Contacts

[ReyZero]

Can the Droid use the contacts that Windows has?
Not outlook, but the ones when you go into your named folder and open contacts and everyone has their own file.

 

[tobytl]

Well... Yes and no.
If you want to do a one time import:
1) go to your contacts folder
2) click export in the toolbar
3) choose csv and click export
4) click browse, and choose the location and filename, click next
5) choose the fields to export based on the fields you used in your contacts, you may wish to turn first and last name on if you entered them as such, google will sort it out on their end.
6) login to gmail
7) goto your contacts (by default on the top left, where "mail" and "tasks" are)
8) goto import contacts, should be the last option on the left right above the chat box.
9) browse to the file you saved in step 4, and import.

If you need syncing (changes are reflected both ways), then it gets tricky. http://soocial.com will work, but you're limited to 250 contacts in free mode (I'm nowhere near that...). http://sync.codeplex.com claims to work, and others have told me it does as well, but I can't make it actually sync for the life of me.

Sorry for the rushed, yet lengthy post, I'm on my way out the door atm. Cheers, hope something in there helps.

 

[ReyZero]

Hm, so basically I'm stuck with GMail.
Nothing wrong with it, just can't sync with it. Heck, I can't even sync my contacts with Outlook. Strangely enough, my iPhone could.

I have 1000+ contacts, but thanks for helping

Is there any way to do contacts outside of Gmail?

 

[tobytl]

Well, using outlook, there are options. I think there are free options, but I have no direct experience with them.

CompanionLink - $40, 14 day free trial. Works pretty well. Task sync is a bit weird, it syncs them as Calender entries. It syncs your local outlook information with the google services, which in turn are sync'd to your phone by default.

Missing-Sync - $40. Syncs directly with your phone, does not use google's cloud. If you turn off contact sync in your google account settings, it won't upload your phone contacts to google. Because of this, it's features are a little weird, calender and notes require a special app. Wifi/BT sync. Tasks are an upcoming feature (probably again using their fliq app).

If you're paranoid about google's cloud, Missing-Sync is your best bet. Otherwise CompanionLink is probably the better of two.

There are other options, but the ones I know of require quite a bit of manual setup, and have their own quirks. I gave up Outlook years ago, so my knowledge comes from having to set it up for others (which means low manual upkeep, and thus high payment). I live in the cloud, can't imagine going back.

 

[ReyZero]

I got no problem with GMail, it's just I share a contact database with people in my company that syncs directly with Outlook. So having to import everytime is sorta a hassle.

Oh well, CSV's are simple enough, just gotta make sure the columns line up, my first attempt didn't transfer over first names.

 

[cuzlion]

corporate sync

If you are using a work Exchange Server and Outlook then you can use the built in Corporate Sync on the Droid 2. It is virtually perfect for the mail part, decent on the calendar and ok on contacts as long as you aren't using categories. The OTA update available now and coming automatically beginning Tuesday is supposed to fix the contacts issue. I downloaded it today and it does indeed seem to have fixed the contacts syncing. If you aren't using Exchange Server I apologize for taking up space answering the wrong question.