Someone appears twice in my contacts — how do I fix it?

Q: Someone appears twice in my contacts — how do I fix it?

Ask Nell to merge them : "These are the same person — merge them." Merging folds the two cards into one and keeps everything: both email addresses, both sets of notes, the relationship label, and the earlier of the two record dates. Nothing is lost, so it is always the better move than deleting one of them. You can also ask Nell to delete a contact outright when a card holds nothing worth keeping — a bad business card scan, or someone added by mistake. She will confirm which record she is about to remove first. Deleting removes only the card; that person's emails and calendar events are untouched. Why duplicates happen at all: most often someone changes their email domain. When mail arrives from an unfamiliar address carrying the name of someone already in your contacts, Ask Nell does not quietly create a second card — it cannot tell a rebrand from a different person of the same name. It holds the address aside and asks you: "Johann's been emailing from a new address — is that him?" Your answer settles it for good.

Question

Accepted Answer

Ask Nell to merge them: "These are the same person — merge them."

Merging folds the two cards into one and keeps everything: both email addresses, both sets of notes, the relationship label, and the earlier of the two record dates. Nothing is lost, so it is always the better move than deleting one of them.

You can also ask Nell to delete a contact outright when a card holds nothing worth keeping — a bad business card scan, or someone added by mistake. She will confirm which record she is about to remove first. Deleting removes only the card; that person's emails and calendar events are untouched.

Why duplicates happen at all: most often someone changes their email domain. When mail arrives from an unfamiliar address carrying the name of someone already in your contacts, Ask Nell does not quietly create a second card — it cannot tell a rebrand from a different person of the same name. It holds the address aside and asks you: "Johann's been emailing from a new address — is that him?" Your answer settles it for good.