Help Contacts Sync Issue

contacts.google.com

You can merge duplicates there or manually make corrections. It is a pain and a new phone always seems to create dupes.

Follow these steps to import contacts to Google, clean up the list and sync them back to your phone and you'll be good to go.

1. On the old phone, open the Contacts app and tap Menu.

2. Select Import/export, then Export to storage.

3. A box will open with the location the .vcf file will be exported to. Write it down, so you don't forget it. Proceed with exporting contacts.

4. If your phone doesn't have all the contacts you want included in the final contact list export contacts from other devices separately, repeat until all contacts you want to keep from other lists are exported. They can be exported as .csv files if .vcf is not an option.

5. Make a backup copy of the .vcf file(s) and put it in a safe place. Can't ever have too many backups.

6. Turn sync of contacts off on the new phone. Delete ALL contacts. To be sure all contacts are deleted go to: Settings > Apps > Google contacts > Clear cache > Clear data. Then turn the phone off.

7. Transfer the .vcf file(s) to a computer or cloud storage for upload to Google.

8. Log into your Google account and open Contacts. You may want to delete all contacts if all the contacts you want to keep are in the files to be imported. When ready to import, click on More. In the drop-down list select Import.

9. In the next box select Browse. Navigate to the exported .vcf file and select it. Click on Import. Repeat if you have more than one file to import.

10. When import is complete click on More again and select Merge duplicates. When done, check the cleaned list for errors. When satisfied export a .vcf copy for backup then go to #11.

11. Turn on the phone. Check to see there are no contacts anywhere on the phone. If any remain, delete them. If none.

12. Turn on sync of Google contacts for your account. Your contacts will download to the phone.

You're done. You should now have a single, cleaned contact list on the phone, backed up to Google and a backup file copy.

Thanks for the kind words.

Transfer software is simple to use, but doesn't always do everything needed. Sometimes ya just gotta do some stuff manually. Sometimes there's just no 'app for that'.

In this case, the manual steps aren't just for fun. The OP had errors, duplicates, missing photos and other issues. The steps I gave hopefully helped him get everything into a single, cleaned and corrected contact list and synced back to his devices.

I wish I had the programming skills to write an 'app for that'. With so many users having trouble with contacts, if I could write a kinda all-purpose repair, restore and transfer Swiss Army knife for contacts I would undoubtedly be a rich man.

I still have contacts from my Palm Treo days. It's been quite an "adventure" keeping those intact lol.