Can't figure out Android "People" / "Contacts" concept :(

[Frogbone]

New to Android with my new EVO.

I have 3 Google mail accounts and I transferred all of my phone contacts from my Blackberry to my EVO.

I see many duplicate contacts for phone and e-mail on my phone but for some reason they don't sync back to gmail.

I'd like to merge all of my contact data and then have it synced to either my main gmail account or to all 3 gmail accounts (if that's possible).

All of my accounts are set to sync on my phone but the phone contacts don't seem to be uploaded to my gmail account(s).
I figured if I get all the data there I can use the "find duplicates" function in gmail and merge all of my contacts data under single names.

Can anyone tell me how to do that ?

Thanks !

 

[coolguy949]

Yeah I have this issue but with my Facebook contact info. There is information that shows up from their facebook account I'd like to merge/add to the contact in my phone. The only way it seems to work is to manually paste the info in a new field.

 

[sitlet]

You can link contacts easily, just click on the contact, then in the top right corner you will see the link button. Hit that, then select what contacts to want to merge.

 

[coolguy949]

From what I can tell it only merges them on the phone's contact card. Their contact details are still kept separate. For example, I'd like to be able to pull in their phone number from Facebook and put it in my Google contact file. I've discovered some of my friends have other contact methods I didn't have in their file. It would be nice to long press or hit the menu and copy specific details to Google.

 

[Frogbone]

You can link contacts easily, just click on the contact, then in the top right corner you will see the link button. Hit that, then select what contacts to want to merge.

I have 300+ contacts Very tedious work !!!

either way, even if I link it, why doesn't the linked information get synced back to gmail ?

 

[dr g]

Because the phone is fairly careful about keeping your data from separate sources from getting mixed up. You don't really want them free mingling. Granted, there may be a setting for this that I haven't seen, but I did not want this behavior.

What you could do is export the contract info from the other accounts, import them into your main gmail account, then do the merging from within gmail, THAT combines info into one record.

 

[Mr.Shaky]

What you could do is export the contract info from the other accounts, import them into your main gmail account, then do the merging from within gmail, THAT combines info into one record.

How would one do that? I'd really like to get my "phone" contacts merged into GMail, so I can use the duplicates finder to fix them. Basically, the phone contacts have phone numbers that I'd like to merge into GMail.

Thanks!

 

[Frogbone]

I am still not clear on what the Gmail sync does for me. It looks like the gmail contacts are being synced back and forth between gmail and the phone. What about my "PHONE" contacts though? How do I back them up?
Every other phone I always had could back up my contacts to a PC !

 

[SirSlayer]

I am still not clear on what the Gmail sync does for me. It looks like the gmail contacts are being synced back and forth between gmail and the phone. What about my "PHONE" contacts though? How do I back them up?
Every other phone I always had could back up my contacts to a PC !

I would say just use Google for all your contacts. It will back them up automatically and if you ever have to reset your phone all your contacts are back within seconds of signing in to the phone. For me all my contacts are Google even if I add a new contact on the "Phone" it will sync and add it to Google for me.

 

[SirSlayer]

How would one do that? I'd really like to get my "phone" contacts merged into GMail, so I can use the duplicates finder to fix them. Basically, the phone contacts have phone numbers that I'd like to merge into GMail.

Thanks!

Log onto GMail from your computer. You can add them manually or import them. I believe the options to do this are in the settings. I am not sure what format they need to be in
though.

Welcome to the forums btw.

 

[farva]

Log into your Gmail account on the web, then click "Contacts". The "People" app on the Evo pulls from the "My Contacts" section, "Contacts" on the Evo pulls from "All Contacts". Gmail basically saves everyone you e-mail in "All Contacts", so you'll have all kinds of crap in that section, and likely some duplicates in "My Contacts". I found it very effective to clean up "My Contacts" as best as possible and I've started weeding through "All Contacts".

 

[curleyfrei]

You can link contacts easily, just click on the contact, then in the top right corner you will see the link button. Hit that, then select what contacts to want to merge.

"Link" does not = "merge" here, unfortunately.

 

[jadoe05]

Well if we are talking about linking and merging then let's be clear. In my experience, when I link a contact with, lets say there email account, the two are merged. That is if you view through contacts. But when I go to send a new text or email, the contacts won't be merged.

Just what I've seen, unless I am missing something.

HTC EVO FTW!!!!

 

[Frogbone]

Log into your Gmail account on the web, then click "Contacts". The "People" app on the Evo pulls from the "My Contacts" section, "Contacts" on the Evo pulls from "All Contacts". Gmail basically saves everyone you e-mail in "All Contacts", so you'll have all kinds of crap in that section, and likely some duplicates in "My Contacts". I found it very effective to clean up "My Contacts" as best as possible and I've started weeding through "All Contacts".

But how about the OTHER way around? Why does Gmail NOT pull any of my phone contacts from the phone ?

Let me ask this in a more simple way: How do I backup/save my phone contacts from the EVO to a PC so I can merge them with Gmail ?

 

[Frogbone]

I got it figured out. It was actually pretty easy to do

-export contacts from all accounts to SD card
-import phone contacts and other account contacts from SD card into main gmail account on the phone
-go to Gmail online and merge duplicates, edit, manipulate contacts. All changes will be automatically synced to the phone

 

[hey dude]

But how about the OTHER way around? Why does Gmail NOT pull any of my phone contacts from the phone ?

Let me ask this in a more simple way: How do I backup/save my phone contacts from the EVO to a PC so I can merge them with Gmail ?

Glad you got it figured out:
Thread Can I change a phone contact to a Google contact? | Android Forums | BoardReader

Basically, I don't think there is an easy way to change contact TYPE without the import/export process you did. Like, you can't change the type at the EDIT CONTACT screen. They were not syncing because your phone contacts were moved over and title as PHONE. Just as if they were EXCHANGE they will not sync to google.