Help Contacts - Sort by Last Name?

[emr25]

I know in the Contacts app you can press the menu button to get to settings, but it looks like Motorola has removed the display options selection from the menu.

I want my contacts to be sorted by last name, but displayed as:

First Last

John Smith

So it is displaying the names correctly, but it is sorting them by first name instead of last. Is there a way to change this on the Droid X? Thanks.

 

[kizer8]

I know in the Contacts app you can press the menu button to get to settings, but it looks like Motorola has removed the display options selection from the menu.

I want my contacts to be sorted by last name, but displayed as:

First Last

John Smith

So it is displaying the names correctly, but it is sorting them by first name instead of last. Is there a way to change this on the Droid X? Thanks.

I too am getting this. Some, not all of my contacts sort by first name, last and I want them to sort by last name, first. Anybody know how to fix?

 

[2horses]

My guess is that you could sync them to google, fix them there, then pull down (export) instead of sync.

ETA - scratch that. Even google won't let you sort on names. Bah.

 

[kizer8]

My guess is that you could sync them to google, fix them there, then pull down (export) instead of sync.

ETA - scratch that. Even google won't let you sort on names. Bah.

Thanks, but they are OK in my gmail contacts.

 

[matty032]

Froyo will let you sort by last name. But, the X doesn't use the froyo client. It uses the blur version. And on the leak it still wont let you sort by last name.

 

[kizer8]

Froyo will let you sort by last name. But, the X doesn't use the froyo client. It uses the blur version. And on the leak it still wont let you sort by last name.

I am running Froyo as of this morning, but now it sorts ALL my contacts by first name last name. It's better, but I want to sort by last name, first name. Anybody know how to change in Froyo.

 

[kizer8]

I am running Froyo as of this morning, but now it sorts ALL my contacts by first name last name. It's better, but I want to sort by last name, first name. Anybody know how to change in Froyo.

Anybody?

 

[WTF]

I'd like to know how to sort by last name as well. I really like the Droid X but there are some missing basic features like this sort thing...makes me wonder what the heck the Motorola programmers were thinking ...

This is one of the few things that I miss from my previous Palm Treo - but not much else...

Anyone out there have a better idea than "exchange last and first names in Gmail contacts"?

 

[JAG142]

I have this issue also between exchange and gmail accounts my contacts show up last name first or first name first but there is no consistency to it and I can't find a way to fix them.

Verizon tech told me yesterday that this was a known issue with Motorola and that that they are working on it... How soon they will have a fix is anybody's guess but I won't hold my breath!

 

[old.blue]

Has this ever been resolved? I hate not being able to sort my contacts by last name.

 

[khsjsilver]

Has this ever been resolved? I hate not being able to sort my contacts by last name.

Nope. It's mind boggling.....

 

[JAG142]

Has this ever been resolved? I hate not being able to sort my contacts by last name.

I just had some success. I reset my Droid X phone to factory default (after backing everything up first). I then exited out of the startup portion where it tried to automatically install the Verizon Backup Utility. Once I finished getting the phone set back up without the backup utility, it synced with my Google contacts just fine and ALL of my contacts are consistently listed by first name.
I'm not able to change them to sort by last name but I don't mind as long as they are all consistent in how they are sorted. Motorola needs to fix this but this helps for now. Phone's contacts display much better now that I got rid of the unecessary Verizon Backup Utility!!!

 

[old.blue]

Been there, done that!

That does a good job sorting your contacts by first name. It does clean them up and make them look better. Still want to be able to sort by last name though. Irks the crap outta me that I can't!

 

[JAG142]

Been there, done that!

That does a good job sorting your contacts by first name. It does clean them up and make them look better. Still want to be able to sort by last name though. Irks the crap outta me that I can't!

I agree! It really bugs me how many features that you think should be standard, are left out of the main OS for these phones. I guess Motorola thinks we should have to install an app that will allow us to sort the names how we want them (I wish there was such an app).

If I come across any fix for this issue I'll post that info here... please do the same. Good Luck!!

 

[mcdonnjd]

Just thought I'd mention how I got mine sorted by last name. Upgrade your phone to Rubix or GummyJar, they both have the ability to sort by first or last name.

