Help! How to save contacts saved to phone to google?

[hallmonitor]

hello
my first post here
i have a galaxy s 2.2
new to android so i was entering contacts and saving to phone
but my friend just showed me how to connect so it saves to google instead

is there a quick way to save all my previously entered phone-saved contacts to google? or do i have to re-enter one by one?

thanks in advance for your time!

a

 

[Moscow Desire]

Google Sync........

 

[hallmonitor]

hmm not sure i understand how that works. the contacts are already on my android phone, but just were not saving to google, just to the phone... sorry i'm still a bit "android-dumb"

 

[dbareis]

hmm not sure i understand how that works. the contacts are already on my android phone, but just were not saving to google, just to the phone... sorry i'm still a bit "android-dumb"

Basically it should be doing that already. Go into Settings, "accounts and sync" or similar, make sure you haven't turned automatic sync off. Also try "sync now".

 

[tropper]

@hallmonitor, by saving to google you wont have to save to the phone anymore. But if you do not plan on staying with an android based phone in the future you may want to conrtinue to save to the phone as well.

 

[mizmellyjelly]

what phone were you previously using before? does it give you the option to save your contacts to the SIM card? cuz if so, then that would be the most convenient way first before even considering Google sync. if you can transfer your contacts through your sim card, then you can sync it to your Google account afterwards. then you'll always have the remote backup of your contacts through your Google account.

 

[dually]

Here's Your Answer

Open your contacts (perhaps from the dialpad or perhaps from contacts folder or perhaps from contacts shortcut).

Then select menu>import/export>export to sd. At this point, depending on your rom, you will either have the option to export either all your contacts or either just your phone contacts or just your google contacts.

I recommend only exporting your phone contacts if you have that option, but if not just export all your contacts. Then immediately reimport from sd and at this point you should have the option to import to google contacts. That's it!

I think if you then navigate to gmail on a desktop, their is a quick way to merge all your duplicates. Also, sense roms have a system for merging duplicates on your phone. That is a little tedious but is way easier than copying your contacts by hand and only has to be done once.

Obviously in the future you never want to save contacts to just your phone. I hope this helps.

 

[chazguitar]

This process worked for me. Very helpful!

 

[johnny340]

I did this on my S3 and now I have 200 duplicates. How do I save a new contact right to Google and not my phone? I don't want to import and export every new contact obviously.

 

[Parveen Nagar]

Re: Help! How to save contacts save..9d to phone to google?

hello
my first post here
i have a galaxy s 2.2
new to android so i was entering contacts and saving to phone
but my friend just showed me how to connect so it saves to google instead

is there a quick way to save all my previously entered phone-saved contacts to google? or do i have to re-enter one by one?

thanks in advance for your time!

a

 

[JulyLan]

Re: Here's Your Answer

Maybe we can have a try.

 

[Indoler]

Re: Here's Your Answer

Your contacts are possibly the most valuable content that's on your phone. Most other stuff can be replaced fairly simply if you break your phone or somehow lose access to your Gmail account. It 'only' takes time and, probably, money. But it CAN be done. But if you lose (access to) your contacts you've got a BIG problem.

So I recommend making a separate backup data set of your contacts – stored OFF the phone on some other device or cloud; NOT Google – and to update that separate backup data set of your contacts a few times a year.

Tip: the free app 'Contacts Backup & Export' is your friend.

 

[raptir]

Re: Here's Your Answer

Your contacts are possibly the most valuable content that's on your phone. Most other stuff can be replaced fairly simply if you break your phone or somehow lose access to your Gmail account. It 'only' takes time and, probably, money. But it CAN be done. But if you lose (access to) your contacts you've got a BIG problem.

So I recommend making a separate backup data set of your contacts – stored OFF the phone on some other device or cloud; NOT Google – and to update that separate backup data set of your contacts a few times a year.

Tip: the free app 'Contacts Backup & Export' is your friend.

Curious, why do you say "not google?" What makes them a worse choice than backing it up to Dropbox or something?

 

[Indoler]

Re: Here's Your Answer

Curious, why do you say "not google?" What makes them a worse choice than backing it up to Dropbox or something?

Because you sync to Google(+). So if your contacts somehow get deleted from your phone they also get deleted immediately from your Gmail/Google+ account, and you have nothing left! And if you somehow lose access to your Gmail/Google+ account you have no backup left. That never was a proper backup anyway because backups are supposed to be independent = not auto-linked/-synced to the device where your original data (your contacts) reside.

 

[raptir]

Re: Here's Your Answer

Because you sync to Google(+). So if your contacts somehow get deleted from your phone they also get deleted immediately from your Gmail/Google+ account, and you have nothing left! And if you somehow lose access to your Gmail/Google+ account you have no backup left. That never was a proper backup anyway because backups are supposed to be independent = not auto-linked/-synced to the device where your original data (your contacts) reside.

Ah, so you're saying if someone steals your phone and deletes all your contacts before you are able to disconnect the device from your account.

 

[Indoler]

Re: Here's Your Answer

Originally Posted by Indoler
Because you sync to Google(+). So if your contacts somehow get deleted from your phone they also get deleted immediately from your Gmail/Google+ account, and you have nothing left! And if you somehow lose access to your Gmail/Google+ account you have no backup left. That never was a proper backup anyway because backups are supposed to be independent = not auto-linked/-synced to the device where your original data (your contacts) reside.

Ah, so you're saying if someone steals your phone and deletes all your contacts before you are able to disconnect the device from your account.

For instance. Happens all the time.
Or your little brother inadvertently deletes stuff from your phone. Happens all the time.
Or you yourself make a mistake and delete stuff from your phone by accident. Happens all the time.
Auto-linking/-syncing data is very convenient, but it also means that everything that happens to the data on one side of the sync also happens to the data on the other side of the sync. I.o.w. that is not a safe and dependable backup system.

 

[raptir]

Re: Here's Your Answer

For instance. Happens all the time.
Or your little brother inadvertently deletes stuff from your phone. Happens all the time.
Or you yourself make a mistake and delete stuff from your phone by accident. Happens all the time.
Auto-linking/-syncing data is very convenient, but it also means that everything that happens to the data on one side of the sync also happens to the data on the other side of the sync. I.o.w. that is not a safe and dependable backup system.

Well, I'd like to argue with you on the "happens all the time" aspect, but instead I'll just let you know that Google keeps a full history for thirty days and you can restore your contacts to any state they were in during that span.

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/1069522?hl=en

 

[Indoler]

Re: Here's Your Answer

Well, I'd like to argue with you on the "happens all the time" aspect

You haven't read this forum?

I'll just let you know that Google keeps a full history for thirty days and you can restore your contacts to any state they were in during that span.

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/1069522?hl=en

That's fine if you are comfortable with relying on Google, or any third party, for your most valuable data.
I'm not. And I would suggest nobody should be.

 

[raptir]

Re: Here's Your Answer

That's fine if you are comfortable with relying on Google for your most valuable data.
I'm not. And I would suggest nobody should be.

Honestly, I would rather rely on Google with their redundant backups than one of the many hard drives I've had fail.

 

[Indoler]

Re: Here's Your Answer

Honestly, I would rather rely on Google with their redundant backups than one of the many hard drives I've had fail.

I don't rely on ANY third party (and especially not Google) to keep MY data safe and accessible for ME. I trust only myself. So I have my own redundant backup system in multiple independently accessible places: daisy-chained harddisks, NAS, and several clouds.