sorting through 9000 bad contacts in HS or mojave or iOS

[jonyotten]

I need to tackle an absolutely trashed set of contacts. there appear to be accidentally merged contacts (by my eye) as well as 1700 duplicates (per the software on my phone). also there is just trash contacts in there i imported that i should not have.

i imagine i need to do one of tro things:

1. print all of them, delete them all and then manually re-enter the good ones by reviewing them on paper. (preferred i think since i am an analog guy).
2. manually review all do them in the computer, print or screenshot all the good ones, then delete all do them and renter the good ones in screenshots or that i printed out. (not really preferred since i would like to have print outs at the coffee shop and it go back and forth to my screen or work at the home office with the big screen so i can see things).

it doesn't seem to me like it is going to be helpful to manually sort the bad ones since there are so many.

i am on high sierra (desktop) and mojave (laptop).

links to step by step instructions also welcome.

THANK YOU

 

[krs]

Hi and welcome to Mac-Forums.
What you are suggesting to do sounds rather labour intensive.

Why can you not just select all contacts on th Mac, that will give you a list in alphabetical order.
First clean out the "trash" ones - easiest to select by holding down the Apple (Command) key as you select them and then delete them with a right click of the mouse.
On the duplicates your probably best to look at the details - I find I have multiple name duplicates but the details are different.

And if you don't feel comfortable doing this directly on the Mac, make a copy of the contacts first i case you delete some you actually wanted to keep.