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Addressee question
#54563 05/13/20 05:07 PM
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Whenever I text someone from my Mac, I put their name in from contacts and it shows up on the To window. Now, for some reason, whenever I put MY name in to send a testing text to myself, it just shows my phone number and not my name. I can't figure out why. I think I am entered into the contact page like anyone else. My name is there for sure. Any ideas or does this happen to everyone who texts themselves?

R...


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Re: Addressee question
plantsower #54581 05/15/20 04:42 PM
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I just tested it on my iPhone, but unlike you, I am running the latest version of iOS. My name does show in the To window.

Also check your listing in Contacts. When you look at the alphabetical list, it should show the word "me" at the end of the line where your name is. Not in the full contact info page, but on the alphabetical list of all your contacts. If it doesn't, check to see if someone else is identified as "me". If so, you can change it back to you.


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Currently: 24" M1 iMac, M2 Pro Mac mini with 27" BenQ monitor, M2 Macbook Air, MacOS 14.x; iPhones, iPods (yes, still) and iPads.
Re: Addressee question
Ira L #54582 05/15/20 05:17 PM
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Ira:

I don't see "me" anywhere. But the problem is not my iOS, it's my Mac. When I send a test text (or any other text) from my iOS or from my Mac, it just shows my phone number, not my name on the Mac side. In other words, when I sent a test text to myself from my iOS to my Mac, it says from Rita on my iPhone but when it gets to my Mac, it just has my phone number. When I send a test text from my Mac to my iPhone, the mac just shows my phone number but the iOS which receives the text shows my name.

It's probably not a big deal, but when I send a text to someone, I want to make sure it has my name, not my number, so they won't have to look it up to see who it belongs to.



Originally Posted By: Ira L
I just tested it on my iPhone, but unlike you, I am running the latest version of iOS. My name does show in the To window.

Also check your listing in Contacts. When you look at the alphabetical list, it should show the word "me" at the end of the line where your name is. Not in the full contact info page, but on the alphabetical list of all your contacts. If it doesn't, check to see if someone else is identified as "me". If so, you can change it back to you.


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Re: Addressee question
plantsower #54583 05/15/20 05:31 PM
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So, I took out my contact info from my phone and re-entered it. Now when I try to text myself from my Mac it gives me a choice to send an “iMessage” (which turns immediately from my name to my number in the from window) or I can send a “text message” (which will show my name in the from window, not a number).

When I send my text from my Mac using the iMessage (phone number) I receive it in my iPhone as from my name. If I send my text using the other choice which is “text message” I receive it on my iPhone as a number, not a name. But on my Mac it shows my name, not a number. It’s just the opposite each time. It’s driving me crazy.


Originally Posted By: plantsower
Ira:

I don't see "me" anywhere. But the problem is not my iOS, it's my Mac. When I send a test text (or any other text) from my iOS or from my Mac, it just shows my phone number, not my name on the Mac side. In other words, when I sent a test text to myself from my iOS to my Mac, it says from Rita on my iPhone but when it gets to my Mac, it just has my phone number. When I send a test text from my Mac to my iPhone, the mac just shows my phone number but the iOS which receives the text shows my name.

It's probably not a big deal, but when I send a text to someone, I want to make sure it has my name, not my number, so they won't have to look it up to see who it belongs to.



Originally Posted By: Ira L
I just tested it on my iPhone, but unlike you, I am running the latest version of iOS. My name does show in the To window.

Also check your listing in Contacts. When you look at the alphabetical list, it should show the word "me" at the end of the line where your name is. Not in the full contact info page, but on the alphabetical list of all your contacts. If it doesn't, check to see if someone else is identified as "me". If so, you can change it back to you.


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Re: Addressee question
plantsower #54586 05/15/20 11:01 PM
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NOTE:Be aware I am using the latest MacOS/iOS/iPadOS beta on all of my devices, and the data on all of my devices is tightly synchronized which could bias my results.

That said, I have tried every permutation I can think of and cannot duplicate your results. In fact, no matter what address I use (phone number or email) or which device I send the text from they all end up in the same Conversation with my name and picture at the top as the sender.

