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iMessage on Mac not showing contact names
- Thread starter Hicksmat1976
- Start date
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I've found a fix.
If you change the numbers from +44 to 0 it displays the name instead.
Same issue here. Some addresses randomly won't appear as options when using share/iMessage. I managed to fix it by deleting the "missing" contact from my address book on my iPhone and reentering as new contact. A bit annoying, but easy enough to remedy.
I tried this, with no success. But I couldn't do the steps as described. Can someone help me?
1. First, on my Mac, I don't see "iMessage", I see "Messages". I did go to "Messages account preferences and sign out.
2. I click on a message that I know is from another iPhone user (ie an iMessage), and the conversation showed up in the right hand side of my Messages window. Does that mean the iMessage is "Open"? If not, how do I open the iMessage? Double clicking on the message just made the whole window bigger, but no change in the view.
3. I could not get a blank contact card to open, either by using the "Buddies" menu bar, or by using the short cut keys. Because I was signed out, when I click on Buddies, all the menu options are greyed out. I also tried all the steps except the first signing out stage, and when I use the keystrokes, the Buddies menu item flashes, but nothing happens. When I click on the Buddies menu item, the only ones not greyed out are : Create new contact, Send file, and three different calling options (FaceTime,etc). There is no "Show Contact Card" menu item. If I click on "create new contact, nothing happens. So this step doesn't seem to work at all. I cannot get to the point of viewing the contact card. Also, the keystroke sequence doesn't open Contacts, so, step 4, 5 and 6 cannot be done.
In short, the steps outlined above don't work for me. So disappointed; I want this situation fixed so badly.
One other thing I found when I was trying that may be connected:
When I opened up Contacts on my Mac, under "All Contacts", only one contact is showing. When I select the various accounts (iCloud, gmail), all of my contacts show up in the list. Why aren't they all showing under "All Contacts'? All of the accounts are enabled.
SOLVED (at least for me)
I fixed mine. Read the first four pages of the thread and didn't have luck so I rolled my sleeves up and put my hat on backwards. I was having the exact same problem as everyone. Just bought a new iMac to go along with the one I got last year. Same OS (high Sierra latest) same damn near everything. I had them side by side and all check marks were the same but I had numbers on the new one and names on the old. And it was totally a Google thing.
My solution was to go to Settings-->Internet Accounts. Highlight your Google account and click the little minus button (-) to nuke that bad boy. Then click the plus (+) button and add it back. Unselect everything then only select Contacts and click done or OK or whatever the hell it is. I did that and most all of my contacts came back magically.
Most all. But not all. I looked at the ones that didn't populate and realized they had all been added in the last couple years. Aha! About two years ago I switched my primary email to my personal one. my @texaschance.com account that is set up through G-suite. Nuked it in Internet Accounts, added it back, and my contacts are all there in all of their glory.
If I restart and they aren't there then I will do it again and trust the Apple Overlords to fix it in their good time. They are pretty good about addressing things that are this ubiquitous.
Side note - I have read comments in this forum for years but only added an account today to, hopefully, solve a problem you good and helpful people are having.
(edit - I spelled least wrong. Leat is not a word, Chance)
I fixed mine. Read the first four pages of the thread and didn't have luck so I rolled my sleeves up and put my hat on backwards. I was having the exact same problem as everyone. Just bought a new iMac to go along with the one I got last year. Same OS (high Sierra latest) same damn near everything. I had them side by side and all check marks were the same but I had numbers on the new one and names on the old. And it was totally a Google thing.
My solution was to go to Settings-->Internet Accounts. Highlight your Google account and click the little minus button (-) to nuke that bad boy. Then click the plus (+) button and add it back. Unselect everything then only select Contacts and click done or OK or whatever the hell it is. I did that and most all of my contacts came back magically.
Most all. But not all. I looked at the ones that didn't populate and realized they had all been added in the last couple years. Aha! About two years ago I switched my primary email to my personal one. my @texaschance.com account that is set up through G-suite. Nuked it in Internet Accounts, added it back, and my contacts are all there in all of their glory.
If I restart and they aren't there then I will do it again and trust the Apple Overlords to fix it in their good time. They are pretty good about addressing things that are this ubiquitous.
Side note - I have read comments in this forum for years but only added an account today to, hopefully, solve a problem you good and helpful people are having.
(edit - I spelled least wrong. Leat is not a word, Chance)
THIS WORKED!!!! I have been trying to figure this out for nearly a year, and this solved it. I created this account just so I could leave this message and thank you for posting it!
How did you add your Google contacts to your Mac? I think that's my problem too!
Thanks!
Hi,
I also had this problem, and I finally found a way to fix it without changing my contacts!
This is not an easy fix, so I wrote a small utility, and set up a GitHub project.
