Getting Rid Of Google Contacts?

[PeteCress]

Somewhere along the line, I managed to make Google create a duplicate for every contact on my Note.

So I have something like:

[HIGH]Smith, Adam
Smith, Adam (with the little Google icon on it).[/HIGH]

Attempting to fix it, I logged into gMail.com and deleted all of my contacts there.

Next step would seem to be to tell Android to synch contacts with gMail.

But that raises the spectre of the synch process saying something like "Well, no contacts in gMail.... I guess I'll just delete *all* contacts."

Has anybody been here? Will it be smart enough to only delete the gMail contacts?

 

[Digital Controller]

You can go into your contacts and choose what accounts to show. Just check the account you want to show and uncheck the google account.

 

[Crashdamage]

You may just be confused. Contacts can be stored in 3 places.

1. As Google contacts. These are stored on the phone and synced to your Google account (unless sync is turned off).
2. As Phone contacts. These are stored locally on the phone only and not synced.
3. As SIM contacts. Unlike 1+2 above, only names and numbers can be stored, no addresses, email info, photos etc.

Your contacts app can be set to display any or all of the above. If you see duplicates then you have those contacts saved in more than one place, for example as both 1+2, and your contacts app is set to display 1+2. So, you see duplicates. Changing the contacts app to display either 1 or 2 but not both eliminates the duplicate contact display.

See your phone manual for more details.

Linux user #266351. Android since v1.0

 

[SirSpace]

All you gotta do is go into your Gmail account then contacts and boom good to go. Or you can delete all your contacts on Gmail then turn on sync on phone and all the info on phone will sync to your Gmail account

 

[PeteCress]

You can go into your contacts and choose what accounts to show. Just check the account you want to show and uncheck the google account.

I'm not seeing anything like that (Android 4.0).

I see entries about which accounts to synch to, but nothing about which to show.

I'm looking in:

Contacts | Settings
Phone | Contacts | Settings (which seems to be the same thing as Contacts | Settings),
Settings | Accounts and sync

 

[Digital Controller]

I'm not seeing anything like that (Android 4.0).

I see entries about which accounts to synch to, but nothing about which to show.

I'm looking in:

Once you go within the contacts app and click on the 3 vertical dots its under "Contacts to Display"

I use it because it really bothers me having 500 contacts but only 50 of them have numbers attached to them

To add to the confusion there is a specific list of contacts not only for Google but also for Google+

Typically the Google one which might be labeled Gmail is, well your email and the Google+ one is your G+ account

 

[Hadron]

Play safe: export your contacts to SD before doing anything on the phone. That way you have a local backup in case anything does get deleted.

 

[PeteCress]

Once you go within the contacts app and click on the 3 vertical dots its under "Contacts to Display"

Maybe I have a different version of Contacts or all this is just flying over my head.

Here's what I call the Contacts App: Picasa Web Albums - Pete Cresswell - Galaxy Note

Wrong app?

 

[Hadron]

I'd say that's the Contacts app, but it's the Samsung version rather than the stock JB one, so I guess the menu options may differ.

(I'm using AOSP Gingerbread, so even less likely to be the same).

 

[chanchan05]

Samsung contacts app should have the display options in contacts>menu> more>display options. I have those settings on all my Samsung devices.

Sent from my GT-P6200 using Tapatalk 2

 

[PeteCress]

Or you can delete all your contacts on Gmail then turn on sync on phone and all the info on phone will sync to your Gmail account

What I'm afraid of is that the synch process will go all the way and delete the non-gmail entries too.

Was hoping to hear from somebody who has actually done this before I go off an shoot myself in the foot...

 

[Crashdamage]

1. Make a backup of all your contacts to be safe. You should always have recent backups of all important files anyway.

2. Sync your Google account with your phone. Only contacts saved as Google contacts will sync to your Gmail account. Other contacts on the phone *should* be untouched.

3. Check the display options of your contacts app so only what you want to see is displayed.

4. Again, your phone's manual may be helpful.

Linux user #266351. Android since v1.0