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How to Back up or Move Your Address Book or Contacts Data to a New Mac
Contacts or address book: Either way, be sure to back up the data
By Tom Nelson Tom Nelson Writer Tom Nelson is an engineer, programmer, network manager, and computer network and systems designer who has written for Other World Computing,and others. Tom is also president of Coyote Moon, Inc., a Macintosh and Windows consulting firm. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on January 27, 2021 Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email In This Article
Expand Jump to a Section Restore: macOS Catalina (10.15) to Mountain Lion (10.8) Back Up: OS X Lion to Leopard Restore: OS X Lion (10.7) to Leopard (10.5) Back Up: OS X Tiger and Earlier Restore: OS X Tiger (10.4) and Earlier Moving Data to a New Mac Apple's Time Machine backs up your Contacts list, but it's not easy to restore only your Contacts data from a Time Machine backup. There's a simple solution, although the method and nomenclature changes a bit with the different versions of OS X and macOS. The Contacts app lets you export its contents to a single file that you can easily move to another Mac or use as a backup. Here's how. Information in this article applies to Macs running macOS Catalina (10.15) through OS X Tiger (10.4). Launch Contacts. Click File in the Contacts menu bar. Select Contacts Archive. In the Save As dialog box that opens, enter a name for the archive file, select where you want to save the file, and click Save. Use the disclosure triangle next to the Where field to expand the dialog box. Restore Contacts in macOS Catalina 10 15 Through Mountain Lion 10 8
To put the contacts from your archive into your Contacts app: Click File on the Contacts menu bar and select Import in the drop-down menu. Locate the Contacts archive you created. Select it and click Open. A drop-down sheet opens, asking if you want to replace all your Contacts data with the contents of the archive file you selected. Click Replace All to proceed. After you click Replace All, the process can't be undone. How to Back Up and Restore Address Book Data in OS X Lion Through OS X Leopard
In older versions of OS X, Contacts was called Address Book. Here's how to back up and restore its data file: Launch the Address Book application by clicking its icon in the Dock, or use the Finder to navigate to Applications and double-click the Address Book application. From the File menu, select Export > Address Book Archive. In the Save As dialog box that opens, enter a name for the archive file or use the default name provided. Use the disclosure triangle next to the Save As field to expand the dialog box. Navigate to a location on your Mac to store the Address Book archive file. Select a destination and click Save. Restore Address Book in OS X Lion 10 7 Through OS X Leopard 10 5
Restoring is similar to newer versions, too: Launch the Address Book application by clicking its icon in the Dock, or use the Finder to go to Applications. Then double-click the Address Book application. Click File in the Address Book menu bar and select Import from the drop-down menu. In the dialog box that opens, go to the Address Book archive you created, select it, and click Open. You are asked if you want to replace all the contacts with the ones from the selected archive. Click Replace All. How to Back Up and Restore Address Book Data With OS X Tiger and Earlier
Here's what the process looks like in even earlier versions of OS X: Launch the Address Book application by clicking its icon in the Dock, or use the Finder to navigate to Applications and double-click the Address Book application. Click File in the Address Book menu bar and select Back Up Address Book. In the Save As dialog box that opens, enter a name for the archive file or use the default name provided. Use the disclosure triangle next to the Save As field to expand the dialog box and go to a location on your Mac to store the Address Book archive file. Select a destination and click Save. Restore Address Book in OS X Tiger 10 4 and Earlier
Launch the Address Book application by clicking its icon in the Dock or use the Finder to navigate to Applications. Double-click the Address Book application. Click File on the Address Book menu bar and select Revert to Address Book Backup. In the dialog box that opens, navigate to the Address Book backup you created earlier and click the Open button. You are asked if you want to replace all the contacts with the ones from the selected archive. Click Replace All. Moving Address Book or Contacts to a New Mac
When moving your Address Book or Contacts data to a new Mac, use the Export option to create the archive, rather than create an Address Book backup. The Export function creates an archive file that's readable by all the versions of OS X and macOS. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit More from Lifewire How to Restore or Import a Mac OS X Mail Address Book How to Back Up iPhone 5 How to Modify the Mac Finder Sidebar How to Move Your Apple Mail to a New Mac How to Export Emails From Outlook Export Mac Mail Address Book Contacts to CSV File How to Find Files Faster Using Spotlight Keyword Searches How to Export Contacts in Mozilla Thunderbird How to Back Up Your iCloud Contacts and Calendar Data How to Open Your Outlook.com Address Book How to Transfer Your Contacts From Android to iPhone How to View Your Gmail Contacts in macOS Contacts How to Use Spotlight, the Finder Search Window How to Zip and Unzip Files and Folders on a Mac How to Back Up Your Photos or iPhoto Library How to Back Up Contacts to iPhone SIM Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. Cookies Settings Accept All Cookies