Best way to backup contacts? - XPERIA X10 General

Hi,
I have spent two evenings trying to reorganize my contact list and understand how the different backup solutions work. I have found a lot of advice, but none that seem to work on X10. I asked for help in SE support forum, but I doubt that they will answer.
So, what is the best option for backing up contact data?
SE sync:
+ contact photos are stored
+ keeps deleted contacts in the trashbin (nice when contacts have mysteriously disappeared from the phone)
- facebook and twitter connections are lost
- address entries do not seem to work (there might be more faulty fields, I didn't test all)
Google sync:
- does not seem to be able to sync entries/modifications from phone to gmail!
- contact photos are lost
- facebook and twitter connections are lost
Facebook sync:
I have matched my contacts, but can't see any effect of it on the phone, on facebook or on SE sync... But I'm a newbie on this one.
Edit: Does not work on 1.6, we need to wait for 2.1.
Backup to SD card, e-mail/transfer file to computer: (contacts -> settings -> backup contacts -> SD card)
+ reliable (?)
- seems to destroy contact images
- requires some manual efforts
- facebook and twitter connections are lost
Have you found any options that back up everything in a fast and reliable fashion?
Please correct me if I'm wrong. I can't believe that I've got this right. I found this commercial slogan on so many websites: "You don't need to sync Android. Ever."

I can only comment on one aspect of your query and that is that Facebook sync only works for Android 2.?? so won't help you whilst your phone is on version 1.6.
Hope others can help you on the other side of things.

Open contacts settings backup contacts

TechGuru_x10 said:
Open contacts settings backup contacts
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes... Aka:
murmeljenta said:
Backup to SD card, e-mail/transfer to computer:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
as mentioned in 1st post
Have you found a way to keep pictures/facebook/twitter connections on this one?

MyBackup Pro

murmeljenta said:
Hi,
I have spent two evenings trying to reorganize my contact list and understand how the different backup solutions work. I have found a lot of advice, but none that seem to work on X10. I asked for help in SE support forum, but I doubt that they will answer.
So, what is the best option for backing up contact data?
SE sync:
+ contact photos are stored
+ keeps deleted contacts in the trashbin (nice when contacts have mysteriously disappeared from the phone)
- facebook and twitter connections are lost
- address entries do not seem to work (there might be more faulty fields, I didn't test all)
Google sync:
- does not seem to be able to sync entries/modifications from phone to gmail!
- contact photos are lost
- facebook and twitter connections are lost
Facebook sync:
I have matched my contacts, but can't see any effect of it on the phone, on facebook or on SE sync... But I'm a newbie on this one.
Edit: Does not work on 1.6, we need to wait for 2.1.
Backup to SD card, e-mail/transfer file to computer: (contacts -> settings -> backup contacts -> SD card)
+ reliable (?)
- seems to destroy contact images
- requires some manual efforts
- facebook and twitter connections are lost
Have you found any options that back up everything in a fast and reliable fashion?
Please correct me if I'm wrong. I can't believe that I've got this right. I found this commercial slogan on so many websites: "You don't need to sync Android. Ever."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have to say your wrong about google sync not modifying changes from phone to google. you have to enable auto sync to allow it, if not you have to run the sync manually from time to time.
i have never used facebook or SE sync and i seem to have up to the minute modifications both on phone and web using google sync.

murmeljenta said:
Yes... Aka:
as mentioned in 1st post
Have you found a way to keep pictures/facebook/twitter connections on this one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try logging in Facebook and Twitter and then running the restore... My Pictures from SD cards were there in contacts...... I will try today with Facebook and twitter after I reload 026 firmware.....

