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Convert Google contacts BACK to Phone Contacts?

thephatp

Lurker
Nov 16, 2010
8
1
When I switched to the Samsung Fascinate from a previous non-smart phone, I transferred all of my contacts from the phone over. I think in the setup somewhere I chose to convert my contacts to goolge contacts. That was really confusing at first, because I didn't know what it did, and didn't even remember I had done that until recently.

I'd like to get the contacts back to phone contacts (not Google contacts) for multiple reasons, which I won't bother listing for now.

So, does anyone know how to un-convert or re-convert Google contacts back into phone contacts??

I really don't want to have to recreate all of the phone contacts, because I've got a LOT of them. I would remove my google account from the phone, but I worry that would remove all of my contacts completely, which wouldn't help me.

Any help is greatly appreciated.
 
go into contacts-settings-more settings-export contacts to sim card or
choose export to phone

Ok, I did the export. I'm assuming the next step is the import. If I do that, will it duplicate everything that is in my contacts list now and thus show two of every entry?

Sorry if this is a dumb question...I just don't want to deal with having to delete a bunch of duplicates if I don't have to.
 
Upvote 0
when you did the export, where did you export to,
the sim card or the phone??
if you exported to the sim card your contacts will now be on the sim card and
the original location. press the phone dialer button - then press the
contacts button - then hit your menu button -hit view- now you can choose
which contacts you want to show up on your phone and from where.
when you add a new contact it will ask you where you want to
save it to.
if i can give you some advise, if you plan on staying with android for
good and always having an android phone you might as well save yourself
some hassles and use google contacts and get rid of any misc
contacts. i have been thru this and i can tell you life will be much simpler
amd easier, it's googles product and they make life easier for those
that use their sevices in combination, it all works in harmony. i'm
not saying it's right or wrong, it's just a fact. if you are an android
person you better get in bed with google, or life is a little more messy.
 
Upvote 0
when you did the export, where did you export to,
the sim card or the phone??
If never gave an option. When click on the "Contacts" button from the home screen, then touch phone menu button, then "More", I can select "Export/Import". Once I select this, the only options are "Import from SD card" and "Export to SD card." So I selected "Export to SD card," and it saved them (I guess).

if you exported to the sim card your contacts will now be on the sim card and
the original location. press the phone dialer button - then press the
contacts button - then hit your menu button -hit view- now you can choose
which contacts you want to show up on your phone and from where.
when you add a new contact it will ask you where you want to
save it to.
Right, I can do this without any exporting or importing. The problem is that when I set up my phone, I believe I chose an option to convert my phone contacts to Google contacts, which then removed the concept that they were originally phone contacts. So, in doing what you said, I can turn off all of the Google contacts I have, but that then leaves 3 contacts in my list (newly added ones that I chose to add as phone contacts). So they are still Google contacts.

if i can give you some advise, if you plan on staying with android for
good and always having an android phone you might as well save yourself
some hassles and use google contacts and get rid of any misc
contacts. i have been thru this and i can tell you life will be much simpler
amd easier, it's googles product and they make life easier for those
that use their sevices in combination, it all works in harmony. i'm
not saying it's right or wrong, it's just a fact. if you are an android
person you better get in bed with google, or life is a little more messy.
There are two main reasons that I want to convert them back from Google contacts, one of which I would imagine more than I deal with.
1. I linked first to my google account that I use only for business. So, now I have all of my personal phone contacts in my business email contacts section. If that's not bad enough, I may accidentally email the from my business gmail account, which would be really bad, because I don't want them having that address. I have a separate GMail account for personal use.

2. I know people will probably laugh at this, but I really liked using the Groups for contacts, and I used it for a number of reasons. For example, emailing or texting family a message, video, or pic just for them (selecting the group instead of individuals). I'm sure I could use Google groups in my contacts.

The other reason, though, I don't have a fix for: I want to give different contacts different ringtones (family gets one ringtone, wife gets another, certain friends get another, work buddies get another, etc). I know that may sound stupid, but I can get an idea of who is calling from across the room and immediately know if I should try to run to my phone to answer it. I can't set individual ringtones (or group ringtones for that matter, since I can't add google contacts to the phone groups) for google contacts--only if the contact is linked to an actual phone contact.

If you have any ideas that can help these situations, I'd love to hear them. Maybe I need to give it up, but I really liked the ringtone settings and groups that I previously had established on my older phone. I can't seem to do that now. :(

Thanks for the replies, BTW!
 
Upvote 0

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