New Sync after Deleting Contacts

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bordersc
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Mar 26, 2020 5:59 pm

New Sync after Deleting Contacts

Post by bordersc »

Hiya!

LONG TIME user....first time problem maker :D

I am syncing my Galaxy S8 to Thunderbird 68.6.0.

The initial setup and sync went just fine. Selected all of my address books to sync - no issues.

After looking through the contacts on my phone, I realized that there were several contacts that I no longer wanted/needed on my phone. Thinking that I could just delete all contacts on my phone and re-sync to have them re-update from the source seems to have been an erroneous thought. I even tried deleting the source (destination) phone and setting it up again, but that doesn't appear to be working, either.

Can anyone help to clue me in on how to FORCE Birdiesync to re-push my address book to my phone? It is acting (to me) like it already pushed it and won't do it again?

Please help! ... And thanks so much in advance.

Birdy
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Joined: Tue Apr 18, 2006 11:43 am
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Re: New Sync after Deleting Contacts

Post by Birdy »

Hello bordersc,
After looking through the contacts on my phone, I realized that there were several contacts that I no longer wanted/needed on my phone. Thinking that I could just delete all contacts on my phone and re-sync to have them re-update from the source seems to have been an erroneous thought.
The main principle of BirdieSync is that every operation performed on one source is replicated on the other source. So if you delete all your contacts on one source, then the synchronization will remove these contacts in the other sources (by default it displays a warning and asks for confirmation).
I even tried deleting the source (destination) phone and setting it up again, but that doesn't appear to be working, either.
If you removed a source in BirdieSync configuration and created it again, synchronization of all address books in this source should have been reset. So if you correctly selected the address books to be synchronized in this (new) source, contacts should have been transfered from Thunderbird.

There are two ways to reset the synchronization and prevent the unwanted deletions:

Before any operation, I suggest you to backup your data as mentioned in this FAQ topic.

Ensure that the preview of operations before synchronization is enabled: use menu File/Preview options (the option must be checked in blue), or the "Preview operations" icon on the right of the main synchronization progress bar (the button is COLORED if the preview is enabled)

If you use the Assistant:

Caution: This solution will replace ALL the address books that were selected to be synchronized with address books coming from other sources.

- Open BirdieSync Main window (double click on BirdieSync green icon in Windows task bar)
- Open BirdieSync menu "Assistant / Reset synchronization"
- Select the source where all the contacts were deleted
- Select "Contacts"-
- Click "Next"
- Select the second option "Replace <your source name> with contacts from other sources" (second choice)
- Click "Accept"
- Launch synchronization

If you wish to reset synchronization manually:

This solution is suitable if you wish to only reset synchronization and replace contacts in a unique address book.

- Open BirdieSync Main window (double click on BirdieSync green icon in Windows task bar)
- Select "Configuration" view
- Select the source where all the contacts were deleted in "Sources" column
- Select "Contacts" in "Contents" column
- Select the address book where all your contacts were deleted
- Above the address book list, click on the button on the right, with a circular arrow and a point, and select "Replace this address book with address books from other sources"
Caution: This option will remove all contacts in this address book (in this situation it shouldn't matter since this address book should be empty)
- Launch synchronization

You may find more information in BirdieSync Help (menu "Help/Help...") in section "Configuration/Synchronization mode".

Note that It might have been possible to select "Combine" instead of "Replace" if you wished to keep contacts still present on the source where contacts were deleted, but it could possibly lead to duplicates at the end of synchronization.

Always check the upcoming operations in the "Operations preview window". Cancel synchronization if it doesn't suit your needs.

If you still have problems, please build a log archive with BirdieSync menu "Help/Archive logs..." and send BirdieSyncLog.zip to support(at)birdiesync(dot)com so that your configuration is checked.

Thanks.
Birdy

bordersc
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Mar 26, 2020 5:59 pm

Re: New Sync after Deleting Contacts

Post by bordersc »

Just wanted to followup on this, just in case anyone might need it in the future.

Firstly, not having used BirdieSync in awhile, I forgot a lot of what I had learned about the way that it operated. I had set both the source (Thunderbird) and the source (phone) to both read and write. That is what caused the first headache. I hadn't realized that when I submitted the first inquiry.

Lesson #1: Copy all *.mab files from your Thunderbird directory before starting. (ALL files, because, apparently, the history files will recreate address book entries in Thunderbird if they do not match).

Lesson #2: Determine (before you start the first sync - ESPECIALLY if you want to re-push your address book) what the alpha copy of your data is. For me, it's Thunderbird, so my Address Book Permissions are READ ONLY on Thunderbird and Write Only on my source/destination (phone). I may toy with it later to get it to sync both ways - but for now, this will assure that I don't make the same mistake again.

Lesson #3: For the first push after deleting all of your contacts (for a fresh address book push), MAKE SURE that the Address Book Permissions for the source/destination (phone) are WRITE only. This assures that nothing will be overwritten on the source. IF you overwrite the source files, you can fallback on Lesson #1 and copy all of the *.mab files back to the profile directory in Thunderbird.

When it is all over, I have updated contacts on my phone again, and have only lost a few hours of updates to some of my contacts. I have also verified that I can make changes in Thunderbird to my contacts and they do, indeed, push to my phone and update.

Thank you for your help and thank you for BirdieSync. I REALLY don't like putting my contact info up on the cloud, and although this is a slightly more challenging way to get to the same result - I'll be continuing to use it for as long as I can!

Chris

Seeser
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Joined: Mon Apr 06, 2020 11:01 am

Re: New Sync after Deleting Contacts

Post by Seeser »

What do you think might go wrong with the contacts stores in the cloud, Chris?

bordersc
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Mar 26, 2020 5:59 pm

Re: New Sync after Deleting Contacts

Post by bordersc »

Nothing. But I prefer to protect personal data as much as possible. Call it healthy paranoia prevention ;)

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