However, I did have an old unused address offered when I was sending some of the texts, because part of my current address was duplicated in the unused address. When you send a text message your identification is typically drawn from your entry in Contacts/AddressBook. You might search Contacts on each of your devices for your name, your email address, and your phone number and see if there are multiple entries, and if so consolidate those into a single entry. (the one I found contained ONLY the email address and it contained only a part of the address I was entering.) Something like that could account for your situation.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

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Re: Addressee question
joemikeb #54591 05/16/20 12:51 AM
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In my iPhone I did find two different contacts for myself; one with my phone number and one with my email address. I deleted the one with my email address. On my Mac I only have one contact card with my phone number. I tried again and still get that phone number in the "from" window.

It's also very annoying that the autofill option for addresses on Mac messages cannot be brought up to date. I can do it with my iPhone (which I did) but on the Mac, it insists on bringing up all the phone numbers, old and new, from some of my contacts. It's upsetting because unless I put an asterisk at the end of the latest phone number from a person with several old numbers, I wouldn't know which one to send texts to. It's a glitch that many have complained about over the years, but crickets from Apple.



Originally Posted By: joemikeb
NOTE:Be aware I am using the latest MacOS/iOS/iPadOS beta on all of my devices, and the data on all of my devices is tightly synchronized which could bias my results.

That said, I have tried every permutation I can think of and cannot duplicate your results. In fact, no matter what address I use (phone number or email) or which device I send the text from they all end up in the same Conversation with my name and picture at the top as the sender.

However, I did have an old unused address offered when I was sending some of the texts, because part of my current address was duplicated in the unused address. When you send a text message your identification is typically drawn from your entry in Contacts/AddressBook. You might search Contacts on each of your devices for your name, your email address, and your phone number and see if there are multiple entries, and if so consolidate those into a single entry. (the one I found contained ONLY the email address and it contained only a part of the address I was entering.) Something like that could account for your situation.


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Re: Addressee question
plantsower #54592 05/16/20 01:01 AM
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Originally Posted By: plantsower
In my iPhone I did find two different contacts for myself; one with my phone number and one with my email address. I deleted the one with my email address. On my Mac I only have one contact card with my phone number. I tried again and still get that phone number in the "from" window.

It's also very annoying that the autofill option for addresses on Mac messages cannot be brought up to date. I can do it with my iPhone (which I did) but on the Mac, it insists on bringing up all the phone numbers, old and new, from some of my contacts. It's upsetting because unless I put an asterisk at the end of the latest phone number from a person with several old numbers, I wouldn't know which one to send texts to. It's a glitch that many have complained about over the years, but crickets from Apple.

I guess I'm missing something, because if both of your devices have only your phone number and no email address, why would anything other than your phone number come up?

I guess Apple expects us to do our own contact updating when we update our contacts.


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Re: Addressee question
artie505 #54594 05/16/20 03:22 AM
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Actually, it should just show my name, but it insists on showing just my number in the scenarios I mentioned.
****


I guess I'm missing something, because if both of your devices have only your phone number and no email address, why would anything other than your phone number come up?

I guess Apple expects us to do our own contact updating when we update our contacts. [/quote]


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Re: Addressee question
plantsower #54599 05/16/20 07:15 PM
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Try adding your email address to the contacts listing that has your Phone Number so that you have both the phone number and email address in the same contacts listing on your iPhone and on your Mac. If Message finds an entry in Contacts that matches the incoming address it shows the name address and image (if any) from the listing in Contacts. Otherwise it shows only the sending address contained in the text message itself.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Addressee question
joemikeb #54619 05/17/20 04:50 PM
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Hi: I did what you said by adding the email address to each contact, but that made no difference. Still just getting just the number. Oh well.


Originally Posted By: joemikeb
Try adding your email address to the contacts listing that has your Phone Number so that you have both the phone number and email address in the same contacts listing on your iPhone and on your Mac. If Message finds an entry in Contacts that matches the incoming address it shows the name address and image (if any) from the listing in Contacts. Otherwise it shows only the sending address contained in the text message itself.


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