Windows Phone and Contacts

[john11]

Today I found out something disturbing about the Windows Phone, story below, but briefly, it appears that everything is uploaded to the cloud when you login to the marketplace, +there doesn't seem a way to backup/restore locally (without the internet).

My mother got the Nokia Lumia 820 for christmas, and soon realised that it required a Microsoft account in order to use many apps that came with the device (why? IDK, they couldn't be used without updating). Dad also has a Windows phone, but had never had to use a Live account... So he made a new account, and used that in the marketplace to update mums apps, and then proceeded to use the same account to update his own apps... Which turned out to be a bad idea. Although he had specifically indicated on mums phone that he doesn't want anything automatically backed up to Live.com, and only wanted to use the account within the Marketplace, the device had decided to upload my mums numbers (all 10 of them since it was a brand new phone) onto Live, and as soon as dad used the same account to update his apps in the Marketplace, it deleted all of dads phone numbers (over a hundred), and replaced them with mums few numbers.

Luckily dad has backups from his old phone with all the numbers as a spreadheet, but I can find no way of importing them onto the phone, except maybe through making a new Live account, and importing the numbers into there, and then trying to sync the phone with the new numbers, the problem with this is that dad is very annoyed at Microsoft at the moment, and definately will not want to make up another account and upload all his private numbers onto there (I know nobody should have access to his numbers, but he still doesn't want anything in the 'cloud').

So, is there any way to import numbers into the Windows Phone without the cloud? And is there any way to stop numbers from being synced into Live.com while still being able to use the Marketplace. Only reason I ask is that I'm considering buying the Lumia 920...

[CaptainPeanut]

It would be a great idea to make your mom another MS account.

[john11]

It would be a great idea to make your mom another MS account.

Don't know if my dad would agree with that, considering all the problems it caused, and anyway, they don't want their contacts and calendars in the cloud, I might be able to convince them, but then again, I'm not entirely sure if its a good idea either.

Why can't you just have contacts on your phone, and local PC? My parents don't use Skydrive, Live Messenger etc. the only reason they got the account was to update a few apps inside marketplace. Although I don't particularily like Apple, at least pn the iOS when you sign into Appstore it doesn't start syncing your contents to iCloud without asking...

Nokia Suite was a great program, but Zune can hardly do anything.

[hounsell]

So, is there any way to import numbers into the Windows Phone without the cloud? And is there any way to stop numbers from being synced into Live.com while still being able to use the Marketplace. Only reason I ask is that I'm considering buying the Lumia 920...

You can import contacts from a SIM, and on Nokias, it also has an OEM app for transferring over Bluetooth iirc.

The curious thing about your story is that Live accounts syncing should only add to details already existing on a phone. It should never delete details.

However, you can disable contacts (and other) syncing by going to Email and Accounts in the settings panel, clicking on the live account, and scroll down and there should be a checklist of things it syncs - email, contacts, calendar, etc.

It would be a great idea to make your mom another MS account.

The only issue with this, is the only way to change the account used by the marketplace and such is to reset the phone and run the first-run wizard.

[john11]

The curious thing about your story is that Live accounts syncing should only add to details already existing on a phone. It should never delete details.

However, you can disable contacts (and other) syncing by going to Email and Accounts in the settings panel, clicking on the live account, and scroll down and there should be a checklist of things it syncs - email, contacts, calendar, etc.

Thats what I thought should happen when synchronising, but it definately deleted all of dads contacts.

Going to Email and Accounts was one of the things I did straight away, but only found Email listed, Contacts and Calendar werent options...

the only way to change the account used by the marketplace and such is to reset the phone and run the first-run wizard.

Why did the phone do that in the first place? He only logged into the Marketplace, didn't mean to register the phones, and sync etc.

I suppose the T&C would list this, but there are so many to read when setting up a phone.

[soulman]

The curious thing about your story is that Live accounts syncing should only add to details already existing on a phone. It should never delete details.

However, you can disable contacts (and other) syncing by going to Email and Accounts in the settings panel, clicking on the live account, and scroll down and there should be a checklist of things it syncs - email, contacts, calendar, etc.

Thats what I thought should happen when synchronising, but it definately deleted all of dads contacts.

Going to Email and Accounts was one of the things I did straight away, but only found Email listed, Contacts and Calendar werent options...

the only way to change the account used by the marketplace and such is to reset the phone and run the first-run wizard.

Why did the phone do that in the first place? He only logged into the Marketplace, didn't mean to register the phones, and sync etc.

I suppose the T&C would list this, but there are so many to read when setting up a phone.

