Contact print envelope names are last/first - any fix

If you go to contacts and select a person and do a command-P you can print an envelope (selecte it from ‘Style’. The thing is the names come out last name, first name. I went back to a laptop with 10.8 on it and there it shows first name/last name. The option settings to change the display has no effect.

Has anyone else seen this and come up with a fix other than changing all the entries so you store a person. first name in the last name field and lsat name in the first name?

Thanks

On my setup, (macOS 10.12.6, Contacts 10.0), first-last or last-first is definitely controlled by the contact preference Show First Name. It changes the sequence of display in both the contacts list and in the printing of envelopes, etc.

Well that may be the change - I’m on 10.13.5 contacts V11 and while the preference Show First Name changes it in the display, on the envelopwe you get last name then first name. I’m thinking it is a bug…

Anyone else on 10.13.5 who could test this?

I’m on 10.13.5 with Contacts Preferences set a s Show First Name before Last Name and sorting by Last Name. Envelopes print with First Name First. If I change to showing Last Name First, then envelopes print that way.

I would suggest possible corruption in your contact preferences. You might force the preferences to be rewritten by making a change in some item, quitting the app and then reopening the app and setting the preference back. Alternatively, you might remove the file com.apple.AddressBook.plist from your ~/Library/Preferences folder to reset your cContavct preferences to default values and then reset them to your liking.

My solution is EasyEnvelopes: $10 on the Mac App Store.

Roger D. Parish
Lovettsville, VA

Thank you Alan - i deleted com.apple.AddressBook.plist and now it is working fine!! I owe you a beer!

@rogerd.parish --I may just buy that. I had been using the EasyEnvelope widget for years, up until I upgraded to High Sierra last week and the widget no longet works. I suppose I could fork out the $10 for all the use I got out of the free widget :grin:

Confession—I actually use EasyEnvelopes for my envelope printing. Historically it was because I always had problems with templates in Contact and WP programs. However, I like it because I use several different return addresses depending on whether the mail I’m sending is personal or as a representative of an organization.

The troubleshooting tip arose from my general experience. When I have an issue with an app and others, seemingly in the same configuration do not, it’s worth a try. Note that I usually do not immediately throw the old version in the trash. I find the simplest method to hide the old file is to compress it and delete the uncompressed version. If creating a new file solves the problem, I delete the compressed version; if not, I delete the new version and expand the compressed version leaving me in a position no worse than I started.

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