[Q] WP7 Contacts - Windows Phone 7 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I finally got a Windows Phone 7.
However my first gripe was the fact that when you use your live ID, it automatically decides to import all your contacts from MSN etc which is kind of stupid. So I ended up fixing that by creating a new account just for my phone.
Microsoft really need to add an option there, Do not sync live contacts!
As I handle all this through my Exchange service. Only use my live account for MSN.
Anyway so I decided to link my facebook account to my phone. That went great right up until I saw it importing all my facebook contacts! So I finally found the setting to only sync with contacts in phone, so now it's linked my phone contacts to my facebook by only whats on my phone.
However this is where I have an issue. I go to type a text message or email and look for a contact and it's showing ALL my contacts from facebook, yet they don't show in the People Hub. I specifically have the setting "Only add facebook information to existing contacts" checked.
My next issue is the fact Birthdays from Exchange to the Phone are not syncing up correctly.
Some will sync up correctly and others will be out.
The information is there on the Exchange and correct, and same in my Outlook. But WP7 sometimes decides that a contacts birthday will be out by a day. So far one day ahead.
E.G
Contact 1 Birthday 16th July on exchange, shows up as 17th July
They are also not appearing in the calendar
I have checked and regional settings on phone and exchange are correct. It can't be the exchange as it was syncing fine with WM 6.1.
Help!!!!

actually the birthday issue has been there since wm6.5 for me and still a mystery to me hehe.

danbriant said:
I finally got a Windows Phone 7.
However my first gripe was the fact that when you use your live ID, it automatically decides to import all your contacts from MSN etc which is kind of stupid. So I ended up fixing that by creating a new account just for my phone.
Microsoft really need to add an option there, Do not sync live contacts!
As I handle all this through my Exchange service. Only use my live account for MSN.
Anyway so I decided to link my facebook account to my phone. That went great right up until I saw it importing all my facebook contacts! So I finally found the setting to only sync with contacts in phone, so now it's linked my phone contacts to my facebook by only whats on my phone.
However this is where I have an issue. I go to type a text message or email and look for a contact and it's showing ALL my contacts from facebook, yet they don't show in the People Hub. I specifically have the setting "Only add facebook information to existing contacts" checked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It automatically decides to import it because that was the way the phone was designed. To stay in sync with your Windows Live Hotmail, Contacts, Calendar, Xbox, Zune, etc. Certain things can be disabled for the most part, but the phone was designed to take these things from the cloud and put em on your phone. The phone was built for those who primarily use Windows Live and it's services. Just like how Android phones are built for those who use Google services.
As for your Facebook contacts, they will continue to display in your messaging/mail auto-complete regardless of the setting you choose in the People hub. That setting simply hides them from view in the People hub, it does not remove them from your phone. You can still do a People search and find Facebook contacts (and other services if you have them sync'd), and when you compose a new sms/email, you can still use auto-complete to find a Facebook contact. Just because you don't have them as a specific contact in your address book does not mean you will not contact them ever, and so the phone surfaces that information in the case you ever need to. You simply have to ignore the other contacts, and continue on your normal contacts.

prjkthack said:
It automatically decides to import it because that was the way the phone was designed. To stay in sync with your Windows Live Hotmail, Contacts, Calendar, Xbox, Zune, etc. Certain things can be disabled for the most part, but the phone was designed to take these things from the cloud and put em on your phone. The phone was built for those who primarily use Windows Live and it's services. Just like how Android phones are built for those who use Google services.
As for your Facebook contacts, they will continue to display in your messaging/mail auto-complete regardless of the setting you choose in the People hub. That setting simply hides them from view in the People hub, it does not remove them from your phone. You can still do a People search and find Facebook contacts (and other services if you have them sync'd), and when you compose a new sms/email, you can still use auto-complete to find a Facebook contact. Just because you don't have them as a specific contact in your address book does not mean you will not contact them ever, and so the phone surfaces that information in the case you ever need to. You simply have to ignore the other contacts, and continue on your normal contacts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is really stupid. I choose to not show them for a reason as I don't want hundreds of contacts in my contacts list for messages and emails.
Does Mango solve this issue?
Also I'm guessing there's no way to choose what info gets imported for each contact, as some contacts on facebook input invalid phone numbers etc and well they are now clogging up my phone with useless info.
Kind of stupid to not have options to control what can and cant be linked and displayed!

