Contacts not syncing anymore

[CharlieVIE0104]

Since I updated my S3 with Android 4.3 my contacts are acting up. First I have around 3,200 "Starred in Android" groups in my contacts. Yes, I did a rough count and I really have about 3,200 empty groups named "Starred in Android". Tried to delete them, but Google doesn't make it very easy to delete groups. You can only delete one group at a time. Anyway, I also have the problem that my contacts don't sync anymore. I un-check the contacts in my sync options on my S3, then checked it again. The two arrows start spinning, but after a few seconds they stop spinning and stay there. The date does not change either.

Anybody any ideas if Google is working on that, if that might be a single incident on my phone only?

Any help is appreciated.
Thanks

 

[b2d2]

Unfortunately I don't have a solution, but a very similar problem. I tried to add a contact that I thought I had added a couple weeks ago and should have synced to my phone by now. But it wasn't on the phone and after checking my G-Mail account, sure enough, it was there. Curiously enough, since the upgrade, the Contacts app on the phone crashes if I try to add a new contact. I don't know that the two are related, but it seems that it's highly possible--that the Contacts app crashes (seemingly frequently) if it's trying to get new contacts, etc.

 

[CharlieVIE0104]

Unfortunately I don't have a solution, but a very similar problem. I tried to add a contact that I thought I had added a couple weeks ago and should have synced to my phone by now. But it wasn't on the phone and after checking my G-Mail account, sure enough, it was there. Curiously enough, since the upgrade, the Contacts app on the phone crashes if I try to add a new contact. I don't know that the two are related, but it seems that it's highly possible--that the Contacts app crashes (seemingly frequently) if it's trying to get new contacts, etc.

My contact app crashes when I try to add a contact to a group. It really sucks... I'm a huge fan of Android, Google, Gmail... but this is the first time I am very disappointed and actually thinking about switching back to an iPhone. No word from Google yet, they are just playing dumb and pretend that everything is fine.

 

[ErIndoorz]

I cant get my contacts to let me sync with Facebook for some reason
and when I add an address to a contact, it shows twice - no matter how many times I delete 1!

 

[b2d2]

Found the solution on the AT&T Device forum...

1. <Optional> Export current contacts to SD or safe storage just in case.
2. Go to Settings -> Accounts -> Google -> Select your account -> Removing the tick from the Contacts Sync if you can but if not, don't worry
3. Go to Settings -> Apps -> Scroll to "All" tab, Find "Contacts", Click Force stop and Clear Data
4. Settings -> Apps -> Scroll to "All" tab, Find "Contacts Storage", Click Force stop and Clear Data
5. Reboot the phone
6. If you turned off 'Sync Contacts' in step 2, go back and turn it on.
7. Go into Contacts and if you are quick you will see things populating. You can also wait a minute and everything will be there. I then tried a sync and it worked just fine. If you exported your contacts in step 1, I would keep the exported file for a while, just in case but you will not need it.

 

[CharlieVIE0104]

Found the solution on the AT&T Device forum...

1. <Optional> Export current contacts to SD or safe storage just in case.
2. Go to Settings -> Accounts -> Google -> Select your account -> Removing the tick from the Contacts Sync if you can but if not, don't worry
3. Go to Settings -> Apps -> Scroll to "All" tab, Find "Contacts", Click Force stop and Clear Data
4. Settings -> Apps -> Scroll to "All" tab, Find "Contacts Storage", Click Force stop and Clear Data
5. Reboot the phone
6. If you turned off 'Sync Contacts' in step 2, go back and turn it on.
7. Go into Contacts and if you are quick you will see things populating. You can also wait a minute and everything will be there. I then tried a sync and it worked just fine. If you exported your contacts in step 1, I would keep the exported file for a while, just in case but you will not need it.

Well I guess it would have been too good to be true. These instructions did not work for me. My contacts sync still say last synced on 12/24/2013 09:18.
Guess that sucks for me.

 

[CharlieVIE0104]

Found the solution on the AT&T Device forum...

