Problem with contacts in iCloud Mail

[zarathu]

SOLUTION FOUND--SEE LAST POST

First of all, I am not connected to the Cloud. I don’t store anything in it, and have not enabled it on my 2021 MBP. Excerpt as iCloud Mail uses it without my permission, I don’t.

I have a problem with the grouped contacts. These are contacts that iCloud collects based on my use of sending to multiple people. Somehow one of the emails omitted the number “47” in one of the emails. I have fixed this in the contacts according to Apple’s Support instructions, and refreshed the system. However, in the grouped contacts, that iCloud fills in when I select them, the old email address is there. I cannot fix it. I do not know where they are stored to delete them. It's just a pain. And don’t always remember that I need to send to email address with the one that has the 47 in it.

Anyone know how to fix this?

 

[zarathu]

Its in the cloud. Typical. There’s no way I can access anything that is part of how iCloud Mail operates in the cloud.

 

[hg.wells]

from the sounds of it, iCloud and the “Cloud” is not the issues you’re having. The mail app stores emails addresses you’ve typed previously to try and save you time. The problem comes up when you’ve typed something incorrectly.

Remove obsolete email addresses in Mail on Mac

In Mail on your Mac, remove obsolete or incorrect email addresses from the Previous Recipients list.

support.apple.com

 

[zarathu]

from the sounds of it, iCloud and the “Cloud” is not the issues you’re having. The mail app stores emails addresses you’ve typed previously to try and save you time. The problem comes up when you’ve typed something incorrectly.

Remove obsolete email addresses in Mail on Mac

In Mail on your Mac, remove obsolete or incorrect email addresses from the Previous Recipients list.

support.apple.com

Yes....OBVIOUSLY. I have no problem understanding that! The question is HOW TO GET RID OF THEM!

I’M not using the the mail app. I’m using iCloud Mail, which is (guess what?) in the cloud.

 

[hg.wells]

I’m trying to help, most people that own a Mac don’t use iCloud.com due to its limited functionality, such as the issue you are having. I’ve just logged in and you can’t remove what you are trying to do. So unfortunately your issue is not obvious.

If you want to resolve the issue, I’d recommend using the native Mail app on the Mac for the best user experience. Then you can follow the steps in the article I provided.

 

[BrianBaughn]

I agree with hg.wells. Currently, by using the web portal of iCloud mail, you are using it in the worst way possible.

 

[zarathu]

I agree with hg.wells. Currently, by using the web portal of iCloud mail, you are using it in the worst way possible.

I don’t understand why I am using it in the worst way possible. What would be the best way possible?

 

[zarathu]

......most people that own a Mac don’t use iCloud.com due to its limited functionality....

What functions does it NOT HAVE that cause “most people”. not to use it. Other than this little glitch, it has as much functionality as any other cloud email connection I’ve used.

 

[BrianBaughn]

I don’t understand why I am using it in the worst way possible. What would be the best way possible?

With a nicely-featured email client in the OS of your choice.

 

[BrianBaughn]

What functions does it NOT HAVE that cause “most people”. not to use it. Other than this little glitch, it has as much functionality as any other cloud email connection I’ve used.

I wasn't comparing it to other email provider web portals.

Your OP has been answered, I guess.

 

[hg.wells]

What functions does it NOT HAVE that cause “most people”. not to use it. Other than this little glitch, it has as much functionality as any other cloud email connection I’ve used.

Please stop with the attitude, we’re trying to help you out.

For one the fact that you don’t have to login into the iCloud site every time you want to check your email. What you’re doing is going to the post office every day to collect your mail when you could have it delivered.

The Mail app has a tone more functionality than the web version, which includes resolving your issue.

 

[zarathu]

Please stop with the attitude, we’re trying to help you out.

For one the fact that you don’t have to login into the iCloud site every time you want to check your email. What you’re doing is going to the post office every day to collect your mail when you could have it delivered.

The Mail app has a tone more functionality than the web version, which includes resolving your issue.

Simply because I’m trying to get a simple question answered, and I keep asking it since its not being answered, doesn’t mean I have an attitude. I am also old(72 years old), and I have been using Apple’s and Macs since 1982, and Sinclairs in the 70’s.

So I am answering the question myself below.

I’m asking how to fix what I an currently using, not go to an APP on my computer that requires me to type in POP addresses etc, like I’ve been doing since 1994 which I got my first 2400 baud modem, and the whole internet was text based. EVEN THOUGH I DON’T USE THE CLOUD FOR STORAGE, using iCloud Mail, uses the cloud for all but the smallest parts of the app.