proatiku said:
i have to say your wrong about google sync not modifying changes from phone to google. you have to enable auto sync to allow it, if not you have to run the sync manually from time to time.
i have never used facebook or SE sync and i seem to have up to the minute modifications both on phone and web using google sync.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, you're lucky. Auto sync is enabled. However, nothing moves from the phone to gmail - only the other way.
From what I have read on various forums, gmail only accepts contacts that were originally stored on gmail and then transfered to the phone. However, even such contacts are not synced back to gmail when I edit them on the phone. Perhaps my phone is buggy? I have specified the tests I have made (http://talk.sonyericsson.com/message/6621#6621), but I'm not sure that anyone can help.
TechGuru_x10 said:
Did you try logging in Facebook and Twitter and then running the restore... My Pictures from SD cards were there in contacts...... I will try today with Facebook and twitter after I reload 026 firmware.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Facebook and twitter data are indeed stored in the .vcf file that the phone creates.
I don't want to risk losing my 500 contacts, so I haven't dared to import the whole file. I extracted one person and made a new file, but that file would not import. Please share your experiences!

Related

How should I store my contacts?

This is my first Android phone so I'm a little unsure of the following.
I've got a number of contacts that were on my sim card as well as my Google contact list, so now I've got double entries for a number of people. Is it best to just delete the Google contact ones or the sim contacts? Are there any advantages or disadvantages of one over the other? Like for example if I have no network connection does my phone still list the Google contacts?
I went for storing my contacts only on google.
As far as I know contacts are stored on the phone locally, so even if you dont have a network connection, you still have access to your contacts.
As far as duplicate entries, you can choose which contacts are shown on the phone. I would pick a method and stick with it. I've never been a big fan of storing contacts on a sim card. I prefer having them stored in the cloud.
Red Arrow said:
This is my first Android phone so I'm a little unsure of the following.
I've got a number of contacts that were on my sim card as well as my Google contact list, so now I've got double entries for a number of people. Is it best to just delete the Google contact ones or the sim contacts? Are there any advantages or disadvantages of one over the other? Like for example if I have no network connection does my phone still list the Google contacts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look for an app called MyBackup pro which basically helps you to store all kinds of stuff including contacts to the sd card or on its servers.
http://www.cyrket.com/package/com.rerware.android.MyBackupPro
I've moved over to storing them on Gmail. For some reason yesterday they all vanished (I had synced them with Outlook too) but the Gmail ones got sync'd back pretty quickly. Then it hooked up with Facebook and put contact profile pictures back in too
+1 for google.
knowing that they are all there and will come back as soon as i sign in, means i am not worried about trying every app under the sun for the first few weeks to see what works, what doesn't and what breaks the phone, knowing i can just hard reset afterwards if the worst happens and everything is back within seconds!!
+1 for gmail. You can edit the phonebook from any web browser. You can force-sync by turning off&on the gmail syncing on the Hero. You can turn off displaying the SIM card contacts in the Peoples app settings, no need to delete them in case you need to use the SIM in a dumb-phone later.
I opted for storing contacts all on gmail and went through the following process.
Sync'ed all my old contacts from previous Kaiser into outlook
Manually updated outlook contacts merging in all google email contacts aswell.
Used HTCSync to update phone with contacts - worked a charm and kept all contact pictures.
Forced a sync with google on my Hero hoping that all new contacts now on my Hero will automatically become updated/created in GMail.
Unfortunately this isn't the case and all emails were sync'ed between gmail and hero, but contacts still only appear on my device.
Have I missed a setting or is it not possible to bi-directionally sync contacts between gmail and hero ?
When you create the calendar/contact item, are you selecting to put it in the google group?
Create a new contact and in Contact type (just below the name) make sure to select Google. It usually defaults to Phone, which only syncs with the god awful HTC Sync software.
once created a contact in the wrong group, you can't change it. delete it and start again.
For those of us a bit paranoid about OUR data, Is there a built in way to sync/export/import data as in Active Sync?
I mean also accessing my data while in out-of-coverage areas, in-flight mode, etc.
Regards.
The data is always available on the phone, no matter whwere you store it.
Just cos it's stored on the google servers does not mean that you can not access it when you are out of service area...that would be stupid.
It just means that instead of you having to hook the phone up to your pc using that god awful HTC Sync software, it syncs automatically to the google servers.It is still stored on the phone locally as well.
Whatever gave you the idea that it would not be?
Looking Glass said:
For those of us a bit paranoid about OUR data, Is there a built in way to sync/export/import data as in Active Sync?
I mean also accessing my data while in out-of-coverage areas, in-flight mode, etc.
Regards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your contacts are also stored locally on your phone, so even if you don't have service, you won't lose your contacts.
rhedgehog said:
The data is always available on the phone, no matter whwere you store it.
Just cos it's stored on the google servers does not mean that you can not access it when you are out of service area...that would be stupid.
It just means that instead of you having to hook the phone up to your pc using that god awful HTC Sync software, it syncs automatically to the google servers.It is still stored on the phone locally as well.
Whatever gave you the idea that it would not be?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for explaining, but post #4 above looks scary. Since I don't have any Android phone yet, I thought they might come as the g-mail servers, if you are not online, you can not browse through your "archived" mail.
Regards.
No, they are stored locally.
also, with the mail program, that stores them locally once it has recieved the ones you choose to sync as well.
it's all good!
moved all mine to google
very easy and i love it!
rhedgehog said:
No, they are stored locally.
also, with the mail program, that stores them locally once it has recieved the ones you choose to sync as well.
it's all good!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for info. Still waiting for may Hero....... no chance to try it yet.
Regards.
Does a google contact sync to outlook from the phone?
can i DELETE ALL CONTACTS
I'm having such a hard time with contacts on my hero. Wish I would have just had Sprint transfer them over from my Touch Pro. Anyways, I want ONLY the contacts from my old phone, which have been imported into gmail. Is there a way to delete all the crap that was imported into my contacts from Windows Contacts via HTC Sync? Then I can sync only my google contacts and just live with that.
how do I delete all contacts?

