One of the most visible changes in
Gmail 2.0 was the new contact manager with better search options and more flexible exporting. You might have noticed that the contacts list doesn't load instantly and that's because Gmail opens
a separate web page in an iframe.
Google has recently updated the stand-alone contacts page by adding a logo and a more prominent search box. Unfortunately, the URL is not user-friendly:
http://mail.google.com/mail/contacts/ui/ContactManager.
The page should be useful if you have a Google account that is not connected to a Gmail address and you would like to access your list of contacts from services like Google Docs or Google Reader.
{ Thanks,
Tony. }
Labels: Google Contacts
Brian said on September 24, 2008 11:38 AM PDT:
Any plans to have an API to sync contacts?
said on September 24, 2008 11:43 AM PDT:
Brian, there is as contacts API:
http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2008/03/google-releases-api-for-contacts.html
Also note that your contacts from Google Health are displayed in a new group "Medical contacts"
said on September 24, 2008 12:14 PM PDT:
Just use this link http://tiny.cc/9MOtC
Although I'm a great fan of Google I must recognize that Google Contacts sucks! They should buy Plaxo or something like that! Google is probably aware that their contact management tool is pretty bad and I assume they are working to improve it A LOT!
Ricciardi said on September 24, 2008 12:43 PM PDT:
Would this work with Google Apps?
said on September 24, 2008 12:45 PM PDT:
"Anonymous said on September 24, 2008 12:14 PM PDT: Just use this link http://tiny.cc/9MOtC"
Oh yeah, that'll really help me. Who could forget http://tiny.cc/9MOtC?
said on September 24, 2008 12:55 PM PDT:
Easy to remember short URL: http://bit.ly/gcontacts.
Google Apps URL: http://mail.google.com/a/YOUR-DOMAIN/contacts/ui/ContactManager
Ricciardi said on September 24, 2008 1:01 PM PDT:
Google Apps URL does not work for me.
Dave said on September 24, 2008 4:14 PM PDT:
Totally off topic: I was warned today while using grandcentral that they will soon be charging for out going calls, it did nit specify when this will begin, but I did have to do a "token" purchase of time (ie just a click of a button but no actual transaction) be interesting to see how Google plans to roll this one out and how successful a paid Google service will be.
ADrian said on September 24, 2008 4:59 PM PDT:
Problem with Google contacts is that as soon as Picasaweb started linking faces to contacts, many peoples' contacts became corrupted or vanished entirely. A contact API is not much use when all my contacts have disappeared!
said on September 24, 2008 6:00 PM PDT:
@Dave
interesting, I just tried making an outbound call from my GC account and did not get that message...
Alenônimo said on September 24, 2008 6:50 PM PDT:
Google Contacts would be an interesting standalone service. Maybe even syncronizable with apps.
NikMan said on September 25, 2008 2:13 AM PDT:
They must create Outlook sync tool that creates group Outlook Contacts and averything clean.
The usability of Google Contacts is sub-optimal.
pulsorock said on September 27, 2008 9:28 AM PDT:
The Google Apps URL is:
http://mail.google.com/a/yourdomain.com/contacts/ui/ContactManager
My main problem with Google Contacts is that it does not use two fields, First Name and Last Name, but just one. Syncing is impossible like this...
Nicholai said on October 11, 2008 2:39 PM PDT:
They have stopped letting us use it.
I guess its back to Gmail
Tyler said on October 28, 2008 10:58 AM PDT:
I base everything around contacts but there is no web based firm in this space with a finished product. Plaxo is crumbling and Google does not seem all that interested. Is there no way to monetize this app? If Google built gmail usability into contacts I could ditch Outlook.
said on November 25, 2008 11:58 AM PDT:
Google G1
Is anyone working on an Outlook sync for this phone ? This is a severe limitation for Business users and keeping our company from buying them.
said on December 14, 2008 12:04 PM PDT:
My big problem with Google Contacts is that if you have more than one Google account, there's no way of having ONE contact list that you can draw from for both. I have a personal account and work/school account, but am often on my school one more, and it's a pain in the ass to have to log out, then into my personal one, just to send a friend of family member a quick note. If I manually move all the info from one account into the other, the two are not synced for long, as new contacts are always added and old info is always changed!!! ARGHHG it drives me nuts.
said on January 4, 2009 4:55 PM PDT:
so we cant use this any more to sync things to an iphone?
Ken said on January 8, 2009 7:20 AM PDT:
I really don't like the contacts editor. Because gmail has for so long auto-added contacts, I'll have several with the same address. It has no way to merge them and if I add "additional" email addresses to an existing contact, it doesn't let me because another contact already has that address.
Also, there's no field for URL. Everyone has a website. Where is the URL?
On my Android g1, I can add custom labels, but I can't in the contacts page. And although contacts seem to integrate with Google Reader, there's no obvious way to do it.
