Any genuine solution to duplicated Contacts?

[Djard]

I faithfully followed the steps posted at various websites to
to remove duplicated contacts, including merging them in Gmail
and unlinking them, all without success. I even exported the
"contacts.vcf" file, edited it with NFOPad then imported it back.
The latter removed a good number of duplicates, but not all.
I have disable all syncing. None of the contact managers from
Google Play work.

Now I can delete a contact on the device through the resident
email client on the Galaxy S5, but I'm not able to delete
anything from the SIM card, despite the SIM Management
feature reporting that all the contacts were "successfully"
deleted from the SIM card. Here's proof that Android gives a
false report that content on the SIM card was deleted: After
deleting duplicated entries, prepare to write a new email
message > tap the Contacts icon > notice that the duplicated
contacts were not deleted at all.

Without rooting the device, is there any way to delete
contacts from the SIM card?

I don't mean to be rude or unappreciative, but if you are
kind enough to respond, please don't offer steps that you have
not tried yourself and tested to so see if they worked, by
preparing to write and email then tapping on the Contacts
icon.

Gosh, there must be someone out there smarter than my dumb
Android OS that duplicates contacts.

 

[srkmagnus]

Welcome to the forums!

Open the contacts or people application (not sure which one you have) and open the settings. Within that there should be something that will allow you to enable which contacts you see, contacts on the device or contacts synced from you're Gmail account. If you want the Gmail account contacts you'll then need to open system settings > accounts > Google > contacts (check sync).

Let us know if that helps or if you have any other questions.

 

[Crashdamage]

I don't know what is going wrong, but I know any OS only does what it's told.

Follow these steps and you'll be good to go. I've never had a Samsung so I can't tell you the exact procedure for deleting contacts, but the manual should help you there. I tried to cover the rest in some detail.

1. Open the Contacts app and tap Menu.

2. Select Import/export, then Export to storage.

3. A box will open with the location the .vcf file will be exported to. Write it down. Proceed with exporting contacts.

4. If your phone doesn't export all contacts in a single file, but for example one for Google contacts then SIM contacts separately, repeat until all contact lists are exported.

5. Make a backup copy of the .vcf file and put it in a safe place.

6. Turn sync of contacts off on the phone. Delete ALL contacts. Then go to: Settings > Apps > Google contacts > Clear cache > Clear data. Turn the phone off.

7. Transfer the .vcf file to a computer or cloud storage for upload to Google.

8. Log into your Google account and open Contacts. Click on More. In the drop-down list select Import.

9. In the next box select Browse. Navigate to the exported .vcf file and select it. Click on Import. Repeat if you have more than one file to import.

10. When import is complete click on More again and select Merge duplicates. When done, check the cleaned list for errors. When satisfied export a .vcf copy for backup then go to #11.

11. Turn on the phone. Check to see there are no contacts anywhere on the phone. If any remain, delete them. If none...

12. Turn on sync of Google contacts for your account. Your contacts will download to the phone.

You're done. You should now have a single, cleaned contact list on the phone, backed up to Google and a backup file copy.


Android user since v1.0. Linux user since 2001.

 

[Djard]

Thanks for the responses. I'm grateful for your valuable time.

I called AT&T tech support about another problem (email Inbox disappeared after updating Android from v4.4.2 to 4.4.4), and learned that the OS was unstable. So the techie let me upgrade to Lollipop, which hopefully will let me edit data on the SIM card that was not possible before. It's downloading now but will take a couple of hours to cycle. I'll gladly share the outcome and the suggestion you both kindly gave.

 

[Crashdamage]

Strongly suggest you give up on storing anything on the SIM.

First, you can only store names and numbers on the SIM. No email addresses, physical addresses, notes, photos - no other information.

Second, there is fewer and fewer phones that even have an option to use SIM storage. In a year or two SIM storage will be gone.

SIM storage of contacts is an old, outdated, dying technology that should not be considered a viable option anymore.

Android user since v1.0. Linux user since 2001.

 

[Djard]

Thanks for confirming what I was entertaining to do. After upgrading to Lollipop (don't like the color scheme at all), I am able to edit data on the SIM card. But I will remove the contacts from the SIM card and follow the steps to import the more comprehensive list from my Gmail account. Thanks for all the great help. You folks are great!

 

[Djard]

When you say "contacts (check sync)," the only options I see are...

Sync App Data
Calendar
Chrome
Drive
Gmail
Google Fit Data
Play Books
Google Play Movies & TV
Newsstand
Google+
Google+ Uploads
People Details
Picasa Web albums

Should I select "People details"?

 

[Djard]

Thanks for kindly lending a hand. I' very grateful for your valuable time. Your steps are terrific.