Exact duplicates in Google Contacts not detected as "Duplicates"

Question

When I export a Google Contacts in CSV format and then import it again without changing the file, I get two contacts that are exactly the same. Contacts however doesn't identify them as "duplicates" in the Merge & Fix interface.

Background: I have a website that creates that CSV and after import it created many duplicates. I tried to resolve it and during testing identified that a simple export and import creates the same problem.

Is it a bug in Google Contacts or can I do something to solve this problem?

This is the content of the CSV file:

Name,Given Name,Additional Name,Family Name,Yomi Name,Given Name Yomi,Additional Name Yomi,Family Name Yomi,Name Prefix,Name Suffix,Initials,Nickname,Short Name,Maiden Name,Birthday,Gender,Location,Billing Information,Directory Server,Mileage,Occupation,Hobby,Sensitivity,Priority,Subject,Notes,Language,Photo,Group Membership,Organization 1 - Type,Organization 1 - Name,Organization 1 - Yomi Name,Organization 1 - Title,Organization 1 - Department,Organization 1 - Symbol,Organization 1 - Location,Organization 1 - Job Description,Website 1 - Type,Website 1 - Value
Jan Puin,Jan,Puin,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Belgisch bedrijf die hier nog niets hebben. Stageloper.,,,,,Company.Be,,,,,,,LinkedIn,https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-rutte/

Name	Given Name	Additional Name	Family Name	Yomi Name	Given Name Yomi	Additional Name Yomi	Family Name Yomi	Name Prefix	Name Suffix	Initials	Nickname	Short Name	Maiden Name	Birthday	Gender	Location	Billing Information	Directory Server	Mileage	Occupation	Hobby	Sensitivity	Priority	Subject	Notes	Language	Photo	Group Membership	Organization 1 - Type	Organization 1 - Name	Organization 1 - Yomi Name	Organization 1 - Title	Organization 1 - Department	Organization 1 - Symbol	Organization 1 - Location	Organization 1 - Job Description	Website 1 - Type	Website 1 - Value
Jan Puin	Jan	Puin																							Belgisch bedrijf die hier nog niets hebben.					Company.Be							LinkedIn	https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-rutte/

Answer 1

Follow my instruction carefully, you can get the duplicates and merge it successfully.

1. After you import a new CSV file, Google automatically makes a different label for the imported contacts' details.
2. Delete the label (normally label is named as import and date) keeping all contacts.
3. After deleting the label successfully, refresh the tab.
4. Now click on duplicates, "hurrah" now you get the duplicates.

Answer 2

I GOT IT! When I export the contacts I know are duplicates, I find that the first column (NAME) has different values (one shows last name first, the other vise versa), so when I remove these values, Google sees that they are duplicates.

So here are the steps I used:

1. export your entire address book as a backup
2. export your entire address book again as the working version (or just make a copy of the backup file)
3. open the working version in Excel and delete the values in the NAME column (but keep the column label of "Name"), then save and close the file
4. (scary step) delete your entire address book (you should have the unedited backup from step 2, so not too scary)
5. import the working version with the NAME column values deleted
6. let Google look for duplicates

It worked for me!

Answer 3

I found that just waiting a few minutes after the import, and clicking the refresh button a few times, the Gmail finally found the duplicates. Hope this helps someone.