Sync one group of contacts ONLY with android

cormie

Hi,
I was trying to find this out in a multi question thread but I think it would probably be best to dedicate a thread to it alone.

I recently purchased a HTC Desire Android phone and I'm looking for a way to keep a simple, basic contact list updated and synched with my Gmail account.

The problem with the default way on my phone is that it will sync every contact on my Gmail. This is a problem as I only want to have contacts from my phone book synched to one gmail group and vice versa. There is an option to "disply only contacts with numbers" but I still don't like the idea of having every contact on the phone. There is also the problem of the extra empty groups I won't be using, can these be gotten rid of?

I basically just want one list and it to be my default list with all contacts and not have to go through an array of menus to get to that one list on the phone. I don't want that list to be populated by contacts who I may have only emailed once and will never email again. I don't want any gimmicks in between, no gtalk contacts, no default gmail contacts and I want to be able to then export this group to a CSV file to use with spreadsheets etc.

It seems I'm trying to make it simpler than it is and it's not possible.

On a similar note, I would like to be able to share this group with somebody else with a Gmail account so they have access to this group of contacts via their own phone. As far as I understand from researching, this function is not yet available but there is a 3rd party solution from floreysoft viewable here: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r06XewlGbKc&feature=channel). Is there any update on Google themselves offering this the same way they offer shared calendars/documents?

I'd really appreciate any feedback on this and help with the above as it's the only thing stopping me from putting my sim card in the new phone and I'd like to start using it

cormie

Agh, this seems to be possible on Android stock and even on HTC Hero Sense UI according to here: http://androidheadlines.com/2010/04/tidy-up-your-contact-list-with-a-custom-sync-group.html

but in the Desire Sense UI, when you go to people/groups/menu, it only gives the option to delete or add.

Seems this guy is having the same issue, he has the sync group option but his friend doesn't, both using the same phone

http://androidforums.com/htc-droid-eris/47533-no-sync-groups-option.html

I may have to revert to the android UI if this is the only way around it :eek:

conzy

I used to be able to do this on my Hero (1.5) but I upgraded to 2.1 and the option seems to be gone now..

But atleast there is an option "Show only contacts with numbers" Which stops random email addresses from your contacts like "noreply@facebook.com" or whatever from ending up in your contacts list.

cormie

That's crazy that they've removed this option :eek: Is there any way to get it back I wonder? Would I have to go with the stock android "contacts" manager (rather than "people") to get it I wonder?

cormie

Could somebody test this for me please on the HTC Desire;

If you could go to "people" and go to the group tab and click menu, do you only get "add group" and "delete group" or are there more options, including "sync groups" in which you can see the options:

- Sync all contacts
- My Contacts

when you go into it?

I need to get this "Sync Groups" option on my desire but it's not there, I've read that a hard reset makes it appear on reboot, but I'd prefer not to do one in fear of it not working and having to start over again. I'm prepared to do it if it's definitely going to give me the option!

So if anyone could report back as to whether they have the "Sync Groups" option it would be great and if you do, did you, or did you not ever do a hard reset?

Any feedback appreciated

KoolKid

I can't remember ever seeing it as an option on Tattoo or Nexus. You can on the Nexus choose which groups or accounts to display.

cormie

Ok so I tried a hard reset and the "sync group" option is still not present on the group tab menu option, still only add or delete group If anyone could advise on this I'd appreciate it and also if anyone could report on whether they have a "Sync Groups" option on their HTC Desire and let me know if yours was ever given a hard reset or anything else you may have done to get it please.

cormie

So with the extensive help of partyatmygaff over msn, I was able to root my desire and I finally got the contacts app working on it! I saved the chat transcript as it may be helpful for anyone else wanting to install from Windows XP. This is an ultra dumbed down version. I made sure to ask as many questions as possible, even if I was 99% sure of the answer myself

Some of the files were sent to me over msn like the market enabler etc, but these should be easily found online anyway. Also, the program I use for the commant prompt is called "command prompt here" I think, but you can just type in the address of the folder in DOS if you know how anyway!

You can see the transcript here: http://www.vantasks.ie/xpdesireroot.html

There is a good bit of filler, but it really covers absolutely everything you need to know so once you get to the bottom of the page, your desire should be rooted and ready to go

So I got the contacts sync thing working anyway, I can now sync with my chosen group from Gmail, but I can't believe it, if I have this group selected and I save a new contact, it wont save to that group, but just the "all contacts" group even though that's not selected :eek:

Always something! The guy in post 10 here: http://androidcommunity.com/forums/f9/add-or-edit-contact-groups-12668/ seems to have got it going, but as you can see in my reply, post 11, it's not saving to the desired group for me!