How to backup contacts/calendar in Gmail/Hotmail

Hey everyone.

There are 3 BB's in my house looking to upgrade to BB10 (1 Z10, 2 Q10). I notice that a lot of people are syncing their contacts and calendar with either Gmail or Hotmail so that they have it as a backup. In the past, I have always relied on BB Protect to wirelessly backup my contacts, emails and calendar entries automatically on a weekly basis. Since this is no longer an option with BB10, I am looking to sync my contacts and calendar entries with a cloud-based email (Gmail and/or Hotmail).

I have two email accounts on my 9900 - one Hotmail, one Gmail. If I go to my email settings, the Gmail account has a checkmark next to Deleted Items under the Syncronization Options (calendar and contacts are unchecked). The Hotmail account only has the option to sync Contacts in the Syncronization Options, but it is unchecked.

I have a lot of old contacts and email addresses in both my Gmail and Hotmail accounts that I do NOT want on my phone. I'm scared that if I choose to sync Contacts that all these old contacts and email addresses will populate on my phone, which I do not want.

Basically, I want to know how I can backup my contacts, emails and calendar on my 9900 (and my other two family member's 9700s) so that when we get our new BB10 phones, I can just log into my email account and all the data will automatically populate on the phone and be in sync?

I am really confused and any help would be greatly appreciated.

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BlackBerry Protect will allow you a one-shot restore from your legacy device, according to this screen from my device. However, I can't vouch for how well it works. I have all my info in the cloud with my email accounts.

Using the device switch with BlackBerry Link, you would also have the option to transfer the data from your old devices to the new ones.

However, in my opinion, the safest bet (and most one-time effort) would be to clean up your Gmail/Hotmail lists and sync those to the new devices.

Originally Posted by Elessar.cm

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However, in my opinion, the safest bet (and most one-time effort) would be to clean up your Gmail/Hotmail lists and sync those to the new devices.

How do I do that?? All my contacts and calendar entries are on my 9900. How do I get it to sync to Gmail?

I believe theres an option in BB Desktop Manager that will allow you to export the Contacts from your 9900 to a CSV file. You can then import that list to either Gmail or Hotmail.