No merge to Google option with Contacts

[Scottydont87]

I recently got my S4 and there is no option to merge my contacts to Google. Yes I know there is a sync option but that only will sync my contacts that are merged with Google.

When I had my S2 there was a way to merge contacts that was simple and easy, but I am not finding it to well no my new S4.

Thanks

 

[smooth4lyfe]

When you add contacts and have Sync contacts checked, they should automatically be added to your Google Account

 

[Cigar-Junkie]

I manage all my contacts in gmail or drive. Once you get set with that from then on when you get a new phone just add your gmail address and you're done. Apps, music and contacts!

 

[Scottydont87]

Ok I should mention that I have no issue bringing over my old contacts, it is the contacts I have recently added. The only way to merge contacts is individually when I add them it asks to save to google, device, and sim. But I wanted a faster way like on my S2 to were I could merge all contacts at once. The youtube clip below has shot of what I am talking about.

Samsung Galaxy S4 How To Customize Phone Contacts with Google Sync - YouTube

In this video at around 16 seconds, you see below import/export an option to MERGE ACCOUNTS. I don't have that option and trying to figure out why not.

 

[Xtremevoyagers]

This worked for me (Galaxy S4):
You need to copy all contacts to SIM card first and then it will let you Sync them to GOOGLE
1) Go to CONTACTS
2) Under CONTACTS menu press SIM MANAGEMENT
3) Press COPY CONTACTS TO SIM
4) Press DONE
5) Under CONTACTS menu press SIM MANAGEMENT
6) Press COPY CONTACTS FROM SIM
7) Select GOOGLE xxx@gmail.com
8) Press DONE
9) Under CONTACTS menu press SIM MANAGEMENT
10) Press DELETE CONTACTS FROM SIM (This will delete all duplicates in your Contact list)
11) Press DELETE
DONE!!! Hope this helped you!!!

 

[Rabbit_Pellets]

Here's another strategy - to counter Samsung's approach of removing each function helpfully described above. That's right, my Galaxy S4 has no "Sim Management" function. Instead I've had to export and email all my phone contacts to my gmail account, import them into contacts there, then let Google "merge" to eliminate duplicated. These gmail contacts will then sync properly with my phone.

Proceed as follows:
From within contacts bring up the menu (lover left hard button) and pick
- "Share namecard via."
Your contacts come up. Check
- "Select All."
(You can actually select individual contacts but as this screen neglects to display each contact's "g" it's pretty irrelevant for this task unless you have few such cases). Tap
- Done.
On being asked
- "Share namecard via" I picked gmail. I then specified the
- gmail account where I maintain my contacts as the "to" address and clicked the right point triangle to
- send the email. "Sending message" displayed.
-view your gmail - which I did via a laptop.
- Hover over the "Contacts.vcf" file and select
- Add to Contacts
- "These contacts have been imported but not yet merged" displays.
- Select "Find and Merge Duplicates"

-​

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Yes, you are trusting supremely in Google to basically ignore the 90% of you contacts that already existed, though from Samsung's skittishness regarding this functionality you may well be better off that way. (BTW the phone contacts that do also already exist in Google show a little letter "g" to the right when you look at your phone contacts).For peace of mind I did experiment with a single, already existing contact to verify how Google treated it. One fear of course is that some records may have had out of date information that then merged with current information - which of course is precisely why it is so important to maintain a single authoritative database and sync with it.

By the way, what I've found - after much head scratching - is that the contacts that weren't syncing were of two types: 1) the contacts that I had in my previous (non-android, basic flip) phone but not in Google contacts, and 2) any new phone contacts if not created as gmail contacts.

In the first case, Verizon copied contacts between the old and new phones, but those "phone only" contacts were then beyond the reach of the syncing function. To avoid the second case, when you create a new contact on the phone you'll want to create a Google contact not a Device Contact. Either can be selected from a pull down list that you may be prompted with or access at the top of the new contact's screen.

The reason all this matters at least for me is that I have for some years used gmail to maintain my master contacts list. It's something the cloud is actually good for. And it's a function into which this new appliance - my phone - needs to integrate smoothly. This database must accumulate and display the same information irrespective of which device accesses it.

This "fix" even seems to have improved how contact information displays on the phone. Annoying enough that "ringtone" and "vibration pattern" are fields displayed by default, favored over address and notes. But I'd previously had trouble accessing these fields at all other than by editing the contact.

 

[hammill]

great Rabbit_Pellets !
it worked for me with my note 3.
don't understand why samsung made it so complicated.
i still had to edit one or two of the imported contacts in my g mail account ( some of those that have several lines) but most of them came o.k.
thanks for the help.