manila 2.1 facebook links backup ?

Im using the new Energy rom, 06/08. I set up all the links in facebook to my contacts, but as most of you know the energy ROM gets updated often. Im a flash junkie, so I follow them.
Is there any way I can export the links, it took me about an hour to link them up and im not going to do that every week or so.
Thanks for your time.
Anthony2oo5 said:
Im using the new Energy rom, 06/08. I set up all the links in facebook to my contacts, but as most of you know the energy ROM gets updated often. Im a flash junkie, so I follow them.
Is there any way I can export the links, it took me about an hour to link them up and im not going to do that every week or so.
Thanks for your time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can use SPB backup. The only thing is everytime I restore my contacts It restores every contact twice and I have to go through and erase them. Pim backup backs up contacts but I dont know how to carry over the facebook links.
Yea I know how to backup my contacts. Infact they sync to outlook. I just dont want to have to restore the facebook links everytime.
Thanks for your reply
this would be very helpful for me also. i too am an energy rom user & would luv to know how to backup the facebook links. dscottjr81 can you verify SPBbackup does work for this?? i also wonder if Sprite Backup would work? i know PIMbackup does not carry over the facebook integration.
anyone?
maybe the facebook stuff is in the facebook.vol in your root directory? \facebook.vol
just try it
facebook.vol is for the facebook application produced by microsoft.
you use the link your contacts in the manila contacts page, right?
I have nothing else of facebook installed, and have the \FacebookInfo.vol on my phone, so I think thats one of the files for the "manila facebook" ..
but here is another solution: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=538513
Il back that file up and restore it see if it works. Il also use your link in the event it dosnt work.
Thanks very much.
I have over 75+ facebook links in my phone, so having to do them all again would of been very troublesome for me. I did however figure out how to backup all of the links and current PIM information for your phone.
Backing up and Restoring the ENTIRE PIM(Calendar, Contacts, Tasks) and the Facebookinfo Vol file is the only way to get your Links back intact.
Before you do this, you should do the following things to prepare for the restore. If you have an active sync partnership with a computer allready, in your active sync settings on the PPC for that connection, set you sync conflict mode to "Keep items on my device". This will prevent dupes from appearing in outlook on your PC as well as on your phone. If your synced with an Exchange server or google mobile, unfortunately the Exchange connector lacks this feature. You'll just have to manually De-Dupe those.. Sorry.
When all of this is done, Download and Install Total Commander (Google it). Open total commander and in the root of your device, rename the "pim.vol" and "facebookinfo.vol" files (If they exist. If not, then fill out your personal card and link atleast one facebook contact). Once these are renamed, copy your old pim.vol and facebookinfo.vol files into the root, and soft reset. You should now have all your contacts, tasks, calendar entry's, and facebook links.
Edit: I just checked my gmail account after doing this method (Which is being synced via the exchange connector) and I only found a few dupes which may of been left over. Post your experience if you do this as well.
Try using microsoft my phone, looking at the details it has synced to my account it saves the fb links as a note, ive not reflashed the phone since i got all my links connected, i only got the phone yesterday and am trying out my 1st rom since moving over from the Kaiser. Loving the diamond compared to my old trusty heavy Kaiser.
I have always used Microsoft my phone for backing up, i like the sync my location as if i ever loose of get my phone stolen at the press of a button it will tell me where it is
langers1 said:
Try using microsoft my phone, looking at the details it has synced to my account it saves the fb links as a note, ive not reflashed the phone since i got all my links connected, i only got the phone yesterday and am trying out my 1st rom since moving over from the Kaiser. Loving the diamond compared to my old trusty heavy Kaiser.
I have always used Microsoft my phone for backing up, i like the sync my location as if i ever loose of get my phone stolen at the press of a button it will tell me where it is
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My phone does not backup/restore facebook links. I'm not sure if it is even aware that manila creates them. Where did you see this in details? The sync details in my phone is very basic and doesn't say anything that detailed. When I look at the sync settings in the latest version of my phone, it doesn't even give an option to backup notes, and there is no mention of notes in the online profile either. Where did you see this?

