Database Develop

[Q] Overwrite google contacts with phone contacts - how?

I have a little problem. I just found out my contacts are corrupted after I tested a contact management application. Unfortunately, I only found out after some days, and after the contacts had been synchronized back to google.
The good news - I have a couple of nandroids and some titanium backups made before the contacts got corrupted. I can get back to the correct version.
The bad news - as soon as the phone syncs with google, the contacts get overwritten with the corrupted ones. I even tried clearing google contacts, and syncing, and all that got me was a empty contacts list both in google and the phone.
What I need - a way to force overwriting google contacts with the restored backup. I know I probably could go opening and updating each contact one by one (adding a space on the name or something like it) and that could work, tricking the synchronization engine to prefer the phone contacts to the google version, but I have over 600 contacts, with 150 with phone numbers; I'd rather not do that by hand.
Any suggestion?
Thanks!

Try this, Get all your contacts back from the Nandroid. Don't connect the nexus to your Google account just yet, goto the contacts in N1 & click on menu button choose to export to .vcf after that copy the .vcf file to your computer. Log into your Gmail account on the computer and delete all the Gmail contacts, then choose to import .vcf file from your computer to your Gmail account, once you've managed to get the contacts imported to Gmail setup your N1 to Sync to the Gmail account. That should do it. Cheers.

Thanks, but I had already tried that - and ended doing exactly that. The problem with that solution is that you lose all your groups, favourites, and starred contacts. Now I'm backing up contacts in gmail a group at a time, so I won't have this problem again.

jbbandos said:
Thanks, but I had already tried that - and ended doing exactly that. The problem with that solution is that you lose all your groups, favourites, and starred contacts. Now I'm backing up contacts in gmail a group at a time, so I won't have this problem again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bit of a pita I know but as far as I can see there's really no other way if you use Groups.

Sean_Dillon said:
Try this, Get all your contacts back from the Nandroid. Don't connect the nexus to your Google account just yet, goto the contacts in N1 & click on menu button choose to export to .vcf after that copy the .vcf file to your computer. Log into your Gmail account on the computer and delete all the Gmail contacts, then choose to import .vcf file from your computer to your Gmail account, once you've managed to get the contacts imported to Gmail setup your N1 to Sync to the Gmail account. That should do it. Cheers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, I'd try deleting all contacts off the phone once it's synched with Google (then sync again, obviously), THEN restoring the .vcf

while syncing my phone contacts with my google account, i want to keep changes made in my phone directory and over write these changes in my google account. currently it is other way round. my old contact details keep on copying in my phone when ever i sync. specially if any one has changed his address, i make this change in my phone and i want it to happen to my contacts google accounts also when i sync. but it is not happening. seek your help

[Q] How sort google contacts?

How does one sort google contacts? situation is: i have all of my phone contacts backed up via gmail. though when i add them to my phone i also get a ton of random email addresses in my contacts on my phone, so therefore i have to go through everytime and delete all of them.
how do i create just a folder on gmail so it will only sync those contacts and not email addresses?

chasesavestheday said:
How does one sort google contacts? situation is: i have all of my phone contacts backed up via gmail. though when i add them to my phone i also get a ton of random email addresses in my contacts on my phone, so therefore i have to go through everytime and delete all of them.
how do i create just a folder on gmail so it will only sync those contacts and not email addresses?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Going off memory (phone upstairs and to lazy to go get it) but
you can't control what syncs, but there is an option in the Captivate contacts to only show contacts with phone numbers.

chasesavestheday said:
How does one sort google contacts? situation is: i have all of my phone contacts backed up via gmail. though when i add them to my phone i also get a ton of random email addresses in my contacts on my phone, so therefore i have to go through everytime and delete all of them.
how do i create just a folder on gmail so it will only sync those contacts and not email addresses?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go to your contacts on gmail and move anyone you don't synced to your phone out of the "My Contacts" group.

this will still allow me to sync them to the phone?
i did realize "my contacts" does include many email addy's.

Gmail used to add all contacts to the My Contacts group including those that you just email without you specifically adding them, it no longer does that but you do need to go through the My Contacts group in Gmail and uncheck all the ones you don't want synced from the My Contacts group. They will just then be available under Other Contacts I believe in Gmail and not synced.

Stock the Captivate won't currently sync just My Contacts. Cognition gives you the option to hide the others. (In contacts>menu>more>display options>google then select which groups to display

Titanium Backup is scary, how do I work it?

What do I WANT it for, exactly?
Secondly, I just want to backup my contacts because Google Sync won't Sync my contact photos. I want my contact photos to save. Do I... backup the contact app?

Tibo is for flash junkies who like to flash roms like crazy It basicly restores your apps without loosing any data. My google sync works fine It saves Pictures with contacts.
I personally don't like to backup becouse for some reason when you update those aps that were restore dont work or it downloads and hangs. But to each its own.

chibixzero said:
Tibo is for flash junkies who like to flash roms like crazy It basicly restores your apps without loosing any data. My google sync works fine It saves Pictures with contacts.
I personally don't like to backup becouse for some reason when you update those aps that were restore dont work or it downloads and hangs. But to each its own.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just want my contact pictures to save to my contacts, and for my contacts to be saved to Google.

