Backup/Save Droid Eris People Contacts

oregonmike#AC

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May 11, 2010
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There seems to be a lot of talk about how to save contacts from the People app on the Verizon (HTC) Droid Eris. Backup of contacts seems especially important since the impending Android 2.1 update will require a complete wipe data from the phone.

Also, many people have saved their contacts to the Phone and not to Google, so synchroization will not occur for those contacts.

Here is what worked for me:

1. Open Market, search for vCardIO, and install it. It's free)
2. Run the vCardIO application.
3. Review the options. Since I had not categorized my contacts, I just checked the 'Export all groups' checkbox.
4. Press the 'Export' button. I used the default file location and name.

Contacts from 'People' will be saved to the SD card on the phone. This file can be saved by tethering your phone to your computer and copying the file from your phone to a convenient location on your computer.

This file will be in vCard format (.vcf) and may be imported back to the phone at a later time using the vCardIO application.

To convert Phone contacts to Google contacts (for auto synchronization):

1. On your computer, log on to Google and go to 'Contacts'.
2. Press 'Import' on the upper right.
3. Browse to the location where the .vcf file was saved and select it.

The contacts will be imported to Google. These will be synchronized between Google and your phone. You may also choose to move contacts to category folders at this point.

Note that on the phone, each contact will be duplicated: one labelled Phone and the other labelled Google. You can hide the duplicates:

1. Open 'People'.
2. Press the 'Menu' button on the phone.
3. Press the 'View' button.
4. Open the 'Duplicate contact' dropdown and select Google.

Now only the Google contacts will be displayed. Once all is working well. you may want to delete the contacts assigned to Phone to save some phone memory.

Hope this helps someone...
 

chdtpn

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Apr 7, 2010
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I already knew this but this guy is getting a thanks because a lot of people DO ask this question and it seems to get a bit passed up in the search results lol. I think this thread should be a sticky.
 

nkwebb140

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This is something I had no idea about and with the nice detailed step by step instrx's - an idiot like me will be able to not loose his contacts! Thanks Oregon Mike.
 

mr. tumnus

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This may sound like a dumb question, but what do I need to back up? Contacts and calendar are saved on Gmail. Are apps saved somewhere? or should i write down what i have downloaded? (i thought they were saved on gmail as well). I don't really care if i loose my text or gchat conversations. Is there something I'm forgetting?

Thanks!
 

tropper

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you only need to back up paid apps all others need to be updated anyways. id make list of the ones you like and reload em after the update
 

chdtpn

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you only need to back up paid apps all others need to be updated anyways. id make list of the ones you like and reload em after the update

Actually you don't even have to back up those, unless of course you are really worried about a saved game I guess.

I purchased Shoot U! a long time ago and I've wiped entire phone once, and then upgraded to 2.1v3 and it's under my downloads as "Purchased" instead of "Installed" because I have no reinstalled it on my phone.

The items you purchased are linked to your Google Checkout account. So if you wipe your phone, get a new one etc. just set it up with the GMail you used with your Google Checkout.
 

doogald

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You also may want to check out appbrain.com. You can load their app on your phone and sync all of your apps, including free ones, and then install them one after the other after an update.
 

DroidErisV

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Jan 19, 2010
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I'm hoping when I sync to my Outlook I will Import my contacts. Does anyone know if this method has a problem? All of my contacts are in Outlook my google contacts are empty to prevent duplication. Am I okay with Outlook?

Thanks, I appreciate the help.
 

DroidErisV

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I'm hoping when I sync to my Outlook I will Import my contacts. Does anyone know if this method has a problem? All of my contacts are in Outlook my google contacts are empty to prevent duplication. Am I okay with Outlook?

Thanks, I appreciate the help.
 

ptronius

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You can also use ASTRO File Manager to back up your apps - just launch it, go to the Menu and select Tools > Application Manager/Backup. It copies your apps to your SD card, as long as you don't have your phone mounted as a USB drive on your computer.

I haven't done a restore yet, so it may completely confusticate everything on the flip side, but it's an option - just throwing it out there.
 

doogald

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I think that the issue with using Astro to restore apps is that they are not linked to the market, so when updates are available, you may not get notified of them. I could be wrong about that, but I believe that this is true generally of any restoration of applications that do not use the market.
 

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