How to Remove Duplicate Contacts from Android Mobile
We all use Google contacts Sync function so that our Android phone contacts are always synchronized with our Google account. This feature allows us to quickly manage the contacts on the go right on our Android phones. Well, our powerful Android phone not only helps you sync your Google contacts but it also helps us sync our Facebook and other accounts in order to stay sharp and work smart. As a result we often face a problem of duplicate contacts in an account. Our contacts are important for us and we cannot simply delete duplicate contacts if there are some important details attached with it. We can merge the contacts together which carry same information and can solve the problem of duplicate contacts. Merging contacts is a process with help of which we can combine two or more contacts with similar information into one.
Merging contacts can be successfully performed on our Android phone itself and can also be performed on our personal computer. Both the methods are described below.
Merge Contacts using Android Phone:
To merge or join contacts on your Android phone follow the bullets below.
- Go to Contacts on your Android phone.
- Select or Open the contact which is appearing twice or thrice.
- Once the particular contact is selected or opened then select ‘edit’.
- In the edit mode, press the context menu button.
- Now select the option which says ‘Join contacts’.
- On the next screen some suggestions will be given, if not then you can select ‘All contacts’ option and manually select the duplicate contact entry and hit OK.
- Your selected contact is now merged and no duplicate entry will be found.
NOTE: The process is lengthy and thus advisable for use only for few contacts, batch operation cannot be performed. All Android phones do not provide this facility by default. The above method is tested on Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini phone.
Merge Contacts using Personal Computer:
To merge or join contacts on the computer simply follow the following bullets.
- Visit contacts.google.com and login with your Google account which is in sync with the phone.
- You will see three panels, on the left hand side panel select ‘My Contacts’ and you will see some options on the right most panel.
- Select the option which says ‘Find Duplicates’, now Google will scan and provide you with some contacts that can be merged.
- Now select particular contact options and then click on ‘merge’.
- Your contacts will be automatically merged.
To manually select and merge the contacts follow the bullets below:
- Login to contacts.google.com.
- In the middle panel, select contacts that you need to merge or join.
- On selection you will see an option which says ‘merge’ in the right most panel, select this option and you are done.
- Similarly follow this procedure for each contact.
NOTE: For best results backup all the contacts on your phone and once backup is ready in CSV or Vcard format, delete the contacts from your phone. You can import this CSV or Vcard file into you Google contacts at contacts.google.com and then start merging if u have not set up the sync function. It is necessary that you create backup of your contacts before deleting all your phone contacts even if you are using sync function.
Comments (24)
Amit Bhawani is a Professional Blogger & Founder of Android Advices. He has received various awards like the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Award & Samsung Mobilers Award. He covers more on the subject of value of mobile phones to consumers and gives insights to mobile buyers helping them to buy the right device. Add +Amit Bhawani on Google Plus for more Updates.
This is fine but the big problem is the hundreds of contacts that have come from my old phone into my android are not merging with my gmail contacts. So this is still no help to me.
Hi Michael your doubt is certain but what you can do is; once you synchronise the new contacts on to your Google account then the contacts that you added from your old phone will be visible on the Google Contacts page and once they are there simply follow the guide.
Actually just go through the guide one more time and you will find that you can merge the contacts. Make sure that you have configured the sync settings properly.
My phone had a software upgrade and I have now got about 15 entries for most (not all) of my contacts, all the same. I have a gmail account and most of the contacts on that are as they should be, so the phone is not synching I presume. How do I get the contacts from my gmail contacts to overwrite those currently on my contacts list?
after the software upgrade the contacts gets erased!
what software update do i need to do to make this ACTUALLY work
I have SYNC from Outlook not Gmail
and I have mulitple contacts.
Surely SYNC means SYNC not duplicate
Hi Maurice
Which email account do you want to sync? Is it the Company email address or the Gmail account?
Use Gmail web client in order to merge contacts.
If you are using Outlook and you want to sync Outlook with Gmail then you can use Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook.
For Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook click HERE.
I really don’t want to use Google Apps. Kies kinda works, but has created duplicate contacts, and not syncd all calender events. I’m beginning to dislike Android.
are contacts in .spb format or in CSV format, probably you can merge the contacts!
are contacts in .spb format or in CSV format, probably you can merge the contacts!!
my google contact show no duplicate contact… my sim contact show no duplicate contact… and my phone contact show no duplicate contacts but when i click write message and select contact address it show all duplicate contact… each contact listed 4times… please help me…
Hi
Have you synchronised your contacts with your Google account?
I have the same issue as Mohammed. There is nothing to mege in Gmail. Only MyContacts checked in contacts settings. But I still can see duplicated contacts. The only way to merge them is to do it for each contact. But I have 200 contacts and can’t do this manualy.
drop down arrow at the g-mail tab on the left top side
I have imported from SIM my contacts two times and then I have all contacts duplicated. But I don’t want to use Google Accounts to sync my contacts. I have resolved using the apps ‘Duplicate contacts’ on android market. This apps automatically selects duplicate contacts, sorted by name or by number, and then it permits to delete them
It is VERY FRUSTRATING, i type a name and 2 show up, both with the same number, ive set my phone to only display names in my phone book, it does this for ALL my contacts so i dont want to go through and link each one myself!
The android software in Sony Ericsson Walkman 8 is stupid. And Sony Ericsson phone support does not have any help guide on vcard. To delete multiple file contacts created in vcard. My contact list is showing 4 replicas created accidently and I do not know how to rectify. Also several services run on internet automatically and delete 10 paisa every 5 minutes and I was not knowing how to stop it. Phones have become more complicate than PCs due to non standard.
I had 5 entrys for each contact on my phone. Downloaded “Duplicate contacts” from the app store on my phone deleted all in less the 30 seconds…worked great!!!
I didn’t have a google account – I didn’t want a google account – I just wanted what was on my sim to be the contacts on my new samsung…so wish i had bought a button phone -so over having 7 copies of each contact in my phone – then one day it won’t ring out – the next it won’t send texts – I spend more time turning it off and on and as for the battery life – where do I start – does anyone know of a phone that does not duplicate contacts – I will buy it if I can find it. Ta
im glad i looked this up. Every time i got a new phone it made me have more copies. I was already at having three of everyone on my contacts. I tried downloading some app that did nothing. I had a little trouble finding the my contacts section and had to actually google my google contacts then it popped right up and the rest was cake. thank you to the person who posted this
im glad i looked this up. Every time i got a new phone it made me have more copies. I was already at having three of everyone on my contacts. I tried downloading some app that did nothing. I had a little trouble finding the my contacts section and had to actually google my google contacts then it popped right up and the rest was cake. thank you to the person who posted this
im glad i looked this up. Every time i got a new phone it made me have more copies. I was already at having three of everyone on my contacts. I tried downloading some app that did nothing. I had a little trouble finding the my contacts section and had to actually google my google contacts then it popped right up and the rest was cake. thank you to the person who posted this
a useful one, great work
a useful one, great work
THANX U SAVED ME , MY CONTATCTS BECAUSE OF DUPLICATION OF WHATSAPP , VIBER AND OTHER PROGRAMES REACHED TO NEARLY 2000 , WITH GOOGLE CONTACT SITE I SHRINK THEM BACK TO 400 ,
THANX WAS VERY HELPFULL