Corrupted Contacts file?

[AC Question]

I find that my contacts don't get backed up properly. Either when I'm using a local backup app that will transfer my contacts to the SD card, or a backup program that is on my PC connected to my phone via USB cable, or even over the Net to my Gmail account. It seems like only a partial list of contacts get transferred, and remaining don't get transferred. Like for example, if I have 750 contacts, only about 650 might get backed up. And I don't know which 650 got backed up, the backup program just fails after that many contacts get backed up.

I'm concerned for loosing this data if I move over to a new phone. None of the typical backup mediums seem to be reliable. Phone is an ZTE Grand X4, Android 6.0.1.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! The most reliable way to backup your contacts is to make sure you've entered them all as Google Contacts. Contacts that are saved to your Google account (as opposed to the local Phone account) will automatically sync to your Google Contacts in the cloud. 3rd party contact backup apps can be notoriously unreliable.

 

[bbbl67]

Welcome to Android Central! The most reliable way to backup your contacts is to make sure you've entered them all as Google Contacts. Contacts that are saved to your Google account (as opposed to the local Phone account) will automatically sync to your Google Contacts in the cloud. 3rd party contact backup apps can be notoriously unreliable.

But Google Contacts has said that there are some accounts not being backed up to it. How do I find out which contacts these are, and how do I get them to sync up with Google Contacts?

 

[B. Diddy]

Where is it telling you that some accounts aren't being backed up, and what's the exact message?

You can determine if the problem has to do with which account the contact is saved to by finding a contact that is on the phone but not backed up to Google. Edit that contact, and see what account is listed at the top. If it's not your Google account, then it won't be backed up there. Unfortunately, you typically can't just change the account in the edit screen -- you have to reenter the contact, but this time choose your Google account as the account to save to.

You could also try this: open your Contacts app, then tap Menu>Contacts to Display, and see if you can choose an account that isn't your Google account. That should show you which contacts aren't backing up to your Google account. Then tap Menu, and look for an option to Export. Export these contacts as a .csv file, then import them to your Google account: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/1069522?hl=en. Once they're imported, they'll automatically sync to the phone. (You'll then have duplicates of these contacts, so you could delete those non-Google account contacts.)