Sort contacts by first name?

[Arelunde]

Does anyone know where to find the setting to have contacts displayed by first names? I've searched all over, but it seems it's a default to sort by last name.

 

[gbororats]

Not sure where or how yours is sorting by last name... mine only sorts by first and its annoying.

 

[rajones19]

Does anyone know where to find the setting to have contacts displayed by first names? I've searched all over, but it seems it's a default to sort by last name.

I cannot get mine to sort by Last Name, and it's a huge bone of contention for me. I cannot figure out how you got yours to sort by last name, but if you ever figure it out, please let me know!

 

[Arelunde]

Well, I'm not sure it's sorting by last names. With Froyo, my contact list is weird -- part of the first names are missing in the list, but if I do a search for the missing name, it shows up the contact information accurately. I tried changing the way I sort contacts in Gmail (sort by last name; sort by first name) and it doesn't seem to make any difference in the X. Not sure what's going on, but I guess I can live with it since I use LPP's widget for family members and gesture search app to find others from my contacts list. It works OK - just looks weird in the actual listing of names.

 

[Arelunde]

If you have Gmail on your PC browser, with contacts, try sorting these contacts by first or last name. Then in your X, go to accounts (as in email) > gmail > sync contacts.

See if that makes a difference for you.

 

[vicw926a4]

If you have Gmail on your PC browser, with contacts, try sorting these contacts by first or last name. Then in your X, go to accounts (as in email) > gmail > sync contacts.

See if that makes a difference for you.

It won't make a difference. Gmail on a PC currently does a nice job with the First Name, Last Name sort issue, but it has no effect whatever on the DX Contact display.

I had this problem resolved with 2.1 using Companionlink on the PC, which does have the ability to select First Name, or Last Name sort order, but that is no longer making a bit of difference either with the DX display. One big step backward. I'm pretty convinced this is a Motorola software problem in the DX, based on an earlier response from Matt on the Moto forum, where he confirmed that the Droid 2 does, in fact, display Contacts in last name order, but displays the names as First Name Last Name, which I would love to have on the DX. I was hoping they would get that working, but Matt warned me that there was no guarantee they would - and they didn't.

 

[Arelunde]

I just don't know what's going on. Some of my contacts are fine. Others don't show a first name at all, just the last name, but will show the full name in the "links" part. Doesn't make any difference which group of contacts I select to show (they are all the same, anyway) - I get the same thing. Go figure.

 

[vicw926a4]

To make matters even worse than I originally thought, I just discovered that with 2.2, the Contacts list on the DX DOES NOT DISPLAY CONTACTS THAT ARE LISTED BY BUSINESS NAME ONLY.

I have bunches of business phone numbers and address in my Contact list, and now I can't easily pull them up on my DX, as I was able to do on 2.1

This goes beyond annoyance and frustration, to loss of phone functionality with the DX. It is, after all, still a Phone.

I've been searching, without success, for any alternate Contact apps, and I'm wondering if there is any way to pull back in the old Contacts app within the DX.

Update: PLEASE DISREGARD MY ENTRY, ABOVE. It was for a different problem that I was ultimately able to resolve. Don't want to go into the gory details of that issue here, to avoid more distraction from the main issue.

 

[roberte1342]

I just don't know what's going on. Some of my contacts are fine. Others don't show a first name at all, just the last name, but will show the full name in the "links" part. Doesn't make any difference which group of contacts I select to show (they are all the same, anyway) - I get the same thing. Go figure.

Are you syncing contacts from other accounts such as facebook, twitter, etc?
I know some of mine do this and I just unlink them, then relink with the one I want so it shows first and last name.
Do the ones with the problem only show Google as their linked profile? If so does the field data match on gmail contacts? First name and last name in their proper fields.

 

[Arelunde]

I'll have to do some checking. There are no Facebook, etc., contacts but I'll have to look into the links that are showing.Thanks for something to work on.

