Best method to backup/retrieve contacts?

Hi all,

yes subject been tackled many times; I just upgraded to 10.3 OS - i basically upgrade whenever we have a leaked OS not the story.

every time i restore i get everything in order EXCEPT ofc contacts ; if i have 8 Michael 3 or 4 get MERGED! anyway u know the problem. i have 3011 contacts and i want to know AFTER i clean and fix everything wot is the best way to backup and restore contacts?

now i have to start my BB 9800 and go thru the F contacts again and try to separate all the merged contacts and wot not. it takes me weeks to do it seriously

I basically keep everything linked except SIM CARD

I use FB,LinkedIn.

just now i unlinked everything i have 121 contacts lol! i simply adore BB phones but this is a complete flop (i.e.: contacts restore)

I also use outlook but i cannot sync cuz i mite screw up my outlook address book and not all contacts there and vice versa so there will be lots of conflicts between Outlook/BB

Hope a veteran can shed light on the above and i fix my contacts thing once and for all

P.S.: i still have the latest backup and didnt add any contact (they were clean) can i somehow retrieve them without the whole mess up?

Tx,
Roger

I don't have this problem. On the unusual occasion I restore, my contacts behave.

Here is my setup, compare to yours and see if that helps.

Main Contact List: Gmail (no SIM or Local).
Social Accounts: FaceBook, LinkedIn, Twitter; BBM
Linking: Gmail to LinkedIn, FaceBook

Rules:

• I manage my contacts online and let the changes sync to the Z30;
• I don't bother filing contacts for all FaceBook/LinkedIn/Twitter contacts;
• Once the merging is done, I tell the Contacts app to only show GMail and LinkedIn and BBM Video. The FaceBook/BBM/Twitter bit get's show anyway on the contacts that have been merged to the Gmail ones. I don't need to see anything that doesn't have a phone number there.

When I make/restore backups, they usually sit in place.

You mentioned a 9800. Why?

I use a third party app called ContactsX

Try to migrate to Cloud Email accounts that will sync - I use OUTLOOK.COM, but gmail, yahoo.... most of these will allow you to import your Desktop Outlook contacts and will then keep them synced.

BB10 has a "bug" that affect SOME users when they do OTA updates or they try to restore old settings to a clean install - duplicates of same contacts, Linking of different contacts.... I try to stick with clean installs with no data restored. Just add my accounts and contacts are just there. Might be a couple between my Linkedin and Facebook that I will have to manually link... but BB10 does a pretty good job.

There is an App called Backup Pro that can do a backup and restore to your SD Card or the Cloud... I haven't used it, but I have not seen anyone complain of the contact bug when using it.

Originally Posted by diegonei

I don't have this problem. On the unusual occasion I restore, my contacts behave.

Here is my setup, compare to yours and see if that helps.

Main Contact List: Gmail (no SIM or Local).
Social Accounts: FaceBook, LinkedIn, Twitter; BBM
Linking: Gmail to LinkedIn, FaceBook

Rules:

• I manage my contacts online and let the changes sync to the Z30;
• I don't bother filing contacts for all FaceBook/LinkedIn/Twitter contacts;
• Once the merging is done, I tell the Contacts app to only show GMail and LinkedIn and BBM Video. The FaceBook/BBM/Twitter bit get's show anyway on the contacts that have been merged to the Gmail ones. I don't need to see anything that doesn't have a phone number there.

When I make/restore backups, they usually sit in place.

You mentioned a 9800. Why?

cuz i gotta go thru the contacts there starting alphabetically and checking EACH and EVERY contact and either adding it on my q10 or editing or separating the merged contacts; any way to get those on my Q10? (but i do have new contacts added after i bought my q10 and that was a yr ago ^^) i also have the backup.bbb can i get the contacts from there?

Cheers,
Roger

Use ContactX app to clean/merge your contacts and export your contacts to a vCard file. Save that file somewhere (you can even email it to yourself and open it later). You can then upload this file via your email or ContactX back onto the same or a new BB phone whenever you want to.

Posted via Z10

I will vouch for Backup Pro. Incredibly easy.

