Quantcast
Subscribe to magazine
You are not logged in, click here to log in.
Up to Discussions in Mac 911
14 Replies Last post: Apr 2, 2009 10:17 AM by plainspace  
Click to view Macworld's profile News & Columns Bot
Macworld
11,211 posts since
Nov 30, 2007
Reply

Dec 22, 2008 9:30 AM

Bulk edit Address Book data

Post your comments for Bulk edit Address Book data here
Reply
Click to view flybynight's profile Enthusiast
flybynight
835 posts since
Jul 21, 2006
1. Dec 22, 2008 9:42 AM in response to: Macworld
Re: Bulk edit Address Book data
If your are using Bento, could you do a bulk-edit there? Just curious.
Reply
Click to view XMattingly's profile Member
XMattingly
336 posts since
Oct 31, 2006
2. Dec 22, 2008 11:07 AM in response to: Macworld
Re: Bulk edit Address Book data
That is slick! Thanks, Chris.
Reply
Click to view rab777hp's profile Old Hand
rab777hp
1,191 posts since
Jun 11, 2008
3. Dec 22, 2008 12:37 PM in response to: Macworld
Re: Bulk edit Address Book data
how do spacing issues work out with this?
Reply
Click to view Chris Breen's profile Macworld Editorial
Chris Breen
3,595 posts since
Dec 11, 2000
4. Dec 22, 2008 4:46 PM in response to: rab777hp
Re: Bulk edit Address Book data
rab777hp wrote:
how do spacing issues work out with this?

I'm not sure what you're asking. Do you mean do you have to insert special characters to produce spaces? If so, the answer is no.
Reply
Click to view rab777hp's profile Old Hand
rab777hp
1,191 posts since
Jun 11, 2008
5. Dec 22, 2008 5:07 PM in response to: Chris Breen
Re: Bulk edit Address Book data
by spacing issues i meant that sometimes using find and replace, especially with TextEdit, extra spaces get added and taken away I was referring to formatting.
Reply
Click to view Chris Breen's profile Macworld Editorial
Chris Breen
3,595 posts since
Dec 11, 2000
6. Dec 22, 2008 5:19 PM in response to: rab777hp
Re: Bulk edit Address Book data
Oh, in that case, no, I haven't noticed any extra spaces.
Reply
Click to view braintoniq's profile New Member
braintoniq
5 posts since
Nov 28, 2007
7. Dec 25, 2008 1:14 PM in response to: Macworld
Re: Bulk edit Address Book data
One of the best Mac tricks I've seen in awhile. Thanks, Chris. (and I would've never guessed this one on my own).
Reply
Click to view Foxhoyle's profile New Member
Foxhoyle
1 posts since
Dec 28, 2008
8. Dec 28, 2008 11:11 PM in response to: Macworld
Re: Bulk edit Address Book data
Chris--is it possible to do something similar with iCal? I know I can export and edit the .ics file...just not sure how to do something like add a description to all of the entries. Thanks for the excellent article!
Reply
Click to view spiderbat's profile Member
spiderbat
153 posts since
Mar 23, 2001
9. Dec 29, 2008 6:03 AM in response to: Macworld
Re: Bulk edit Address Book data
An alternative method to make bulk changes in AddressBook is by means of AppleScript (sorry, some programming required!).
For instance, the following snippet changes the street address of every person in AB whose address contains a given string:

tell application "Address Book"

    • we assume that people whose address must be changed have just
    • one address

set a to people whose (street of first address) contains "Cat Street"
repeat with p in a
set (street of first address) of p to "Yellow Cat Street"
end repeat
save addressbook -- don't forget this!
end tell
Reply
Click to view EdwardLV's profile New Member
EdwardLV
5 posts since
Dec 29, 2008
10. Dec 29, 2008 10:50 AM in response to: flybynight
Re: Bulk edit Address Book data
Yes, Bento can easily do this Bulk Edit while in the Spreadhsheet view, use Find to group all the addresses to change. Change just the top one appearing in the list.

Then click and drag the bottom right corner of this field, in the newly changed record, downward to include ALL the records you wish to change. Done.

Bento seems to contain all the 'fixes' to Address Book that it badly needs. Publisher of Bento, Filemaker, owned by Apple, charges you $49 NO DISCOUNTS FOUND - for these new features. Note: all changes to Bento are automatically updated in Address Book and vice versa.
Reply
Click to view kananga's profile New Member
kananga
2 posts since
Jan 5, 2009
11. Jan 5, 2009 9:22 PM in response to: EdwardLV
Re: Bulk edit Address Book data
When in the table view in Bento, I don't see any way to just grab the lower right corner and fill the contents like in Excel. Are you sure you can do this in Bento? I just tried it with no success.
Reply
Click to view kananga's profile New Member
kananga
2 posts since
Jan 5, 2009
12. Jan 5, 2009 9:27 PM in response to: kananga
Re: Bulk edit Address Book data
I just went through the help file for Bento, and it does say you can do this, but mine doesn't work. Weird. Off-topic for this discusssion, but my Bento is not working.
Reply
Click to view EdwardLV's profile New Member
EdwardLV
5 posts since
Dec 29, 2008
13. Jan 5, 2009 10:23 PM in response to: kananga
Re: Bulk edit Address Book data

While in the Spreadsheet view, select ONE DATA BOX, by clicking on it. It should be the Top Most data box, as you will be 'filling down'.

A rectangle will appear around this data box with a SMALL CIRCLE in the bottom right corner.

This circle is what you DRAG DOWNWARDS to fill the boxes below, with the same data as the Top Box.

As you drag it, your mouse / pointer will change into a small Cross Hair and the rectangle will enlarge downward, filling the boxes below

with the Same Data as the top most box.


Reply
Click to view plainspace's profile New Member
plainspace
1 posts since
Apr 2, 2009
14. Apr 2, 2009 10:17 AM in response to: Macworld
Re: Bulk edit Address Book data
I am interested in adding a 1+ in front of all of my phone numbers in Address Book. Is there a way to do this?

Thanks!
Reply

Actions

More Like This

Macworld powered by Jive Software's Clearspace ® -1.10.1 (Version: {3}) - Submit product feedback
© Jive Software