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Flashing ROM leads to contact issues

I have been going through some ROMs recently and have found that no matter what ROM I try my contacts always do not sync fully/at all. I've been backing up using gmail and backup assistant but neither of these methods have worked for me. Also I can never access my backup assistant after I flash. Any help would be greatly appriciated.
Sent from my DROID2 using XDA App

If you are having problems getting all your contacts imported over make sure they are all stored in your gmail account's dashboard. If not then you will have to send your contacts to your sdcard to a .vcf(I think) and import them to gmail that way you know they are stored there. Then you just have to make sure you tap the sync contacts button in Accounts> Your gmail account, about ten times until it says it synced with a time stamp close to the time you tapped it to sync.

MattHorner said:
I have been going through some ROMs recently and have found that no matter what ROM I try my contacts always do not sync fully/at all. I've been backing up using gmail and backup assistant but neither of these methods have worked for me. Also I can never access my backup assistant after I flash. Any help would be greatly appriciated.
Sent from my DROID2 using XDA App
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I had a problem similar to that. Let me see if I can remember what I did...
I think what I did was go to Verizon's website and went to the Backup Assistant on their page. I think after that, I exported all my contacts into a .csv file or something. From there, I went to my Google Mail account and then imported all my contacts from .csv file into my google account. I don't think that was it exactly, but something like that.
-Kevin

Awesome thank you so much guys hopefully I get my contacts working today once I can flash one of the ROMs I got from a couple days ago =)
Sent from my DROID2 using XDA App

[Q] importing contacts after rom flash crashes

ok since owning the Mez i have noticed one thing/problem that has plagued me that never goes away.
after flashing a new rom, or flashing any ROM, when i go to import my contacts from my sd card that i exported to the sd card (prior to flashing) causes the contacts app to crash.
it does import a few contacts but only a few.
so out of the 127 i have backed up it may only import 20 but the progress bar says it crashes on like the 3rd contact.
it never gives me a force close error, it just flat out crashes.
i have cleared all that can be cleared and tried again and again but it wont work.
any thoughts, suggestions?
is there a place on my phone where i can just paste the .vcf file and the phone will read it and use it and everything just shows up in my contacts list?
p.s.
even deleting contacts, just 1 of them, causes the contacts app to crash

v_lestat said:
ok since owning the Mez i have noticed one thing/problem that has plagued me that never goes away.
after flashing a new rom, or flashing any ROM, when i go to import my contacts from my sd card that i exported to the sd card (prior to flashing) causes the contacts app to crash.
it does import a few contacts but only a few.
so out of the 127 i have backed up it may only import 20 but the progress bar says it crashes on like the 3rd contact.
it never gives me a force close error, it just flat out crashes.
i have cleared all that can be cleared and tried again and again but it wont work.
any thoughts, suggestions?
is there a place on my phone where i can just paste the .vcf file and the phone will read it and use it and everything just shows up in my contacts list?
p.s.
even deleting contacts, just 1 of them, causes the contacts app to crash
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Click to collapse
I've not had a problem importing contacts from sd but awhile back I imported them to my google account so once I sign in - I've got them, no need to bother with an import.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA Premium App

Importing to google instead of the phone does the same thing.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

Try seeing if you can import the vcf into your Google account online (like from a computer).

Ok i just got an FC on android.process.acore when trying to enable sync google conacts.
So now google, phone and now facebook contact sync is totally broken.
I am using the stock ec10 combo rom.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

add144 said:
Try seeing if you can import the vcf into your Google account online (like from a computer).
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Good idea i will try that
Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

v_lestat said:
Ok i just got an FC on android.process.acore when trying to enable sync google conacts.
So now google, phone and now facebook contact sync is totally broken.
I am using the stock ec10 combo rom.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk
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Did you restore apps using TB from another build? You shouldn't have any FC's on any ROM's in here - they've all been tested - especially the stock builds. FC issues come from permission problems and restoring data from another build, typically.

