Managing Gmail contacts on Android
Did you just get your Android phone and are you confused about the number of contacts showing up on your contacts list? It is confusing at first and gets easier when you understand how it all works.
There are 2 parts to how your contacts from your GMail accounts show up on your contacts list.
1. Setting up the sync options
2. Setting up the display options
Let’s look at each of these in detail.
Setting up the Sync option
Go to Menu -> Settings -> Accounts & Sync. Here you can add your account that you want to sync. If you have already added it, select it in this screen and then select ‘Sync Contacts’.
Setting up the display options
Navigate to Contacts and then go to Menu -> Display Options. Here you can select each account and also select the groups that you want in your contacts in Gmail to show up on your Android Contacts list.
If you have created new groups in your contacts in Gmail, you can view them when you select the account.
If you don’t see some contacts on your phone, it is most likely because your display options are not set right. Navigate to the display options and make sure they are set right. If you know this small tip it is pretty helpful.
Though I manage all my contacts on Gmail, I should say it is a little inconvenient when Google automatically adds people to my contacts. So, I do have to spend some time every now and then to clean up my contacts. When I first got my phone, I noticed that it listed a lot of contacts multiple times. It didn’t take me long to find out that Gmail adds a new contact when a person with the same name sends me a mail from a different account. Here is what you can do to solve this easily.
Go to your contacts in your Gmail account and select the contacts that you want to merge. After you select the contacts, notice a link on the screen that says ‘Merge these contacts’. It did take me some time to sort it out, but now that I am set, it is easier.
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This was helpful but it does not deal with the contacts from your sim card. For people who didn’t use gmail contacts to start with.
Alex,
Good point. If you have contacts on your SIM, you should be able to sync them to your gmail account. Have you tried that?
Why is everyone skirting around the fact that android/gmail contacts is a pile of c***
They are making the end user do a lot of hard work and then it stil does not work as you want.
All I need is a contacts list of people I regularly phone/text message. Then a separate list of those I email! Simple! you would think so, treid for 4 weeks to achive this and had enough!
I’m off back to Nokia and simplicity.
John, it is actually quite easy to do this. Create two contact groups – one for the people you call and one for the people you email. You can hide the group that you use just for emails so that it does not show up on your contacts, but you still use it in your mail.
How can I make groups & manage them from my phone….? Also how do I sync my contacts stored in phone memory to g mail…..?