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I have close to 8000 vcf files in a directory on the usb stick. I attach the stick to my phone and all files are perfectly visible. In the contacts app I choose import, select the stick, and it shows me all the contacts, so I choose "import all".

Unfortunately only first few dozens get imported.

Apparently Android v4 had the same problem as the following question explains: Transfer and import .VCF Contacts

It seems to me unlikely that so obvious contact app error remains unfixed for years.

How to make the contact app import all of them?

Please note that some of the contacts (actually quite few of them) are fairly complex with a lot of data - such as for example multiple, long "note" fields, multiple phone numbers with different attributes, sometimes custom-defined, very long company name fields, multiple addresses (private / business / branch office list, etc.) and so on.

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  • Possible duplicate of Transfer and import .VCF Contacts
    – Gokul NC
    Jul 15, 2017 at 19:13
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    Looks like Google does not care about quality and leaves this bug unfixed. I am highly disappointed how low quality Android is compared to Symbian.
    – Pawel Debski
    Jul 15, 2017 at 19:36
  • Android exports all contacts in on single VCF; probably they never thought they'd have to deal with that many standalone files, and with other OSes virtually out of competition, I doubt that would change... Sympathies. I'm thinking if there are PC softwares that would merge those VCFs...
    – Andy Yan
    Jul 16, 2017 at 1:55
  • This app claims to deal with vcf , see if that helps play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=by.androld.contactsvcf
    – beeshyams
    Jul 16, 2017 at 5:32
  • Or this play.google.com/store/apps/…. If these don't help, search on Play store
    – beeshyams
    Jul 16, 2017 at 5:35

1 Answer 1

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Unfortunately most of the apps I tried expected one large VCF file and/or rejected VCF files with a lot of additional information, such as multiple "note" fields for one contact, too long "company" field, multiple phones with various attributes (primary/private mobile/business mobile/etc.) and so on.

After some searching and trying a few apps I found the following solution:

  1. I have imported the VCF files to old Nokia Symbian based phone - Symbian has excellent VCF importer.

  2. I used this app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.madajevi.android.phonebook.transfer to transfer the contacts directly via bluetooth.

App advantages:

  • imports all contacts, even the most complex ones without skipping user defined attributes nor multiple repeated fields

App disadvantages:

  • very slow (it took the whole night to transfer nearly 8000 contacts)

  • asks for strange, unnecessary permissions (I kept refusing, forgot exactly which ones)

  • synchronizes NOT with the local address book but with Google Contacts which means that your contacts actually are seen on the Internet - important security breach, do NOT use the app for confidential data

  • full-screen user interface with no exit button - after finish you need to kill the app via task manager

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  • Please be kind. Expletives are not allowed on Stack Exchange. I removed it for you.
    – iBug
    Aug 3, 2017 at 17:18
  • I would not call it "expletive" but rather "emphatic speech", but ok, let it be
    – Pawel Debski
    Aug 3, 2017 at 17:21
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    You can use less abusive words such as "Who on earth" instead of "Who the hell", which will not be recognized as expletive, despite the fact that it'll very likely be removed by mods for the same reason.
    – iBug
    Aug 3, 2017 at 17:24
  • You're perfectly right. My apologies.
    – Pawel Debski
    Nov 20, 2020 at 20:03

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