Best way to clean up my contacts?

[CarleL]

Hello, I've just got a new phone, and going through the install process, I noticed a lot of clutter in my contacts. The contacts I have on my work Outlook and personal Gmail all seem to be the same, and are reflected on the phone, but if I delete one anywhere it doesn't delete elsewhere (i.e. if I delete an old contact on my PC (Outlook) it doesn't delete off the phone or Gmail. Is there a fast way to clean them all up and keep them synced?
Incidentally, I don't know how they are synced? I use the Gmail/Google account to log into the phones systems, and I have my work Outlook on there, but I don't know how/where/when they call got synced up.

 

[mustang7757]

Which device? Depending on that if you go to contact app setting you should be able to choose between accounts/device/phone/custom contacts to show and possibly merge.

I'll leave a Link to register so you can communicate here , As a guest account you can only post questions but can't reply.
https://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=409154

 

[CarleL]

Hello, I've registered now so I can post a reply - it's a Pixel 6a. I've done the merging of contacts part, I need to start deleting old contacts, but don't want to do it 3 times - on the phone, gmail and Outlook.

 

[mustang7757]

Hi welcome to AC!
Did you use at the bottom right of contact app fix and manage?

 

[CarleL]

I did, I didn't see anything about synchronised deleting?

 

[mustang7757]

Hmm u have a work outlook email listed in contacts also let me see if @B. Diddy might know more

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! I made you the owner of the original guest post to make it easier for you to find.

I don't use any other account on my phone for contacts other than Google, so I can't speak from direct experience -- but go to Settings>Passwords & Accounts, and look for your Outlook account under "Accounts for [your name]". If you find it, then tap it and then tap Account Sync. Do you see a toggle for Contacts there? If so, then you can turn off the contacts sync for Outlook there.

Cleaning up duplicates between accounts can be a pain. Merging/joining contacts would be the main tool to clean up that clutter -- once you've merged, then you shouldn't have to worry about deleting contacts (unless there are leftover out-of-date contacts you didn't merge and want to get rid of).

 

[CarleL]

Thank you both.

 

[smvim]

Given you have contacts with Gmail (personal) and contacts with Outlook (work), I'd recommend you don't try to merge the two. The Contacts app on your Pixel is able to sync with multiple accounts but it won't be able cleanly and seamlessly make the user interface you interact with very useful. (... well unless your situation is a matter where both your personal life and work life are tightly intermingled.)

Do you have your Gmail email and Outlook email merged in whichever email app you're using? Or do you have both the Gmail app and Outlook app installed?
It might be cleaner to just keep your Gmail contacts tied to the Contacts app and your Outlook contacts tied to the Outlook app.

But if you do want to have both your Gmail and Outlook contacts merged in the Contacts app on your Pixel, there isn't a quick, simple fix that you're seeking. It's going to be a project you need to put some effort into setting up. Conceptually, you need to take into consideration how the background process with Contacts work so you can set things up on your Pixel to suit your needs. Basically, your online Google account and your MS Outlook account are the primary, central storage for your contacts. It's Google servers and Microsoft servers that manage and maintain your contact data. The Contacts app on your Pixel is essentially just an easy way for you to interact with your contacts, the app is fed the data you see from those online servers. It's just a common server - client situation, and that's where the syncing is a vital part of the process. You need to pick which is the primary and which is secondary (Gmail or Outlook) for your contacts, and then manually weed out/combine/alter the individual contact entry/people in both lists, and then set up both your Gmail and your Outlook services accordingly so you have a single, merged contacts listing to feed your Pixel's Contacts app with. That's a daunting project and why I suggest using the Contacts app for your Gmail contacts and the Outlook app for your Outlook contacts.

 

[Mr Bojangles1]

As far as your google contacts you can go to contacts.google.com and make your edits. That is where they get synced from.