To backup your contacts to your phone you could just click menu from the contact list and select export.
To backup them with google you just have to select the option Sync Contacts under Settings -> Accounts & Sync -> your gmail account
it is usually selected by default though...
after that, wait for it to sync and check your google account from your computer and go to contacts to check if they are there
the pics are backed up as well; they will not show on the contact list on your gmail account, but click on a contact and it will show you the picture
just as easy as that, if you flash/change/etc your phone, when you put your google account afterwards it will download all your contacts with their pics from google

rastanthology said:
To backup your contacts to your phone you could just click menu from the contact list and select export.
To backup them with google you just have to select the option Sync Contacts under Settings -> Accounts & Sync -> your gmail account
it is usually selected by default though...
after that, wait for it to sync and check your google account from your computer and go to contacts to check if they are there
the pics are backed up as well; they will not show on the contact list on your gmail account, but click on a contact and it will show you the picture
just as easy as that, if you flash/change/etc your phone, when you put your google account afterwards it will download all your contacts with their pics from google
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's never synced with my account. Never.

I have a video for this please check out my thread...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=877652

From what I can tell google does not sync a contact if it dies not have and email address. If I am wrong can someone tell me how to do it/ I have created contacts under google on my phone that do not have emails and they do not show up in my Google contacts on my computer. Google does not sync any of your "Phone contacts", at least not on my phone

Try going into Settings -> Accounts & Sync -> your gmail account again and this time press the menu button and click Sync Now.

Thanks! I tried but it did not work.

Something is wrong with your phone. On mine, every contact entry that I made on the phone shows up on my gmail contact list. Some don't have email addresses at all.

you could also try to make a backup by exporting the contacts, flash a new rom and try to sync again
are you on stock or on a custom rom?

visitador02 said:
Something is wrong with your phone. On mine, every contact entry that I made on the phone shows up on my gmail contact list. Some don't have email addresses at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are your contacts saved to your phone or Google. My Google contacts sync, phone contacts do not. Google contacts without email don't sync either.

LBCaptivate said:
Are your contacts saved to your phone or Google. My Google contacts sync, phone contacts do not. Google contacts without email don't sync either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am confused. Why would I need Google Contacts to Sync?
I have no Google Contacts. I copied all my SIM Contacts to my Phone. From there on out, how to make them Google Contacts, I'm at a loss.

I don't need my Google contacts to sync since they sync fine. It is the contacts that are saved to my phone that will not sync to google. I do not want to backup my contacts to the sim card since some of them have multiple #s. When you backup to the sim card each phone number under one contact is saved as an individual contact giving you multiple entries for one contact. My phone is still stock. I did a master reset to see if it would help with the shutdown issue, which by the way, did not help. It just created problems with all my contacts. Some were lost and others now have the wrong numbers associated with them. The only contacts that stayed the same were the Google contacts. The phone contacts were all messed up. I plan on getting the phone replaced under warranty and don't want to go through the headache of having to redo all the phone contacts again.
Just looking for a way to completely backup a stock phone. AT&T address book is useless now because of the JH7 update.

[SOLVED] Sync contacts to gmail problem

i want to transfer my contacts from phone to gmail account. But although it's 'sync on' @my O 2x, it syncs everything except the contacts. I'm using fr19. Any idea how to solve this?
thanks.

Sync on doesn't mean all options are, if you tap on the account you'll get a breakdown of what's available.

Yes, everything is checked. I even pressed the sync button. But still when i open gmail from PC, all my contacts aren't there. Only the starred contaacts. Is that what the star is all about?
EDIT: the only contacts that i have in PC's gmail are the ones i sent emails to. Other than that, no contacts are sync from phone to gmail.com

might be worth checking at http://www.google.com/contacts instead of GMail, but I shouldn't think it's any different.
Starred contacts are exactly that, contacts you've starred. Fire up the contacts list and tap a contact... top right will be a star.

or maybe because i'm using LG's gmail app? still can't sync to gmail contacts.

fifi139 said:
i want to transfer my contacts from phone to gmail account. But although it's 'sync on' @my O 2x, it syncs everything except the contacts. I'm using fr19. Any idea how to solve this?
thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you make a new phone contact it defaults to an LG PC Suite contact. These wont sync with your Gmail account.
You will need to recreate them and select your gmail acc instead of the above and then they will sync with gmail on the web etc.
Absolute pain in the backside I'm afraid but don't think there is another option

If you have to change them all into google contacts from lg suite contacts (if that's your problem) then I found using my phone explore (app and PC software) quite easy.
I exported all my contacts to a csv file and then converted them so google contacts could read them and then imported into google contacts.
Seems quite long winded but seemed quicker to me than copying each contact.

