Kubuntu 16.04 lost all my evolution contacts but they are in ./local/share/evolution
 

Quite some time ago, I installed Kubuntu 16.04, and copied the evolution back-up file into evolution, which should have given me everything I had. But, absolutely no contacts at all appear when I click on contacts.

I finally got around to exploring the HD, and found a lot of contact information in ./local/share/evolution/addressbook/system/ contacts.db and addressbook.db.summary but it is not so I can find anything that makes sense. I can see contact names, but I do have phone numbers and such but not displayed that way in KATE, which is what I am using to look at HD..

Of course, there may be a better place to ask this question, I don't know.

Thanks for any tips or suggestions.

I thought I had the evolution back-up, ahem, backed up but all my copies are the same when I load them into evolution which is my own error.

I also looked at permissions, but nothing is obvious to me.

I also looked for similar items and found nothing.

I was on this board a long time ago, but a chronic illness has knocked me back to Newbie status, sorry.

Using Evolution's utility to "save all settings" doesn't include the address book on my Ubuntu installation either.

I've had no success in the past opening the Evolution contact list, then <file><inport> navigating to the contact.db files that live in the subs of .local/share/evolution/addressbook.

Prime reason I don't use Evolution, anymore.

edit: The only way I ever found to back up Evolution's contact database was to export the entries as a .csv file and save that somewhere safe. I think you have to select (highlight) the entries you want to save, and it's a separate operation for each address book you have. PITA.

Sorry about the delay. A death in the neighborhood. Thanks for taking time to type in an answer.

I am one of those weird folk who tend to keep all mails but frivolous ones. I have over 28,000 from since before 2004. And, always when I load in the back-up file, the contacts are there. So, your very useful information tells me the problem is developer error or bad decison of some sort very recently.

Well, maybe not very recently. My set-up gets so messy, I don't change until I am forced to. I had a 2012 version, not sure if it was Mint or Kubuntu, but finally changed in 2016 to Kubuntu. So, your update tells me contacts were backed-up and restored until the 2012 version.

I will use a second computer to load in other distros and see if one will bring up the data. On problems like this any data at all is a big help. Thanks very much.

I do agree such bad problems is a reason to not recommend evolution to any serious mail user. Losing contacts is pretty much a terminal situation. Yet, the evolution project pretends evolution is a valid program for business users. This version certainly is not suitable for any professional user.

I would go to an evolution forum, but in my experience, developers tend to be a bit negative when questioned about anything.

I will keep you posted if I have any luck.