Help 761 contacts on Google, 744 on phone, obvious issues already covered - please help!

[Redflea]

So I have 761 contacts on Google (sync'd from Outlook to Google contacts) but only 744 of them are showing up on the Droid.

1. I've checked for dupes on Google - none found
2. I've ensured that all categories of contacts for my primary Gmail account are enabled on the phone in the display options for contacts
3. I've ensured that all of my contacts are in the My Contacts and All Contacts categories on Gmail
4. I've deleted all contacts from the phone (cleared contact storage in Applications>Manage on the phone) and allowed contacts to re-sync to the phone, but only 744 showed up again
5. I've done a sync now on the account page for the gmail account that has my contacts

Can't think of anything else...any ideas appreciated. This is a little maddening...

None of these contacts were added via any manual import by Verizon or by me - all are there via normal droid OTA sync.

Changes on the phone are replicated on Google contacts, and changes on Google contacts are replicated on the phone.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Quite the mystery for me. I've read through many posts on contacts issues and can't find anything in them that helps me on this.

Thanks!

 

[Carl C]

ummm strange , may I suggest checking to see if the total includes not by contacts but by numbers. For example, some contacts may have 2 numbers stored under 1 name?

 

[Redflea]

Thanks. My contacts typically have several numbers, so that's not it. I do have over 700 contacts, they just wont all show up.

 

[johnlgalt]

Is it possible that some of those contacts that you have are email addresses only, but on your phone have been merged with contacts that have an email address in one place and a phone number in another?

Also, Have you made groups for your contacts? It could be that some of those contacts are coming from GMail / Outlook with a 'sent mail' to tag (or however that is determined) so it is not being treated as a true contact....

 

[TXLady]

I also think that the Droid merged some of them because I've found that it happened to me. Some of them did not have the same name but shared numbers. It really, really irritates me and I can't fix it.

(One example: It merged a contact for me with one for Verizon Call forwarding because the number I had under call forwarding was *72555-555-5555 where 555-555-5555 was my work number. I think there are others as well but not sure -- how do you find out how many contacts are on the phone?

 

[johnlgalt]

When you go into contacts, (at least on my phone) it says at the very top (under the menus) displaying XXX contacts

(However, this may be because I am running a alternate 2.1 ROM, but, IIRC, it did this before as well.

 

[vido.ardes]

Can you identify any one of the missing contacts, i might help work out hwy it isn't syncing i.e no phone number, no email e.t.c...

 

[TXLady]

When you go into contacts, (at least on my phone) it says at the very top (under the menus) displaying XXX contacts

(However, this may be because I am running a alternate 2.1 ROM, but, IIRC, it did this before as well.

Well duh. Thanks. Alrighty. Confirmed that more problems than I've discovered so far. On Droid - 287; On google contacts - 294. (And Outlook has 296 but I might have added a couple since I last synced.)

Now I have to decide if it's worth trying to figure out which ones they are -- I'm hoping to be off the Droid any day.

 

[Redflea]

Is it possible that some of those contacts that you have are email addresses only, but on your phone have been merged with contacts that have an email address in one place and a phone number in another?

Also, Have you made groups for your contacts? It could be that some of those contacts are coming from GMail / Outlook with a 'sent mail' to tag (or however that is determined) so it is not being treated as a true contact....

Thanks...all the contacts came from Outlook originally, so I don't think it can be a merge issue. I have checked and don't have any duplicates that Gmail/Droid has merged. All my contacts on Outlook are on Gmail.

Never heard of a "sent mail" tag...I checked a few groups and they were all coming over correctly.

 

[johnlgalt]

The only thing I can suggest, then, is to check each contact individually until you find the discrepancy.

 

[Redflea]

I also think that the Droid merged some of them because I've found that it happened to me. Some of them did not have the same name but shared numbers. It really, really irritates me and I can't fix it.

(One example: It merged a contact for me with one for Verizon Call forwarding because the number I had under call forwarding was *72555-555-5555 where 555-555-5555 was my work number. I think there are others as well but not sure -- how do you find out how many contacts are on the phone?

Doh! I've just confirmed at least one "missing" contact is due to a merge that I missed when I was checking contacts. The odd thing is that Google doesn't indicate any dupes...