Clearly it is not possible because to fix, while I can change the contacts on my mac, I cannot change the combination email addresses that iCloud Mail formulated since they are in the cloud---and I cannot change that part of the cloud. This is obvious from the answers.

(Answer coming up...)

Rather than being so condescending, it would have been easier for you to simply say that if I want to use a web based email service like iCloud Mail, rather than an app on my mac, that there characteristics in the cloud that are not connected to my mac. To be sure that this is correct, I turned off my wifi, and found that I could not type in any addresses at all.

It is possible that the AI which watches my usage and compiles groups of emails that I send will refresh these groups as I put in the correct email addresses for them from my contact list. And if I don’t mind harassing these people by sending them repeated emails, I might be able to force the AI to do the refreshment sooner. No guarantees. The AI is not that smart(its probably the same one which runs the Apple Community Forum).

 

[hg.wells]

Rather than being so condescending, it would have been easier for you to simply say that if I want to use a web based email service like iCloud Mail, rather than an app on my mac, that there characteristics in the cloud that are not connected to my mac. To be sure that this is correct, I turned off my wifi, and found that I could not type in any addresses at all.

Firstly, if I came across at condescending I apologize that was not intended, I was trying to provide you with a solution to your problem, it may have not been the answer you wanted but its one of the options you had.

Responding in all caps comes across as rude, which is why I asked you to stop with the attitude.

In future when looking for help please provide as much detail as possible, what you believe is a simple problem with a simple issue may not be the case. You first post highlighting that you were not using the cloud was very misleading. iCloud is a cloud based service, if you are even using a small part of it you are using the cloud.

Unfortunately, the issue you have doesn't have a solution, yes maybe if you're lucky and iCloud.com has some sort of AI functionality it could pick up it up. But it's very unlikely if you keep accidentally using that email address.

If this is a real issue to you and a frustration, I would strongly recommend you use the Apple Mail application, you have a Mac and have been using Macs for some time. Things change and things improve, I totally get the frustration of setting up pop emails. I've worked in the IT Support industry for a fair amount of time. However, that is not the norm anymore.

If you open the Mail app it will ask you once for your iCloud credentials, you don't need to know any server information, specific ports or any of that technical jargon. Mail will then never ask you again for those details and you don't have to worry about logging into iCloud.com to check if you have an email. The Mail app will sit on your dock and give you a notification whenever an email comes in.

What I'm confused about is why you chose to use the Contacts app which is syncing with iCloud and then not using the Mail app. Both of these applications go hand in had and are designed to work together for a great experience. Which is why I gave the analogy of either having your mail delivered or driving to the post office whenever you want to see if you have an email.

Normally, the only reason someone would use iCloud.com would be to check / send an email when they don't have access to any of their Apple devices, Mac, iPad or iPhone. I've occasionally used it at work on a windows PC when I've needed to, but it does have limited functionality, like the issue you are seeing.

Long story short, I'm sorry there was not an instant solution to your problem, however there are alternative solutions that are better than how you are currently working. If you want to continue the way you're working, go for it. You do what's best for you.

 

[zarathu]

Actually, iCloud Mail works great. It allows me to receive and send email from my laptop, and my iPhone, and have both machines in widely differing places have the same information, and modifications.

Many people don’t use it, so they don’t know how it functions. In this case, I typed the email address in wrong, just one time, and the AI used the wrong one to compose lists of people that are regularly sent to, like the book club or the garden club. And then the AI saved the wrong one, and won’t allow me to automatically fix it.

I can fix it easily manually if I remember that this one email in this one list is typed in wrong(just one time) and the AI at the Cloud picked up on it and rigidly won’t change it(when its grouped in a list that the AI(not me) made).

I understand how business people mighty not want to be using iCloud Mail, but for an individual, who only needs to send and receive email, store messages in multiple e-mailboxes, it really works great.

I had hoped that someone here knew of a secret command(or less obvious one) which allowed me to change or delete the auto lists that the AI in the cloud compiles of different groups I send to.

So far... no one knows how to do that. But someone out there.....DOES!

ZARATHU

P.S.: I have been using a cloud based email service since about 2007. I’m not sure I even remember how to find the POP etc numbers of the ISP that I use for my other mail account, without actually calling tech support. Doing all that, is way more than I need, and just adds complication that I don’t want or need to re-learn. I just wanted one tiny little thing fixed.

 

[jcscol]

Is the email with the wrong address still present in iCloud Mail? I wonder if it is reading your stored emails for address matching, rather than saving them as a setting. Perhaps if you delete the offending email, it will 'forget' the wrong address.

Another suggestion would be to create a new Contact Group with a different name with the correct addresses and use that instead.

