How do I delete OLD iCloud contact info?

[Arelunde]

I use only iCloud for my contacts and email, including backups. Lately, I'm seeing old, deleted contact information showing up as multiple choices for certain contacts - ones where I have changed way the names are written (ex: all capitals vs. caps and lower case, or a different way to show the name).

I can only see these old listings when I type in the name in the email and the "choices" appear. I can't find them anywhere else to delete the old/incorrect addresses/information. The contact "book" on my iDevices and MBP (synced through iCloud) show just the correct and current listings.

Anyone know how to access this old information so I can delete it permanently?

 

[sahnert]

I know in Mail on the computer you can look in Window>Previous Recipients to clear old versions of contacts that are not in your address book. Not sure if its possible on iOS.

 

[Arelunde]

Thanks for the suggestion. I checked that and it only had listings for the last 2 days. There were some erroneous ones in that list, and I deleted them.

I DID discover, though, that iOS contacts have to be manually synced using the circle arrow at the top. So, if changes are made on the iOS devices, they should be synced right after to get the changes into the iCloud listings. I think this might account for the old listings showing up. But, I'm not sure it eliminates the old ones. I'll have to test it out.

EDIT: I discovered on the iPad, I had to find a wrong listing, hit "edit" and the entire list would sync. It wouldn't update by just tapping the circle arrow. It worked fine on the iPhone, though.

 

[Arelunde]

Possible solution ... ??

I haven't found any way to fix specific contacts that show multiple listings (when putting the address in an email) yet have only one listing in iCloud contacts. I've done a lot of unsuccessful research on this, but from what I can determine, what you see in the http://www.iCloud.com contacts is what there is.

HOWEVER, I did discover something interesting. When I enter an address (that's in my contacts) to an email, and two options show up - one correct and one incorrect - I did the following:
I went into my contacts on the iCloud website and re-entered the information that was different between the two listings. The next time I used the same address for an email, only one address showed up.

Maybe that's the secret??

 

[CosmoPilot]

Here's what I would suggest to you. Turn off iCloud on all your devices (to include Macs). Log onto iCloud.com and ensure the contacts you want are still visible on the Cloud. If they are, then do the following:

Delete all your contacts on your devices (**NOTE, ensure iCloud is Turned OFF before doing this**).

Once all your iDevices are purged of contact info, turn iCloud back on and allow the contacts in the cloud to flow back into your devices.

Note, if given the option to delete contacts from your iPhone when you turn off iCloud, please do so! Do not delete anything from the actual cloud!

I've done this and it works like a champ. Remember, whatever is in the Cloud is the truth!