Anyway to get GMail to quit adding contacts?

[Matth3w]

I'm sure there must be a setting that I am overlooking (I am still a *relatively* new GMail user) that auto saves every damn person into my contacts, which then gets sync'd to my phone?

Very annoying that every Tom, Dick, and Harry that I have ever emailed just one time gets added to my contacts on my phone as well. So when I am searching for someone I have to scroll past 100 random email addresses.

 

[acetwo]

also been curious about this

 

[640k]

try this:

gmail.com - settings - chat - Only allow people that I've explicitly approved to chat with me and see when I'm online - save

 

[Matth3w]

It's not chatting though. Even if I send someone an email, someone I have never chatted with, even if it is just someone that I am saying "unsubscribe" to...it adds it to my contacts.

 

[hookbill]

It's not chatting though. Even if I send someone an email, someone I have never chatted with, even if it is just someone that I am saying "unsubscribe" to...it adds it to my contacts.

Yes, Google will do that. The only thing you can do is go in and delete them after you've sent your email. Or do like I do and have a "Spring Cleaning" where I get a bunch of them at a time.

 

[Matth3w]

That's freaking retarded.

 

[640k]

It's not chatting though. Even if I send someone an email, someone I have never chatted with, even if it is just someone that I am saying "unsubscribe" to...it adds it to my contacts.

I know it's not chatting. Click the "Learn More" link:

Gmail will automatically invite some contacts


If there are other Gmail users whom you frequently email, you'll be able to chat and see each other online without having to send an invitation.
Gmail automatically determines which contacts you'll be able to talk to without having to invite each other -- if you don't want Gmail to automatically enable chat privileges with your contacts, follow these steps:

1. Log in to Gmail.
2. Click Settings at the top of any Gmail page.
3. Open the Chat tab, and select Only allow people that I've explicitly approved to chat with me and see when I'm online.
4. Click Save Changes.

Want to manage who can and can't chat with you? Learn how to block a contact from chatting with you.

This is where you make the change.

 

[Backnblack]

If they are email only contacts you can set the contact view to show only contacts with phone numbers.

 

[Matth3w]

I'll try it out...but I don't see anything in what you quoted about GMail automatically adding a contact based on those settings.

 

[Matth3w]

If they are email only contacts you can set the contact view to show only contacts with phone numbers.

That won't work because I do have some legit contacts that are email only. But some idiot that asks me a question on eBay or Autotrader I don't want automatically added into my contact list.

 

[640k]

it's the only place where there's a setting similar. give it a try and report back. if anything, it will limit who gets added.

i get non gmail addresses added to my gtalk client all of the time, i suspect it's because of this setting.

 

[Matth3w]

I don't know who I can email that isn't already a contact, but I'll keep an eye. I also don't know what conditions there are to getting the contact added. For example, does that person have to respond back and have a conversation to get the contact added, or just sending? Not sure...

 

[640k]

it's done by frequency. find a free email account like yahoo and email yourself back and forth to see what happens.

 

[Matth3w]

I have an old yahoo account I could try. brb in a bit with the report on the matter.

 

[myriad46]

A while back, Google added a feature "My Contacts" to combat this issue. I can't remember if there was something that you needed to do to start it up, but it avoids the issue you are describing. The droid will only sync with your "My Contacts" and people you reply to will only show up in the "All Contacts" category.

Default contact groups - Gmail Help