How To Manage And Backup Contacts On Android

Dealing with contacts on an Android phone can be a tedious task if you are not aware of the right ways and means to do it. Now, managing contacts on Android is not just confined to editing or deleting contacts; it goes way beyond that. Even when you are creating, deleting or even editing contacts, you need to be wary of all the duplicates. You also have to pay heed to the fact that the same contact might have been saved with a different name, number, email ID.

And, not to forget, an essential part of organising and managing contacts on Android is to keep a backup handy so that you are well prepared for all situations. Here we’ll take some of the best ways and practices using which you will able to manage contacts well and not just that you will even be prepared.

Let’s Cut The Chase And Get Down To Business

Follow the methods mentioned below, and you’ll never have issues in managing or backing up your Android contacts. Here, we will broadly be dealing with

• How to manage Android contacts, backing them up and deleting duplicates using an app
• Using Google’s Contact app to import, export and back up contacts

1. Manage Contacts On Android Easily And Effortlessly Using An App

While we will discuss the old-fashioned ways of managing contacts on Android, let’s first get down to an easier route which is using an app to fix duplicates or more so, managing contacts efficiently. You can always manage contacts on Android using an app. Now, several great apps can help you manage contacts, especially duplicates, here’s one app which allows you to remove duplicate contacts from various accounts on your device quickly.

The name of the app is Duplicate Contacts Fixer And Remover

How Does Duplicate Contact Fixer Work To Sort Contacts On Android

The moment you open the app, a backup file is created in .vcf format. This can be exported all mailed for emergency purposes. The same can be shared with other contacts as well. And, it’s not that this is a one-time thing. After you have de-duplicated the contacts, you can come back to this section and create a backup again. This way you can have several backup versions, and you can choose one which you think is appropriate

To remove duplicates, here are the steps –

1. Tap on the account whose contacts you wish to sort. Depending on the number of duplicate contacts, the app may take a few seconds to scan and deliver results
   
2. In a new window, you will see all duplicates in that account. Tap on the Find Duplicates button
   
3. Now, you will see that duplicates are grouped, and you can delete individual entries or delete all the groups at one.
   

That’s it; all your contacts are sorted now.

2. Ways To Manage Contacts On Android Manually

1. How To Merge Duplicate Contacts On Android

1. Open the Contacts app
2. Tap on the hamburger icon (three horizontal lines) on the top left and then tap on Suggestions
3. Tap on Merge Duplicates

You can either select one contact or merge all contacts with the help of Merge all option present at the bottom right.

Not sure if you merged the right contacts?

1. In the Contacts app, go to the Settings
2. Locate Manage Contacts option and under it tap on Undo changes
3. Choose the account and select Undo changes from which will revert the changes you have made

Note: To see if the changes are reflected, it is essential that once in Suggestions you swipe down so that changes can be refreshed.

2. Backing Up Contacts On Android

Things can go wrong, and we don’t deny it! Just so you are prepared for this, we highly recommend that you keep a backup of your Android contacts handy.  Should something go wrong, you will at least have a restore point, and you will at least be able to get back your old contact data.

You can export both the kinds of contacts whether they are on your Google account or phone in a .vcf format. You can later import this .vcf file on another Android device or Google account itself.

Steps For Importing And Exporting Contacts In Android

(i) Importing Contacts

1. In the Contacts app click on the hamburger icon at the top left
2. Tap on Settings
3. Under Manage Contacts tap on Import
4. You can now choose from exporting contacts from a .vcf file or SIM card

(ii) Exporting Contacts

We’ll export all the contacts in a VCF file and then once you have the VCF file, you can either save it to the cloud, email it to yourself or find any other medium where this will be kept safe.

So, here are the steps to export contacts from Google –

1. Go to the Contacts app
2. Go to Settings
3. Under Manage contacts and then click on Export
4. Choose the account whose contacts you wish to export and tap on Export to .vcf file

You can now save this .vcf file to your desired location and then furthermore you could even email it to yourselves.

Aren’t Your Contacts More Sorted Now?

We know how hard it can be when to find that one relevant contact, you have to dive into thousands of contacts that you might have accumulated over the years. It is the methods like above that can help you keep your device contact list managed and sorted. Talking of which, if the above methods have relieved you and you have been successful in keeping contacts managed on Android, do share the blog with someone else who might be looking for similar solutions. For more such tech updates, continue reading Systweak Blogs and follow on Social Media.