When export address book the contacts are listed in order put in the addrees book, not alphabetically.
When I add or modify an address it is entered in the address book in alphabetical order. BUT, when I export the address book it is exporting the recent additions in the order entered, at the end of the existing alphabetical entries. Existing contacts remain in alphabetical order, unless modified, then entered as a new one. That is, appears in the book alphabetically, but as the last entry in the CSV and LDIF files . Example: Contacts A,B, C. Add B1, and the Book is A,B,B1,C. When exported, to either CSV or LDIF, it is A, B, C, B1. I did the global reindexing. I know it started sometime between last September and November, because I checked my old back up address books.
Chosen solution
Whats global reindexing and what does it have to do with the address book?
Other than you, I doubt anyone is interested in the order of records in a CSV file. Modern applications dynamically sort data as a matter of course.
Read this answer in context 👍 0All Replies (5)
Since Thunderbird can re-sort on display, I would think that it dynamically sorts according to current settings and so it doesn't matter (to Thunderbird itself) about the order within the address book data file.
Sorting the file and writing it back to disk would take longer than just displaying it in the required order. And how would it work with a remote address book?
It would be fairly trivial to re-sort a CSV file yourself in a spreadsheet program if the order is important to you. I've never tried working with an LDIF file, though I read that there are tools for viewing, and hopefully, manipulating their contents.
I wish it was that simple. There are other problems that have cropped up. It is not every time that the modified entry appears in its rightful place. A couple of times the contact just disappeared from the address book. I would like to have the program running as it should. It will save me a good deal of concern and grief.
I might add that when I did the Global reindexing, it showed it indexed all the folders, but no entry was made for reindexing the address book.
Fixed the problem by resorting in a CSV file, and importing corrected address book.
Chosen Solution
Whats global reindexing and what does it have to do with the address book?
Other than you, I doubt anyone is interested in the order of records in a CSV file. Modern applications dynamically sort data as a matter of course.