Right, this is my first smartphone, so can someone explain something to me.
I don't have a Gmail account (I use the HTC Mail thing to access my Sky email account when I want to)
What I don't understand is the whole "Google Contacts" thing?
Where do these contacts sync to?
Can I enter the contacts on my phone and then sync them to the Internet (rather than have them stored on my phone?)
Do I need a Gmail account for this?
Any help and tips would be gratefully recieved.
Thanks
Yes you need a google account,
And yes the phone will automatically sync the contacts to your google account.
Fon22
The google contacts will sync to your gmail account, and be stored on the internet.
Creating a gmail account is fast and easy and you get a rediculous amount of storage (mine is at 7447 MB right now, and I am only useing 200 some MBs and I never delete things and have had the service since 2004).
jock23 said:
What I don't understand is the whole "Google Contacts" thing?
Where do these contacts sync to?
Can I enter the contacts on my phone and then sync them to the Internet (rather than have them stored on my phone?)
Do I need a Gmail account for this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
with google/gmail account you have an access to plenty of google services -- google contacts is one of them.
htc desire has it's own People program that manages contacts for you. it can store your contacts for you in three different places:
- sim card
- phone
- google account
if you choose to store your contact as google contact, your phone will automatically submit your contact to google contacts service. so that you can manage your contacts there, sync with other devices/services that can use google contacts service, etc.
contacts stored on the phone or on sim card are, simply put, local to the phone -- not easily available elsewhere (i guess that you have to use htc sync, to push them somewhere)
how it works for me? i keep all my contacts as google contacts, so that when i add contact on my phone, it's automatically available on google contacts service site. most of the time i add contacts using webpage -- as it's faster -- these contacts are synced to my phone automatically as well.
VERY IMPORTANT: do not add birth date to your google contacts on your phone -- such contacts won't sync properly -- they will just disappear from the phone \-: luckly most of my contacts are linked with their facebook accounts -- and People app gets brith date form there.
I can't sync the contacts in both ways... only from the gmail account to the pda. There is any explanation?
Maybe the contacts on your phone are set to be "Phone" contacts rather than "Google" contacts? If you did sync them from Outlook to your phone, then that's the case. To convert all of them to Google contacts, export them to the SD card, delete all and re-import them. Then it will ask whether they should be Phone- or Google-contacts.
Thanks, I will try.
Related
Ok - when I got the phone, and I set up my new googlemail account, imported my contacts to googlemail via Outlook, and subesequently synced my phone to the new gmail account, I though that whenever I add contacts to my phone, it would automatically update my googlemail contacts. That doesn't appear to be the case, and I'm not sure why.
I currently have 386 Google Contacts accessible by the phone, and 243 phone contacts. I have a feeling that a fair few of these contacts are duplicates (as whenever I search for a person, sometimes more than one option comes up to ring).
However, I know for a fact that at the weekend, I added a new contact to my phone, and it hasn't updated my contacts on googlemail.
Any ideas why this is might be?
only Google contacts sync to Google.
Those you have in the Phone group are going nowhere.
i would imagine that when you have added them manually to the phone, you did not change it from a phone contact type, to a google contact type before you saved it.
Also, any contacts you sync from your PC (Don't do it, HTC Sync is not worth it...)will be saved to the phone group and so won't save to Google.
HTC had to bugger the contacts up in this way to get HTC Sync to work. I wish they hadn't bothered. it's bad enough having google contacts and Exchange contacts (which it is sensible to have separate), but adding Phone as well is just overly complicating things.
Ok - that sounds fair enough. Is there any way then of aggregating all the contacts into gmail format then? - ie reformat the phone contacts to gmail?
An app or something?
I'm still confused about syncing contacts. I have a Desire on Orange. I have a gmail account, and I use the htc mail app and connect to my gmail account using exchange. I sync my contacts to my gmail account using `google/sync contacts` from the sync page, and I sync my mail using `exchange activesync`. I do this because I can see/edit my contacts via the web gmail page (which is easier/faster than doing it on the phone), and because the mail app is better than the gmail app. But it seems that I have some contact information on my phone which is not visible via the gmail website. To pick one example, it's showing as a `linked contact` between 'exchange' and 'google'. Can I see my exchange contacts online? Where are they? I want them in one place, so I can back them up occasionally (I've already lost my contacts once as I set my phone up). It would seem to make sense, given that some contact info appears to be on exchange somewhere, to have them all there - then I can stop syncing with 'google' on my phone altogether, but I have to be able to see/edit/back them up first.
