Android Contact Sync Overhaul

[guitarchitect7]

So this is long overdue task of mine, but trying to find the most effective and practical approach for doing this.

Prior to my Android phone, I had a BB Storm which synced with my google accounts (buisness, personal). I have two gmail accounts that both share the same contact list although purposely are kept separate for organization of emails. The moment I switched over to Android, it appeared I now had two of each contact in my phone due to two gmail accounts. At this point I've only enabled one gmail account to sync with my phone, and then manually export/import the contacts into the other account as I remember to do so. With me so far...

Now also with Android, my social network contacts can also be synced and stored in my phone. I can see this as a benefit, but it's also been a bit aggravating as there really are only a select few that I would actually like to see on my phone.

Also, with gmail, any email I send gets automatically added to the contact list, then appears on my phone without a proper name associated to it. Although not part of My Contacts or another contact group, it still syncs - go figure.

So here is my question - how do you manage all your contacts? With multiple email clients, social networks, etc., what workflow have you found to keep everything synced correctly and current without flooding the phone with unnecessary contacts?

[1100011CS]

So this is long overdue task of mine, but trying to find the most effective and practical approach for doing this.

Prior to my Android phone, I had a BB Storm which synced with my google accounts (buisness, personal). I have two gmail accounts that both share the same contact list although purposely are kept separate for organization of emails. The moment I switched over to Android, it appeared I now had two of each contact in my phone due to two gmail accounts. At this point I've only enabled one gmail account to sync with my phone, and then manually export/import the contacts into the other account as I remember to do so. With me so far...

Now also with Android, my social network contacts can also be synced and stored in my phone. I can see this as a benefit, but it's also been a bit aggravating as there really are only a select few that I would actually like to see on my phone.

Also, with gmail, any email I send gets automatically added to the contact list, then appears on my phone without a proper name associated to it. Although not part of My Contacts or another contact group, it still syncs - go figure.

So here is my question - how do you manage all your contacts? With multiple email clients, social networks, etc., what workflow have you found to keep everything synced correctly and current without flooding the phone with unnecessary contacts?

Gmail -> Contacts -> More Actions -> Find and Merge Duplicates

[ISU_phoria]

Yeah, you can merge all duplicate contacts from various sources, so they only show up once on your phone.

I belive you can also choose to have only email or contacts synced to your phone from each Google account. (Not sure if that's what you're looking for though)

[guitarchitect7]

The main issue came to syncing two gmail accounts for the same contacts. I never had duplicates in my gmail accounts, but I would on my phone. The only way around this has been to disable sync for one account, then to still manually import/export to another account.

There is a 3rd party solution, but cots $40 a month, too steep for me.