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Groups

Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2017 4:51 pm
by pewe
I have all my contacts allocated to 'categories' in one addressbook in Thunderbird.
Categories called 'Groups' in Android.

How do I synchronise them between the two so that the category is stored.

Re: Groups

Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2017 6:16 pm
by Birdy
Hello pewe,

When you talk about "categories" for contacts in Thunderbird, do you mean the "Category" fields which is not available by default in Thunderbird user interface ? Do you use a specific add-on to access to this field for each contact ?
Thanks.

Re: Groups

Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2017 4:08 pm
by pewe
Hi.

Sorry for the delayed response, but I never received notification of your reply.

I am talking about categories which, as you say, are not used by default in TB. I access them using a plugin called CardBook -https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunde ... /cardbook/

Re: Groups

Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2017 6:31 pm
by Birdy
I'm not familiar with the add-on you mention. If it writes to the usual contact category field in Thunderbird local database and doesn't have its own way of storing contacts or contact category, then the following may apply:

Usually if you want to synchronize Thunderbird categories to Android, it is necessary to select the "account" virtual address book mode. That means that each account on Android will represent an address book. This way, a contact belonging to a specific account/address book on Android can belong to several contact groups. By contrast, if you select the "group" virtual address book mode, it means that each group on Android will represent an address book. In this case, a contact belonging to a specific group/address book on Android can belong to only one unique contact group.

To select the "account" virtual address book mode:

- In BirdieSync main window on your PC, select Configuration view
- Select your Android source in "Sources" column
- Select Contacts in "Contents" column
- Above the address book list, click on the gear button on the left to open the "Address book" configuration window
- Select "Each contact account represents an address book"
- Press OK to save the configuration

Now you should have one address book per Android account, that you can synchronize with Thunderbird.
If you want to synchronize a unique account on Android, then you can only synchronize it with a unique address book in Thunderbird.

Note also that instead of using Thunderbird categories, you may prefer to create different address books in Thunderbird and synchronize them with Android contact groups, using the "group" virtual address book mode.

As usual before making any change, it is recommended to backup your data as mentioned in this faq entry

Re: Groups

Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2017 10:57 pm
by pewe
Thanks for the detailed response Birdy.

I am away for a couple of weeks now, so will look at this further on my return and come back if I have any issues or further questions.

Thanks again.