible?
No, I don't think so. You have to add each person. I suppose you could build a list and copy and paste. But the problem is here that you don't want to do that. It would create a group text chat between all of you. Your accounts (don't know what sort of business you are in) would see each other's info and any response would go to all of them.
Thank you for this video. I have two contact lists - iCloud and GMail. Some of the contacts are not synced with my Apple Watch. How to sync the contacts between lists automatically. Please help.
You shouldn't sync them between lists. That would mean 2x contacts because you'd each contact once in iCloud and once in Google. Pick one system and use that.
@@macmost The reason I asked was, I purchased Apple watch and many contacts are not showing up when they called in Apple watch. I can see them in phone.
I had no idea how complicated they made contacts. I am now finding things that I never thought I needed to know. And there's still one more question. What is the directories section in contacts and how to use it? I have five email accounts and one of them is showing up under directories even though all five accounts are enabled. Having all of my accounts enabled allows me to manage my contact list individually for each account. What I don't want is for these accounts to be sharing contacts. So here's what I found out about directories: If your Mac is set up to access network directory services-for example, at school or work-they’re shown in the Contacts sidebar. So the one account that is shown under directories is my university account.
Hi Gary, Thanks for a great tutorial. I have a real headache. On my Mom's iPhone, her contacts doesn't say iCloud, it says her first name. But on her iPad, contacts says "iCloud" As I said it's a real headache as I cannot pair the two devices correctly. Any help will be great Thanks
Nice video Gary, thanks. It's a pity that the Contacts app from Apple is not of the same quality as your content. I find it is very buggy. Running macOS 13.0.1. For example, I tried to use the edit distribution function that you highlighted. I had 4 existing lists with between 5 & 30 entries each. The edit distribution menu item was greyed out. So I added a "Test" group with 4 entries and then the edit distribution magically appears (I'll overlook the fact that the window shows all the groups and you need to select one with a disclosure triangle). Deleting the Test group makes the edit distribution function disappear again. Makes no sense to me. Unfortunately this is not the only crazy behaviour I see when using Contacts. Apple has not done good work here.
@2:06 "... just have one account enabled." But will this work for people who used Gmail Contacts long before coming to iOS or the Mac? If "yes", this would be a good time to mention that. If "no", then is there a workaround?
Hi Gary, if I delete an apple contact does the message history & photos sent in the message thread also get deleted, or does it just stay in your message history but just under their unassigned phone number? Is this the same for standard messages as well as iMessages? Also, if I have a contact that is created in both google and apple contacts that have separate message threads, what happens if I delete the google contact - does the message threads for that contact merge into the apple message thread or stay separate or delete? Thanks! 😊
I cannot reliably move contacts from one list to another. Most of the time I can make on move, then I cannot move any others. Usually, after restarting the app I can again make one move. Very frustrating. Several people have been reporting this for months. Can anyone recommend a contacts app that will work well in the Apple system?
I wonder if you can help me. I have created a SmartList/Group with 25 names. From that List I want to send a List/Group message. I am able to send the Group Text Message, but all the responses from the recipients come directly to me and not to the Group. Therefore, the group cannot see the individual response because they are going to me directly. The recipients have a combination of iOS and Android devices. Is there a size limit for a Group text, or is the combination of OS and Android devices not allowing a group response and directing the responses directly back to me? Thank you
@@alan.macrae Hi Alan. I generally start with a regular text message by adding the first recipient. After that, I use/select the + icon (upper left-hand corner) when I select that + icon, it takes me to my Contact App. From the Contact App you can scroll through your list of contacts and select which ones you would like to add to your Group Text - do this again to select another Contact. I do this individually for each Contact I want to add. I have not figured out how I can Text an entire Group (which I created) from my Contact App. Hope this helps
I love your tutorials! You are very easy to follow and you are a great teacher. But, I have a problem I hope you can help with. My contacts are not dropping into my Christmas list. I am using a Mac with Ventura. I’ve restarted my computer, also, I toggled the on/off switch on the iCloud contacts in system settings. It will work for one contact then stops working. Any help on this matter will be much appreciated.
Not sure what the problem could be. Restart and try again. Make sure the list and your contacts are all on the same account (not the List in iCloud and the contacts in Google, for instance).
Great overview. But I'm not finding things behaving as you've suggested on the Mac. I can create lists on Mac and on iPad and everything works as advertised on the iPad. However, on the Mac when I choose a list and try to send an email, the to: field shows up blank in Mail. Or it might show only one of the names in the list. Similarly, if I'm already in Mail and choose create a new email, I can find the list in Contacts but when I select it, the to: field is blank. I've used the Group mails before on the Mac and all worked fine. This update seems to have introduced some bugs.