HTC HD2 Facebook integration

Just 2 questions
1. Is there a way of sync-ing your phone contacts with facebooks so it uses the contacts face book picture etc, i can do this individualy but is there a way of doing it in one big go.
2. Can you sync your facebook calander to the HTC HD2 calander?
1. Login your facebook account in Setting/Data services. It will sync your contact with facebook avatar and birthday but the names in your contact book must be the same with your facebook friend names, if not, u have to sync one by one
2. I dont think we can
Anybody know of a better facebook app out there for the HD2?? Lets face it, the one that comes out of the box is about as much use as tits on a fish.......
There is an updated version floating around
fantasytozi said:
1. Login your facebook account in Setting/Data services. It will sync your contact with facebook avatar and birthday but the names in your contact book must be the same with your facebook friend names, if not, u have to sync one by one
2. I dont think we can
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I love this funciton on this phone
Me too, truly madly deeply love it
Login your facebook account in Setting/Data services
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had a look on my facebook page but cant find this page any more details m8?
Beatkeeper said:
I've had a look on my facebook page but cant find this page any more details m8?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Start -> Settings -> Data services
Here you can find Facebook
Does the integration remain after a new ROM flash? If the names have been changed etc the first time, should do I guess?
corny2007 said:
Does the integration remain after a new ROM flash? If the names have been changed etc the first time, should do I guess?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the integration info is saved in the 'notes' field of your contact. once you sync back AND associate your phone with fb they will all re sync.
The one reason syncing with fb is good: profile pictures. Most of my friends dont like me to sit there, and take a picture of them when they give me their number, so this helps.
samsamuel said:
the integration info is saved in the 'notes' field of your contact. once you sync back AND associate your phone with fb they will all re sync.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This works for most of my contacts, but I had to do a hard reset ant almost 1/4 didn't have nothing in Notes field - so didn't associate automatically. Is there any way to make a "full resync" or something similar so I don't have to manually associate those contacts next time?
P.S. something more simple than manually adding a Note
Does anyone have problem with this facebook sync. Everytime I try to sync, my HD2 gets verry laggy until it don't respond, and I have to pull my battery. This happens when i manually select update now, or if my phone is set to automaticaly update. Its really annoying
It's smooth for me
Maybe sth related to ur rom. Try hard-reset or flash another rom
I have done hard reset a bunch of times. HTC customer support told me to install the latest ROM, and then do a hard reset. I tryed it, but with no luck. Everything else, works like a charm. I do use ROM from HTC 1.66.409.1 (76641) NOR. Maybe I should look into some custom ROM's? Any tips for a good rom? I have been searching the forum and there is so many to choose from. Can I use anyone? Or should it be one for Norway?
Do u have HSPL on your phone? If yes, try to install a couple of cook roms. Remember to do a task 29 before flashing any rom. If u have no idea about what HSPL or Taks29 is, please do take a look in the HD2 Rom development, read threads about them, and there's also a thread for noob flashing guide. It takes time but worth it.
I can suggest u a couple of cook roms I've used but it's better that u should look into the Rom threads to see which one suit ur needs, every rom is really good and fast, stable more than stock rom. I can recommend some such as CleanEX, Energy or Touch-X
there is a program called SocialSync can be found here
SocialSync 0.1
Imports (one-way synchonization) your Facebook contacts to your Pocket Outlook.
Supports the following sync mappings:
* Facebook super-sized profile pic --> Outlook Picture
* Facebook Full Name --> Outlook's FileAs, FirstName, MiddleName, LastName
* Facebook Profile URL --> Outlook GovernmentID