I've tried googling for this, but all I see is Googles own pages for other platforms, non-free apps to do exchange etc etc.
poldie said:
I'm still confused about syncing contacts. I have a Desire on Orange. I have a gmail account, and I use the htc mail app and connect to my gmail account using exchange. I sync my contacts to my gmail account using `google/sync contacts` from the sync page, and I sync my mail using `exchange activesync`. I do this because I can see/edit my contacts via the web gmail page (which is easier/faster than doing it on the phone), and because the mail app is better than the gmail app. But it seems that I have some contact information on my phone which is not visible via the gmail website. To pick one example, it's showing as a `linked contact` between 'exchange' and 'google'. Can I see my exchange contacts online? Where are they? I want them in one place, so I can back them up occasionally (I've already lost my contacts once as I set my phone up). It would seem to make sense, given that some contact info appears to be on exchange somewhere, to have them all there - then I can stop syncing with 'google' on my phone altogether, but I have to be able to see/edit/back them up first.
I've tried googling for this, but all I see is Googles own pages for other platforms, non-free apps to do exchange etc etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same issues too
Well i don't use exchange, but i can say how i use my gmail sync:
I use Sync/google account on the definitions menu to sync my google calendar, contacts and mail.
This allows me to use mail on gmail app (not htc mail app), calendar on android calendar (i can use htc calendar widgets) and manage online contacts.
Since i previously added my "phone" contacts to phone memory and to a group on google contacts, they have linked to each other and i can mantain an online and local copy of them (this is great to add a hi res picture to contact, since i add the picture to online and local and then choose local picture to be displayed).
I do know that some fields from online google contacts and local contacts are different, and i think this is as stupid as the picture not having quality on google contacts online, but i hope they would solve it in a near future.
I hope that from now on, since google is saying that the BIG changes on Android are done, they will spend some time dealing with the little details that can be very annoying...
Same issue here.
Sync of Contacts
Google-Contacts -> Desire: works
Desire -> Google-Contacts: dosent work
If i try to add or change a birthday on the phone it does not arrive theo google-contacts account. The other way works. Biggest issue on this fine phone.
Hexxer said:
Same issue here.
Sync of Contacts
Google-Contacts -> Desire: works
Desire -> Google-Contacts: dosent work
If i try to add or change a birthday on the phone it does not arrive theo google-contacts account. The other way works. Biggest issue on this fine phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, that issues are from Android and Gmail and not from the Desire.
You should add birthday dates to Google contacts or else the synchronization wont work well, but i do agree these are major stuffs that really annoy me!
There could be an interesseting thing.
I have Software-Version 1.15.XXXX (T-Mobile, rooted Phone) and i found an O2 User with 1.20.XXX - he said it works at his phone.
Hexxer said:
There could be an interesseting thing.
I have Software-Version 1.15.XXXX (T-Mobile, rooted Phone) and i found an O2 User with 1.20.XXX - he said it works at his phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uau! How can he have an 1.20.xxx? I have unlocked Desire also with 1.15.XXX and no updates for me!
Well I now have 1.21.405.2 updated from ota.
for some reason my contacts on my phone are not synchronizing with my gmail account. The contacts on gmail did sync to my accounts but not vice versa. Any suggestions? I even sync manually from the settings on the phone
make sure you are saving the contacts to google and not to phone storage, when you add a new contact it should ask you where to save, choices being Phone, Google account, or Exchange account.
oh ok gotcha. thanks
Edit: what I did was export the contacts from phone to sd card. I then uploaded all the contact to my google account.
If I saved all my contacts straight to the phone, how would I sync them to my google account. Also, would anyone be able to see my contacts and phone numbers, that was the one reason I didn't save them to google, as I didn't want my contacts to be public.
When adding a contact the first thing in the Information tab says contact type. Select Google each time.
