Create and change lists in Contacts on Mac
You can organise your contacts into lists to work with them more easily. For example, if you regularly email people in a school list or on your cycling team, you can create a list and address your email to the list instead of each person.
Create a list
In the Contacts app on your Mac, click the Add button near the bottom of the window, then choose New list.
If it isn’t already visible, the sidebar appears. The area on the right shows No Cards until you add contacts to the list.
Enter a name for the list, then add contacts to the list.
Another way to create a list is to select one or more contacts listed in the sidebar, then choose File > New List From Selection.
If you use more than one account in Contacts, and All Contacts is selected in the sidebar when you create a list, the new list is added to the default account (as specified in Contacts General settings).
Add contacts to a list
In the Contacts app on your Mac, select one or more contacts listed in the sidebar.
There’s no limit to the number of contacts you can add to a list. If you use more than one account in Contacts, make sure the contacts you select are in the same account.
Drag the selected contacts to a list in the sidebar.
If the contacts aren’t added to the list, check if it’s a Smart List — you can’t add contacts to a Smart List.
If you use an Exchange account in Contacts, those contacts can belong to only one folder at a time. Any contacts that aren’t in a folder you create are in the default Exchange Contacts folder.
Remove contacts from a list
In the Contacts app on your Mac, select the list in the sidebar.
Select the contacts you want to remove from the list.
Press the Delete key on your keyboard.
Click Remove From List.
If you want to delete the contacts from the Contacts app, click Delete.
Create or delete a sublist
You can include a list within a list to help streamline emailing the lists or printing their contact information.
In the Contacts app on your Mac, do one of the following:
Create a sublist: Drag a list to another list in the sidebar.
Both lists remain in the sidebar. When you select the parent list, the sublist is shown in the contacts list; double-click the sublist to show its contacts.
Delete a sublist: Select the sublist, then choose Edit > Remove From List.
Rename a list
In the Contacts app on your Mac, select the list in the sidebar.
Choose Edit > Rename List.
To see which lists a contact belongs to, make sure the sidebar is shown, select a contact, then press and hold the Option key. Lists that include the contact are highlighted in blue in the sidebar.
You can create a Smart List that automatically includes or excludes contacts based on criteria you specify. See Create and change Smart Lists.