* Facebook Relationship Status --> Outlook Spouse
* Facebook Birthday --> Outlook Birthday
* Adds "facebook" to Outlook Categories
* Facebook Status --> Outlook JobTitle
* Facebook Personal Website --> Outlook Website URL (only first one since Outlook only supports 1 URL)
* Facebook Email (image representation) --> Outlook Email
Supported on:
WM2003, WM5, WM6, WM6.5, WM6.5.3
QVGA (240x320) Portrait (want more formats? donate!)
.NET Compact Framework 3.5
i tried it on my HD2, it does work but it does take a long time to sync and transfer facebook details to your contacts (well maybe for me coz i linked like 100+ contacts)
but one thing good about this is that it edited the birthday field on my contacts on my device, and now can be used by manilaBirthday
also, if contact doesnt exist on your device, u can add friends from FB to ur contact list
question... if i login to the sense facebook without enabling it to download automatically every 2 hours, would facebook in sense still try to update by itself?
the reason here is i logged in to facebook in sense but did not enable automatic downloading yet surprisingly my phone started to access my internet. others experience the same?
does any1 know how to get the facebook sync back in action after turning it off. I disabled it temporarily, but I lost all the synced data as a result. After reactivating it, it no longer syncs (although for some reason it seems to acknowledge that the contacts have a facebook profile linked to them, but it is unable to download photos, updates etc)
Is there anyway to do it aside from a hard reset? Something I'd rather avoid
I'm using the stock ROM 3.14 (WWE)
Facebook for hd2 or hd2 for facebook?
No one has come across "snaptu"? Go to http://m.snaptu.com . there you download a app for your hd2, there is unsigned and verisigned which i dont understand the significance of it. But i lliked it. It is a JAVA app so you need to run JBlend and then snaptu app. i can do everything as on a computer except CHAT. Do you know anything better? please tell me. especially one that you can chat with.

Backing up contacts and facebook links?

Well first off im new to the HTC Leo forum so... hi!
Ok I just got a HTC HD2 and I was wondering, how do you back up the contacts and their facebook links? Only I'm installing a new rom each day trying to find the best one for me which means wiping the phone and its getting a little annoying that I have to keep re-linking the facebook links.
i use microsoft office outlook through active sync to back up my contacts, it also saves there facebook links so when you log in through data services in setting their details and facebook profile pic are assigned to your contacts.
quinny
ah ok, and if you don't have office?
Gaz25 said:
ah ok, and if you don't have office?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Microsoft MyPhone (available through Windows Marketplace) also stores Facebook link information when using it to back up.
This service however is an online service and would require use of your phones data connection to upload the information to Microsoft on a regular basis or WiFi/hooked up to PC to do a manual update of the data.
not to worry. Microsoft my phone does the trick just fine
EDIT: lol Elcs you must have posted at the same time as I did. Thanks anyway
Hi everybody.
I'm searching exactly the same thing. How can we backup the links between the facebook contacts and the HTC contacts.
I'm not only speaking about the pic, but the real link to the facebook account.
Microsoft My Phone is certainly doing that, but I would like to have an offline solution.
I'm using PIM backup which is able to save WinMo contacts, but it didn't include the facebook account links.
I have tried to save the folder MyDevice/Windows/FBContacts but apparently it's storing only the pics and not the links to the account.
It means that when I restoring this folder, the FB account links are not restored.
Anyone has an idea?
Thanks in advance
I believe iMobileTools Contacts backup saves the links for facebook & HTC contacts that HTC add to contact via tagged code in contact notes.
Try it: http://www.imobiletool.com/download/imobiletool-contacts-backup.zip
Only contct backup progam I found that backs up contact photos & ringtones & restores them correctly plus supports unicode correctly.
You may also find SPB backup handy for saving & restoring contacts, mail accounts ect.

