Help Contact transfer, bluetooth, only way?

[barrym]

Hi,

Me again, this time I hope I don't act as foolishly as I did last time .

I am trying to tidy up contacts and want to transfer all the contacts on my Desire to my PC, tidy them and send them back. I had a look at the other thread s on this but they don't seem to cover Desire.

It seems I can only transfer contacts as VCards, one at a time, via bluetooth, is this the case? That would be a pain.

So, what are the alternatives? I think I can use sync but I'm not sure how. Any other options? Using the built in mailer in Desire, I assume, since I didn't load another one, and using Thunderbird on PC, if that info is pertinent.

TIA, Barry

 

[Harry2]

Try 'MyPhoneExplorer'. Sync to PC over USB or WiFi.
This famous tool for SonyEricsson is also avaible for Android.

EDIT: MyPhoneExplorer for SE can Bluetooth, I hope next time for Android, too

Harry

 

[SiHa]

Surely, you'd just install HTC sync on your PC.

You sync the phone with the PC, tidy up, then re-sync. That's how I did exactly this anyway. I think when you first install HTC sync it asks what program you want to use to store your contacts, I used Outlook Express in XP, and Windows Live Mail in Win7.

Also it might be simpler if, after syncing with the PC the first time, you delete all contacts from the phone, to ensure all changes are copied across. I noticed that when it syncs it only looks for new/deleted contacts. Actual changes within a contact weren't copied.

If you want to make double sure you don't lose everything in the process, you can export your contacts to the SDcard. Open the contact list (People), menu->Import/Export->to SD Card.

HTH

Simon

Edit: HTC Sync can be found on the SDcard that came with the phone. Attach the phone to the PC via USB, and select 'Mount as Disk-Drive Only'. You should then be able to run the installer direct form the card.

 

[barrym]

Surely, you'd just install HTC sync on your PC.

You sync the phone with the PC, tidy up, then re-sync. That's how I did exactly this anyway. I think when you first install HTC sync it asks what program you want to use to store your contacts, I used Outlook Express in XP, and Windows Live Mail in Win7.

Yes, I do recall seeing that somewhere in my researches, but I don't use Outlook I use Thunderbird, part of the Firefox suite. So, should I save it in some sort of neutral format? It was that issue that sort of pushed me towards Bluetooth.

Also it might be simpler if, after syncing with the PC the first time, you delete all contacts from the phone, to ensure all changes are copied across. I noticed that when it syncs it only looks for new/deleted contacts. Actual changes within a contact weren't copied.

Thanks for that, if and when I get to that state I'll take it into account. BTW I have found sync on the HD and loaded it as you suggest.

If you want to make double sure you don't lose everything in the process, you can export your contacts to the SDcard. Open the contact list (People), menu->Import/Export->to SD Card.

Again thanks, I'll try that too.

My overall problem with the Android/HTC, etc., is that I don't have any over view of what is where. I'm very familiar with PCs and miss the 'overview' of things provided by programs like Explorer or File Manager. I did get a file manager app thing but it doesn't provide the same visibility. Can you or somebody point me at a sort of Android for Dummies place which would provide some background, the manual is, as usual, pretty superficial.

Tnks again,

B

 

[sledbilly]

here's how I do it

1. from people, tap menu, export to SD card
2. move vcf file to your PC. you can either email it to yourself (i had to rename file ext to be able to attach) or set up phone as USB drive
3. import the vcf file to google contacts
4. you now have the option to export from google as vcf or xls file
5. import to your mail program
6. you can also export from google and then import contacts to your phone.

For Outlook users....

I have always disliked the email display as field. When I send email from the PC I prefer to just show the name in the To and Cc field. Here's how you can fix that in Outlook using the google contact export xls file OR the contact file itself from outlook.

1. export file from google as xls, open file in excel
2. scroll over and you will see the email display as field for the three email addresses. This field is empty from the google export file.
3. notice the first name and last name populate different columns
4. use the concatenate or ampersand function (with a space so there is a space between FN and LN) to merge (copy really) the FN and LN into the email display as column then copy function to entire Email Display as column.
5. delete all your outlook contacts, then import the new xls file. This is assuming you carry your "master" contact list via your phone and sync with google, which is how i do it since the phone is always with me.
6. If unsure of this try this. From outlook export your contacts. Open in excel and you will see how outlook populates the email display as column (FN, LN, email address). delete the contents of the email display as column and use the steps above to repopulate the column with just the FN and LN.

Seems like a lot of steps but it is very fast.

 

[Harry2]

How I posted above, MyPhoneExplorer is available for Android.

And the PC part of MyPhoneExplorer is able to synchonize with Thunderbird on PC.

Harry

 

[barrym]

here's how I do it

1. from people, tap menu, export to SD card
2. move vcf file to your PC. you can either email it to yourself (i had to rename file ext to be able to attach) or set up phone as USB drive
3. import the vcf file to google contacts
4. you now have the option to export from google as vcf or xls file
5. import to your mail program
6. you can also export from google and then import contacts to your phone.

Seems like a lot of steps but it is very fast.

Many many thanks, I did as you suggested and it worked just fine, until....

I tidied up the contacts in the PC, saved them into a Gmail Contacts group, copied that to the phone, via the Explorer, the file appeared on the phone. I then went back to 'people' on the phone, clicked import, then selected import from SD card, but it says I don't have one!! I do, I powered off, reinserted the SD card but still nothing.

I don't know if it is a problem with the card itself or the file is not on the SD card? I did look under settings/SD & phone storage but the 'mount sd card option' is greyed out.....and it says the total space is unavailable.

Sorry to introduce a new element, but I was doing so well.....

P.S. I had the same problem, in reverse, when copying the file before exporting it, 'fiddling' with the SD card brought it up...
P.P.S. More fiddling brought the card back!! So, I decided to have a look at the 'people' before importing, or so I thought. The file I had created was already there when I looked at the groups, seems it just got in there when I copied it across on the pc?
My question now, how do I get rid of the old file, the one I tidied up to create the new one, i.e. I want the new one to be the active one.... Is there an alternative to the one at a time deletes??