Posted via CB10

Don't forget you are using a leak so obviously it will be fixed in the official version. I mean hopefully

Q10 with Telus on 10.3.0.1052

ContactX has ditched me twice. I was dead sure for this application. I was upgrading OS from 10.2.1. to 10.2.2, I just took backup thru ContactX and couldn't take backup by BB Link. After upgrade, I tried to restore contacts (1218), it was dead slow, took around 8-10 hrs and got stuck at 1052. I was socked. I couldn't expect. I wiped device and again tried to restore, same got stuck at 1052, I left my device for around 12 hrs but nothing happens. I wrote to ContactX support, just to know whether, they have any patch but no reply at all. After this incidence, I lost faith on ContactX. Somehow, I had previous backup and got restored thru BB Link.
I started putting everything thru outlook.com syncing. First transferred contacts from outlook2013 to outlook.com and got synced with Z10. Worked very well but after carefully observation, I noticed outlook.com has capacity of only 3 phones and 3 emails to save. So, if there is more phone numbers and emails, they were truncated. so lost some contacts in this transfer.

Originally Posted by rebroker2009

Don't forget you are using a leak so obviously it will be fixed in the official version. I mean hopefully

Q10 with Telus on 10.3.0.1052

since the launch of os10 i had this problem from official as well as leaked version; remember OS10 was built with a completely different team. OS7 IT were amazing!

also since i have the .bbb
I extracted it but the 3 files inside are encrypted so i cannot extract moe (winrar, 7zip, winzip, etc...)

tried some "Blackberry backup extractors" did not work (they extract .bbb)

Roger

Contact X is awesome it also removes duplicate contacts

Posted via CB10

Just purchased Contact X and used the export VCF function; i have 3044 contacts what is the best way to check each one of them and clean them?
and if i use the Merge function is it better to do it now or after cleaning the 3044 contacts?
do i use outlook to edit? if so how to add those vcf without jeopardizing my existing outlook ones?
can i merge those with my outlook contacts and have duplicates deleted or same contacts merged if they contain additional info?
tx for the help
Roger

Originally Posted by igotberryfever

Contact X is awesome it also removes duplicate contacts

Posted via CB10

bought it and had to Autoload again so i lost Contact X and their support sucks hard!@! no answer whatsoever! how can i get contact X again? don't tell me i need to buy it again?

For backing up and restoring contacts, I use the ContactsExchange app. It works perfectly! Well worth the $2.99 for the app.

http://appworld.blackberry.com/webst...ntent/34526338

I seriously dunno how some of u advised on using Contact X - it is one of the CRAPPIEST apps i ever used in my life; even downgraded my OS to 10.2.1.3247 cuz developer said it works best with this OS! even with that i have serious problems with that really really bad Application. been working with it for days and talking to developer that answers once in a blue moon. here is the last email i sent him with a recap of all the flaws in this app. STAY AWAY from this APPLICATION please do not recommend to anyone.

Hi,

Unfortunately your application is very very bad and I would like a refund.
I have 5900 contacts with lots of duplicates

• I made a backup which was ok
• I did a delete it took around 14 hours (delete all contacts)
• I unlinked ALL email accounts
• I IMPORTED my backup it took around 8 hours
• I MERGE CONTACTS MANUALLY (name) it was ok
o I have 5700 duplicates
o I can ONLY merge the first contact I choose after that I can check the details of contacts, I can use the ORDER (with the arrows) and I can go back but when I press on the GREEN SIGN to merge it stays for hours (I left it for like 3 hours) it did not merge it – only the first time I use MERGE CONTACTS it works on the first one I use then it never merges
o I used AUTO MERGE it worked but lots of my contacts got MIXED UP so I had to use the IMPORT cuz I lost lots of contacts

Your application is good to backup but very bad at retrieving, merging and deleting – Merging manually does not work and deleting / retrieving takes at least 1/2 day

If you have a solution I would love to hear it otherwise please refund me.

Originally Posted by TheKicKer69

I seriously dunno how some of u advised on using Contact X - it is one of the CRAPPIEST apps i ever used in my life; even downgraded my OS to 10.2.1.3247 cuz developer said it works best with this OS! even with that i have serious problems with that really really bad Application. been working with it for days and talking to developer that answers once in a blue moon. here is the last email i sent him with a recap of all the flaws in this app. STAY AWAY from this APPLICATION please do not recommend to anyone.

Sorry you have had problems with the app, but it seems there are people who like it. I am one of those, and since the app has been working for me, I have no problem recommending it. You should not ask people to recommend or not recommend something based on your experience or feeling. Everybody is entitled to his/her own opinion!


Posted via CB10