Remove all contacts in phone that don't have a phone number

Question

My mother just upgraded from a simple flip phone to a android motorola atrix 2. It's her first smart phone and she is having a very hard time adjusting. She added her email and Facebook accounts onto the phone, as soon as she did so, however, it added all the contact information from both into her phone contacts. She already had the contacts imported in from her last phone and is now dealing with duplicate contacts (such as "Mike Smith and "Micheal Smith"). The worst problem is, she is having a hard time finding a contact that actually has a phone number. She'll search for "Jane Doe" in the phone when trying to call her and only find her email there.

My Questions:

1. Why does the phone (app?) show contacts that don't contain a phone number?
2. How can I delete the duplicates (or merge them)?
3. What is the best way to make this work as smoothly as possible?

Answer 1

Most Phone/Contacts apps list all contacts, from all added accounts by default. There are several system and application options that could resolve this confusion:

1. From the Home screen, press the Menu key and go to Settings -> Accounts & Sync.
2. Under the Manage account section go through each account (by tapping on them,) and verify that the Sync Contacts option is only checked for accounts that you really want to have synchronized with the phone.
3. Open the Phone app and go to the "Contacts" tab. press the Menu button and tap the Display options button.
4. Check the box next to Only contacts with phones option to hide any contacts that don't have a phone number associated with them.
5. Under the Choose contacts to display section, expand any accounts that you've chosen to keep in sync in step 2, and select the groups you wish displayed in the Phone app by marking their check-box.

Keep in mind that some manufacturers have their own versions of Phone and Contacts apps, so the menu choices might be slightly different (or even missing altogether.)

Answer 2

I second Chahk's answer. Also, if you sync your contacts with your Google account, you can easily manage them online, including merging duplicates.

Answer 3

For the original "Questions", I would have added... 4. How do I either HIDE or GET RID OF contacts without phone numbers in the phone app?

Regardless, since this thread was asked and answered, Android Phone app now has different settings. In order to HIDE contacts without phone numbers... Go to the Phone app Click on the menu Select "Settings" Go to "Other call settings" Turn on "Hide contacts without numbers" Voila