How to put last name first on all contacts?

[bdaniel17]

I like having my contacts with last name first but have only found a way to do it individually, but I want to be able to change them all at once...any help would be great...

 

[t0ast3d]

I like having my contacts with last name first but have only found a way to do it individually, but I want to be able to change them all at once...any help would be great...

you could just type their "last name, first name" in the first name box

 

[bzxzlg]

I sync with the corporate exchange server ... Contacts were fine until 2.2 ... Then all of my contacts got reformatted to first last ... The only thing that I've found in any of these forums is to change them 1 at a time :-( Fortuantely for me, I've only got a few hundred ... In other posts, filks have indicated address books pushing 1000 ...

 

[Tattrpuff]

With GMAIL you can now change the way you want it displayed. If you are syncing with Gmail, adjusting it online in the settings, theoretically it should adjust on your phone. If it doesn't...delete contacts and resync.

 

[KSmithInNY]

Do the following ..

open people > Touch a contact > select edit contact > Touch the persons name at the top of the screen > Change display name to "last name, first"

Hope this helps

Edit - Sorry OP, didn't see you mention that you already know how to do it on an individual level. Unfortunately, im not aware of a place to set this as default. Setting it in gmail as mentioned by others will help with that but if you import contacts from facebook you'll have to do them individually. Also, on my phone, exchange contacts used to come in by default as last name, first which drives me crazy so i'd have to go and manually change all them lol.

 

[bdaniel17]

thanks for the responses....i hope that Android can make an update that will allow you to set as default to list all names with last name first at the same time...

 

[bpdamas]

Here would be a workaround. If you have the same contacts between Google and exchange accounts, some steps might be skipped.

1. First, if you are using outlook, go into tools>options>preferences tab>contact options. Make sure the default way you like it is checked so all future contacts are displayed correctly.
2. Next, go to file>import and export. Choose export to a file. Then comma separated values (DOS). Choose your contacts folder. Choose a file location you will remember. Click Finish to export your contacts.
3. Next, go into your contacts on Google. Click more actions>export. Then select .csv file for outlook and click export. Save the file somewhere you will remember.
4. Delete all of your Google contacts so you can start fresh. Don't worry, you just exported them to a .csv file you saved. Then go to more actions on Google and click import. Import your .csv file you exported from outlook. Once you import them, click more actions and choose the appropriate sorting method.
5. Export your current contact list from Google by choosing more actions>export and choosing .csv file for outlook.
6. Delete all of your contacts for outlook by clicking on your contacts folder, pressing ctrl+a, and then hitting the delete button.
7. Import the list you just exported from Google with the correct display back into outlook by going to file>import and export and choosing import from another program or file, comma separated values (DOS), browse to the file location and import the contacts.
8. Lastly, go back into Google contacts, delete the current contacts and import the saved contacts from step 3

This is a pretty clunky workaround but it should work. It is definitely better than changing them individually. I just wish Google would make a contact sync just like they have a calendar sync. Then the world would be a brighter place.