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Help Strange contact issue

T

turbomentor

Well-Known Member
Having a weird issue with my contacts.

Many of my contacts show up 2 or three times in my contact list. I guess I can go in and manually pare the list down by eliminating the dupes, but...I don't want it to recur.

Anyone else have this problem? What was the cause? Solution?

Thanks
 
turbomentor said:
Having a weird issue with my contacts.

Many of my contacts show up 2 or three times in my contact list. I guess I can go in and manually pare the list down by eliminating the dupes, but...I don't want it to recur.

Anyone else have this problem? What was the cause? Solution?

Thanks
Click to expand...
Is this on the desktop? HTC Sync did that on my PC. I finally gave up on it.

If it's on the phone, you probably need to merge the contacts, but I don't know enough about that to advise you. Someone should be along shortly. :)
 
I just got my Vibrant a week ago and I seem to be having the same problem with contacts appearing multiple times. When I click on a name, it shows "5 linked contacts" all in the phone book. Took me forever to delete all the duplicates after unlinking the names. Then out of the blue it happened again! I'm spending more time deleting duplicate/unwanted contacts than actually using the phone! So frustrating. Is there any way to delete multiple contact entries at the same time? Is there a way to delete ALL the contacts so I can start over again? Thanks in advance for any help!
 
Yeah, really strange
Its got duplicate linked on quite a few of my contacts

In Gmail...104 contacts....on the phone - 170......

And I cant see where its getting it from!!!!!!!!
I dont sync any other contacts - FB, twitter etc
 
Bump!

I'd really like to see if anyone has a solution to this problem!!!

It seems to me that if the deleted multiple contacts are coming back, then they probably got backed up that way at some point...
 
I had this problem a long time ago and deleted all the "phone" contacts while leaving the Google contacts. The phone contacts didn't return but I would add that I don't use any social networking crap so not sure if that plays into it somehow. If you have your contacts syncing somehow other than Google (not sure what it'd be)...it may be worthwhile to switch to airplane mode while deleting them to make sure they're not re-syncing during the elimination process. Just a thought.

I did them one at a time but there is an import/export option. Not sure if exporting them just copies them or if it literally moves them off altogether. If the latter, it might be possible to export all the "phone" contacts to a pre-made folder, then delete said folder afterward? Haven't tried it so just throwing some random ideas out there.
 
Had a couple more thoughts on this after further reflection. I think when I deleted my duplicates, I also disabled the contact sync feature on the Lookout app from then on. I was afraid it might be an alternate source to provide mulitples from previous sync efforts.

Also, if you happen to be rooted and use Titanium, might want to do a Menu > Batch > Backup all apps and system data immediately following the deletion of extra contacts. Otherwise if you restore in the future, you'll be adding all the multiple entries back into the mix since your previous backup likely included them. Same goes for a Nandroid backup. Might wanna make a new one with the pared down list in case you use it to revert at a later time.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of things to think about with this. Tons of places they can creep back in from after you've deleted them.
 
Its getting worse...upto 182 now :(
This is after I factory reset the phone - re-synced with Gmail contacts. Im sure at first it only came up with my normal 105 contacts. Something else is causing these extra ones!!!
 
Just went and cleared everything up MANUALLY
deleted all duplicate/linked contacts off phone.

Gmail = 103 contacts
Phone = 121!!!!!!!!! WTF.....stupid android/google
 
What do you have syncing on your phone besides google? Do you have backup assistant setup? Are there contacts stored on your sd card? It has to be pulling those extra contacts from somewhere.
Or like I posted above try signing into your google account from a computer and there is an option to look for and merge duplicate contacts.
 
I have looked in Gmail - my contacts are perfect - no duplicates. I tried that merge function - it said it didnt find any.

I dont use any backup apps etc.
I do use Facebook but dont sync contacts - besides, the duplicates are from facebook.

I do have multiple gmail accounts but only sync contacts from 1.

Seems to me gmail is auto creating them as I dont have duplicates on contacts I havent used.

I have some time now so Im going to factory reset again and do one thing at a time - see if I can find out what is causing it
 
Yeah, I'd try using the phone for a couple hours without even setting up your gmail account and see if any contacts appear.
Then set up gmail wait a couple hours.
Then facebook.
 
Ok....resetting it now. Took a bit of time to backup Angry birds and make sure it was backed up.....I lost my progress once before - not doing all the levels again!!

Not installing any apps....just Gmail and sync contacts.....will see how it goes
 
Ok...found the problem - not sure if its the same problem as what others are having.

The mystery contacts were auto added from my other gmail accounts.

I use 4 different gmail accounts. The main one has all my contacts. There were supposed to be none in my other accounts but gmail auto adds them. The strange and annoying thing is though, I dont have contacts selected as sync on the phone - so they should never have appeared. Because of this bug, I will have to regularly go into my secondary account contacts in gmail and delete any that have been auto added.
 
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