When upgrading from Mac OS X 10.1 to Mac OS X 10.2, or Mac OS X 10.1 or 10.2 to Mac OS X 10.3 Panther, Address Book automatically retains previous entries but not the "temporary" addresses used by Mail. Learn how to import those temporary addresses.
Note: This document applies to Mac OS X 10.1 through 10.3.9.
When you upgrade from Mac OS X 10.1 to Mac OS X 10.2 or later, all your Address Book entries are preserved. The first time that you open Mail, Address Book, or iChat, these addresses will be imported automatically into the Mac OS X 10.2 Address Book.
Tip: This section applies if you installed a later version of Mac OS X over an earlier one on the same volume, without erasing, and without performing an Archive and Install installation. If you performed an Archive and Install installation or different-volume installation, see "Archive and Install or installation on different volume" below.
In Mac OS X 10.1, Mail also kept a list of "temporary" addresses that were used in Mail but that were not explicitly added to the Address Book application. These addresses are not automatically imported into a later Address Book, but are imported as part of the Mail Address History (or Previous Recipients). To add them to the Address Book, follow these steps:
1. Open Mail.
2. Choose Address History (Mac OS X 10.2.8 or earlier) or Previous Recipients (Mac OS X 10.3 or later) from the Window menu.
3. Select as many entries as you wish to import. You can use the Command or Shift key while clicking to select multiple entries.
4. Click Add to Address Book.
Archive and Install or installation on different volume (partition)
If you choose to "Archive and Install" the later version over the earlier one, or installed the later version on a different volume or partition, your previous addresses will not be automatically imported. To import them, follow the steps below. You can also follow these steps if for any reason you wish to re-import your previous addresses.
1. Be sure that Mail, Address Book, and iChat are quit.
2. If you have not used these three applications since upgrading, skip to Step 9. If you have used them since upgrading, you will need to remove certain Address Book data before importing your previous addresses (Steps 3 to 8).
3. Click the Finder icon in the Dock.
4. Choose Go to Folder from the Go menu.
5. Type: ~/Library/Application Support/
6. Click Go.
7. Here, locate the folder named "AddressBook".
8. Drag the AddressBook folder to the Trash, or if you prefer, drag it to a backup location.
9. Copy the "Addresses" folder from the Library folder of your previous Home directory to the Library folder of your current Home directory. For reference, the pathname of your previous Address folder would be:
/Previous Systems/Previous System 1/Users/{your username}/Library/Addresses
The folder to copy it to would be:
/Users/{your username}/Library/
10. Rename the "Addresses" folder you copied to "AddressBook".
11. Open Mail, Address Book or iChat. Your previous addresses will be imported automatically.