prjkthack said:
It automatically decides to import it because that was the way the phone was designed. To stay in sync with your Windows Live Hotmail, Contacts, Calendar, Xbox, Zune, etc. Certain things can be disabled for the most part, but the phone was designed to take these things from the cloud and put em on your phone. The phone was built for those who primarily use Windows Live and it's services. Just like how Android phones are built for those who use Google services.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android does at least give you the option to disable syncing contacts with google though.

danbriant said:
That is really stupid. I choose to not show them for a reason as I don't want hundreds of contacts in my contacts list for messages and emails.
Does Mango solve this issue?
Also I'm guessing there's no way to choose what info gets imported for each contact, as some contacts on facebook input invalid phone numbers etc and well they are now clogging up my phone with useless info.
Kind of stupid to not have options to control what can and cant be linked and displayed!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Guess that all depends on how you look at it. I filter my People list to ones only in my Hotmail contacts, sync Facebook info with those only in my People list, and enjoy it when the messaging app allows me the flexibility to still contact those who have contact information but are not displayed in my People list. Again Windows Phone 7 is a socially connected phone designed to help keep you in contact with your Windows Live and Facebook contacts in addition to your regular phone book contacts (and just wait till Twitter and LinkedIn are finally available). So if you don't like that, then the phone is probably not for you.
Mango does not solve the "issue" since its by design, and therefore not an issue at all. I don't expect to it change anytime soon either since Facebook Chat is also integrated and the phone won't simply just exclude the people in Facebook Chat who don't exist on your phone, as that destroys the convenience of chat.
Just gonna be something you need to deal with I suppose, until the feature to further filter your contacts can be added.

Related

[Q] Annoying things (alternatives/help?)

Recently purchased the Samsung Omnia 7, while I know this is still is a up and coming OS I was hoping someone could help me to make do of it for the time being…
My main issue; is the People hubs, it seems to add all my email accounts and inorder for me to get to a certain phone number I have to go through endless email address.
Is there anyway I can change settings so the People hub just displays phonebook contacts and not email address?
If no is there any applications as a simple phone book?
Other small issue, the screensaver can I disable the time and date? So it just displays the wall paper?
Many thanks in advance
1. nope. it will pull all your contacts for every account you add. i know what you mean as well in terms of that. the reason that there aren't any apps either is because there is no PIM API to access your contacts. so without this, there isn't yet an alternative to that. you can however quick jump the list by tapping on the accent colour square seperating each list group (looks like a [#] or [a] or ). and then quick jump to where you want. or you can hit the search button whilst on people hub to do a quick search.
2. again nope. this is how it is for all windows phones at present and i don't think it's going to change (add customisations) any time soon, unless we truly get a full jailbreak (dev unlocking is only thing rocking at the moment).
you can't disable contacts syncing from the primary live account. but you can for secondary ones. What i did was basically create a seperate wp7 live account and uploaded only the contacts that I wanted. Entered it as the primary account, which syncs all the contacts. I then disable email for the primary account.
Enter my proper hotmail account. Disable the contacts, calendar sync and enable only the emails. Rename it from Hotmail 2 to Hotmail.
That should get the job done.
digger1985 said:
you can't disable contacts syncing from the primary live account. but you can for secondary ones. What i did was basically create a seperate wp7 live account and uploaded only the contacts that I wanted. Entered it as the primary account, which syncs all the contacts. I then disable email for the primary account.
Enter my proper hotmail account. Disable the contacts, calendar sync and enable only the emails. Rename it from Hotmail 2 to Hotmail.
That should get the job done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome reply!! Made so much difference.. the only bloody bad thing about this was inorder to make a hotmail account primary and secondary i had to reset the ruddy phone lol

[Q] How does google contact synching work?

