People Hub: How to sync existing Outlook Contacts to Google

[ah06]

I have accounts with Outlook and Google both. I have Outlook and Google contacts on my phone. However only the info of the outlook contacts syncs with outlook and the info of the Google contacts sync with Google. Isn't there a way to cross sync so ALL my contacts sync to both Google AND Outlook.

Other phones seem to be able to do this because contacts on the phone are really primarily your "phone" contacts and so you can choose any service to sync to. However, in WP, the architecture seems to be that contacts directly belong to one of the cloud services and the phone doesn't have its own contacts. When you create a new contact, you are supposed to select "Outlook" or "Gmail".
I'd just like all contacts everywhere.

(To put this another way, if you had 2 Microsoft accounts on the device, say 2 Outlook accounts, I'd like them to sync all contacts to both)

Thanks

 

[markfive]

You are correct in how you describe the WP architecture.

There are ways to achieve something similar to what you want, but they involve consolidating your contacts into one account - there's nothing that stops you from sending email via Gmail using a contact that is stored in your Outlook account.

 

[gbbg]

I realized this when my contacts were copied from G to O. Now when I update any contact on my phone, I have to choose which one I want to update (either G or O) but to do both, I have to manually update on the second account. I wish there was a service where all contacts are synced to and in turn can be used on our People hub.

Also, I saw that Outlook can import contacts from Google. In that case, would updating Outlook contacts on phone sync the changes to the Google account? In that case, we can just work with Outlook contacts and not import G contacts into the phone.

 

[markfive]

Also, I saw that Outlook can import contacts from Google. In that case, would updating Outlook contacts on phone sync the changes to the Google account? In that case, we can just work with Outlook contacts and not import G contacts into the phone.

I have no idea if updates are synced back or not - I would think not, but I could easily be wrong.

I'm curious - why is it important to have the contacts replicated in two places?

 

[jdotcarter]

I don't think they sync back to google in that situation.... A shame really.. I tried to set it all up through outlook.com but couldn't get it quite right
Sent from my HTC6990LVW using Board Express

 

[companionlink]

I have a solution, but it's not free and requires some setup. The key is to synchronize Outlook Contacts with Google Contacts. Once both are synchronized, both sets will show up in People HUB. You'll need a third-party tool like CompanionLink for Google to keep Outlook and Google in sync.

 

[gbbg]

I have no idea if updates are synced back or not - I would think not, but I could easily be wrong.

I'm curious - why is it important to have the contacts replicated in two places?

Well because the phone is not the only place to have contacts. I mail people from Gmail and use GChat regularly. What I need is a solution to have cross-synced contacts on my iPad, Lumia 920 and my mail apps. The good feature of Outlook is the ability to import contacts from Google. But it doesn't let making any changes to it (changes are offered to be saved in Outlook instead).
The duplication occurs when a contact is changed and I can only choose one of them as source to be changed.

What I wish could happen is have Outlook sync changes to Gmail contacts. Or, the best case scenario would be to continue using Gmail contacts as the primary source. Again, with the changes in EAS and what-not coming to Google-Wp8, I don't know how it will work out.

 

[markfive]

Hmm maybe you need something like Gsyncit. I've not used it for a while but it used to be a very reliable way of syncing contacts and calendars between Outlook and Gmail.

 

[Bartdog]

Well because the phone is not the only place to have contacts. I mail people from Gmail and use GChat regularly. What I need is a solution to have cross-synced contacts on my iPad, Lumia 920 and my mail apps. The good feature of Outlook is the ability to import contacts from Google. But it doesn't let making any changes to it (changes are offered to be saved in Outlook instead).
The duplication occurs when a contact is changed and I can only choose one of them as source to be changed.

What I wish could happen is have Outlook sync changes to Gmail contacts. Or, the best case scenario would be to continue using Gmail contacts as the primary source. Again, with the changes in EAS and what-not coming to Google-Wp8, I don't know how it will work out.

So, this question really doesn't have a lot to do with Windows Phone, then.

 

[gbbg]

So, this question really doesn't have a lot to do with Windows Phone, then.

I have a Windows Phone 8 device that is my primary device for contacts. Isn't that enough of a reason?