My contacts were originally imported from Outlook, so who knows how they ended up. Thanks for your input!! Much appreciated.

 

[fishngrits]

I prefer sorting by first name. That's how I have contacts sorted in my GMail account too.

I tend to forget last names sometimes, and I just use Gesture Search to look through my contacts, anyway. Much faster than scrolling through my contacts list on the phone.

 

[Arelunde]

I know this is now an old thread, but I have to add some information...

I checked my screwed up X contacts on my PC's version of Gmail contacts. Found out I could click the box at the end of the "name" that was showing on the screen for each contact. Discovered somehow all my contacts' names had been shifted to the box labeled "middle name". No first names and, infrequently, a middle and last name.

Don't know what caused this, other than it was originally an import from Outlook contacts. So, now I am working my way through my contacts on my PC, a few at a time, re-entering the names in the proper "first...middle...last" boxes. Those I have done show up perfect and,so far, have stayed that way.

Not a revelation nor is it something I can blame on the 2.3 upgrade. Just an electronic glitch somewhere. Just wanted to set the record straight.

 

[roberte1342]

I think the column headers in your CSV file that you exported from outlook had the wrong name type in the wrong place. This happened to me when I was helping someone move their contacts to topproducer.
You can open this file in Excel, rename the headers in the first row to match the type of name below it. To make things a little more smooth delete all columns except the ones you want to import. Save the file and import into a new group so it will be easier to remove dupes.

 

[vicw926a4]

Gmail recently, and at long last, provided separation in the new FIRST, MIDDLE, and LAST NAME fields, instead of the former single NAME field, to allow for rational presentation and choice in sorting and display of names within Gmail, and to adjust to business standards.

In the transition, apparently there has been some conversion, and some names in individual accounts may have been improperly inserted, so it is a worthwhile effort to clean those up in Gmail, especially since the Gmail data is the focal point for the extraction of names to Android.

I just hope that the original point of this thread isn't lost, in that there is a problem in the Motorola code for Contacts within the DX currently that clearly sorts names by the First Name field. The heat needs to be on Motorola to resolve the step they have taken backward from 2.1 to 2.2, especially since PC based apps, such as Companionlink, apparently are no longer able to workaround the problem externally.

For anyone who prefers the names sorted by FIRST NAME, I think that's fine, you should be able to, and I should be able to sort by LAST NAME. Motorola just needs to adjust their code to provide the choice, such as you can easily do in Gmail on a PC, and I presume on a Mac, today. The separated data fields finally provided by Gmail will accommodate that choice very nicely. According to Motorola, they already have the Contacts properly displayed one one of the other Droids.

In the interim, I installed the app groupy on my DX, which does allow for displaying names within the DX by LAST NAME (they refer to it as FAMILY NAME), and it also provide functions by GROUPS, which is another thing that Motorola needs to include. The groupy app isn't a total solution, but it is helpful.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[Arelunde]

Thanks vicw926a4 and roberte1342 ... I really appreciate your explanations and both/all make sense. And, I definitely agree that there SHOULD be an option to view contacts in whichever format the person prefers.

Meanwhile, I painfully put in probably 10 hours fixing my 400 contacts (not all at one sitting, though) and now my contacts list is stunningly beautiful and perfectly organized. I made sure to print out both versions (first/last name) and stash that copy.Contacts are such vital information that having only an electronic version is way too risky.

An interesting side note is that it's possible to type a correction into the contact name field, but it's not the same as clicking on the INVISIBLE box at the end of the field (highlighted only with a mouse-over) where you are presented with the three separate fields: First, middle and last. This I discovered accidentally!

Also, for businesses, I put the entire business name in the "name" box field (leaving the "middle" and "last" fields blank) and it worked just fine in either sort.

 

[vicw926a4]

... An interesting side note is that it's possible to type a correction into the contact name field, but it's not the same as clicking on the INVISIBLE box at the end of the field (highlighted only with a mouse-over) where you are presented with the three separate fields: First, middle and last. This I discovered accidentally!