I have a 18 contact gap, so I'll have to comb through, but if I have that many potential dupes that are being combined I'll be surprised...we'll see, I guess.

 

[johnlgalt]

Yeah, I really cringed when I typed that answer, but at this point, it is damn near impossible to tell one way or another.

If there were a way to export the contacts in your phone to a CSV file then it'd be a lot easier, as you could use something like WinDiff on your computer to compare that file with an export of your contacts in GMail / Google, but I don't know of a way to export the contacts on your phone, unless ....

Doh!!!


Listables! v0.2.2 Application for Android | Tools, by our very own ALostPacket! I'm such an idiot for forgetting that! Since that will allow you to save your contacts in CSV format, and in your GMail you can export your contacts, also in CSV format, you can then load up your favorite differencing program (I personally use WinMerge) you could then easily see which lines were missing from one file to the other....

 

[johnlgalt]

Whoops - Listables! only allows vCard for contacts, it doe CSV for apps - my bad. Thought I was onto something there.

 

[Redflea]

Yeah, I really cringed when I typed that answer, but at this point, it is damn near impossible to tell one way or another.

If there were a way to export the contacts in your phone to a CSV file then it'd be a lot easier, as you could use something like WinDiff on your computer to compare that file with an export of your contacts in GMail / Google, but I don't know of a way to export the contacts on your phone, unless ....

Doh!!!


Listables! v0.2.2 Application for Android | Tools, by our very own ALostPacket! I'm such an idiot for forgetting that! Since that will allow you to save your contacts in CSV format, and in your GMail you can export your contacts, also in CSV format, you can then load up your favorite differencing program (I personally use WinMerge) you could then easily see which lines were missing from one file to the other....

Saw your subsequent post...thanks for trying to help!

 

[johnlgalt]

Lol - np - I am still trying to see if there is a way to do it, and there might be.

I think that the .VCFs can be edited as some sort of text file, and if so, then it should be theoretically possible to still compare them.

If nothing else, it will make for a good tutorial.

 

[Shadowtech]

761 contacts? What is the point of having that many cluttering up your phone to begin with? Surely there is no way you actually talk to all (or even half) of them on any kind of regular basis... Not trying to say anything bad, just genuinely curious as to why someone would need so many contacts.

 

[obutto]

Okay heres what happened. This happens on my phone as well. The Droid, being the "smart" phone it is, starts merging contacts. So pretend you have someone as Billy and another person as William. The Droid will automatically adjoin these nicknames and real names into one contact "William". What you have to do is find the people who have nicknames and "real" names combined and separate them by going to edit contact and doing split or something like that.

 

[TXLady]

761 contacts? What is the point of having that many cluttering up your phone to begin with? Surely there is no way you actually talk to all (or even half) of them on any kind of regular basis... Not trying to say anything bad, just genuinely curious as to why someone would need so many contacts.

I only have 300 something and no, I don't call all of them but I do maintain a single contact list and sync it to my phone. Many of us keep all contact info (phones, email, etc.) in a single list and by having it on the phone, we always have it with us. If I try to go through my list and ask myself if I'll ever need to call that person on my cell phone, I'm sure I will miss some that I wish I'd added.

Sure, I could just keep it on the computer but isn't that part of why we have the phones with this capability?

I could just as easily say why in the world would anyone want to use the phone to look up stuff on the internet? Or why do you want to play games on the phone? You can wait until you get back to the computer. Other than making phone calls, there is really no reason to have a phone -- everything else you can do on the computer. And actually, you can even make calls so you don't need the phone at all.

But it is convenient to have all that with you, isn't it?

 

[Redflea]

I only have 300 something and no, I don't call all of them but I do maintain a single contact list and sync it to my phone. Many of us keep all contact info (phones, email, etc.) in a single list and by having it on the phone, we always have it with us. If I try to go through my list and ask myself if I'll ever need to call that person on my cell phone, I'm sure I will miss some that I wish I'd added.

Sure, I could just keep it on the computer but isn't that part of why we have the phones with this capability?

I could just as easily say why in the world would anyone want to use the phone to look up stuff on the internet? Or why do you want to play games on the phone? You can wait until you get back to the computer. Other than making phone calls, there is really no reason to have a phone -- everything else you can do on the computer. And actually, you can even make calls so you don't need the phone at all.

