S3 mini not syncing with Google

[djs1970]

Hi

My wife has a Samsung S3 mini and nothing appears to be syncing with Google. No contacts, no calender etc. The phone says it has synced, but when I check on the PC there is nothing there! This problem has only just become apparent as she upgraded to an S4 and nothing came across from Google!

All settings appear corrcet as I have checked them against my S3.

Any ideas?

[drey_p]

Hi there

The quickest way to move things across from the S3 Mini onto the S4 would be to download an App call SmartSwitch.  It is made by Samsung and is really easy to use.  Just install onto both devices and follow the instructions to move everything across.

As to why stuff isn't being backed up to Google, have you enabled the setting on the phone?  Are the contacts themselves set up as Google contacts or are they phone contacts?

[hrym]

Sorry, slightly confused here.  Is it the S3 mini or the S4 that's not syncing?  Is there anything at all on your Google account (when you look at it on a pc)?  I sort of assume you're talking about new stuff and that the old stuff is still there, but am I right?

The first thing to do would be to go into Settings and tap on Google under Accounts.  Make sure everything you want to to sync is ticked.  if it is, untick it and re-tick it.  Does that kick-start it?  Force a sync if necessary.

The other thing you could try is removing the account and adding it back again.   Obviously, unsync'd info will be lost in this process, so a bit of work will be needed.  You can export your contacts from within the Contacts app and I'd email the resulting vcard file to yourself and then save it onto a pc.  Calendar entries will have to be done manually, as far as I know.  When you add the account back, simply import the contacts from the vcard file.  If Google has sync'd, there may be some clashes and duplication, so watch out for that.  the main thing is not to lose them altogether.

[djs1970]

The S3 mini isn't syncing. S4 says it is, but nothing on Google.

[hrym]

I think your best option is to remove the Google account and add it back again.  It's odd that it's failing on both devices, which rather suggests an issue with Google, assuming you have a working data connection - are other apps working OK?

[djs1970]

I fixed the calendar not syncing. This was caused by the s planner being set to 'my calender' and not the Google account. Still trying to sort the contacts. Unsure if contacts are on phone or sim. Would this make a difference as to whether it will sync to Google?

[Retired-Matt_B]

Hi djs1970,

The contacts would need to have been synced with Google previously.

The easiest way to check if this is this case, is to login to your Google account on the Google Contacts website.

If the contacts are on Google's servers, you'll see them listed on the webpage. If none appear, then they won't be and you'll need to readd them manually.

Thanks,

Matt B

[djs1970]

Looks like original phone S3 mini never synced with Google, although the phone said it had. One thing I have noticed is the contacts would appear saved to the phone. Would they sync if saved to sim?

[drey_p]

I wouldn't recommend transferring your contacts to the SIM card.  The reason for this is that the SIM card storage capacity is very limited.  Longer names will get truncated and if you have multiple numbers for contacts, not all of them will move across.

Out of curiosity, when you into a contact, does it show that it is linked to Google?

[djs1970]

Just a phone symbol under connection. My S3 has a g. How do I change the phone symbol to a g?