Also, for businesses, I put the entire business name in the "name" box field (leaving the "middle" and "last" fields blank) and it worked just fine in either sort.

You are exactly right about the INVISIBLE box in Gmail. I also discovered it by accident a few days ago myself. It's the only way to go, entering in contacts, so you should never risk the possibility of the name being garbled by software trying to adjust it. I can sort of understand why Google did it that way, but they really could have made it more intuitively obvious to the user.

On the other hand, I'm thrilled that Google finally got their act together by separating the name fields. That was long in coming. Now we just need Motorola to get their act together and fix the DX Contacts software.

Regarding Business Names, I've been playing it safe by entering them via Outlook into the COMPANY field, which has worked really well for me, but the full name entry in works, that's great. I'll try it out to see how Outlook and the DX see the company names after I run a sync with Companionlink.

 

[vicw926a4]

..Also, for businesses, I put the entire business name in the "name" box field (leaving the "middle" and "last" fields blank) and it worked just fine in either sort.

I just tried that technique, using a Company name "TEST BUSINESS NAME", but Gmail made a mess out of it, putting TEST in as the FIRST NAME, BUSINESS as the SECOND and NAME, as the LAST. I recommend that if you want to add business names into Gmail, click the ADD button near the bottom, then Select "Title and Company" which will open a new box directly under the first one, and enter the company name into it and save it. That will keep the full company name intact, and Outlook and the DX will be happy with the results

 

[Arelunde]

That's an interesting turn of events with the business names. Originally, I synced with Outlook to Gmail contacts, but eventually I dropped Outlook and now work directly with Gmail (which pulls my pop3 email accounts and pushes all to the X), Gmail contacts and Gmail calendar. I have a feeling that the Outlook connection was what caused the problem initially - as mentioned above.

Also, that's possibly why putting the entire business name in the "name" line works for me but not for you. I've been very happy with everything "gmail". Very straight forward. With Gmail as my browser home page, I can access contacts and calendar right from there - even having a mini-calendar on the Gmail page. Took a bit of getting used to (finding all the fine points), but it works very well. A google search bar is at the top, too.

 

[odnegr]

I just got my new HTC Desire and decided to register all my contacts in my Gmail account. I kind of have my own system and just writing in i.e.:
Plumber - <company name 1> and Plumber - <company name 2> and so on.
If I need a plumber, I just search for "plumber". Anyway, this is my way to do it, and the sorting works just fine in my contactlist in my gmailaccaount.
When syncronizing with my HTC Desire (Andriode Froyo), the collate sequence are crazy. I have to deal with these Norwegian caracters ???/???, wich is suppose to be at the end of the alphabet (3 last chars).
After "A", comes "?" and after "O" comes "?" and "?" after "A" and before "?" wich also comes before next "A".
huhhh, any idea of why it is like this.
Thanx in advance. b.r. odne

 

[Arelunde]

One more comment about all the work getting my contacts list cleaned up. It may have a lot to do with the problems that occurred in the first place ...

Ultimately, I did a Factory Data Reset, as per instructions by Fabrian in the Sticky, which worked fine. BUT JUST BEFORE I DID IT, I went to "My Verizon" and DELETED all my contacts from there. After the reset, I have NOT activated the My Verizon contact backup.

Meanwhile, my contacts list has stayed very clean with only one link for each - Gmail contacts. The mysterious "phone book" list of contacts on my X, which contained old information and multiple listings for most entries, has disappeared. SO, it's not a giant leap to assume the My Verizon contacts backup list has been creating many problems.

So, if you are having issues with multiple contacts and/or old information, be suspect of the My Verizon backup activities.

As a side note, My Verizon has initiated a service parallel to Gmail where you can sync contacts, calendar and email. It looks innocent on the surface, but more like conflict potential.