Missing Contacts List

[HbgBill]

I believe I lost my contacts list at or about the time I installed Sierra on my Mac desktop.

I'm hoping that there is a place where the contacts list resides as a backup. I have a very old backup on a portable backup drive which I could install. I also have a somewhat newer contacts list on my laptop.. but is not the same as the Mac.

So, if anyone knows of a data file somewhere on the hard drive.. please clue me in on what to look for and how to restore it to my Dock. Note that the Icon is currently in the Dock.. it's just empty.

Thank you, Bill

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello,

-Do you have and were you using an iCloud account to sync your contacts?
-If so, can you login to iCloud and see them there?
-Do they still reside on any of your iOS devices if you have any?
-You have an iMac and a MacBook?

C

 

[HbgBill]

Hi Cory, thanks again for being such a great helper.
No, I haven't used iCloud. I guess there is no time like the present. I need to learn how to selectively use it as I tried activating it once before and everything, including tons of megabytes of photos went there. It could get costly

As mentioned above, I have a relatively new(er) address/contacts list on my MacBook.. but I don't know how to transfer from one to my desktop Mac. Can you point me in the right direction?

Thanks, Bill

 

[Cory Cooper]

No worries.

-Which version of OS X on the MacBook?
-You should be able to export the contacts on the MacBook, copy the file to the iMac, then import it into Contacts.

We can get into the iCloud sync once this is resolved, depending on the versions of OS X.

C

 

[HbgBill]

Thanks.
MacBook Pro w/ macOS Sierra
I can go to Contacts | File Export Contacts Archive. Is that correct? Next it shows "Save As : Contacts- 11-11-2016.abbu to Desktop. Dropdown shows also numerous options.. but iCloud Drive, Dropbox and Desktop probable choices?

 

[Cory Cooper]

Yes, that is correct export file. Copy that to other Mac an it should import.

C

 

[HbgBill]

Shows to go ya how little I know. I saved that aforementioned file to iCloud. I went to the Mac and opened iCloud and found nothing but a Pages file. When I opened that it was about transferring documents by dragging, etc. So, something is broken and I don't know where the tools are to fix it

 

[Cory Cooper]

-Do you have a USB flash drive?
-How large is the file?
-Is the destination Mac running a similar version of OS X and signed into the same iCloud account?

C

 

[HbgBill]

Yes.. USB
? file size
Both on Sierra...

But, the good news is.. I just tried saving again to iCloud and it worked today. Why not yesterday??? I must have done something incorrectly.

Again, Thanks for the guidance yesterday. It worked.

Cheers, Bill

Now I need to learn to transfer the music files I have on my computer to the Bose SoundLink Mini bluetooth. Wish I had a teenaged child still living near me.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Excellent, glad it worked.

Not sure why it didn't work yesterday, but glad it is now.

You don't actually transfer your iTunes songs to the Bose speaker, you play them in iTunes and stream them wirelessly. Here are the steps to use the Bose speaker with your Mac:

Bose - Pairing and connecting to a Mac® computer

C

 

[HbgBill]

Facepalm. I guess I used the wrong verbiage. What I need to do is to selectively transfer tunes to my cellphone so when I'm out in the yard or on a camping trip I can play the music or podcasts.

 

[Cory Cooper]

If it's an iPhone: Sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iTunes on your computer using USB

If it's another brand/model, it is much more difficult, and requires third-party software.

C