"Phone" Contacts vs "Google" Contacts?

[ericDylan]

i had a problem that whenever i gave my phone to someone so they could put their contact info in they would select phone instead of google i guess because they didnt know what it mean.

from now on i guess i will be puting it in myself with them standing there ... a small price to pay to make sure i have back-ups

 

[sglynn]

This PHONE only contact has driven me crazy too. Can I delete or merge the PHONE contacts into the Google contacts. When I had my operating system upgraded the guys at the Sprint store backed up my contacts but when they reloaded them, they must have put them in as phone contacts. Then Google synched and the whole this is duplicated. Some have become linked. (Not sure how that happened). I want everything synch with my google account which in turns synchs with my computer. So I have no use for phone only contacts.

I have 3500 contacts and 1826 PHONE contacts which I'm pretty sure are all duplicates.

I guess I'll do view by PHONE contacts and delete them all. Which should leave me with just Google contacts, I hope.

Any insights?

 

[sglynn]

Warning if Google Contact is LINKED to the Phone Contact when you delete one of them you delete both. Ouch, another crummy feature.

So anyone know how to delete phone contacts only after their linked?

 

[MikeR_Fleming]

On my HTC Evo, I have an app called 'People', but it seems to be just 'phone' contacts. How do I get to the 'google' contacts? Sorry for being dumb.. I'm totally new to the whole google thing. Before I bought this Evo, all google ever was to me was a search engine web page.

EDIT:
I answered my own question.. in the 'People' app, there is an option to view 'Auto' gmail contacts. That's why I thought it was somehow different. I kept seeing an 'auto gmail' contact in call history, but it wasn't showing up in the 'People' app.

 

[cmwikerson]

Yup, I just use google contacts for everything. That way everything is always backed up all the time. What's the point of having a phone contact?

I just found out that my new car's phonebook will ONLY sync contacts from my phone and not Google contacts.

I am trying to figure out how to send a select group of Google Contacts, such as family, to my phone in order to sync.
Anyone know?

 

[doogald]

I just found out that my new car's phonebook will ONLY sync contacts from my phone and not Google contacts.

That is horrible. The companies that write these crappy interfaces should be forced to pay you for using their crap, rather than the other way around.

I am trying to figure out how to send a select group of Google Contacts, such as family, to my phone in order to sync.
Anyone know?

This should work (if you do, in fact, have an Eris. As this is the Droid Eris forum, I am assuming that you do.)

Go into www.google.com/contacts . From there, you should be able to create a group that includes just the contacts that you want to add as phone contacts. In the upper right, there is a link "Export". Click that, next to "Only" choose the group you created for export, choose "vCard format" (should be the third option), then click Export.

This will download a contacts.vcf file to your computer. Copy that file to your SD card (by tethering the phone to your computer, for example).

Go into the People app, menu->import/export, choose import, choose Phone contacts. It will search for .vcf files on your SD card. From there you should be able to choose the contacts.vcf file and import the contacts over.

See if that works.

(Ok, if this is not an Eris, and you have a "Contacts" app rather than a "People" app, I think that the same steps will work.)

 

[Spaz888]

On my SG1, I have maybe 20 contacts in my "Phone". I have much more on Google Contacts. The EXPORTING to .vcf is not practical because this will EXPORT all of my contacts, some 430+ contacts.

How do I just export the 20 Phone contacts to my Google/Gmail account? Is there an APP for that?

 

[Elbeard0]

I am using a Sony Xperia Play with Android 2.3.3, but this should hopefully work on other Android phones too.

- I went into my contacts list on the phone and pressed my phone's menu button.
- I chose "Send contacts"
- It then let me select the contacts I wanted to send (I selected "all" but you could select specific ones via checkboxes if you like)
- I then pressed "Send" and sent them to my gmail address.
- When I opened the email in my gmail account on my computer, it gave me the option to "Import to Contacts".
- Click on that and you're done!

You may have some (or a lot) of duplicates on your phone now, so it may take a bit of manual work to delete the "phone" contacts now that you have Google ones.

- Or what I did, was go into my contacts list and click the "view contacts" button (on my phone it looks like a little group of people)
- From there, I clicked on "Phone Contact" and unchecked the checkbox.

So now, although I have duplicates, the phone is only displaying the "Google Contacts"

I hope this helps!

 

[bpinto]

Hi,
I play a little with import/export options and I found out how to import google contacts to phone contacts...

Download e.g Astro File manager. Export Google contacts to SD card (will create "something_google_00001.vcf" on SD card). Rename that file to: pcsc_pcsc_00001.vcf. Go to People, and import phone contacts from SD card. Done

If pcsc_pcsc_00001.vcf format does not work, check what format is used when Exporting Phone Contacts to SD. It was pcsc_pcsc_00001.vcf in my HTC Desire.

Enjoy.

Yes, excellent idea.
However you do not even need to change names of files. First (if you have to) filter, then just export (called backup) and then import. While importing, system asks under what (google or phone).

 

[Apache]

How can I delete all Phone Contacts?

Ideally, I'd like to delete and then disable Phone Contacts completely if possible...

 

[doogald]

How can I delete all Phone Contacts?

Ideally, I'd like to delete and then disable Phone Contacts completely if possible...

Probably the most effective way (assuming that you are syncing with Google contacts; not sure about Verizon Backup Assistant, as I do not use that) is to go into settings->applications->manage applications. You may have to touch the tab "All" at the top (it appears that you do not have an Eris) and then look for "Contacts Storage" (if there is no "Contacts Storage", then look instead for "Contacts"). Tap that entry, then tap the button "clear data".

Google contacts will resync. I don't know about disabling phone contacts - I am not sure if this is possible.

 

[prinout]

Probably the most effective way (assuming that you are syncing with Google contacts; not sure about Verizon Backup Assistant, as I do not use that) is to go into settings->applications->manage applications. You may have to touch the tab "All" at the top (it appears that you do not have an Eris) and then look for "Contacts Storage" (if there is no "Contacts Storage", then look instead for "Contacts"). Tap that entry, then tap the button "clear data".

Google contacts will resync. I don't know about disabling phone contacts - I am not sure if this is possible.

Correct.

 

[ms122592]

It simple just go to contacts and say merge with google all phone contacts will become google contacts

Perhaps an app master will come up with this.

Or a hack master.

(hearing rooter's footsteps closing in)

 

[doogald]

It simple just go to contacts and say merge with google all phone contacts will become google contacts

Thanks for the idea. That may help somebody who runs into this problem and searches the forum,

In the interest of completeness, this is a forum for the HTC Droid Eris, a phone which released in November 2009, and there is no such setting, nor is there a contacts app - HTC called it "People". Other phones may have this setting, though.