This is why when you are setting something up you should know what you are doing and how it works instead of either pretending you know or not knowing. Reading step by step is the best practice, or heck, asking a question first?

Sounds to me like your Dad managed to switch his phone's live account though that is not possible as far as I'm aware unless a factory reset of the device is performed. I suggest he sets up another account on a different service and backs up his numbers to there in case it happens again. I have my numbers backed up on to Google (being an ex-android user) which can sync them to my WP7 device whenever I please. This means I could reset my phone and if for some reason I couldn't sync with live, I could at least get my contacts from Google. That's my technique for contact backup nowadays.

[hounsell]

I have my numbers backed up on to Google (being an ex-android user) which can sync them to my WP7 device whenever I please. This means I could reset my phone and if for some reason I couldn't sync with live, I could at least get my contacts from Google. That's my technique for contact backup nowadays.

Not any more, not since they killed EAS support on Google Accounts...

[john11]

etc.
This is why when you are setting something up you should know what you are doing and how it works instead of either pretending you know or not knowing. Reading step by step is the best practice, or heck, asking a question first?

Well, remember that the phone is all ready working, and what I want to do is run the program Nokia Drive, when I tap on the app, it tells me there is an update available, and I work out that I cannot run the app without updating. So then in order to update I need to log into the marketplace, all it asks for is m Live ID and password, so to me it seems simple enough, it wants me to sign into the app store. Now, due to my past experiences with the Apple appstore, and common sense, I assume that the login will be used within the app store, I didn't expect it to synchronise contacts and calendar (it never asked to do that). I was fairly certain I knew the process, there didn't seem anything difficult or ambiguous about it.

Here is a step by step guide (the exact process we followed was Scenario 2): http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2691982

Seemed simple to me, and nowhere did it mention about the account being used anywhere other than the Marketplace (except maybe the Terms of Use).

I suggest he sets up another account on a different service and backs up his numbers to there in case it happens again. I have my numbers backed up on to Google (being an ex-android user) which can sync them to my WP7 device whenever I please. This means I could reset my phone and if for some reason I couldn't sync with live, I could at least get my contacts from Google. That's my technique for contact backup nowadays.

Couldn't find that option anywhere, maybe you need a separate app for that?

[soulman]

Not any more, not since they killed EAS support on Google Accounts...

Pretty sure there are other services that work with Accounts & Sync?

[hounsell]

Only EAS is supported on Windows Phone for Contacts and Calendar syncs - obviously if you have a Hotmail account, it'll sync to that instead.

John, there are two different sync screens depending on whether your live account is also a Hotmail/Outlook account.

Live accounts do not actually sync anything, because Calendar/Contact/Email sync all relies on having Outlook or Hotmail on your live account.

If that's the case, your sync screen will look like this:

(Note: despite the fact I've called it Hotmail for some reason, it's a live account with an external email address).

If yours is like this, then no syncing has actually taken place - there must be another explanation for the missing contacts.

If it's an Outlook/Hotmail account, you'll get extra options:



Just clear the ticks and it won't sync.

[john11]

Only EAS is supported on Windows Phone for Contacts and Calendar syncs - obviously if you have a Hotmail account, it'll sync to that instead.

John, there are two different sync screens depending on whether your live account is also a Hotmail/Outlook account.

Live accounts do not actually sync anything, because Calendar/Contact/Email sync all relies on having Outlook or Hotmail on your live account.

If that's the case, your sync screen will look like this:

(Note: despite the fact I've called it Hotmail for some reason, it's a live account with an external email address).

If yours is like this, then no syncing has actually taken place - there must be another explanation for the missing contacts.

If it's an Outlook/Hotmail account, you'll get extra options:



Just clear the ticks and it won't sync.

Weird...

The account is what you get when you make an account at www.live.com choosing a .hotmail account, which I assume would be the second option? Since it does have a .hotmail account linked.

But the settings show the first screenshot, only thing to untick/tick is Email.

Its definately synchronising, since mums contacts are in Messenger contacts on the internet, and they are also the numbers that appeared on dads phone, what else could possibly cause that? Sim cards have been in their own phones the whole time, and the problem occured straight after the updates.

Now, what I've read somewhere on the internets is that you cannot switch off syncing on the main account, and that you cannot unlink the account, which to me seems like very bad design. We switched downloading new content to manual, and manually added numbers, and haven't had further problems, but seriously? Why can't I turn off contacts/calendar/tasks synchronising, nor can I customize it (which changes to prefer local/cloud, etc.), and apparently I cannot remove the account either.