If they are already a phone contact create a new contact for them, on your phone as a google contact, or on your gmail/gvoice account on your computer. name them the same and select link in the top right of their phone contact and it will link the phone contact to google and backup on your google account.
To only show Google contacts Go to people, hit menu, view, uncheck all but Google.
I have my Gmail account setup so that I can utilise the various syncing options between my Desire and Google. I use iCal successfully but am having trouble understanding how best to sync my phone contacts.
I always save a new contact to the phone but it seems that unless I also save them as a google contact on the phone, there is no way those numbers will sync to my Google contacts. Surely I don't have to save everything twice?
simon12 said:
I have my Gmail account setup so that I can utilise the various syncing options between my Desire and Google. I use iCal successfully but am having trouble understanding how best to sync my phone contacts.
I always save a new contacts to the phone but it seems that unless I also save them as a google contact on the phone, there is no way those numbers will sync to my Google contacts. Surely I don't have to save everything twice?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as I know the safest method of saving all your contact is to sync them with Google. I only have one set of contacts on my device and they are always in sync with Google, therefore the need for me to keep duplicate copies on my device diminished.
It is also very easy to then access your Google contacts from a PC and make any necessary changes, or indeed make the changes via your device.
Regards
Scott
So are you saying that I may as well just save them as Google contacts to begin with and not bother saving them to the phone or the sim card?
Some days ago, I also started the sync for all of my contact to google because I wanted to have them in some backup place. Now all my contacts are in google and if I create a new one I always create it as a google contact (otherwise no sync of course).
I transfered them the following way:
Contacts -> Menu -> Export to SD Card -> Select Phone or Sim (whatever you are saving on currently) : now you have all your contacts exported into one file
then
Contacts -> Menu -> Import from SD Card -> Select Google: now you should have all your contacts in your "google" phonebook
then
change the contact folder to google (will not show dupliactes)
then
sync with google
I saw that, after the sync, I had various double entries in my google account but you can merge them, works fine.
hope it helps a little with your problem, for me it was the easiest way to sync my phone contacts to google
Hi guys,
I seem to have cocked up my contacts through a load of synchronising and messing about.
I now need to delete ALL my phone contacts but NOT the Google contacts (because I want to import the Google contacts after).
The problem is, everytime I delete a phone contact (ie. Have only PHONE visible in contacts list and delete) it also deletes from Google (even though Google is hidden).
This is probably because they're linked contacts... but I have HUNDREDS of linked contacts, also with Facebook etc to show the photos. It took hours setting up all the links and I don't want to break them.
What do I do? :-S I'm really confused.
Thanks
Matt
PS: This came about because I'd accidentally been adding NEW contacts to Google rather than my phone. All I wanted to do was get the 10 extra contacts from Google onto my Phone also (then link them). So i exported the Google contacts to SD card and then imported them to phone from SD Card. It created duplicates on the phone (so now there's 2x more contacts listed in the Phone storage).
Did you try disabling synchronize for google account before deleted action?
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
thanks. Tried and it doesn't help. I disabled all synchronisation, unchecked Contacts in the Google account... and it still deleted it.
Re-enabled sync and hoped it would still have a copy on the Google account but it hasn't, it really deleted it.
:-S
But you've the vcf file from your last backup process in your sdcard right?
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
yep i just exported google contacts to SD card so I have a copy.
I just want to delete ALL phone contacts and re-import.
When I delete a phone contact though it deletes the Google contact also! And god knows what happens to the Facebook contact (not risking deleting one that's linked to Facebook)
Hej,
When you initailly set up you phone, you setup HTC sync & Google Sync by default. 1. Disable Google Sync, it will delete/not show all the synced google contacts
2. Create a Google Exchange account & sync.
3. Enable linked contacts with facebook (or you can disable facebook sync altogether as I did so as not to have duplicate entries (having mobile number of John twice)
Hope this helps
PJS
thanks for the replies guys.
I've fixed it as follows...
Deleted Facebook account.
Deleted Facebook for HTC Sense account
Deleted all contacts (also from Gmail)
Restarted phone
Imported SD card to Google
Resync'd
Added Facebook accounts
Relinked everything.
What a ball ache! :-S
Thanks again