This could help...
See my post "Verizon backup is the devil" as well.
IF YOU SHOULD USE THIS POST TO FIX YOUR CONTACT PROBLEM, YOU FOREVER AND IN TOTAL RELEASE ME AND MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS OF ALL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND INCLUDING THE ENTIRE LOSS OF DATA OR OTHER. PERIOD. DON'T DO WHAT YOU DO NOT FULLY AND IN TOTAL UNDERSTAND.
There are two kinds (sometimes three) kinds of contacts on your phone. Verizon Backup (if you used it ever in past and/or have some contacts saved there, or let a store employee ever move contacts from a phone for you) and perhaps Motorola contacts (if Verizon store tried to backup your contacts and move them to your droid for you, there might be MANY of these all merged under a single contact's entry hogging space and making contacts run and load slower).
The Verizon store I went to (idiots) took ages to get my contacts moved over (idiots), and did a horrible job of it (idiots). Using Motorola contacts and Verizon backup they then "part-way" merged all the duplicates they created and if I ever were to "edit" any of my contacts there was around 10 to 12 entries "hiding" behind each contact card. You can see this on your phone. Just hit EDIT on any given contact and see if it is a single "card" or whether it is a backup with tons and tons of copies all linked together...you'll have to scroll down the list of all those hidden copies/merges to see all the mess they sometimes leave in there.
Take into account that I have around 900 contacts, (most business), that means anywhere from 9000 to 10,800 "merged cards" under all those entries, each one "visible" card having TONS of hidden merged ones named either for Verizon backup or Motorola backup.
That is not even the half bad part, the really bad part is that now all those "contacts" are NOT google/gmail contacts but are forever tagged as either Verizon backup or Motorola contacts. Means when I am in Gmail I can't figure out why I can't find Bob's phone number, I mean, it IS ON MY PHONE why is HE NOT LISTED IN GMAIL? Oh, he is a "Motorola backup" contact and not in gmail. WTF!!!!!! Meaning that Google/Gmail is NOT saving nor holding your precious contact list for you in total like we all want it to.
"The Fix: A.K.A. what we wanted it to be like to begin with but they are too dumb to do for you...."
There are perhaps two or three types of contacts on your phone if you are having these issues. Google/gmail, Verizon, and Motorola backups. Each and every contact would have to be "trimmed down" or deleted and re-done/remade and re-listed as a Google/Gmail contact to get it like we want it.
Sounds like pulling teeth doesn't it? You want to sit around reclassifying 900 contacts? I figured this would cost me about a thousand to fifteen hundred bucks were I to charge myself for my time. But I'd never do it for that amount of money...the tedium would have me looking for the nearest Verizon store....."to take vengence!" (just kidding....)
HOW TO FIX IT.
1. Open Contacts. The app or icon that says "Contacts" on your phone, the one that came with the phone not something you added.
2. Hit the lower left main button. It looks like four squares the the top left part of the square is colored in.
3. Hit Manage contacts.
4. Export contacts to: SD CARD
A "confirmation window will open" and will say something like this: "Are you sure you want to export your contact list to "/mnt/sdcard-ext/00002.vcf"? " [NOTE YOUR NAME MIGHT BE 00001 or 00003 if you have/have not done this before.]
5. Click OK at bottom left of that window.
6. "The hard part."
You have to figure out a way to get that " *.vcf " file to your gmail account. SIMPLE WAY: go into GMAIL app and open up and send an email to yourself and attach that file to your email and send it to yourself. THIS IS TO BACK IT UP OFF YOUR PHONE. Yes, you could simple import from the phone, but you want to SEND it to yourself so that FILE is in your EMAIL history so no matter what happens to your SD card in factory reset (later) you have that file. EVEN IF you screw up and format the SD card (DON'T!!!) you'd still have this copy in your email history.
7. Goto Gmail online...THE FULL VERSION SITE on your laptop....I don't know how to import on the droid and I'm sure there is a way but I know this way.
A. Click on "Contacts"
B. Click on "More"
C. Click on "Import"
D. Find the file location for the file you created at "export." You exported your contact list into, the *.vcf file, and IMPORT those contact to Gmail.
E. When done you can use Gmail's "Merge" function to help kill off and reduce all those duplicates you may have laying around in one simple click. This merge is NOT like the Verizon / Motorola merge. It makes ONE card and puts all information in that ONE CARD. Even if you look later when we are done and "edit" a Google contact you will only see "one" card....not ten in one....very neat!