@@yinoveryang4246 Yes, completely upgraded. You might have seen my update. All works now except the inability to delete Lists from the Mac. Sometimes can sometimes can't. No problem from iPad or iPhone so fine, but still isn't working properly.
Hi, can you help with the messages app, if i delete one message from iPhone, it doesn’t delete on mac or iPad, it doesn’t sync with while deleting. I hope you understand.
EDIT: I'm not claiming responsibility for this change to the contacts list, but I WILL say that somewhere between 1 and 2 years ago I provided feedback to Apple that it was unreasonable of them to require iPhone and/or iPad users to also have to buy a Mac computer in order to create groups and that a person should be able to edit, delete, and add groups from any iOS device as well. The rep that took my feedback thought it was a great idea. It's really heartening to see that Apple has incorporated that, regardless of who it was that inspired them. The only downside to the change Apple made in going from Groups to Lists, is that, previously, on a mobile device, you could select multiple groups, without having to select them ALL. So, if you had say 5 groups and one group were "Business" and another were "Work" and you knew that the contact you were looking for were in 1 of those 2 groups, you could select to only have those 2 groups active so you wouldn't be searching through a bunch of irrelevant contacts. Now, your only option is either one specific group, or all of them. 😟 Anyway, now to my real question and quest... Hi Gary, thanks for all the great content you put out! I have a question that is only tangentially related to this video. For context, what inspired my question was a business card I recently saw, which had a QR code on the back. Scanning it allows one to leave a review of the business. Great idea for advancing a business, right? So, suddenly, it occurred to me that I would LOVE to do not only the same thing on my business card (QR code for reviews), but also be able to create a QR code out of my business vCard.. I often text or AirDrop my vCard to a new customer's phone, but it occurred to me that if I could create a QR code from my vCard and not only put that onto my physical business card, but also include it in my emails, it would allow me to hand my business card to someone or email it to them and they could then easily scan that QR code and after my vCard opens up from that scan, simply save it to their contacts on their device! I have gone the extra mile on my own vCard and I put an image of my face where one can add a photo to the card, but I've also entered URLs beyond just my company's web site. I have URLs for our Facebook page, our Instagram page, etc. If a customer had to manually copy all of that info into their contacts it would not only be so laborious that it would probably never get done, but it risks lots of typos too. They also would not have an image of my face pop up on their phone when I call them, which I find increases their likelihood to answer, since they're more likely to know who's calling. Imagine being able to create a QR code from a really complete vCard like the one I described and the recipient could just scan it and have it open the vCard on their device! I've seen 3rd party solutions, but first of all, they all seem to involve a monthly subscription. As it is, I have so many necessary monthly subscriptions that I feel like a shark being sucked dry by a horde of lampreys! What's even worse is, it's a clunky solution in that the vCard gets created on the service provider's website and then the customer downloads it from there. The ideal thing would be for Apple themselves to add a new feature to their vCard software, which would result in one more option showing up for each vCard in the contacts. Right now if you look at a vCard, the options offered for it are: 1) Send Message, 2) Share Contact, & 3) Add to Favorites. If you select "Share Contact" it then gives you a variety of options to share it, the most common of which are "Message", "Mail", and "AirDrop". How awesome would it be if one more option were added, that being, "Create QR code"?! Apple might eventually do that, but in the meantime, if there were an alternative way to create the QR code without involving a subscription service, it would be an extremely useful business tool. I don't mind paying a one-time fee of $10 or $15 for an app that would do that, but a $10 monthly subscription is just not an acceptable option. I hope I've explained the goal clearly and despite the many words I used, that it was a quick and easy read. I appreciate any suggestions you or your viewers might have! All the best!
Dear Gary, There's been a widespread issue recently with the Contacts app on MacOS. Users can't seem to be able to drag iCloud contacts into a newly created list, nor remove them afterwards. Have you heard about it, or seen it yourself? Might you happen to have a fix? Many thanks!
Hello, I am new to MacMost and I want to know what app do you use to do your screen recording, I see that the cherectors show us as you are typing sometimes, just curiouse. Thanks
I, accidentally, deleted all my Smart Lists that I created on my MacBook Air but I created similar Smart Lists on my iMac... Is there a way to share Smart Lists? I don't think that it's possible but I figured that I'd ask...