But it is convenient to have all that with you, isn't it?

What he said.

I have my work/personal contacts combined, and like to keep them all with me. Can I help it if I'm popular and have a lot of friends?

 

[Redflea]

Okay heres what happened. This happens on my phone as well. The Droid, being the "smart" phone it is, starts merging contacts. So pretend you have someone as Billy and another person as William. The Droid will automatically adjoin these nicknames and real names into one contact "William". What you have to do is find the people who have nicknames and "real" names combined and separate them by going to edit contact and doing split or something like that.

I didn't think about the Bill/William affect...assumed that unless they had the same last name it would not be an issue. I'll have to go through and look for those problems...I do have a number of families where I have multiple contacts, that might be the issue...

 

[johnlgalt]

761 contacts? What is the point of having that many cluttering up your phone to begin with? Surely there is no way you actually talk to all (or even half) of them on any kind of regular basis... Not trying to say anything bad, just genuinely curious as to why someone would need so many contacts.

If you run a business, you may have 10 times that many contacts, if the business requires it....

Okay heres what happened. This happens on my phone as well. The Droid, being the "smart" phone it is, starts merging contacts. So pretend you have someone as Billy and another person as William. The Droid will automatically adjoin these nicknames and real names into one contact "William". What you have to do is find the people who have nicknames and "real" names combined and separate them by going to edit contact and doing split or something like that.

I'd amend it to "Here's what may have happened." For example, that will never happen on my phone b/c I never put a contact in with just a single name for this very reason - but I have have even before I made the move to smart phones. So, really the only way this will happen is if you have multiple contacts with no surnames or else the same surname.

I only have 300 something and no, I don't call all of them but I do maintain a single contact list and sync it to my phone. Many of us keep all contact info (phones, email, etc.) in a single list and by having it on the phone, we always have it with us. If I try to go through my list and ask myself if I'll ever need to call that person on my cell phone, I'm sure I will miss some that I wish I'd added.

Sure, I could just keep it on the computer but isn't that part of why we have the phones with this capability?

I could just as easily say why in the world would anyone want to use the phone to look up stuff on the internet? Or why do you want to play games on the phone? You can wait until you get back to the computer. Other than making phone calls, there is really no reason to have a phone -- everything else you can do on the computer. And actually, you can even make calls so you don't need the phone at all.

But it is convenient to have all that with you, isn't it?

Good answer.

What he said.

I have my work/personal contacts combined, and like to keep them all with me. Can I help it if I'm popular and have a lot of friends?

the nickname txlady makes me think it is a she not a he

I didn't think about the Bill/William affect...assumed that unless they had the same last name it would not be an issue. I'll have to go through and look for those problems...I do have a number of families where I have multiple contacts, that might be the issue...

If they have different names they sure as hell better not have merged - and in fact I can guarantee that they will not b/c I have 5 contacts named John XXXXX, all different surnames, and none have been merged - and I change ROMs more than most people change their underwear....

 

[Redflea]

the nickname txlady makes me think it is a she not a he

Oops...good catch, I may have mis-gendered.

If they have different names they sure as hell better not have merged - and in fact I can guarantee that they will not b/c I have 5 contacts named John XXXXX, all different surnames, and none have been merged - and I change ROMs more than most people change their underwear....

I figured that was the case...I'm just too beat today to do any serious searching on this issue, maybe later in the week. I did find a couple combined entries, so I'm hoping/assuming that's it, and my contacts aren't getting lost between Outlook and the Droid.

 

[TXLady]

the nickname txlady makes me think it is a she not a he

Oops...good catch, I may have mis-gendered.

LOL. Definitely a she. I used a gender neutral username for years because I never wanted to call attention to myself as a woman on forums where most of the posters are guys but those days are over so I did change username on most of my forums to TXLady last year. But, I did not take offense.

 

[johnlgalt]

So, you're saying you want to call attention to your gender now? Why the change?

I can pay lots and lots of attention....

(OK, sicko stalking mode is turned off - don't worry, that was a one time thing).

Seriously, I had a feeling it was an accident and redflea confirmed it - I just happened to have noticed it so I mentioned it.

 

[TXLady]

So, you're saying you want to call attention to your gender now? Why the change?

LOL. Not exactly but I no longer try to hide it on the forums either.