Delete Duplicate Entries in Address Book
If you have a ton of contacts and a ton of duplicate contacts then you can quickly sort them out and merge the duplicates together. Address Book has a built in “search for duplicates” tool. This tool only searches for duplicates by name and then analyzes the content under each duplicate. It will not search for duplicate number or email address or anything else. Once it comes across a duplicate entry by name, it will then ask you if you would like to merge the duplicates. To get to this tool, open up the address book and click on the card menu.
Click on the “Look for Duplicates” option and Address Book will immediately start going through your contacts database looking for duplicates. If a duplicate is found it will ask you if you would like to merge the two, therefore making one contact from the two cards. It will combine any information in the two cards that might be different to make one contact. Merging contacts is okay. You will not loose any information entered into either contact card. To be sure, you can always backup your contacts manually before starting just to make sure. Read my article about manually backing up your address book.