Interestingly enough, you can choose to display them first name last or last name first, but it is completely unintuitive for me to display them opposite of how I sort them.

Possibly other ROMs have this functionality as well, but these are the two I've tried so far that I've found have had it. I just loaded ApeX right now to see if the options are there, but they aren't. (Or if they are, they're hidden somewhere other than the default Froyo location.)

 

[guyatl2000]

I have the same problem w/ my Motorola Cliq. TMobile sent a replacement phone and I still have cannot to get to sort by LN, FN. For some reason, old names will sort LN, FN but all entries made via of the Cliq will only sort FN LN. I have even gone as far as to remove the names (FN LN) and re-enter them in GMAIL. After a sync, still the same problem. "Motorola, you can buy better, but you cannot pay more."

 

[Johnny Mo]

Go to Contacts>Menu Button>Display Options>Sort List By...

 

[Windsurfer]

I know in the Contacts app you can press the menu button to get to settings, but it looks like Motorola has removed the display options selection from the menu.

I want my contacts to be sorted by last name, but displayed as:

First Last

John Smith

So it is displaying the names correctly, but it is sorting them by first name instead of last. Is there a way to change this on the Droid X? Thanks.

I don't know about earlier units, but Motorola Droid x2 allows you to sort by first or last name and to display by first or last name. Go to CONTACTS, press MENU button, then select options, and change the way contacts are to be displayed. Credit for this answer goes to unknown Internet forum where I found answer. I'm posting here, because this is site that comes up first on Google searches for answer to this question.

 

[Tedbytes]

I'd like to know how to sort by last name as well. I really like the Droid X but there are some missing basic features like this sort thing...makes me wonder what the heck the Motorola programmers were thinking ...

This is one of the few things that I miss from my previous Palm Treo - but not much else...

Anyone out there have a better idea than "exchange last and first names in Gmail contacts"?

See my post regarding my EVO 4g and the switching LNF and FNL issues. Briefly, I enter all names in the "last name" line, and never use a first name or middle name field. This allows all devices,android,google,IPhone and IPad to recognize any name by last name with first name following. See your local white pages, this is how our system works in most countries.

SMITH, John A. Jr. M.D. Most entries recognize the space after comma protocol and immediately capitalize the John and his middle initial after inserting a comma. It is a pain to recorrect all your entries, but when it is done uniformly in all your address books or in google, nothing can revert to a first name, as you have no info in the first name field anyway!! Make sense? My EVO and my IPad are correct and all "I's" are dotted, and all"T's" are crossed as a matched set of contacts when synced. Contact me if I confused you, Ted

 

[JLondon]

I have an HTC Evo Shift, Droid Version 2.3.3. Contacts are sorting by First Name, Last Name even though the "View Contacts" option is set to Sort contact list by "Last name" and View contact name as "Last name first".

I have confirmed that the contact's names are being synced from my Outlook 2007 with First Name as "Given Name" and Last Name as "Family Name".

My Outlook Contact Options are set as "Select the default setting for how to file new contacts: Default "File As" order: Last, First.

This wasn't a major issue in the past, but I just got a new car (Volkswagen CC) and the address book downloads as First Name, Last Name and I can't effectively search my contacts (2,000+) in my vehicle (NOT while driving!!). FYI, the VW "Surname" sort won't work either!!

So, what goes with this? I've tried changing settings on both my Outlook and HTC to no avail.

 

[digadigado]

I have a new Galaxy Tab 7.7 with Android 3. I love it but...

I'm pretty sure I've found a real live bug (or feature as we programmers call them). There is no way to sort by last name, only first name in the contacts list. None. I tried everything I could think of using settings and no joy.

So I wrote a program to create a vcf file with last name in the first name field and first name in the last name field. Imported the file and what do you know? It still sorted by first name! I think something else is going on here, perhaps the full name field. I'll keep trying. If anyone else comes up with a solution, please post here.

Thanks!

 

[ylexot]

You could always try a different app. GO Contacts will let you change the sort order.

BTW, stock contacts app on the Droid X ROM'd with Liberty (not sure about stock), allows you to change sort order.

Also, if you are looking for help with a different device, I suggest trying the specific forum for that device since different devices may have different default apps that work in different ways.