There may be a more elegant approach but the way I've done it is to create a new list and then with the Smart List displayed, select all the contacts in it and drag and drop them into the... dumb List. Of course the Smart List is dynamic and will update according to the criteria but the dumb List is static as at the time you populate it.
Visible to all? You mean the people receiving the email message can see who else received it? That's normal. What is it you are trying to do, exactly? Do you want to send to people and hide who else is seeing it? If the number is small (like less then a few dozen) then use the BCC field. That's what it is for. If the numbers are large, then you probably want a pro email service to send out a newsletter or such.
I have the same problem. I have no problem deleting from the iPad or iPhone, so that's a workaround. But what seems to work (usually) is to close the Contacts app and re-open it. Usually, you can now delete the list from the Mac.
I'm on a MacBook Air (M1, 2020) with macOS Big Sur 11. Dragging a contact name to a Group name (still called a Group on this Mac), nothing happens, dragging DOES NOT WORK. What am I missing? I can only put contacts in Lists on my iPhone SE 2020, then they show up in the Group on the Mac
I have also been using a Christmas Card List for years, with contacts that I selected from my All Contacts file, but now when I try to highlight a new contact name and drag it into the Christmas Card list, the app won't let me do that any more. The little icon of the contact just jumps back to it's place under the All Contacts list. So I can't add new people to my list for cards. Nor will the Contacts app allow me to directly add a contact into Christmas Cards. How do I get new people onto my list for address labels?
It works for me. Make sure you click and hold the card first, wait until you see a card icon appear to indicate you are dragging it, and only then try moving it to put it in the List.
Very strange.... when I drag the contact card to the new list, nothing happens (it doesn't add it)! When I select several names and use the menu to "new list from selection", new list created with no names. Hoping to use these LIST features to send emails to a subset of contacts but for me at least, functions don't seem to work. running Ventura 13.2.1
What's more, I've added a keyword (like TEST) in the "notes" area of contacts and SOME of them show up when I search for "TEST" and others don't. Thanks again for your awesome channel.
Hi So i have lots of contacts in vcf format, when i put them in contacts they are automatically selected and I go to file and new list from selections to make a new list. Is there a way to have this done automatically when I transfer a vcf file? is there a way to do this in shortcuts maybe? I have a few hundred that I would like to have them go into their own lists immediately after adding to contacts thanks so much!
@@paulshealthfitness7922 Definitely works when I try it. Are you saying you drag the vcf file from the Finder into the List in the left sidebar of the Contacts app, and yet the contact isn't added to that list? Odd. Not sure why it wouldn't work for you.
Contacts in Ventura is buggy. It fails to create Lists and Contacts on first try, mostly I have to shut it down and restart it, just to get an Entry. It seems to be principally buggy if you create either a List or a Contact by entering the name first. I have more success if I add another data field first. I have found Ventura to be more buggy than any other macOS I can remember. Apple is slipping, the more it charges.
How do we change the address of an entire group of people that’s in a list? ie Work Friends, their office moved, not they all have a different address..
Recently tried to migrate the Contacts from Google to Apple Contacts using the CSV import file. but it doesn't completely get the contacts in the list, but 60 to 70% were added. few contacts were not readable i think so, what is the other way to get it done without error.
You could also have signed into your Google account in Contacts, then with both Google and iCloud in Contacts, dragged records from one account to the other inside the app.
I just checked Lists in my iPhone and while I never created any of them I discovered 100's of them all named iPhone 4. They either have 0,1,2,3 or 4 people in them and it’s the same 4 people in every instance. How did this happen. Also as far as I can tell they can only be deleted one at a time.
iCloud or some other service? Try restarting Contacts and then see if you can rename it. Or, just create a new List, name that one, and move the contacts there.
NOTHING pisses me off more than the frustrations I suffer, trying to update old and purge incorrect contact information, especially email addresses from APPLES ARROGANT system. WHY DO THEY PREVENT CUT AND PASTE. They introduce way more chance of incorrect data 25 years later and I still think like a windows user I HATE APPLE, but I and stuck
The ability to add contacts to a list by dragging them to a list on MacOS no longer works on the latest version of Sonoma unfortunately. Apple haven't yet updated the Contacts app. Better off using another, 3rd party app until they update.
Or there is a work around, if you have an iPhone, add the contact on Macos, use the phone to add the to the list, then hop back to the Mac, hope iCloud synch is working today, and they will appear on the correct list on the Mac. Fingers crossed!
@@macmost ☠BLACK BARON☠ iClick the [ + ] iKon and the new entry disappears after approx 10 seconds. Honestly, America and Software Engineering is no longer what it was. Global Economy.
