Hello,
I have my facebook account linked to my Shift. However, some contact photos are not showing up automatically. So, I have gone directly into individual contacts and "linked" the phone contact to the facebook contact. I select done and the contact reloads. It does not reload with the contacts linked and no facebook picture appears. I have repeated these actions repeatedly with the same result. It seems as if I can not get some contacts to link. I have been able to get some of my contacts to successfully link to their facebook account, but not most.
Also, what are the difference between a Phone Contact and a Google Contact? Are there ways to merge them into all Google Contacts. It would be nice to manage all contacts from my Google account and on my computer.
Thanks!
I've been using the Android OS since the HTC Droid Eris came out...
"phone contact" = contact created on your phone and possibly not synced with google contacts nor is it in any of your gmail contacts via the web interface. It's only on your phone. If I am wrong then, please correct me. I use gmail contacts exclusively to work with my contacts so I have never had to use "phone contacts".
"google contacts" = your contacts on any of the gmail addresses that you have added to your phone.
1) back up all your contacts to your micro sd card **FIRST** before you do anything.
2) google contacts can import .vcf files which, the sd card back up of your contacts in step one IS.
3) attach your evo shift 4g to your computer with the usb cord. you should see a screen that give you options, use the "phone as a disk drive option".
4) open a dialog box to look at your micro sd card and find the file you backed up. (just so you know where to look and what the name is)
4a) have your phone stop syncing your gmail contacts....you must do this before going on. (home screen > menu > settings > accounts and sync > select all appropriate gmail accounts)
5) go to gmail.com, sign in, and select "contacts". You will see an option for "import contacts" on left hand side of the screen under the group list.
6) select "import contacts". the resulting dialog box will ask you to choose the .csv or vcard (.vcf) file you want to import. NOTE --- if you already have contacts stored in your gmail account you may want to opt for the option to create a new group for the imported contacts. However, when backing up your contacts to the sd card (on the phone) you will have the option to choose which contacts to back up. Click "browse" and then find the .vcf file with you backed up contacts on your phone.
7) After step 6, manually change the imported contacts and ensure that all gmail contacts are ready to be synced with the phone.
8) To avoid sync problems, you will want to clear you phones contacts. This is why I said to back up all of your contacts before starting this procedure. (see 9 and 9a)
9) go to "people". hit "menu" then "delete". once you see all your contacts listed, hit the "menu" key again and select "select all".
9a) go to home screen. then hit "menu" ---> "settings" ---> "applications" ---> "manage applications" ---> select the "all" tab. Navigate to "contacts storage". Select "contacts storage" then select "clear data". select "Okay or yes" to any dialogue boxes. *** Note this will delete all contact data and cannot be undone. Make sure you have a back up of all your contacts before doing this!! *** This is important to get rid of any residual data that may cause any sync problems for you.
10) Presuming your gmail contacts are ready to go and be synced, have your phone sync your gmail contacts again. See step 4a for how to turn sync on again.
All of you apps are now gmail contacts and you can modify, add, delete on your phone or on gmail contacts.
If for some reason, gmail does not allow you to import your phones .vcf file (remember the step where you backed up the contacts on your phone before you did any deleting or clearing memory...) then you can restore the deleted contacts that you backed up on your memory card. Once you do all this, then it will be easier to work with your contacts. I have had 4 google phones (HTC Evo Shif is my 4th) and I have had my entire calendar and contacts on google so changing phones was painless in regard to my calendar and contacts. Now getting my apps back....make a list of those. google app market only remembers the paid apps, not the free ones.
Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.
*** Note...always properly disconnect your phone and micro sd card from you computer before removing the usb cable. When your done with using your the micro sd card file (the vcard or .vcf file). Your computer may require you to us the "disconnect" option too BEFORE going to the phone. If it's windows 7....I use mac so I can't help you with that. However Win XP and Vista have an icon on the start menu bar near the time, click that icon and choose the micro sd card. vista should have the ability to disconnect a drive from within the "my computer" dialogue box. Mac is easy...drag the icon on the desktop to the trash, ensure that you see "eject" and let go of the mouse...boom your done. This will remove the sd card via the phone: **from the home screen*** "menu" > "notifications" > "usb connected" or something like that > "charge only".