Although this might not help you now here's the best way I found after reading many posts to keep a good list of your contacts. You'll want them in your google account *not* your phone contacts. The problem when people switch from whatever non-google phone to an Android is the carrier will import the contacts into your phone contacts. So here's the best way to get them into your google contacts.
1. Export your phone contacts to your SD card
2. Move the file to a computer with internet access to http://contacts.google.com
3. Wipe the contacts on your phone (apps in market to do this, don't recall names atm)
4. Import the csv file into your contacts account on google
5. Merge duplicates and sync them to your phone
6. Export your google contacts to your computer (or google docs) so you have a nice backup just in case!
Takes a little leg work but it'll always be worth it!
Like I said, you may know that already or have another reason for keeping them as phone contacts but you can always export your google contacts and import them into a new phone if you decide to move off Android at some point!
Another tip for your google contacts. Every email you get in gmail automatically adds the sender to your contacts. If you search in contacts.google.com for just a single space it will list all your contacts and at the bottom it will have "other contacts" which are all the ones they've automatically added. Occasionally you may want to merge these or delete them to keep your contacts from getting cluttered.

That's exactly what I said. <.<

VZW backup assist apk????

I download the theor3ginger Rom . Need to get VZW backup assist so I can download my contacts....
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App

If you have a google account set up, all you have to do is turn on backup my data and then once you are installed with a new ROM, it will restore. Also if you already have backup assist, you can sign in online and transfer to your google account, but I believe you can download it from the market.

Would like to install VZW backup assist to download contacts and back them up to Google
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App

I'm confused...
If your contacts are already backed up using back up assistant then just go to Verizon website and export them into a .csv
Then just import into your gmail account.

Doesn't Google already backup your contacts if you are already using a Google smart phone? I could never figure out why I had VZW Backup Assnt. on here. Glad I finally rooted and got rid of alot of junk.

Idk about you guys but the way android is set up is that you can choose where to save your contacts. Some will sync to google, some will sync to active sync, etc. However, they don't sync with one another. It really sucks because all your contacts are potentially scattered across all these servers (it can also be stored on phone only with VZW Backup). I think this is where the OP has problems with.
****************************************************************
What I did was exporting ALL of my contacts to a file. Go to google.com/contacts. Import, remove duplicates, and there you go, your life belongs to the googlian overlord.

VolDroid said:
Doesn't Google already backup your contacts if you are already using a Google smart phone? I could never figure out why I had VZW Backup Assnt. on here. Glad I finally rooted and got rid of alot of junk.
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Click to collapse
google only backs up if the contact is set up as a "google contact" when created. When you click to create a new contact, the default is to save to the phone only, you have to change the drop-down to google every time. If you do that, it will save it to gmail contacts.

I've looked everywhere for it.
I had to backup the app and then send the backup to the phone I needed it for.
It's a nice way of sharing some paid apps with friends.
*hinthint* Haha.

Best way to backup contacts?

First, I did use the search feature, but couldn't find anything specific to the Inspire. If this already exists, please feel free to link to it/close this thread. Thanks!
So, I can't seem to effectively back up my contacts. Titanium Backup doesn't do it, and I thought they were synced via Google. Not to mention I've had the same SIM card for YEARS and all my contacts have always been on there. Now, since I rooted my phone and started flashing custom ROMS, they have disappeared. Now I am without my 400+ contacts database, which I need.. So my question is, what is the best way to back up contacts, and is there any way to recover the ones I had?
Thanks in advance!

As long as you didn't choose not to sync with Google before you flashed, they are backed up. Most likely the problem you are having is getting them to import. Try going to Settings>Accounts and Sync> and manually sync your Google account.

stonewallmike said:
As long as you didn't choose not to sync with Google before you flashed, they are backed up. Most likely the problem you are having is getting them to import. Try going to Settings>Accounts and Sync> and manually sync your Google account.
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I rip my employer a little I guess and store ALL my contacts to MS Exchange for several years now with nary a hiccup...that said since I've been on Android, Google does a fine job too. ... I think my free Sugar Sync account probably has them too...with this phone I have given up storing any contacts at all on the SIM card...because I have gone through what you are when simply switching phones or have phones stolen/lost in the past...but yeah make sure at least Google is backing them up...

