Contact Sync: Don't Want *All* Groups Synced

[talljag]

** Edit at 0519 Pacific Time **

Don,

Looks like the best way to go about it is to sync with a separate contacts storage like iCloud or a separate GMail profile.

Sync=False actually worked... well, only sort of...

I was hoping I could choose not to sync with that group, but instead I had to delete the Sync=False group and members from my phone contacts, which resulted in that group disappearing from my GMail contacts after the sync. So, I can only guess that every new contact added would have to go through the same process; i.e., I'd have to create (again) a Sync=False folder (maybe on a monthly basis), add the new contact(s) to that group and remove from "My Contacts", then delete Sync=False from my phone contacts.

As a side note, the other annoyance which occurred was that deleting so many contacts from the android and then syncing caused an error message: "Sync too many contacts deletes? and ?sync is currently experiencing problems. it will be back shortly.? This error notification is only removed by clearing the data in the Contacts Storage (Application manager > All > Contacts Storage). This clears all of your contacts and then when you sync all of the contacts - in all of the integrated groups - repopulate.

So basically, it only works if you don't clear the error notification, and it's ultimately a pretty poor workaround.

And here we are in 2013 - at this point I am bewildered as to why Google hasn't put forth a clear solution regarding management and syncing of contacts. They should probably look at syncing only with, for example, a "Sync=True" group, the membership of which we could control in Google Contacts or Gmail. Suffice it to say, I will be using an account (Google or another) simply for Contact syncing and storage.

Cheers............. jamie

 

[DLCPhototography]

Agreed - Google has a few serious shortcomings, with no good reason for them being there.

One of my pet peeves is the inability to disable "conversation" grouping on the Gmail app for Android. You can disable it on the desktop application, but not Android for the phone. This causes me significant inconvenience, and have no idea why they don't simply give the user the ability to enable it or disable it, as they do on the desktop app. Simply stupid...

Don,

Looks like the best way to go about it is to sync with a separate contacts storage like iCloud or a separate GMail profile. Sync=False actually worked (I had to remove those I added to Sync=Flase from the "My Contacts" Group), but I was hoping I could choose not to sync with that group. Instead, I had to delete the Sync=False group and members from my phone contacts, which resulted in that group disappearing from my GMail contacts after the sync. So, I can only guess that every new contact added would have to go through the same process; i.e., I'd have to create (again) a Sync=False folder (maybe on a monthly basis), add the new contact(s) to that group and remove from "My Contacts", then delete Sync=False from my phone contacts.

And here we are in 2013 - at this point I am bewildered as to why Google hasn't put forth a clear solution regarding management and syncing of contacts. They should probably look at syncing only with, for example, a "Sync=True" group, the membership of which we could control in Google Contacts or Gmail.

As a side note, the other annoyance which occurs is that deleting so many contacts from my Samsung caused an error message: "Sync too many contacts deletes? and ?sync is currently experiencing problems. it will be back shortly.? This error notification is removed with a phone restart.

Suffice it to say, I will be using an account (Google or another) simply for Contact syncing and storage.

Cheers............. jamie

 

[talljag]

Agreed - Google has a few serious shortcomings, with no good reason for them being there.

One of my pet peeves is the inability to disable "conversation" grouping on the Gmail app for Android. You can disable it on the desktop application, but not Android for the phone. This causes me significant inconvenience, and have no idea why they don't simply give the user the ability to enable it or disable it, as they do on the desktop app. Simply stupid...

I have always grouped by conversation, so didn't notice the difference, but I absolutely agree - the user should have that ability in the app. Thanks for the info and I'll check back from time to time.

 

[David S999]

Try This,

1) Contacts>MENU>Display options, then expand the account you want to set.

2) Long press on the groups that you don't want on the phone and then select "Remove sync group". (This removes them from syncing with your phone).

3) Force a Contact sync after you make the changes to get the changes to take effect. (Home>MENU>Settings>Accounts & sync, select your account, uncheck & then recheck Sync contacts and wait for the sync to finish.)

If you ever need to add them back, repeat 1) and select the "More groups..." and pick the group to restore

 

[loosenut23]

Try This,

1) Contacts>MENU>Display options, then expand the account you want to set.

2) Long press on the groups that you don't want on the phone and then select "Remove sync group". (This removes them from syncing with your phone).

3) Force a Contact sync after you make the changes to get the changes to take effect. (Home>MENU>Settings>Accounts & sync, select your account, uncheck & then recheck Sync contacts and wait for the sync to finish.)

If you ever need to add them back, repeat 1) and select the "More groups..." and pick the group to restore

I recommend backing up your contacts prior to doing this, because I'm pretty sure it will delete the contacts from those groups from your Google Contacts, not just your phone. That's what happened for me, anyway.

 

[manishandcen]

Hi,

can u plz tell where is this contact, app, , its not showing in my gmail.

 

[pal-mendes]

I tried your suggestion, which seems suited for this purpose, but as soon as I select (Contacts settings / contacts to display / customize / Google / <group> ) any Google contacts group to "remove sync group", all Google contacts disappear from the phone, and not only from the displayed ones. Even when the group no to be synced is only the "other contacts" group, which is automatically removed if you select a different group no to be synced. This may be a software bug in my LG G2 running Android 5.0.2

 

[apotier]

I tried your suggestion, which seems suited for this purpose, but as soon as I select (Contacts settings / contacts to display / customize / Google / <group> ) any Google contacts group to "remove sync group", all Google contacts disappear from the phone, and not only from the displayed ones. Even when the group no to be synced is only the "other contacts" group, which is automatically removed if you select a different group no to be synced. This may be a software bug in my LG G2 running Android 5.0.2

Hi,

Same here: I followed this procedure but as soon as I removed the "all other contacts" sync group and resync'd, all my Google contacts disappeared from the phone. They reappeared after adding the sync group back, still this is pretty annoying and exactly the kind of issues I was worried about when I considered replacing my Nexus 5 with a Galaxy S6.

Has anyone found a solution to solve this?

I'm using a Galaxy S6 running Android 5.1.1.

 

[Sunny2102]

Hello Don,
you are still seeking a solution to this old un-answered Google Contacts Problem?

I got something similar, my Google Contacts are separated in "My Contacts" which contains day-by-day used contacts and some more groups, p.e. EBay, my daughter's primary school contacts, etc., etc.

If somebody dies, because in real life with real persons, sometimes somebody dies, I append a plus sign "+" to the end of it's name and move it to a Group called "NoMore".
The same way I do with companies who disappeared.

The problem is, Google Android Sync DOES NOT ALLOW me to define WHICH contact group to sync and WHICH NOT !!!

My Calendar Widget shows me birthday events from dead people !

As you, I want this contacts to stay in my "person's information store" but not interfer with my daily "work".

Same Problem !!

The solution I found on the web-interface:

Ab-use the "Other contacts" ("Otros contactos") group.

All my dead contacts are only member of my "NoMore" group.
-I open one of them,
-open the 3-head-group-botton
-uncheck the "NoMore"-Group-mark
-now this contact moved from "NoMore" to the Google-created "Other Contacts"
-sometimes unchecking a group assigns it to "My Contacts" by magic-Google-Hands, simply uncheck again all groups

As the "Other Contacts" does not sync with Android, you get a clean Phone, but if you need this contacts, they are still available on the Web interface.

Since years I tried to solve this problem, once a year I researched Internet, this year (2019) I got it'

Hope it helps you !