It's just surprisingly bad in a lot of ways.
said on February 4, 2009 10:59 PM PDT:
I wish they would add URLS as multiple fields, just like they do for phone and email. I thought google was with the times. Everyone has a page on facebook, myspace, flickr, picasa, ebay, and COUNTLESS other pages that might be useful. Especially when I sync to my G1, I want a one-click ability to goto my contact's webpage.
A birthday field might be nice that syncs automatically into google calendar.
said on February 9, 2009 1:46 PM PDT:
Well, they've launched Google Sync, but as another poster said last fall, the lack of delineation within Name (at least to FirstName and LastName) makes the synchronisation viability deeply questionable ....
Eraldo said on February 20, 2009 3:10 PM PDT:
Agreed!
The contact manager is surprisingly bad!
Separate "First Name" / "Last Name" fields are a must...
Keyboard shortcuts don't work (e.g. "j=down" "k=up" etc)
I am missing many fields, like: birthday, alias(/nickname) etc
Hope this will change!
Eraldo said on February 20, 2009 3:17 PM PDT:
In case of having multiple email addresses etc for one contact
It would also be nice if one could chose a default!
said on March 4, 2009 6:24 PM PDT:
Would be nice to have intelligence to suggest duplicates to merge. Also would be nice to be able to browse contacts more easily.
said on March 9, 2009 11:26 PM PDT:
google contacts suck.. i lost my contacts upon synch with iphone. do not follow this link http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?answer=138759&topic=14252
the step 6 says apply but there is not a single step that says 'SYNC'. yeah may be you need to be a nerd or geek'sh to go figure. So I did step 6 and did everything on step 7 and then no contacts on iphone.. all hard work lost !! voila.. you are warned !!
said on March 15, 2009 7:08 AM PDT:
To anonymous on March 9 - SAME THING JUST HAPPENED TO ME! 10 years of contacts vanished off my iphone due to following Google's exact instructions to back them up on that page. Thankfully I should have everything up to a year and a half ago archived somewhere, but nevertheless that page is bogus. Don't follow it.
Please add url field to contacts. I can't be that hard, and I want one click access from my g1. I can't believe that a company that indexes web pages doesn't have a field for it in their contacts app.
Is there any way to see contacts in gmail offline?
said on April 2, 2009 1:38 AM PDT:
Url for contact manager is not that complex,
http://www.google.com/contacts/
works for me.
and after selecting several address in the list of manager , i can see the option to merge them.
said on April 6, 2009 3:47 AM PDT:
Google sucks! I can't find anything that i wan't!
said on April 9, 2009 8:32 PM PDT:
This is bad...I'll wait to merge my contacts then. I'll stay with outlook/ical for now.
most of the web sites do a fine job on what they do, but most of the web sites has a lack of comunation with their people that has problems with their web sites,this is important to us because we have to run a bussiness like the web sites and be serious about it,why cant you? This is no joke. If it wasnt for the users of the web sites they wouldnt be making any money or is it only about your money? GET SERIOUS
said on April 26, 2009 9:10 PM PDT:
Google Contacts sucks almost as much as Windows Mail Contacts. I'm desperately searching for a GOOD- as in GOOD!- online addressbook. I'm not finding any. I'm miffed. Google has a great calendar. This is the computer age. Is no one keeping their entire addressbook online for safety?
said on May 1, 2009 6:59 AM PDT:
I agree man... what the hell. It's 2009... how are things still this poorly designed?
jeff said on May 15, 2009 7:54 PM PDT:
I AM TRYIN TO GET A PHONE NUMBER TO TALK TO A LIVE PERSON I DESIGNED MY BLOG AND BOUGHT MY DOMAIN NAME TODAY BUT I WAS TOLD BY GO DADDY THAT BLOGGER WILL HAVE TO BUILD AND HOST THE SITE HOW DO I SPEAK TO A LIVE PERSON
Lieke said on May 28, 2009 12:32 PM PDT:
Google should really step up the game in their Google Contacts, since everything could/should evolve around this app!
Just think of i.e. of PROPER auto-import/sync with all the facebook/hi5/linkedin etc, in which the data is automatically adjusted when someone edits their profile details (address, phonenumbers, photo's etc.)
Just sad to see all types of integration potential wasted.. :(
GOOGLE ARE YOU HEARING US LOUD AND CLEAR?!?!
GOOGLE, please for the sake of our collective sanity, (at a minimum)BUILD A SYNC APP FOR CONTACTS - AS YOU HAVE DONE ALREADY WITH GOOGLE CALENDAR... This will solve all of the outlook syncing problems... I bet your lead designer/programmer could modify the calendar sync in an afternoon at his second home in hawaii - overlooking the beach! Please bring some sense into the Contacts domain...