I currently use Gmail as my main email account but obviously needed a windows live account which I set up using my gmail address.
I havent really bothered sorting my contacts out before but not I have a decent phone I'm doing it so I deleted them all from Gmail and added them all to Windows live and synced to my phone no problem.
I realise I can export my windows live contacts to a CSV file and upload to Gmail which is fine.
What I really want is for all my stuff to be in Gmail on an ongoing basis.
If I therefore set google contacts to sync to my phone will they only update one way i.e. if I add someone on my phone that will sync to windows live and not gmail? If so that will be very irritating as I will need to remember to go into gmail and add all the info and duplication is what I want to avoid.
I guess this is also the same with google calendars?
Pravind said:
I currently use Gmail as my main email account but obviously needed a windows live account which I set up using my gmail address.
I havent really bothered sorting my contacts out before but not I have a decent phone I'm doing it so I deleted them all from Gmail and added them all to Windows live and synced to my phone no problem.
I realise I can export my windows live contacts to a CSV file and upload to Gmail which is fine.
What I really want is for all my stuff to be in Gmail on an ongoing basis.
If I therefore set google contacts to sync to my phone will they only update one way i.e. if I add someone on my phone that will sync to windows live and not gmail? If so that will be very irritating as I will need to remember to go into gmail and add all the info and duplication is what I want to avoid.
I guess this is also the same with google calendars?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, if it didn't sync both ways, it wouldn't be 'syncing' at all then now would it? XD
Syncing stuff with a Google account works the same way as it does with a Windows Live account. Any changes you make to the account will be sync'd both ways. I use Windows Live for my contacts, and Google Calendar for my calendar and it works fine.
Just, in regards to Google Contacts, you gotta watch out for those custom fields in a contact, as they don't seem to sync properly with the phone.
Ok thanks, well if I make them both match from the start (windows live and google contacts) and set the contacts to sync with google then in theory everything should match up and be the same in all 3 places regardless of if I add a new person on windows live, google contacts or the phone.
That what you mean yeah?
What are these custom fields you speak off? I've not spotted anything in there.
Sorry I'm not very clued up on all this technology business, I presume you mean fields in google contacts that arent within windows phone 7 or windows live meaning info will be missed when synced.
Are all the fields in windows live replicated in google contacts? (I know this is a lazy question)
Pravind said:
Ok thanks, well if I make them both match from the start (windows live and google contacts) and set the contacts to sync with google then in theory everything should match up and be the same in all 3 places regardless of if I add a new person on windows live, google contacts or the phone.
That what you mean yeah?
What are these custom fields you speak off? I've not spotted anything in there.
Sorry I'm not very clued up on all this technology business, I presume you mean fields in google contacts that arent within windows phone 7 or windows live meaning info will be missed when synced.
Are all the fields in windows live replicated in google contacts? (I know this is a lazy question)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The custom fields are fields you can define in Google contacts. For example, you can add a ton of numbers for your contacts and rename the label to whatever you want, Windows Phone only recognizes the first couple of numbers with common labels (work, home, mobile), and after that won't sync the rest. Stuff like that.
Also, while you can link an existing contact to more than one contact syncing service (for example, to both Gmail and Windows Live) on your phone, when you create a new contact on the phone, it only makes that contact in one of your services (so either Gmail or Windows Live, your choice). Because it only syncs to one service, you'll eventually have to remake the same contact on the other account in order to keep all 3 in sync if that's your plan.
Windows Live and Google Contacts share the same basic fields, its just that Google allows you to make custom fields as well and Windows Live does not.
Thank you.
From what I've seen it will always sync back to windows live if you create one on your phone as there is no way to change what you sync to windows live which means I'm always going to have to manually add things back to google which is a real pain.
It looks like the only way round this is to make them match from the start and then periodically export them and upload to google which I guess doesnt take too long but still annoying.
They should really fix that and look at upgrading windows live as its so slow and clunky to use, takes ages to browse around it when adding contacts and editing them etc

Contacts wont sync!