It all depends on where you have chosen to save your contacts. If to phone then they may be lost forever. If to sim then simply import them back to your phone. If to Google account then as said above just re-sync.
When thinking about flashing rom's the first thing that you should do is make sure all contacts are backed up. Best choice is with Google. That way everytime you wipe data you can boot up your phone sync with Google and BOOM! They are there. Works a treat. Cheers.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

Thanks guys. I've had them backed up to Google before, and even restored them before, but it doesn't seem to be working. I just flashed the VU ROM after having been using the RCMix3D ROM for my Inspire, so I'll post the question on their page and see if it's a known issue with the ROM or anything.

Good luck.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

elijahpr said:
Thanks guys. I've had them backed up to Google before, and even restored them before, but it doesn't seem to be working. I just flashed the VU ROM after having been using the RCMix3D ROM for my Inspire, so I'll post the question on their page and see if it's a known issue with the ROM or anything.
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I have been on a captivate and now the inspire. Flashed upteen different roms and never had an issue with google restoring my contacts. Everytime I put the gmail addy in it pulls it all over.
Doesn't the htc sync account do that as well? Try doing that. If all else fails and you have them in say outlook or still on google then you can export them as a comma separated value (CSV) file and then put that on your sd card then import them via the people app. You can then save to sim via the people app.
I am on VU now and it restored flawlessly from gmail.
This is one app on the market that you can look at.
https://market.android.com/details?id=no.uia.android.backupcontacts&feature=search_result

I would recommend using my backup pro from the android market

[Q] Missing Contacts After Changing to CM

Did some searching about this beforehand but couldn't come up with a solid answer. Really hoping someone can help me out.
I very recently changed my friend's MT4GS from the latest stock ROM to CM 10.1. The ROM works fine for the most part. The issue is that she seems to be missing the vast majority of her contacts which is extremely upsetting to her as I'm sure you can understand. The few that were retained were the only ones she had synced to her Google account. The really odd thing is that she has had this phone replaced on four different occasions (same model) and her contacts would always sync effortlessly going from one to the next (all of them being on the stock ROM until now).
I've tried enabling sync in the People app through Gmail, Facebook, and even adding her Hotmail account to the AOSP email app and syncing that as well. The latter did add plenty of contacts but not the ones she was used to seeing, just email contacts exclusive to that account, no phone numbers as such.
So basically there are a few questions that arise from all of this:
1: Is there a simple way to get the contacts back while still on AOSP?
2: If we were to revert back to the stock ROM would the contacts come back as they have in the past?
3: Why would the contacts sync on the stock ROM but not AOSP?
Any and all help is greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.

She was probably syncing contacts with T-Mobile and not Google, go back to at least a stock based ROM, sync contacts, then transfer them to gmail, then you can flash any ROM you want as they will be tied to gmail
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

demkantor said:
She was probably syncing contacts with T-Mobile and not Google, go back to at least a stock based ROM, sync contacts, then transfer them to gmail, then you can flash any ROM you want as they will be tied to gmail
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
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Thanks for the info and the tip. I'll give a shot and report back.

Its the most annoying thing for me with AOSP ROMs
The contacts she has "lost" are on her SIM card only right? Yet for some reason all AOSP and CM and AOKP
ROMs can't read those contacts...just the ones on the Google account
So best way is, return to stock as said above...i am sure all contacts are now available again, then sync them all to Google by just copying to Google account and flash back to your AOSP ROM and you are done
Was shocked the first time I rooted my desire z and missing some contacts too...but with time I got it why they where missing xD (still don't know why AOSP can't read SIM card contacts though)
Greets Vauvenal7
Sent from my SGS i9000

If you login to my-tmobile (assuming she was backing up to t-mo) go to mobile life-> contacts, then you can do an export of all the contacts that are there to something like VCF and then import to the phone. If they're out there, they're certainly not lost!

Success! Thanks everyone for the information and advice. You were all very helpful.
What I ended up doing was reverting back to a stock ROM, had T-Mobile automatically restore the contacts and exported them. Then simply imported them once back on AOSP. No biggy. :]
Thanks again! You can consider this thread solved!