Help Syncing my Droid contacts with Gmail!

[cap2587]

I realize that alot of people already have this dilemma and hoping that my post can help some fellow Droid/gmail users. I had verizon transfer all of my contacts and now they are in phone only category on my Droid. I do not have any contacts in my gmail account yet. My gmail account on the phone was set up and I selected to sync contacts and calendar. I also decided to export my phone contacts to an SD card to have as a back up. I want to get all of my phone contacts into Gmail and then have it sync automatically when I add a new contacts into either my phone or Gmail (2 way sync). I also don't want to have doubles or no contacts as a result of a mistake. Should I import my phone contacts into my gmail account via the export I created on the SD card from my Phone. What about turning off sync contacts and they turning it back on again. Will this transfer my contacts from my phone into gmail. Maybe It has to do with whether the contacts were transferred to the phone prior to me setting up my gmail account with sync for contacts/calendar. I'm sure there is a couple way's to get the desired result. What method have people chosen to use in my situation. Thanks.

 

[skilaufen]

If you turn on the sync option it should sync itself directly with your gmail account and then automatically adjust itself when you add or delete a contact. I wouldn't turn the sync off unless there was a specific reason for doing so.

I have saved contacts to my sd card before and it has never affected the sync with Google. I have also never had a problem with double contacts or other issues. I have always gotten my contacts back whenever I have signed in after a hard reset or flashing a new ROM.

 

[johnlgalt]

I realize that alot of people already have this dilemma and hoping that my post can help some fellow Droid/gmail users. I had verizon transfer all of my contacts and now they are in phone only category on my Droid. I do not have any contacts in my gmail account yet. My gmail account on the phone was set up and I selected to sync contacts and calendar. I also decided to export my phone contacts to an SD card to have as a back up. I want to get all of my phone contacts into Gmail and then have it sync automatically when I add a new contacts into either my phone or Gmail (2 way sync). I also don't want to have doubles or no contacts as a result of a mistake. Should I import my phone contacts into my gmail account via the export I created on the SD card from my Phone. What about turning off sync contacts and they turning it back on again. Will this transfer my contacts from my phone into gmail. Maybe It has to do with whether the contacts were transferred to the phone prior to me setting up my gmail account with sync for contacts/calendar. I'm sure there is a couple way's to get the desired result. What method have people chosen to use in my situation. Thanks.

Hi, cap, and welcome to the forums.

If your sync contacts is already enabled, and none of your phone's contacts are synchonizing with your Google account, then yes, try temporarily disabling the sync, and then re-enabling it after a small period of time (1 minute should be more than sufficient) and then allow your phone and Google to sync. Check to see if that fixes the problem.

If not, you can go ahead and try to import the contacts directly into your Google account via a computer.

I'm curious, though - where are you seeing that the contacts are 'phone only'?

 

[takeshi]

Should I import my phone contacts into my gmail account via the export I created on the SD card from my Phone.

Yes. You might want to remove the existing contacts just for housekeeping purposes after you have imported them.

What about turning off sync contacts and they turning it back on again. Will this transfer my contacts from my phone into gmail. Maybe It has to do with whether the contacts were transferred to the phone prior to me setting up my gmail account with sync for contacts/calendar.

Nope. It has to do with the type of contact. Your contacts are Phone Contacts, which won't sync. Google Contacts, however will sync with your Google account.

If you edit a contact you should see what type of contact is it at the top of the screen (assuming you don't have a UI with its own contacts app that might be a little different).

 

[cap2587]

Thanks for all of the great information! It is actually a friends Droid that I am trying to helping him with and I am thinking of offering Smart Phone set up as a part of my computer business. There is a couple of things I am still unsure about: The contacts were transferred from verizon guy and put into people icon. Is this separate to Google contacts and does it matter. The contacts were put into the phone 1st and then the Gmail email account was set up on the Droid (then sync turned on). No contacts were synced into his gmail account after sync was turned on. Was this because the contacts are in the wrong category. I could import the contacts into gmail via the SD card export. However, will this mean I have contacts in people and contacts in google contacts on my phone. I could also disable contacts syn and re-enable it and hope all of the phone contacts get moved to gmail. I would rather not have to restore his phone, but I do not want to have doubles and missing contacts. What do you think I should try to do and in what order? Appreciate all the help and good advice. If it was my phone then I would not hesitate to try any of your suggestions. I would rather make the right move 1st instead of having to recover from mistakes.

 

[MauriceHillstarter]

I realize that alot of people already have this dilemma and hoping that my post can help some fellow Droid/gmail users. I had verizon transfer all of my contacts and now they are in phone only category on my Droid. I do not have any contacts in my gmail account yet. My gmail account on the phone was set up and I selected to sync contacts and calendar. I also decided to export my phone contacts to an SD card to have as a back up. I want to get all of my phone contacts into Gmail and then have it sync automatically when I add a new contacts into either my phone or Gmail (2 way sync). I also don't want to have doubles or no contacts as a result of a mistake. Should I import my phone contacts into my gmail account via the export I created on the SD card from my Phone. What about turning off sync contacts and they turning it back on again. Will this transfer my contacts from my phone into gmail. Maybe It has to do with whether the contacts were transferred to the phone prior to me setting up my gmail account with sync for contacts/calendar. I'm sure there is a couple way's to get the desired result. What method have people chosen to use in my situation. Thanks.

had the exact same problem, @cap! I've been using my Droid since June. It's quite ridiculous. Something was making my phone say its memory was 'very low and almost full' for the whole summer...I had: 2,000 contacts, 1 video, 5-7 pictures I think, 10 songs in my library from Music Junk, and (count 'em): FIVE APPS. That's IT. How IN THE WORLD can my phone be full?