 

[zarathu]

Is the email with the wrong address still present in iCloud Mail? I wonder if it is reading your stored emails for address matching, rather than saving them as a setting. Perhaps if you delete the offending email, it will 'forget' the wrong address.

Another suggestion would be to create a new Contact Group with a different name with the correct addresses and use that instead.

No. The email address is fixed. I removed the person who had it as part of my email contact list, and then put them back in as a new person. At first I just changed their email address, but that didn’t work either. I refresh it at the end of doing it so it should be fixed in the cloud.

AND IT IS FIXED. As long as I just start typing the person’s name, the correct email comes up. But the AI in the cloud also compiles groups of emails I send out. I have no control of those groups. I cannot delete them, or chnage them. If I decide to send out a group, the AI has remembered previous groups, and it's a huge time saver to have them all ready to go. It's not a time saver if I cannot fix bad addresses in a group.

LETS LOOK AT IT ANOTHER WAY. Suppose one of the people I send to actually changes their email. I fix that. But those groups of emails that the AI compiles can now no longer be used or even modified. And for some dumb reason, when you change it in your contacts, it doesn’t also change in the groups that are kept somewhere in the cloud.

 

[jcscol]

AND IT IS FIXED. As long as I just start typing the person’s name, the correct email comes up. But the AI in the cloud also compiles groups of emails I send out. I have no control of those groups. I cannot delete them, or chnage them.

This is the bit I don't follow. What AI are you referring to? If you want to send a group email, can't you just define the group inside Contacts?

But you didn't answer my earlier question. Is the email with the wrong address still stored in iCloud Mail?

 

[hg.wells]

This is the bit I don't follow. What AI are you referring to? If you want to send a group email, can't you just define the group inside Contacts?

But you didn't answer my earlier question. Is the email with the wrong address still stored in iCloud Mail?

So the issue Zarathu is having is iCloud is just remembering a previously typed email address, I don’t believe it’s looking at the contact card.

The desktop mail app has a similar feature, but you can easily clear the list. iCloud.com doesn’t have that functionality.

I don’t believe iCloud.com would have any AI that would touch that list though.

 

[BrianBaughn]

If you want to send a group email, can't you just define the group inside Contacts?

I say this is your solution if you don't want to use the Mail app on your Mac (it would also work if you DO end up using Mail and Contacts on the Mac). Create a group in Contacts (you can do it via the Contacts at the iCloud web portal) and when you want to send to that group just type the name of the group and the contacts will fill the TO field with whatever current email addresses you have in your contacts for them. Be aware, though, that if you have two email addresses for a contact the TO field will have both of addresses in it.

Whether or not this jibes with your philosophy on using cloud services…I dunno.

 

[jcscol]

I don’t believe iCloud.com would have any AI that would touch that list though.

Exactly. It's not AI at all. I'm not sure it's even saving a list of previous recipients like the desktop version. I suspect it is just scanning the email addresses used in *stored* emails that were previously sent/received. If you delete the ones with the duff address, it might not offer that group as an option.

But why mess about with this guesswork? Just define the group in Contacts and use that! If anyone's address changes, then it'll get updated.

Edit: typo corrected

 

[jcscol]

I say this is your solution if you don't want to use the Mail app on your Mac (it would also work if you DO end up using Mail and Contacts on the Mac). Create a group in Contacts (you can do it via the Contacts at the iCloud web portal) and when you want to send to that group just type the name of the group and the contacts will fill the TO field with whatever current email addresses you have in your contacts for them. Be aware, though, that if you have two email addresses for a contact the TO field will have both of addresses in it.

Whether or not this jibes with your philosophy on using cloud services…I dunno.

Indeed!

 

[zarathu]

This is the bit I don't follow. What AI are you referring to? If you want to send a group email, can't you just define the group inside Contacts?

But you didn't answer my earlier question. Is the email with the wrong address still stored in iCloud Mail?

Yes you can do that. However, if you don’t, you can let whatever is running iCloud Mail in the cloud, do it for you.

 

[zarathu]

Uhhhhhhhh...... My son had a question on his last class he had to take before starting his dissertation in experimental nuclear physics--in quantum mechanics.

No one in the class of other PhD students, had a clue of what to do, and ended up leaving it blank. My son, decided to take a different tack. He wrote in his blue book: “I don’t know the answer to this question, but I know another question that is a lot like it, and I can answer that one, so I’m gonna answer that one for you.”

It turned out that no one could have answered the question in the time allowed or with the information provided. And it turned out that it was a three part question, though the professor did not tell anyone in the class that. My son actually answered the first part.

I WILL accept all these answers to my question....as the first part.