I need some help here...............
I am running stock mango. Phone wont sync all my contacts with any 1 client. Some are on Google, some on Facebook, and some yet on Live/Hotmail.
How do I push all of my contacts to one place for off phone storage?
Is there anyway to get all of my contacts to sync somewhere away from the phone in the event I lose my phone or all data is lost?
There must be something somewhere????
Btw, syncing contacts to Windows Live is a nightmare.
Now since you mentioned Google, I suggest you sync/backup your contacts there.
Settings, (system tab) e-mail+accounts, Google, check the box for Contacts
If you have others, uncheck Contacts in all other accounts.
Now go to Settings (applications tab) people, filter my contact list and choose whatever you like but make sure you uncheck "Windows Live".
Sync, and all your contacts should be backed in Gmail (check Contacts there from a PC).
Alternatively, if you can save your contact list as a .CSV file and import directly in Gmail (in your desktop's browser).
Thanks for the help!!
The only account that I have a checkbox for contacts in is Google, even windows live doesnt have a checkbox.
I went into setting>application>people>filter and unchecked windows live from sync and tried again, still wont load.
I have some of my contacts stored in Google, but not ALL of them!
How do I create a .csv file on my phone and export into google?
It's normal to see the checkbox only in Gmail.
Make sure on PC you check properly your Gmail account in Contacts, you should see "My Contacts" and "Imported MM/DD/YY" if you import them via CSV. Also, You might want to make sure the contacts from your SIM are on the phone (might be why you're missing some contacts).
Alternatively, you can edit your contacts yourself in Gmail.
This guide might prove very useful to you for transferring, importing, exporting contacts.
Still no dice. Cant find how to access my contacts via SIM since doing the Mango update.
This is getting frustrating. No one is having the same problem with the Arrive?
Import or Export ?
I am sorry but I am bit lost in the conversation.
What is that you want to do ?
Import Contacts in the Phone or Export Contacts from the Phone to somewhere else ?
I want my contacts exported somewhere, that way if my phone crashes or is lost I have all of my contacts stored offline somewhere safe.
WP7 says this is done automatically through Windows Live and Google......its not happening on my phone, only SOME contacts are stored in each
EnderPsp said:
Btw, syncing contacts to Windows Live is a nightmare.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've historically had the opposite experience. I think Gmail contacts & calendars are both pretty inconsistent, and my Live account has been 100x better to sync with. I even had issues on Android with Gmail contacts/calendar.
Still cant sync contacts or calendar with Gmail........any suggestions? I cant be the only one with this issue, can I?
Is there an App for Google yet on Mango?
I posted this elsewhere on the forums a moment ago and it relates to getting google contacts to sync with my Nokia Lumia 800.
I set it all up nicely and then found that none of my google phone numbers were synced. I had a similar experience with my old android phone (well the opposite problem actually)
I fixed this by highlighting all my contacts in google on a PC and making sure they were all in the "my contacts" group as that seems to be the only group that the phone will sync. Once done, all of my contacts were there.
Don't sync the google calendar so cant comment
enjoy!

Separating windows live and phone contacts

This previous thread suggests that it's not possible, but I was hoping things might have changed with Mango. I really do not want my MSN contacts to appear in the same list as my phone contacts. It makes it incredibly hard to find someone quickly and is a glaring flaw in my opinion. Is my only option resetting my phone and linking a brand new windows live id?
People hub -> App bar -> Settings -> Filter my contact list.
You can now select which contacts show up in the list, by which account they're on.
Note however, that there is no such thing as a "phone contact" on WP7. All contacts "on the phone" are connected to a Windows Live, Exchange (including Gmail), or social network account (Facebook, LInkedIn, etc.) When you add a contact, you can select where to store them, but the default is the primary Live ID. If that's the same one you use for MSN, then filtering out the MSN account may hide some contacts you actually want to see.
Alternatively, it must be asked: why use the People hub anyhow? Voice dialing is often faster, in my experience, than scrolling through the contact list - and if that doesn't work, there's a nice search feature on it.

[Q] How to STOP wp7 mango synching contacts and calendar

I can see advantages and also disadvantages of synching my phone to the windows live cloud, but would definitely like my Live environment cleaned up and tidy instead of synched with all the mess i like to make in my phone contacts and phone calendar
Anyway, if in the calendar i decide to hide my Live id from the calendar, it doesn't allow me to make new 'phone-only' appointments. Every note i write immediately synchs with Live and even turns the Live id on for calendar when i write a new one. From a synchronization point of view that is wonderful, everything always in sync. I notice a lot of people who benefit of being online everyday and everywhere. But,
I would like to keep my phone calendar as phone-only. Is there a way to do so, and how?
please point me in the right directon if this is not the most appropriate place for this question
1) I really doubt on the Offline Calendar.
2) For the first live id you use on WP, becomes primary for everything including calendar. And the calendar does not have uncheck option to stop it from syncing.
3) Hiding only hides it from calendar doesn't let it stop syncing. If you want to stop syncing you need to go to Settings > Email and then choose individually for every account
Yes that was my conclusion as well. Strange how suddenly everything is online. I loved Nokia for its mobile phone solutions but since wp7 is their new OS I think Microsoft has taken over. I just hate default settings that you cannot change, and miss the manual sync with pc suite and so on. And even though the data is stored in the cloud, one can't send much over Bluetooth. Modern age, but features existing since the stone age are missing.
The Only solution which I see is Resetting the phone and do not use any Live Id with it. Instead use all other Gmail Account. Then you might get an option, I am guessing here though. I will confirm this when I next reset my phone once I back it up
Thanks in advance, let me know how that works. If you'd use your Gmail account, I guess that would lock you out on marketplace, correct?
Settings --> accounts --> Select account --> uncheck what you dont want synced

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