Fulwood Sedge said:
If you have to change them all into google contacts from lg suite contacts (if that's your problem) then I found using my phone explore (app and PC software) quite easy.
I exported all my contacts to a csv file and then converted them so google contacts could read them and then imported into google contacts.
Seems quite long winded but seemed quicker to me than copying each contact.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks.. i use the app u mentioned and i can sync with gmail contacts. But only problem is for every entry i have two details, one is from gmail contacts and the one is pc suite. So, i stop sync gmail contacts. But i upload all my LG contacts using myphonexplorer. At least now if i want to change to another android phone the contacts are still there.

Well if you have all your contacts in google then just use my phone explorer to delete them off the phone so you are left with just google contacts. Bit risky if you missed one but if you keep an original file with them all in.
This way if you update contacts then they will be auto saved and backed up with google incase something happens to your phone before you have chance to back up your contacts.

Is there any benefit of one method over another? I mean, besides the obvious that Gmail contacts can be sync directly with the phone? Maybe LG's version is same advantage over gmail's?

I just prefer google contacts as i know they are saved 'in the cloud' and if i ever change my phone i know they will work (as ill be sticking with android). Also, if my phone dies on me i know they will have been backed up almost instantly after i updated/changed a contact.
Also I can access my contacts from anywhere if i havent got my phone with me or my phone has run out of battery life. But that is completely personal opinions.

[Q] Disable syncing contacts from google acct

Hi,
Previously I was using a Dell Streak and I was able to disable contact syncing with my Google accounts.
Actually I have 2 google accounts and I wanna sync only contacts with one of them.
On Galaxy Note , I couldn't find the setting to disable contact syncing with one account.
How can I do that ?
thx.

Hi,
I really need a solution for this because I've duplicate contacts now.
Any idea on how to delete contacts from one Google account on the phone ?

mrmrmrmr said:
Hi,
I really need a solution for this because I've duplicate contacts now.
Any idea on how to delete contacts from one Google account on the phone ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go to contacts--Options--More--Accounts
Select the account you dont want your contacts to be merged from. Uncheck "Sync Contacts"
Hope that helped.
Cheers

thanks. that option disables further sync of contacts from that account but it didn't delete the contacts coming from that account.
How can I delete existing contacts of that account ?
Also, I need the similar for calendar. Is there similar option ?

mrmrmrmr said:
thanks. that option disables further sync of contacts from that account but it didn't delete the contacts coming from that account.
How can I delete existing contacts of that account ?
Also, I need the similar for calendar. Is there similar option ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All'ite. Why don't you do this?
At this step you have disabled syncing your contacts to an account;lets call that account GAcc2. Lets call the account that you would like the contacts to be synced/Displayed from as GAcc1
Now you want to delete the contacts that have been synced from GAcc2.
So Go to Contacts--More--Display Options--Accounts and select contacts to be displayed only from GAcc2(i.e. uncheck the contact boxes for GAcc1). After this step the contacts that are displayed are only from GAcc2(the one you don't want). Simply select all the contacts and delete them. So this means we deleted "ONLY" GAcc2 contacts.
After this step again go to "Display Options" and under accounts select GAcc1.
and voila you will have only GAcc1 contacts left.
Do the same with calendar.
Hope that helped.
Cheers.

thank you. that's a good idea.
But when I delete from my Note, is there a risk of deleting them from Google acct GAcc2 ?
Also, some contacts are coming from both Google accounts. When I delete them, will I lose them from both accounts ?
And, how can I do that for calendar ? I can't find the correct app...
thx

Keep Auto Sync off, that will niether sync mail/contact/calender, when you need to sync it manually, just press on desire item n it will sync for that time only.
Further Now you can get Gmail with setup of Email application separately.

mrmrmrmr said:
thank you. that's a good idea.
But when I delete from my Note, is there a risk of deleting them from Google acct GAcc2 ?
Also, some contacts are coming from both Google accounts. When I delete them, will I lose them from both accounts ?
And, how can I do that for calendar ? I can't find the correct app...
thx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No that would be not an issue. Remember at that step you would have switched syncing to GAcc2 as "off". Just make sure you don't click "Merge with google".
If you are really scared and want to be backup proof i would suggest this;
I'm sure you would be having windows installed with Microsoft office. Microsoft office would have an app called microsoft exchange. Create a dummy account in exchange with a local Dat. Then go to google and search for tools to copy google contacts to exchange. There are plenty. Once you are done with that you would have a backup of your contacts. Similarly there are plenty of tools to do the reverse as well i.e. Microsoft Exchange -->Google server; this way you can restore it too.
Regarding the calendar its the same thing bro.
Browse to Settings-->Account and Sync--> select the account that you dont want calendar to be synced from-->Uncheck 'Sync Calendar'
Hope that helped.
Cheers.

Using Exchange Server with Android, without Google Contacts but with Market
THis post intended for people who use Exchange
Using Exchange Server with Android, without Google Contacts but with Market
To prevent your Google Accounts showing up in an Exchange Server minded device, uncheck autosync.
Create your Exchange account first, sync
Uncheck autosync
disable Wifi (your device must have slow connection)
Then add your google account.
Press Sync, but be DAMN fast to go to the account settings and quickly
uncheck the Contact,Calendar.
This way, you can have a fully Exchange server minded device, without
any junk from Google Downloaded, with Market access.