Sync + Duplicate Contacts?

Hi All!
for some reason, I am having issues with Sync.
I completed the entire "ROOTing" procedure on my X10a.
I have about 90+ contacts, some of the contacts have more than 1 contact # listed (e.g. home / mobile / office)
Basically, I had re-create all 90+ from scratch due to unfortunate circumstances with the ROOTing procedure. Which i was not happy about
Anyways, first, I created the entire contacts, followed by phonebook ==> contacts backup ==> to SIM :
it displays, some contacts couldn't be back'up'd (I am presuming to long names & having more than one contact #s per person
(2) I tried phone-book ==> back to SD ===> worked perfectly! (Yet, on the SD card, I don't know where it is stored...if someone can tell me what file directory is located under, that would be helpful
(3) Sony Ericsson Sync - it worked, the icon had the sent/receive logo spinng arrow, after the sync is completed, now my phone book has double copies of the contacts....WTF?! ... I had to go manually and delete them ... WHY DID THIS HAPPEN?
(4) Google Sync - apprently, I have 206 contacts items deleted for my [email protected] account, it reached Maximum Delete Limit, asking me either (a) Undo (b) Delete (c) Do nothing.... again WTF? is this? ... I don't have 206 contacts ... or I deleted any of them...
What do i do?
1) yup most likely double numbers or other additional info
2) I think the contacts are found in your sd card under system/pim.
3) never used it!
4) ermmm you could perhaps try open your phonebook.. import contacts n locate that file n c if its the right file.
then I guess u can delete all ya contacts, I think 206 prob includes all ya duplicates, so delete them all.
Start fresh.. import em then sync across
upto you if ya wanna try my method.. someone might have a different way!!
anyway hope it helps!!
Sent from my X10i using XDA App
Okay, thanks for the reply.
Further to add, what happens now if I had a image to each of the contacts?
Will contact back-up program internally make a back-up of the images too?
Or should I just use SE or Google Sync?
Aside from X10a directly:
is there anyway I can access the Sync'D A/C thru my computer, by logging on to gmail or SE's website?
Perhaps I can modify the Sync'D data / contacts and stop this duplication from happening!
Everytime it SYNC's with SE, it starts the creation of the duplicate profiles, Google Sync is still giving me the 206+ contacts deleted maximum error message.
how do I start fresh?
how do i clear all my Sync'D data from SE or Google? without deleting all my contacts on the phone?
One final question, how do I delete SIM-Card Contacts, is there an APP for it?
Im not sure about images as I don't used them but I doubt they'll be saved when you backup contacts. I think se sync does it but I'm sure I've heard people say they don't get the full quality image back..?
Cant really help ya with se sync but for google, if you go into your googlemail account using your username/password you should be able to view your contact list section and edit from there. But its sync'd so whatever you changed there wil take place on your phone and vice versa.
maybe you can switch of sync mode on your phone and delete all your contacts manually from your google account and then turn sync back on ya phone?
As I was saying earlier, you can accept the deletion request (after you have backed up your contacts).. maybe restart ya phone n c wat happens? surely there must be someone out there who knows the proper procedure? would make it alot easier!!
hope any of the info helps!!
Sent from my X10i using XDA App
Sony Ericsson Sync app doesn't work on my X10
Does anybody else have this problem?

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