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JeremyNicoll · 14 Sep 2019, 05:43 PM

I also don't let FM create contacts for me, not least because I have a naming convention for contact 'names' which isn't just someone's name - eg I indicate in it if they're a friend or a local business or a mail-list id etc.

According to: https://www.fastmail.com/help/contac...tcontacts.html

you can export your contacts and import values again. It might be possible to use a spreadsheet or (if you can program) write a de-duplicator that works with an exported list of contacts. The main problem I think you'd have is that when you then imported the simplified list you can't be sure whether the 'new' list will replace or augment the old set.

I tried this with one subset (ie Group) of my contacts. I created two formats of export file - VCF and one of the CSV options. With the CSV one I slightly modified the name of each contact then imported its contents.

I'd hoped the import process would allow me to choose the name of the group it'd place the new addresses in... but it didn't. Somehow, despite the name of the input file not being the same as the name of the CSV file that had been exported, and there being no record of the Group's group-name inside the file, the import replaced the orginal definitions with the new ones, inside the Group I'd exported the contacts from.

I ran another import after that, using the VCF file I'd first exported (which had not had the names modified) ... and now I have them (in a 'No Group') list as well as the modified set.

I deleted the entries imported from the VCF file, re-edited the CSV file to change the names in it back to their original values, and imported those again. They replaced the earlier replacements, giving me the original setup again.

If you try this, you'd want to be very careful.

14 Sep 2019, 05:43 PM	#5
JeremyNicoll Essential Contributor Join Date: Dec 2017 Location: Scotland Posts: 484	I also don't let FM create contacts for me, not least because I have a naming convention for contact 'names' which isn't just someone's name - eg I indicate in it if they're a friend or a local business or a mail-list id etc. According to: https://www.fastmail.com/help/contac...tcontacts.html you can export your contacts and import values again. It might be possible to use a spreadsheet or (if you can program) write a de-duplicator that works with an exported list of contacts. The main problem I think you'd have is that when you then imported the simplified list you can't be sure whether the 'new' list will replace or augment the old set. I tried this with one subset (ie Group) of my contacts. I created two formats of export file - VCF and one of the CSV options. With the CSV one I slightly modified the name of each contact then imported its contents. I'd hoped the import process would allow me to choose the name of the group it'd place the new addresses in... but it didn't. Somehow, despite the name of the input file not being the same as the name of the CSV file that had been exported, and there being no record of the Group's group-name inside the file, the import replaced the orginal definitions with the new ones, inside the Group I'd exported the contacts from. I ran another import after that, using the VCF file I'd first exported (which had not had the names modified) ... and now I have them (in a 'No Group') list as well as the modified set. I deleted the entries imported from the VCF file, re-edited the CSV file to change the names in it back to their original values, and imported those again. They replaced the earlier replacements, giving me the original setup again. If you try this, you'd want to be very careful.