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Find duplicates in Google Contacts
I would like to remove duplicate contacts. My contacts run into thousands and merging is no small job.
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7 Answers
Google recently introduced a new tool within gmail to merge duplicates. Full details on the this post from the official Gmail blog.
answered Dec 31, 2009 at 18:17
If you don't mind doing them one at a time, you can, in the middle column, check the checkbox next to the contacts that are duplicates. In the right column, choose merge contacts.
The export, clean up, and reimport fresh option is usually the easiest way to handle bulk editing of contacts.
The problem you'll run into with doing this is if you remove the contacts from your Contact list then anything linked to them will be gone even if you reimport the exact same information. An example would be your chat and google reader shares will be reset (I'm not sure about google docs because that one is based more on ID rather than communication options). So be wary if you have a lot of sharing or linked items with your contacts.
When reimporting, if the name matches then the import will merge wit the existing contact and just update the changed fields - if you have duplicate contacts though I'm not sure how this will be affected.
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1nicely written. without this writeup I'd have exported and cleaned it up, only to find that i have lost all associations! I'll mark it as answer if I dont have a third party app link in 3 days– Quintin ParSep 17, 2009 at 4:19
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Thanks. I have done it twice now and am able to get the associations back - it just takes a bit of extra work and some of the Reader associations never did come back (since that part is specifically dependent on your friend's actions). I tested the Docs part and it does seem those sharing settings stay in place. Also, the SMS Labs feature can create duplicates in the chat function so you might want to turn that off first as well.– InsomnicSep 17, 2009 at 18:07
Google has an option to 'Find & Merge Duplicates'
Try clicking on 'More Actions' when in the contacts view. It is there. This should offer you a quick solution to this.
I don't know an automated tool that does this, but others have exported their contacts to iCal, removed the dups, and then reimported the contacts back into google.
answered Sep 16, 2009 at 19:24
I've not tried it, but it makes sense that you could use the contact export function to get them in CSV format, put a sort on them to easily find & remove the duplicates, then import back to gmail.
I have experienced the same thing before; I suggest you can try using duplicate remover like Scrubly Duplicate Remover. This works well for me. I assure you this will end up you’re duplicates problem.