Does anyone know how I can merge/deduplicate contacts in a .vcf vcard file?

A nice easy graphical option would be ace but I have some terminal experience if necessary. I’ve tried vcardtools.py but I couldn’t work out how to use it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Thanks!

  • @gigachad
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    41 month ago

    I’m also interested in this. After moving my contacts 3 times in a vcs in the ladt yeard it is an absolute mess…

    • @[email protected]OP
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      1 month ago

      Yeah, after importing contacts back and forth between my android phone and Thunderbird I’m in the same boat. Trying to avoid manually selecting the 400 or so duplicates to delete them… The duplicates aren’t visibly listed in my phone’s app but when I export a .vcf file from it and open it in Thunderbird or Gnome Contacts they are. I’m surprised that my desktop apps don’t have something inbuilt to deal with this.

      • @gigachad
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        11 month ago

        I tried to do this manually on my phone, but no chance. The contacts randomly split or merge, then another telegram account pops up, the next contact is protected and therefore cannot be removed but only be hidden. Some contacts are not on DEVICE, so messaging apps cannot access them etc.

        If you find a solution to sanitize vcfs let me know. I guess one day I write all the numbers onto a piece of paper and start from scratch.

        Btw. I’m not sure if this community is the best place for this.

        • @[email protected]OP
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          11 month ago

          I think I’ve found a workaround. In the Fossify Contacts app on my phone, in the settings I checked the box marked ‘merge duplicate contacts’. I then used the AOSP Contacts app to export them as a .vcf which I imported into Thunderbird, which is now showing no duplicates. I don’t know why the AOSP app is able to export without duplicates, even though it’s the Fossify app which has the ‘merge duplicate contacts’ option but there you have it…