Thread: Quickly tracking and removing double address entry Thunderbird 1.x, 2.x

Due to erroneous entries or data Import, it can so happen that multiple addresses appear in the contacts. The manual tracking is absolutely annoying.

To clean up addresses, there is a suitable tool called the Duplicate Contact Manager. There, click on 'Download' and save the file 'duplicate_ contact manager-0.6-tb.xpi' on the hard disk. To set up the tool, in the email program, open 'Tools I Add-ons' and click on 'Install'. Then navigate to the XPI-file and open it. Click on 'Install now' and restart thunderbird.

The operation of the tool is very simple. First click on 'Address book' and in the list, select the desired address directory, e.g. 'Contacts'. Then select the new command 'Duplicates/Find and Remove Duplicates'. The following dialog gives a couple of explanatory tips. In that, click on 'Start'.

The Duplicate Contact Manager now searches through the data for similar or same names as well as email addresses. As soon as the tool identifies a duplicate or supposed duplicate entry, it displays both elements with all fields next to each other. In that, the entry marked green is retained and the one marked in red is deleted. This however happens only, when you click on 'Save and continue' in the dialog. The tool does not delete any entries by itself. Thus, at this spot you can retain both contacts by clicking on 'Skip'.

Note:

You might have more telephone numbers as well or mail addresses of a contact that are mistakenly saved as a new entry. In that case, you have the option in this dialog, to edit all elements individually and to compile the right data before cleaning.