contact names; what are the limitations for 'Contacts'?

Question

contact names; what are the limitations for 'Contacts'?

Over the last 6 months, my use of 'Contacts' on my 2017 iMac has been getting more and more interrupted by the spinning ball!

When I bought it, I spec'd upto my max savings, hoping to do a lot of Final Cut with my old home movies [ 4.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7, Radeon Pro 580 8 GB, 40 GB 2400 MHz DDR4, 2TB SSD ].

Shocked to hear today that my m/c is now a bit 'long in the tooth' and its hardware my not be supported!

Four different Senior Advisors have helped to no avail. We have tweaked, deleted and cleaned files out. We have created a 'New User' on two occasions and re-installed iOS.

I have 2900 cards and 38 'groups'. The problem(s) are spining ball for 10-120 seconds when making changes and when a new contact is created, before it gets 'saved' it just disappears (if it gets remembered at all, it is in a half finished state). On some occasions, I have saved an edit just to find that it has reverted to an earlier version.

I have one group where the Company names are nnnn> e.g. Tesla> (Plymouth). Could the ">" be a problem?

Any advice gratefully received. Thanks Geoff

iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 13.7

Posted on Oct 15, 2024 1:58 PM

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Answer 1

Old Toad

Level 10

210,443 points

Oct 15, 2024 2:16 PM in response to geofffromhalifax

Have you installed and run any "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus or VPN apps on your Mac?

Give this a try: boot into Safe Mode according to How to use safe mode on your Mac and test to see if the problem persists. Reboot normally and test again.

NOTE: Safe Mode boot can take up to 2 - 3 minutes as it's doing the following;

• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed

• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)

• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically

• Disables user-installed fonts

• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files

Note: if you have a wireless keyboard with rechargeable batteries connect it with its charging cable before booting into Safe Mode. This makes it act as a wired keyboard as will assure a successful boot into Safe Mode.

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Answer 2

PRP_53

Level 10

91,267 points

Oct 16, 2024 1:15 AM in response to geofffromhalifax

Part 1 of 2

Limits for iCloud Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, Bookmarks, and Maps

Contacts

Total number of contact cards: 50,000
Maximum size of a contact card: 256KB
Maximum size of a contact photo: 224KB
Maximum size of a contact group: 256KB
Maximum size of all contact cards:
- Card text: 48MB
- Card photos: 200MB
Supported file types for a contact photo: JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF
vCard import limits:
- Total number of vCards: 50,000
- Maximum size of a vCard: 256KB (photo + text)
- Maximum photo size for a vCard: 224KB

Part 2 of 2

Adding a New Contact

If applicable

Short answer - Ask Google if they have fixed their Service to play well when used on macOS

It is not the other way around

Apple has never tailored their Software to accommodate Other Third Party Services

On the constructive side

Take the computer Off - Line ( No Internet Connection )

Add your contact information

Does it work as expected ?

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Answer 3

Oct 16, 2024 3:03 AM in response to Old Toad

Thanks for trying to help. Problems still exists in 'Safe Mode'.

With internet 'off' problem does not happen. Since I usually work as if iMac was the 'Master' and iCloud a 'Slave' or 'Backup', I now have a work around.

Thanks again for trying to help.

Perhaps un-related observation, whether internet on or off, . . . a newly created card cannot be dragged to the 'group' I want it in until I have close Contacts and re opened it !

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