How to copy contacts from tablet to phone without surrendering them to google?

dtarrant · 9 Sept 2018, 14:36

I would like to copy contacts from my M10 tablet running OTA3 to my Nexus 4 running OTA 4. However, I would prefer not to sign them over to google. Can anyone suggest how to do this. Thanks.

advocatux · 9 Sept 2018, 17:11

@dtarrant you can copy ~/.local/share/evolution/addressbook/system/contacts.db from one device to another

dtarrant · 9 Sept 2018, 15:42

@advocatux Cool! Many thanks.

jezek · 9 Sept 2018, 16:10

This post is deleted!

dtarrant · 9 Sept 2018, 17:21

I deleted the contacts.db file on my N4 and pasted in the contacts.db file from my tablet. The problem is that the contacts app is still only offering google or simcard options. Also, I can't add a new contact manually. Basically, it's broke. Worse still the contacts app isn't in OpenStore, so I can't re-install it. My bad for not backing up the contacts.db file that I deleted from the phone.

advocatux · 9 Sept 2018, 17:12

@jezek where? ^_^

(Fixed, thank you!)

advocatux · 9 Sept 2018, 17:19

@dtarrant there are some bugs related to Contacts in 16.04.

Some of them are fixed already, see for example https://github.com/ubports/ubuntu-touch/issues/857

Are you sure your contacts.db is corrupted or empty or something like that? Maybe all the data is still there but is just not showing for the moment.

See https://github.com/ubports/messaging-app/issues/40 and https://github.com/ubports/ubuntu-touch/issues/844 too

dtarrant · 9 Sept 2018, 17:34

@advocatux My new contacts.db isn't empty, but it's not a text file. I renamed it contacts.txt and opened it with document viewer and it looks like a binary file. On my travels, I've noticed that the xenial file manager doesn't seem to have a rename facility. In any event, my N4 contacts app is really sulking. This is a shame because UBports is about freedom from google and google is currently blocking my progress.

tera · 9 Sept 2018, 18:03

The following worked fine for me: open the Contacts App, select the Contacts wanted, click Share and the Folder wanted with the File Manager App.
This generate a vcf file that you can read, amend, import back in the Contacts App or almost anywhere else

advocatux · 9 Sept 2018, 18:15

@dtarrant yes, it's a SQLite database. You can copy your contacts.db to your computer and browse the content easily with something like DB Browser for SQLite (use a database file copy for that if you aren't sure about how to use that tool) but you said isn't empty so you don't need to do that now.

I've noticed that the xenial file manager doesn't seem to have a rename facility

Drag to the right the file you want to rename, and tap on the 'edit' icon

guru · 9 Sept 2018, 18:35

https://gurucubano.gitbooks.io/bq-aquaris-e-4-5-ubuntu-phone/content/en/chapter9.html

matthias

TheBird · 9 Sept 2018, 20:13

This post is deleted!

hummlbach · 9 Sept 2018, 20:13

@guru Woho, eh, cool! please apply for https://ubports.com/de_DE/community/community-sites by sending a mail to marketing@ubports.com

dtarrant · 9 Sept 2018, 21:29

Thank you everyone for the various nuggets of information. Before I can proceed, I need some advice on how to fix the broken contacts app on my phone. I'd like to delete the app and reinstall, but it's not in OpenStore. Is there some other way to fix it? I was very foolish not to have made a backup of contacts.db before I deleted it. I don't understand why the contacts.db from my tablet doesn't work on my phone. Maybe it's an incompatibility between vivid and xenial?

dtarrant · 9 Sept 2018, 21:40

@advocatux That rename feature is really nice, I like it a lot! Thanks for the tip.

dtarrant · 9 Sept 2018, 21:49

@tera Just tried the sharing to vcf trick. That's really neat. Thanks for the tip.

advocatux · 9 Sept 2018, 22:57

@dtarrant did you reboot the phone after copying the database?

dtarrant · 9 Sept 2018, 23:56

@advocatux Hey! Just tried the reboot as you suggested and things are much better! I can now see the first contact from the tablet database that I copied across and I've also been able to manually add a new contact! Thanks for that inspired suggestion! I wonder why it's only showing one of my original contacts?

dtarrant · 10 Sept 2018, 01:55

@advocatux said in How to copy contacts from tablet to phone without surrendering them to google?:

@dtarrant yes, it's a SQLite database. You can copy your contacts.db to your computer and browse the content easily with something like DB Browser for SQLite (use a database file copy for that if you aren't sure about how to use that tool) but you said isn't empty so you don't need to do that now.

I have about 20 contacts saved on my tablet and when I copy the contacts.db file to my phone the contacts app only displays one of them. I have copied my tablet contacts.db file to my laptop and opened it with db browser for SQLite3. I can still only see one contact. Bizarre! Maybe it's time to try the vcf sharing approach.

dtarrant · 10 Sept 2018, 02:36

Success!!!
I finally solved my problem with the vcf sharing approach. Once again many thanks to all you Ubuntu Touchers for your help and patience. Now to bed!