Monday, October 06, 2014
Gmail Contacts - un labeled contacts Issue resolved
recently i have been trying to pare my contacts in Gmail down to a manageable limit, over 10 years of use had resulted in a lot of unused contacts that were clogging the performance of contacts and dialer on my android phone..
This issue was getting aggravated as i use 3 accounts on Android, a personal, professional and a shared account with my wife..
One of the backup phones that i Use on and off, a HTC 1V [ this by itself needs a separate slam review!! how HTC has screwed its prospects by making trishanku phones is a post in itself! ] has issues with excess contacts, crashing the messaging and dialer apps.. causing untold grief to my on a daily basis
For this i started paring down my contacts database, and after some cleanup i found a serious hidden problem in GMail/contacts, while the web list showed totally 200+ contacts [ i ensure that all contacts are labeled "my contacts" so that that becomes a indubitable basis for contact accounting.. ] my android phone showed that i had 350+ contacts in my personal account [ gopu44]
Did Some research as to where these hidden contacts are , a google search and a export of all contacts to csv/XLS revealed the problem ..which was that in gmail / contacts unlabeled contacts do not have a easy way for access.. so what does one do?
The Resolution!
for all users who are trying to map all their contacts on gmail/web, this is a good working solution..
do a "*" search and it throws up all contacts classified across "my contacts" , "Circles" and "Other contacts" here, the user, that is me, then could select all the "other contacts" and label them "My contacts"
This is a seemingly easy solution that is not very evident to most users! and i suggest that if you are cleaning up contacts do the above step first .. if you have a better solution do post.. happy to know what else works in managing contacts.
It would also help gmail to resolve this issue such that un-labeled contacts can be easily accessed by users.. I am sure google is hearing, a while back i had made a suggestion or youtube that they should start donations for interesting video posts, such that people who enjoy these video can make cents / micro payments to the author / artist there by creating a sustainable revenue for these exceptional people.. later a few months later i saw this implemmented and announced in youtube, surely it was not my suggestion but collective voices + market forcces that made google adap and change.. hopefully google also makes some changes to the gmail/contacts section that has stagnated for a long while now..
This issue was getting aggravated as i use 3 accounts on Android, a personal, professional and a shared account with my wife..
One of the backup phones that i Use on and off, a HTC 1V [ this by itself needs a separate slam review!! how HTC has screwed its prospects by making trishanku phones is a post in itself! ] has issues with excess contacts, crashing the messaging and dialer apps.. causing untold grief to my on a daily basis
For this i started paring down my contacts database, and after some cleanup i found a serious hidden problem in GMail/contacts, while the web list showed totally 200+ contacts [ i ensure that all contacts are labeled "my contacts" so that that becomes a indubitable basis for contact accounting.. ] my android phone showed that i had 350+ contacts in my personal account [ gopu44]
Did Some research as to where these hidden contacts are , a google search and a export of all contacts to csv/XLS revealed the problem ..which was that in gmail / contacts unlabeled contacts do not have a easy way for access.. so what does one do?
The Resolution!
for all users who are trying to map all their contacts on gmail/web, this is a good working solution..
do a "*" search and it throws up all contacts classified across "my contacts" , "Circles" and "Other contacts" here, the user, that is me, then could select all the "other contacts" and label them "My contacts"
This is a seemingly easy solution that is not very evident to most users! and i suggest that if you are cleaning up contacts do the above step first .. if you have a better solution do post.. happy to know what else works in managing contacts.
It would also help gmail to resolve this issue such that un-labeled contacts can be easily accessed by users.. I am sure google is hearing, a while back i had made a suggestion or youtube that they should start donations for interesting video posts, such that people who enjoy these video can make cents / micro payments to the author / artist there by creating a sustainable revenue for these exceptional people.. later a few months later i saw this implemmented and announced in youtube, surely it was not my suggestion but collective voices + market forcces that made google adap and change.. hopefully google also makes some changes to the gmail/contacts section that has stagnated for a long while now..
