Help How can I remove duplicated contacts?

[Djard]

I followed various steps posted online for merging duplicated contacts on my Galaxy S5, which resulted in even more duplicates. I did disable sync. The resident Contacts feature does not allow me to delete any duplicates. So I used my PC to access my Google account and merged all the duplicated contacts there; but successful merging them in Gmail made no difference to my duplicated Contacts on my Galaxy S5. So I deleted all the contacts in my Gmail account, but that still didn't help: the Android Contact program acts like a virus, duplicating my contacts!

Has anybody been able to resolve such a problem, or must I restore the device to the factory setting?

 

[funkylogik]

Do you maybe have some contacts saved to the sim card or phone memory as well as saved to Google?
I recommend keeping the Google contacts and deleting the rest though I'm not sure how you'd do that

 

[Djard]

Contacts from the SIM card cannot be deleted, despite notification that they were "successfully" deleted. Either there is a bug in the technology or the account (in my case AT&T) does not permit removal of your contacts from the card. What does work is as follows, thanks to you for the clue about the SIM card.

1. Use your PC to update your Gmail contacts list.
2. On your device, tap "Contacts" -> Menu (three dots upper right) -> Settings.
3. Contacts -> Contacts to display -> from list select your Gmail account.
4. Return to home screen.
5. Tap "Contacts." Only those in your Gmail account will be displayed. If not, you should now be able to delete
the duplicates without any difficulty.