Can't sync with my default phone book.

Question

Can't sync with my default phone book.

fisx opened this issue 3 years ago · 6 comments

I have installed the app, and it doesn't find the contacts I already have on my phone. I can only create empty address books, syncrhonise them, count entries (0), and rename and delete them.

I think there is some very basic piece of documentation I'm missing about how android works, but I can't seem to find it on my own. This looks exactly like what I want, so I hope you can give me a hint. If I've figured it out, I'll make a PR to explain things here in the README.

Answer 1 · 2021-11-05T21:25:29.000Z

It does create an empty address book to which you can add new contacts. If you create a new contact in the default Contacts application, you can now choose the created 'DecSync Contacts' account.

Using the same default app you can also export and import existing contacts to the new account. But the documentation can indeed be improved, or I could even look into a way to do that straight from DecSync CC.

Answer 2 · 2021-11-06T09:29:52.000Z

Thanks, I think I can work with that!

Answer 3 · 2021-11-07T10:21:42.000Z

export your existing contacts to a vcf file. you'll need this locally on your device.
go to your default contacts app.
go to settings.
select "Personal" account (with decsync symbol), or whatever you called your address folder in decsync.
import the vcf file.

however: #73, #74

Answer 4 · 2021-12-20T18:13:33.000Z

Beware exporting the .vcf files on Android as every Contacts app does this differently. Some will completely remove the UID records, etc. The VCARD version may also matter.
Just sayin'.

I find it usually better to get a copy of the .vcf from the source / server, depending on what backend you normally use. Unless you're not syncing the contacts at all. In which case, compare the output of a couple of Contacts apps (i.e. Simple Contacts vs Google Contacts vs Contacts that come with the phone).

Answer 5 · 2021-12-28T11:10:21.000Z

That's sound advice, thanks!

I got things mostly working for my use case: I have a git-controlled backup of the address book on my phone, and it gets updated with very little pain each time I'm adding something manually to the phone.

Now I'm wondering if there is an officially supported way to add data directly to the backup repository with my own scripts? Seems straight-forward enough to hack something together, but I might miss a subtle detail somewhere (which probably would be fixable thanks to git), or get burned by a future upgrade, no?

NB: I have to admit I have very little time for this project, so only work on this ticket if you don't mind me ignoring you for long stretches of time! :)

Answer 6 · 2022-01-06T21:42:27.000Z

I have added a more convenient import feature. When you create a new collection you can now select 'Import existing collection' for directly importing one. This should make it clearer for new users. It doesn't yet work for the default address book though.

As for your git-controlled backup I don't really understand what you are trying to achieve? Are you just using it as a backup? In that case you can simply store the DecSync directory as a backup and use it again when needed.