8. IF YOU HAVE STARTED VERIZON BACKUP ON YOUR PHONE, I PERSONALLY SUGGEST A FACTORY RESET TO TURN IT OFF. OTHER THAN ROOTING THE PHONE THIS IS THE ONLY METHOD TO KILL AND STOP VERIZON BACKUP. THAT IS THE ONLY WAY SHORT OF ROOTING YOUR PHONE TO KILL IT. IF YOU HAVE NOT STARTED VERIZON BACKUP, THEN YOU MAY NOT HAVE TO FACTORY RESET. BUT IF YOU HAVE, I STRONGLY SUGGEST TO KILL THAT DEVIL NOW. IT IS A BATTERY AND DATA HOG AND WILL CONTINUE TO RUN AT SOME POINT DURING THE DAY FOR THE ENTIRE TIME YOU OWN THE PHONE EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE NOT REALLY USING IT. UNLIMITED DATA PLAN PEOPLE MIGHT NOT CARE AS MUCH AS US LOWER LIFE FORMS WITH LITTLE 2 GIG PLANS....
IF you have verizon backup "on." (The hard way, factory reset way...do this only if you understand what is going on and have 100% certainty that everything you will need to restore is backed up either in your .vcf file or online in gmail.)
9. AGAIN, ENSURE You have backed up all data to gmail, all contacts, all calendars, all apps, and recorded all special settings (anything non-factory that you will want to redo). Get all the app names down you'll want to re-install, all the wallpapers you'll want...etc.
10. Factory reset the phone to get all Verizon and Motorola contact off it. You might could just delete them all, but if you started Verizon backup at any point, I suggest a fresh restart.
11. Once you have (1) all your contacts imported into gmail/google, then (2) your phone restarted or factory reset / and(or) all verizon / motorola contacts deleted from the phone, you can now consider it "fresh" and "new." contacts should be at "zero" until you add your gmail/google account.
12. Set it up right!
A. Settings: Accounts: add your gmail/google account. (You might do this when phone fresh restarts, there is a wizard that walks you through this step, adding Google account, when it factory resets.)
B. sync will import all your contacts and ALL of them will now be gmail/google contacts and only backed up by gmail/google.
13. MAKE SURE YOU DO THIS NEXT/NOW:
A. Click on the Contact App:
B. Hit the lower Left Main button:
C. Hit "More:"
D. Click on "Settings:"
E. Click on "Contact Storage:"
F. A window should be showing that says, "Choose an account to store new contacts:" make SURE you are using ONLY Google (and your primary gmail address), make SURE "remember this choice" is checked: "Click OK."
IF you did everything correctly you should now have a FRESH installed and synced phone will ALL of your contacts having only ONE card, and in that ONE card each, it should say "Google contact from *****@gmal.com" where ****** is your email name/handle.
Now ALL your contacts will update through gmail, any changes you make to any contact will change on gmail, and updates will sync to google, and additions OR deletions will sync to google as well. When you search contacts for "Bob" online you can find his number in gmail and on your phone...and if you ever change anything in either place it will sync up automatically because "Bob" now HAS to be a gmail contact (all of them now are, and all future ones will be too.)
Now...ALL of your contacts (each and every kind, whether google/gmail, verizon, or motorola) are in that VCF file as additional backup from the day you did that...and now you know how to make a contact backup file (I suggest doing this about once every three or four months depending on how much they change for you and emailing yourself a copy...just for S&G's). You can never have enough backups, rule of thumb in life, in computing, and in weapons training, HEH.
GOOD LUCK and remember, this isn't Google's fault, this is Verizon's fault because they suck a$$ and make programs (Verizon Backup) that can not be turned off, use up our data plans we pay dearly for, and overly complicate the easy in order to trap you into their software over other vendors like Gmail which is better, faster, easier, and nice enough to allow you to turn it off if and when you eff'n please. It is akin to their "Navigator" software that just WILL NOT stop running on the Bionic even though I never used it and never will. Pay them tons of money every month to get something worse than Google Navigation, what a joke!
F U Verizon! :icon_evil: From someone that escaped the ignorance of your store's people through knowledge and is now passing it on.... dancedroid
McGyver777
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