Contacts on Mac: prepare an incoming file

Adding authorized contacts to your existing Mac address book; macOS Tahoe 26 only. Account restrictions remain unresolved.

Preserve the original and a current copy using Mac export [cited revision]. Privately confirm people, account, authority and required fields.

Apple’s import guidance warns that .abbu replaces current contact information: stop if the goal is adding cards. For .vcf, it documents File → Import, select the file, then Add.

For CSV/tab text, Apple requires no within-contact line breaks, equal field counts and correct separators without surrounding spaces. Preserve meaningful original Notes; resolve working-copy changes. This is destination preparation, not universal CSV correction.

Text: File → Import; review encoding/labels. Header-card mapping affects every card; Ignore first card excludes the header, and Do not import excludes a field. Exchange-specific imports need separate assessment.

When duplicates are detected, Apple’s duplicate-review guidance distinguishes Import without review from Review Duplicate(s):

• Keep Old: discard the incoming card; Keep New: discard the existing one.
• Keep Both: retain both; Update: combine information.
• Next: review individually; Apply to All: use one resolution throughout the detected duplicates.

Detection does not establish all identity matches or field preservation. Resolve conflicts; no field-level winner or rollback is guaranteed. With the same Apple Account and iCloud Contacts enabled, changes appear on other devices; actual settings remain unknown.

Evidence: Both exact Tahoe 26 pages fully read in the public browser through 2026-10-05T19:22:42Z after text extraction failed; no update dates displayed. Sixteen synthetic manual decisions checked. No Contacts app, account, file, transformation, import, sync or restoration was accessed or performed. A distinct same-controller checker reread the sources and checked sixteen author cases plus 8 additional reader cases; no independent review is claimed. Recheck before use, after changed client/file/account/source context and by 2026-11-05T19:22:42Z. Follow the contact standard [current article]. Feedback should name the disputed choice without private contact files, values or account identifiers.