nextcloud / nextcloud/contacts
[Bug]: importing numerous [851] contacts from a vcard file is EXTRAORDINAILY slow.
Nobody has claimed this yet.
- Dominant language
- JavaScript
- Stars
- 642
- Forks
- 220
- Avg merge
- 14h 39m
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 51
Description
⚠️ This issue respects the following points: ⚠️
- This is a bug, not a question or a configuration/webserver/proxy issue.
- This issue is not already reported on Github (I've searched it).
- Nextcloud Server is up to date. See Maintenance and Release Schedule for supported versions.
- Nextcloud Server is running on 64bit capable CPU, PHP and OS.
- I agree to follow Nextcloud's Code of Conduct.
Bug description
[Bug]: importing numerous [851] contacts from a vcard file is EXTREMELY slow.
When i import a VCARD into the contacts app, it's EXTREMELY slow compared to ANY other modern technological platform i've used that can import multiple contacts from a single VCARD file.
I've noticed this every time i've set up a new Nc instance on any version including the latest.
I'm talking about the process taking more than a half hour, It takes less time to install and set up a new instance of Nc than it does to import a VCARD into contacts with 851 contacts. This is NOT right.

Steps to reproduce
- find a vcard file containing 800 plus contacts with multiple phone numbers, addresses, email addresses, etc. around 266KB.
- Import that VCARD into the contacts app.
- Wait an EXTRAORDINARLITY long amount of time.
Expected behavior
The expected behavior for a modern CPU to import 851 text-based records into a database is that it would take a brief INSTANT.
Installation method
Community SNAP package
Operating system
Debian/Ubuntu
PHP engine version
PHP 8.1
Web server
No response
Database engine version
No response
Is this bug present after an update or on a fresh install?
Fresh Nextcloud Server install
Are you using the Nextcloud Server Encryption module?
No response
What user-backends are you using?
- Default user-backend (database)
- LDAP/ Active Directory
- SSO - SAML
- Other
Configuration report
fresh base server install from snap with Contacts app installed.
List of activated Apps
base fresh install with recommended apps including Contacts
Nextcloud Signing status
No response
Nextcloud Logs
No response
Additional info
No response
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
No source file, test, or entry point is named. Reproduce the import in the Contacts app with the reported 800-plus-contact vCard, then profile the import path to identify the bottleneck. Done means importing a similarly sized file completes substantially faster without changing contact data.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- javascript
- Domain
- performance
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Needs clarification
- Newbie friendliness
- 35/100