1. <Optional> Export current contacts to SD or safe storage just in case.
2. Go to Settings -> Accounts -> Google -> Select your account -> Removing the tick from the Contacts Sync if you can but if not, don't worry
3. Go to Settings -> Apps -> Scroll to "All" tab, Find "Contacts", Click Force stop and Clear Data
4. Settings -> Apps -> Scroll to "All" tab, Find "Contacts Storage", Click Force stop and Clear Data
5. Reboot the phone
6. If you turned off 'Sync Contacts' in step 2, go back and turn it on.
7. Go into Contacts and if you are quick you will see things populating. You can also wait a minute and everything will be there. I then tried a sync and it worked just fine. If you exported your contacts in step 1, I would keep the exported file for a while, just in case but you will not need it.

I just went to the AT&T forum and these instructions are for the Nexus 7. I have a Galaxy S3. Not sure if that would make a difference.

 

[b2d2]

Mine is a Galaxy S3 as well. I don't know what to say except these instructions worked for me.

 

[CharlieVIE0104]

Mine is a Galaxy S3 as well. I don't know what to say except these instructions worked for me.

Thank you b2d2, I really appreciate it.
I actually removed the account yesterday from my S3 and added it back, now all my contacts are duplicated when I use a web browser on my computer and still not syncing.
I have no idea what's wrong, just very disappointed in Google. My opinion about Google dropped to the point of where I am seriously thinking to go back to an iPhone after 5 years loving Android.

 

[CharlieVIE0104]

Mine is a Galaxy S3 as well. I don't know what to say except these instructions worked for me.

b2d2 I have to apologize. After you mentioned you also had an S3, I went through the instructions again step-by-step and realized that I skipped step 4. I didn't realize that step 3 was "Contacts" and step 4 was "Contacts Storage". You are absolutely right, it does work on an S3.

Thanks again.

BTW, if anybody wants to know how to get rid of the thousands of "Starred in Android" groups. I found a way.
It might now be the most sophisticated way to do it, but it works.
Go to Windows scripting and Windows Macro Automation utilities - automate your PC with Windows scripting for Win9x/NT/ME/2000/XP.
Download and install the program. You can create macros with this program and the trial version is good for 30 days.
What you do is following:
1) Logon to your gmail account and open your contacts.
2) Click on "My Contacts".
3) Open Macro Scheduler and create new macro
4) Copy code below and adjust x,y coordinates according to your screen and the wait time. The wait is going to depend on your CPU Speed.
5) on the last line change the 40 to how many times you want the macro to be repeated.

What that macro does is following
1) It types the word starred in the search bar.
2) Then selects the first group "Starred in Android"
3) Then selects the "More" button and delete group
4) Confirms by clicking on OK

It still deletes one group at a time, but at least you can start the macro and let it run. Definitely beats the alternative, which is doing it yourself.
I had 3500+ "Starred in Android" groups. The macro was working on-and-off for 4 days. Imagine how long it would have taken me to delete these groups.

So, here is the code:

//Set IGNORESPACES to 1 to force script interpreter to ignore spaces.
//If using IGNORESPACES quote strings in {" ... "}
//Let>IGNORESPACES=1
Let>i=0
Repeat>i
  Let>i=i+1
  MouseMove>2307,114
  LClick
  SendText>starred
  Wait>1.0
  MouseMove>2238,148
  Wait>0.5
  LClick
  Wait>1.5
  MouseMove>2327,171
  LClick
  Wait>1
  MouseMove>2346,259
  LClick
  Wait>0.5
  MouseMove>2687,615
  Wait>0.2
  LClick
  Wait>4
Until>i,40

 

[b2d2]

Awesome! Glad to hear it!

 

[cpashby]

This worked for me also! I think the critical step that I had not tried before was clearing the Contact Storage. I should also mention that this solved not only my gmail contact sync not working but I was also having the same issue with my Outlook contacts which uses Active Sync with Exchange.