Contact synchro issue with Android

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zkatai
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Contact synchro issue with Android

Post by zkatai »

I have EPIM Android on my phone, and I have contacts saved in it ( and I also have different contacts on the android system as well )
I also have EPIM on my PC with a different set of contacts.

I wanted to synchronise the EPIM android contacts with the Windows PC EPIM contacts (actually I wanted to download the contacts from the PC EPIM to the android EPIM, and I did not want to keep the contacts on the Android EPIM, so I choose one way synchronisation with delete)
What happened was, that the contacts from the Android EPIM was not deleted, but I lost all my contacts on the phone ( for some reason it was deleted from the phone / or at least partially deleted )

I am not sure what was the mistake ( I see there is a switch on the Android EPIM to link EPIM contacts with phone contacts ) Can I read somewhere what this exactly mean ? ( if I edit a contact in EPIM it will edit the contact on the phone as well ? )

The other question is, if I can get back the contacts which was deleted from the phone ? ( they does not show up in the contacts, however if I search for a certain name, it brings up the phone number - so it looks like the phone database corrupted )
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Re: Contact synchro issue with Android

Post by admin »

zkatai wrote: Tue Jan 31, 2023 4:37 pm I wanted to synchronise the EPIM android contacts with the Windows PC EPIM contacts (actually I wanted to download the contacts from the PC EPIM to the android EPIM, and I did not want to keep the contacts on the Android EPIM, so I choose one way synchronisation with delete)
2 questions here:
1. You say: "I wanted to download the contacts from the PC EPIM to the android EPIM" and then right after that: "and I did not want to keep the contacts on the Android EPIM", I'm having problem understanding these 2 statements as they seem to be mutually exclusive.
2. They you write: "so I choose one way synchronisation with delete". Please specify which direction was it - WinEPIM to Android EPIM or the other way around.
zkatai wrote: Tue Jan 31, 2023 4:37 pmWhat happened was, that the contacts from the Android EPIM was not deleted, but I lost all my contacts on the phone ( for some reason it was deleted from the phone / or at least partially deleted )
This is very odd as Windows EPIM synchronizes with Android EPIM, not with the system contacts on your phone.
zkatai wrote: Tue Jan 31, 2023 4:37 pmI am not sure what was the mistake ( I see there is a switch on the Android EPIM to link EPIM contacts with phone contacts ) Can I read somewhere what this exactly mean ? ( if I edit a contact in EPIM it will edit the contact on the phone as well ? )
That option allows you to register EPIM Contacts as the system account so that then they are accessible from the system's contact and dialer apps.
zkatai wrote: Tue Jan 31, 2023 4:37 pmThe other question is, if I can get back the contacts which was deleted from the phone ? ( they does not show up in the contacts, however if I search for a certain name, it brings up the phone number - so it looks like the phone database corrupted )
I doubt the database can be corrupted. Please check if you have all the available accounts visible in the contacts app.
Android version of EssentialPIM. Keep all your data in sync!
zkatai
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Re: Contact synchro issue with Android

Post by zkatai »

Thank you for trying to understand my issue and trying to help.

For the questions:
I wanted the contacts from WinEPIM to go to Android EPIM, and delete the rest of the contacts from Android EPIM ( but not to delete contacts from the Android device itself )
( I wanted to make a workaround for cleaning my contact data in different apps, and probably misunderstood something...)
Anyway, with this synchro I probably lost my "recent" contacts from a certain period...

My lack of understanding - or confusion - is the "system contact". I suppose it is some internal database in Android, what the different apps edit ( Mail, Viber etc...and the EPIM, as well) When the EPIM is registered as system contacts, what happens ? ( there are contacts in EPIM, and also there are contacts in the android system - I do not see all my android system contacts in EPIM. How will they get there ?

I would like to have EPIM to take care of all my contacts ( but not to upload to Google, and not to upload to EPIM cloud ) If you can refer me to any article or case study which explains these functions, that would also be a help.
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Re: Contact synchro issue with Android

Post by admin »

zkatai wrote: Wed Feb 15, 2023 6:24 am For the questions:
I wanted the contacts from WinEPIM to go to Android EPIM, and delete the rest of the contacts from Android EPIM ( but not to delete contacts from the Android device itself )
( I wanted to make a workaround for cleaning my contact data in different apps, and probably misunderstood something...)
Anyway, with this synchro I probably lost my "recent" contacts from a certain period...
The best and quickest way to do this would be to purge the contacts module in the AEPIM settings.
zkatai wrote: Wed Feb 15, 2023 6:24 amMy lack of understanding - or confusion - is the "system contact". I suppose it is some internal database in Android, what the different apps edit ( Mail, Viber etc...and the EPIM, as well) When the EPIM is registered as system contacts, what happens ? ( there are contacts in EPIM, and also there are contacts in the android system - I do not see all my android system contacts in EPIM. How will they get there ?
Not really. In this case you set up EPIM to act as a system account and once this is done, the system contacts app is able to have access to the list of EPIM contacts derived from the established account. If you need to see your system contacts in AEPIM, you'd need to import them into the app.
zkatai wrote: Wed Feb 15, 2023 6:24 amI would like to have EPIM to take care of all my contacts ( but not to upload to Google, and not to upload to EPIM cloud ) If you can refer me to any article or case study which explains these functions, that would also be a help.
Sure, that would be the direct WinEPIM-AEPIM type of sync. Please see more about it here: https://www.essentialpim.com/help/android_os.htm
Android version of EssentialPIM. Keep all your data in sync!
zkatai
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Re: Contact synchro issue with Android

Post by zkatai »

Ok, I have found the menu, where in Android I can load the contacts to EPIM. (It shows to import from the Google account and from the phone. Now I have got where the system contacts are. Thanks a lot !
zkatai
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Re: Contact synchro issue with Android

Post by zkatai »

One thing to be aware of - what I have got to understood now (and what made me confuse, and lead to delete all my "new" contact from my phone):

If you set up EPIM on Android, and check it to use as system contact (but not read your contacts from the phone into EPIM ) than you have a set of contacts in Android, and other set of contact in EPIM. ( and also a third set of contacts in WinEPIM on your PC )

Now, if you synchronise your WinEPIM with your Android EPIM, it synchronise your contacts not with the contacts in your Android EPIM, but with your contacts in your phone as well.
( so with this case of mine I wanted to synchronise my Win EPIM with my Android EPIM, and checked to delete the contacts from Android EPIM, which are not in Win EPIM (basically wanted to download my cleaned EPIM contact database to my phone).

The algorythm probably checks not only the contacts in Android EPIM, but in the phone as well, so it deleted them from my phone.
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Re: Contact synchro issue with Android

Post by admin »

This isn't how it supposed to work. As WinEPIM is only able to sync with contacts that are available in Android EPIM.
Android version of EssentialPIM. Keep all your data in sync!
zkatai
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Re: Contact synchro issue with Android

Post by zkatai »

I agree. (that is the reason, I wrote my findings in detail, in case someone wants to test it, and fix the algorythm )
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