The main page: https://github.com/bSr43/FixIDSRegion
The pre-compiled binary can be downloaded here: https://github.com/bSr43/FixIDSRegion/releases
It worked for me, but I cannot guarantee that it'll work for everyone... use it at your own risks...
I also had this problem, and I finally found a way to fix it without changing my contacts!
This is not an easy fix, so I wrote a small utility, and set up a GitHub project.
The main page: https://github.com/bSr43/FixIDSRegion
The pre-compiled binary can be downloaded here: https://github.com/bSr43/FixIDSRegion/releases
It worked for me, but I cannot guarantee that it'll work for everyone... use it at your own risks...
FNG here. Apologies in advance if this has been solved. This was happening to me a few days ago and discovered a solution by chance. It's to do with (not only iMessage) but FaceTime. The same thing happens when you use a temp number on your iPhone. As you probably already know, it syncs with your iCloud and assigns/locks it to your Apple ID and both iMessage/FaceTime. On your Mac, go to the iMessage/FaceTime preferences and sign out. When signing back in, recheck the number on both ensuring your FaceTime location is set to the U.K and not the U.S.
Worked a treat for me - THANKS!!!!!!
Only suggestion is that you add the
&& killall identityservicesd && killall imagent
to the help within the program
The 'maybe' problem is definitely fixed by going into contacts and changing the number from beginning with '0' to beginning with '+country code'.
So if your number is 06... and you are in the UK you change it to +446....
I have done this and it works instantly every time.
Just tried this, will it only fix new messages? I tried and my current messages are still showing just the number.
Worked for me
EDIT
Advice for everyone,
Open the terminal in the same directory as the script.
The example commands as wrote in the readme are:
./FixIDSRegion R:IT +390000000000 (for Italy, modify it according to your country)
killall identityservicesd
killall imagent
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I just released another version (1.1). Now you can skip the second part of the process (the "killall" commands).
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Which arguments have you provided to the command? After the FixIDSRegion command, don’t forget to kill the running daemon, or reboot your computer if you prefer. If should work with all the conversations, the new and the old ones.
This worked perfectly for me, thank you. I ran the script, closed and reopened iMessage and now everything looks as it should. Thank you very much indeed.
Ok figured it out, your instructions are too ambiguous for someone who is not a programmer. I thought I needed to double click and that was it. However your program does work, so thanks.
For others, these are how to make it work:
- Download the pre-compiled zip to your desktop
- Open terminal
- Type FixIDSRegion R:UK +4400000000000 (replace UK for your region and +44 for your international code)
- Press enter
- Input password as required
- Open terminal
- Type killall identityservicesd
- Input password as required
- Type killall imagent
- Input password as required.
- Open iMessage and all will be fixed.
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You're right, information were ambiguous.
To summarize, download, and unpack (if Safari doesn't do it for you automatically) the ZIP file at https://github.com/bSr43/FixIDSRegion/releases
You need to launch the program using the Terminal application, which is located in the "Utilities" folder of the Finder. You can reach this folder by pressing ⌘⇧U in the Finder, or using the Finder's menu "Go > Utilities" (I don't have the correct English translation, as my system is installed in French, sorry about that).
Once launched, you can drag and drop the FixIDSRegion utility into the Terminal window: this will paste the exact location of the program on the disk. You'll probably see something like:
"/Users/yourname/Downloads/FixIDSRegion" appearing in the window.
Add the arguments to this command, ie, something like:
R:FR +330000000000
The exact arguments depend on the region where you live. If you are in the UK, it would be "R:UK +4400000000000", etc. The first part is the "R:" string, followed by the country, and the second part is a template international number for the country.
Once done, press enter. You'll be prompted to enter your password: this is to allow the program to modify a key on your behalf in the Keychain system program.
After that, launch Messages. You'll, once again, be asked for your password: this is because the key has changed, and now, you just need to allow Messages to access it again. So, in this case, choose the option to always allow access to the item (once again, sorry about that, I don't know the exact sentence in the English version).
This worked for me - thanks so much!
Anyone reading from the UK, the usage was FixIDSRegion R:UK +4400000000000 and all working now. Had to restart iMessage to see correct names.
Brilliant! Been bugging me for ages and following this thread, thanks for fixing this and making it accessible to others. I ran it on my MBP and it worked for 3 out of the 4 contacts I have existing messages from, looked at the 4th contact and can’t see anything different to the others, yet still shows it as +447...
Yet to try it on my iMac, but thought I’d ask the question as to why it doesn’t work for all? Am I missing something?
Thanks again
Martin
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Not ideal but exporting the contact to PDF, deleting and then re-adding as a new contact fixed the issue. Must have been something about the original contact? Thanks again.