I had to reset it TWICE over the summer...starting from scratch to re-download apps, music, sync my contacts, etc.Then, Thanksgiving. My phone crashed. Completely. Got a new Droid Incredible, and started syncing my contacts. Synced from Gmail and from my SD card. Woops. Copies of my contacts. I now have somewhere between 4,000-5,000 contacts. STILL. It shouldn't make my phone full! It filled up again around Christmas-time.

I finally did two things:

One - upgraded my Syncables to version 7 so that I can sync and backup all of my contacts and my media to my computers. It also syncs my PC's with my Macs, enabling me to sync/share/backup important stuff between computers.

Two - I uninstalled 'Advanced Task Killer'. It works against your Droid, because Droid is built to allow apps to run in the background without eating your battery to nothing. ATK messes up the OS of Android, and it was even recommended to me by the Verizon people. GET RID OF IT.

Hope this helps...I feel your pain...

 

[cap2587]

I'm hoping you all are still with me. I have some extra information that should lead us to how to finish this process.

There is 377 People in the phone only contacts and 0 contacts in gmail or the Google contacts in the phone. I was thinking about importing all of the contacts from phone only into Gmail. I was weary of doing this as I thought that it would create doubles in the phone. I think the best way to do this is to delete all of the phone contacts. Then add all the contacts into Gmail through import, make sure that sync is turned on and then they should all come back into the phone as google contacts. What is the easiest way to delete all the contacts out of the Droid Incredible. Do you think I am going about this the right way. It would be a pain to change the way a contact is saved to google contacts every time a contact is entered. What are your thoughts. i'm hoping there is a way of setting the default contact saved info as a google contact without having to manually do it each time. Thanks for your help.

 

[chrs]

I had this issue on a droid x.
I exported contacts to the SD card, and then imported them into the phone again from the SD card. When I did that I could select for them to go into the category of contacts that sync to google. That resulted in duplicate contacts, but not in a bad way because each duplicate pair is "linked" and shows up as a single listing in the contacts app or phone list on the phone. But you could also delete all the contacts before loading from the SD card.

 

[cap2587]

chrs, Thanks for the reply. When you say it made duplicates after you imported from the SD Card into Google contacts, what do you mean? Wouldn't that have created contacts in your google contacts and in your phone contacts. Isn't there an option to just look at the Google contacts when you select the people button on the phone. I guess I have a couple of choices.

1. Delete the contacts off the phone and import all the contacts into my gmail account, which in turn will sync them back into the phone. I would rather not do this method as it is a friends phone and I don't feel comfortable deleting contacts.

2. Just importing all of my contacts into Gmail. The downside of this it will add all of my contacts to Google contacts in the phone, but also add doubles to my phone only contacts.

3. I can import my contacts back into the phone and they will go in as Google contacts. Then I will have 377 contacts in phone only and 377 contacts in Google contacts. Not ideal, but probably what I will choose.

I wish that Verizon would let people use the Droid without a data plan, accessing WiFi. This way I could purchase the phone and learn all about contacts syncing with email clients.

I will let you know how it ends up and if anyone else has something to add, please do so. Thanks.

 

[chrs]

chrs, Thanks for the reply. When you say it made duplicates after you imported from the SD Card into Google contacts, what do you mean?

exactly what you describe in 3. below. You say into google contacts, but this all happens in the phone, nothing with www.google.com/contacts, until next sync. Also, the 700+ contacts in the phone show up as just 377 items in the list, because it lists linked pairs, not each way each person is listed.

Wouldn't that have created contacts in your google contacts and in your phone contacts. Isn't there an option to just look at the Google contacts when you select the people button on the phone. I guess I have a couple of choices.

Yes, it has 2 of each person. There might be the option you describe, but no need for it, as even with all showing, it shows a list of 377, just with a note on each of those that it's a linked pair, if you open that contact.

1. Delete the contacts off the phone and import all the contacts into my gmail account, which in turn will sync them back into the phone. I would rather not do this method as it is a friends phone and I don't feel comfortable deleting contacts.

2. Just importing all of my contacts into Gmail. The downside of this it will add all of my contacts to Google contacts in the phone, but also add doubles to my phone only contacts.

3. I can import my contacts back into the phone and they will go in as Google contacts. Then I will have 377 contacts in phone only and 377 contacts in Google contacts. Not ideal, but probably what I will choose.

I wish that Verizon would let people use the Droid without a data plan, accessing WiFi. This way I could purchase the phone and learn all about contacts syncing with email clients.

I will let you know how it ends up and if anyone else has something to add, please do so. Thanks.

 

[chrs]

Not dried x, but the virgin mobile no-contract android phone, available at best buy, is a good option to use wifi only.

 

[cap2587]

Chrs,

Do you have the exact name of the Android Phone that Virgin Mobile sells. Would people be selling this on Craig'slist? Is it running Froyo 2.2 O/S? I think I get what your saying about duplicates. It does make 377 contacts in Google and in phone only contacts, but they are linked together and you don't see them as doubles in the main contact list. Is there anyway of deleting all contacts in a Droid witholut restoring the phone back to factory settings?

 

[mnem3844]

If you turn on the sync option it should sync itself directly with your gmail account and then automatically adjust itself when you add or delete a contact. I wouldn't turn the sync off unless there was a specific reason for doing so.

I have saved contacts to my sd card before and it has never affected the sync with Google. I have also never had a problem with double contacts or other issues. I have always gotten my contacts back whenever I have signed in after a hard reset or flashing a new ROM.

My Motorola Droid (original) does not give me the option to save to the SD card. How do I do it?

 

[cap2587]

Can you attach the Motorola Droid to the computer via the USB cable they provided you. This was you can save the contacts in a CSV file and import into your Gmail. Just an idea. I though all Droids allowed the contacts to be imported to the SD card? I guess I was wrong. Good Luck