Help GMail syncing issues, work around??

[cdbannon]

I've been trying to sync my contacts to my GMail account for quite some time now (last successful sync was Oct 29 2010) and had no success. Every time I try I get the same error message - "Sync is currently experiencing problems. It will be back shortly". It might just be me, but almost 6 months of the same problem is a bit more than "shortly".

I think I've figured out a work around. I've backed up all my contacts to myFUNAMBOL cloud successfully.

What I'd like to do is remove the gmail account from my phone, add it back, reverify my credentials and try the sync again. When I try to remove the account I'm directed that the only way to remove it is to restore to the factory defaults, which will delete all my personal data.

Does this mean that I will have to reinstall all my apps, reset all my settings, etc...? And now that I've found a way to back up my contacts without needing to use my GMail account, is this even worth it?

 

[doogald]

I've been trying to sync my contacts to my GMail account for quite some time now (last successful sync was Oct 29 2010) and had no success. Every time I try I get the same error message - "Sync is currently experiencing problems. It will be back shortly". It might just be me, but almost 6 months of the same problem is a bit more than "shortly".

I think I've figured out a work around. I've backed up all my contacts to myFUNAMBOL cloud successfully.

What I'd like to do is remove the gmail account from my phone, add it back, reverify my credentials and try the sync again. When I try to remove the account I'm directed that the only way to remove it is to restore to the factory defaults, which will delete all my personal data.

Does this mean that I will have to reinstall all my apps, reset all my settings, etc...? And now that I've found a way to back up my contacts without needing to use my GMail account, is this even worth it?

Before you do the factory reset, try this:

settings->accounts & sync, turn off background sync
settings->applications->manage applications

Allow it to refresh. Find "Contacts Storage" in the list. Tap it, find the button that says "Clear data" and tap that.

Go back to settings->accounts & sync, turn background sync back on.

That should do it.

 

[cdbannon]

I tried this and if GMail had not completely sucked and deleted all my contacts (they are all still backed up with myFUNAMBOL) it probably would have worked.

I can't figure out how to export from myFUNAMBOL into a format that I can then import into GMail. The myFUNAMBOL account on my phone itself doesn't sync the contacts and the myFUNAMBOL desktop app, which is suppose to sync with my desktop address book, doesn't.

So now I'm stuck with all my contacts in myFUNAMBOL, only the 'pre-GMail sync problem' contacts on my phone, and no way to merge or sync the two.

So frustrating, I think I might have to update the missing GMail contacts by hand from the myFUNAMBOL files in order to get it right.

And all of this to probably put me back in the same situation of my phone not syncing with GMail the way it is suppose to.

 

[cdbannon]

Ok, I think I have most of the contacts back. What I want to do now is add all my Facebook friends to my contacts list (I know, opposite of what everyone else wants) and I'll worry about deleting the few that I don't need later. I can find a way to do the opposite back can't seem to turn it around.