Help Eris: Re-order Contacts by "Last Name, First Name"

[lilroot]

I love my HTC ERIS so much.

Does anyone know how to order the contacts from "First name, Last name" to "Last Name, First Name"?

Thanks in advance.


p.s. - I don't want to hear that I need to change all my contacts names around, I am looking for a 'check mark' box to change the orientation. Thanks.

 

[Solitary]

i dont think there is one

 

[thetomlin2]

p.s. - I don't want to hear that I need to change all my contacts names around

Than how are we supposed to answer your question? You would need a field to sort it by, and there isnt a seperate field for "First Name" and "Last Name".

 

[Podivin]

Than how are we supposed to answer your question? You would need a field to sort it by, and there isnt a seperate field for "First Name" and "Last Name".

+1

 

[lilroot]

I would think that this technology that we have created could say that "first name" is the first sting of characters before a "space" and that the last name would be the last string of text (if there happens to be a middle name or something in the middle).

Thats what I would think, but I guess not. No need to bash me down, just trying to arrange my contacts in a different manner, thats all.

 

[jmastron]

I would think that this technology that we have created could say that "first name" is the first sting of characters before a "space" and that the last name would be the last string of text (if there happens to be a middle name or something in the middle).

Thats what I would think, but I guess not. No need to bash me down, just trying to arrange my contacts in a different manner, thats all.

Unfortunately, that rule is broken often enough (Jr., Sr. III, Esq. at the end, or multi-word last names like Van der Water, etc) that it isn't as algorithmically applicable. And in some cultures, the first name listed is the family (what I would call "last") name and is what you'd want to sort on.

Outlook and some others solve this by having you enter multiple fields for the name, with an overriding "File As" field for the exceptions. It seems that Google's concept is that a name is just a name, and you use searches (of course, that being Google's whole thing) to find the right ones. Which makes some sense -- much of the reasons for filing systems came about when records were physical, and instant "search" wasn't really possible.

Ick, I remember looking up check writing authorization cards at a supermarket and realizing we had separate drawers for last names starting with "M" and ones starting with "Mc" (so Miller came before McAfee). Of course, not everyone filing the cards realized this, so some McAfees were in the M drawer and some in the Mc drawer. Add that to the 15 year old kids who didn't really care how well things were filed, and you got a mess.

Having said all that, I also want to be able to list my contacts by last name, and am planning to play with writing an app to do that for fun. Might pick a default algorithm for determining last name and allow the user to override specific names.

 

[telltime]

Well, if an App is developed for it, I'd buy it...

If it's a "Google" contact, you have to manually enter the last name first. I did this on my computer, not my phone, from my contact list in G-Mail.

You can check a box if you make it a NON Google contact. And that IS a choice in the Eris when you are adding a new contact.

 

[Esquire1]

This is so annoying to me. I wish I could sort by Last Name.

 

[telltime]

This is so annoying to me. I wish I could sort by Last Name.

When I first got my phone in December, you could if you didn't add them as a "google" contact. Now, I don't see that option. Did this get changed in a software update?

Edited to add:

Found it... If you add a new contact, when you FIRST start, it will ask if you want it to be a phone or google contact. If you chose "phone," and start typing in the name, you will see seperate fields for the first name and last name, and then immediately under that you will see a choice for "display." That will give you a choice to dislplay the last name first.

But I DON'T see this for adding the contact as a google POC. And I did this so I don't have to back-up my contacts or worry about it in case I have to get a replacement phone someday.

I personally just opened Google on my PC one night and manually switched them all. I have less than 100 contacts (in the 70 - 80 range) and it took me a little less than hour.

But I agree that I wish it were a feature or an app for ALL contacts.

 

[DDustiNN]

Than how are we supposed to answer your question? You would need a field to sort it by, and there isnt a seperate field for "First Name" and "Last Name".

Actually, there is when you are adding/editing a new contact, but not when editing an imported one for some reason... All contacts that were imported to my phone only have one "Name" field when I edit them. But with all new contacts I've entered after the initial import, there is "First Name" and a "Last Name" field when I added them, as well as when I edit the contact.

Very weird "feature"...

 

[thetomlin2]

Actually, there is when you are adding/editing a new contact, but not when editing an imported one for some reason... All contacts that were imported to my phone only have one "Name" field when I edit them. But with all new contacts I've entered after the initial import, there is "First Name" and a "Last Name" field when I added them, as well as when I edit the contact.

Very weird "feature"...

Just checked ... when creating a new contact I still have only the 1 "name" field.

 

[DDustiNN]

Just checked ... when creating a new contact I still have only the 1 "name" field.

Just checked too... Still there.

Click Phone --> Menu --> People --> Add Contact

It looks like one field for Name, but when you actually click on it, a new window pops up called "Edit Name", and there are separate fields for First and Last names.

 

[thetomlin2]

Just checked too... Still there.

Click Phone --> Menu --> People --> Add Contact

It looks like one field for Name, but when you actually click on it, a new window pops up called "Edit Name", and there are separate fields for First and Last names.

I didnt click on it, but when I did I saw what you were talking about ... seems to only work if you are making a "phone" contact, not a "google" contact though.

 

[DDustiNN]

I didnt click on it, but when I did I saw what you were talking about ... seems to only work if you are making a "phone" contact, not a "google" contact though.

Oh thanks I didn't notice that... Good to know!

 

[mark307]

Folks, I have 1500+ contacts synced from Outlook. The "Phone" contacts do have a "Display as" choice that includes "Last name, First Name."

But, I would not like to have to edit each of 1500 to set my preference for Last name first sorting.

HTC or Google needs to add a sorting preference in the app.

 

[tpatnoe]

mark307, how did you sync your contacts with Outlook exactly? I have tried everything on this forum and I cannot get it to work. Details would be greatly appreciated. I used Go Contact Sync to sync outlook to google, then google to my phone. All of my contacts were synced but I would love to be able to sync Outlook to phone directly without going through google. I have Outlook set up to "File As" first name first, but it didnt end up on my phone that way. Thanks

 

[mark307]

I use HTC Sync I downloaded from HTC's web site?. Very basic, but it worked. I do not use it frequently, yet.

See the discussion in this (HTC Eris Droid) forum about directly sync'ing the Eris with Outlook -- it is a sticky thread near the top of the forum. Has full instructions and web site for downloading the sync program.

 

[Naturesprite]

If you sync to outlook exchange via activesync, you can download a phone app called touchdown. It will sync your outlook contacts and sort contacts by last name. Then you don't need to use the people program anymore. It is a pay app though, but a good one. I got this because my droid eris woulnd'nt sync with outlook exchange when I bought it.

Failing to make the phone capable of sorting by last name is sort of like making computer software that only has 2 digits for the year. Remember Y2K? You'd think computer geeks could have figured this out by now.

 

[Demache]

Its sort of ironic. My Nokia E63 had a bug where you could only organize by Last name, First Name.

 

[dr1061]

Android 2.1 does not seem to allow ordering by last name.
My 1300 contacts (mostly business) are now on my iPhone, with separate fields for last name, first name, company, etc. When I tried to import them into a new Android phone, they came out first name first (you can imagine how many "John"s there were), and even with tech help from the seller of the phone, no way to reorder. The one-field problem doesn't apply to my contacts. ANY FIX IN THE WORKS?

 

[manderle]

Groupy has this feature.

 

[D_Sweet]

you still have to do it by editing one at a time but if you open a contact in people & select edit, click on the name it will pop up with first name, last name and under it says display name with a drop arrow & that gives you the option to display by first, last or last, first. Doesn't matter whether it is a google contact or phone contact, I just checked both and had the option on both.