Why aren't Gmail "custom" phone number labels shown on WP 8.1 / Outlook / Outlook.com?

[jcwrks]

I just switched from an iPhone 4s to a Lumia 1520. So far the transition has been smooth with one exception. I have a lot of custom names/labels (eg. phone number descriptions) for different phone numbers in my contacts, and those with a custom name do not appear on my phone. Both the iPhone/iCloud and Gmail will allow me to edit the contact field names by selecting custom and typing in the new name, but WP 8.1 only allows mobile/mobile2/home/home2/work/work2/company/pager/home fax/work fax for the number description.

Example: Let's say I had the Gmail web interface up and was editing a single contact for The Bob's. I have four phone numbers where one is work, work fax, a custom name of Slydell, and a custom name of Porter. The contact is updated and displays correctly on the iPhone and on Gmail, but I will not see the two custom names or numbers for The Bob's on the WP 8.1 phone, Outlook, or Outlook.com. In addition they do not even offer a custom option when you add or edit a contact.

As it stands this is a huge inconvenience because I have at least 100 custom names and numbers under various contacts. Is there a fix for this particular issue besides creating a separate contact and linking them?

 

[tamanasi]

Re: Why aren't Gmail "custom" phone number descriptions shown on WP 8.1?

If I am correct you seem to have multiple contacts for a same person in your phone.. In such cases WP provides you an option to link all those contacts into ONE single contact. To link contacts :
1. Go to People
2. Open one of the multiple contacts
3. You will find a link icon at the bottom. Click the icon. You may get suggestions of some contacts or you can search for the desired ones.
4. Choose the contacts to link and you're done.
You will now have a common, single contact which has all the numbers and others details combined together.

Hope this helps

 

[wpfanboy17]

Re: Why aren't Gmail "custom" phone number descriptions shown on WP 8.1?

Yes, I used it (custom labels for phone numbers) a lot in iphone, but don't think we can have something similar in WP

 

[Zahid]

Re: Why aren't Gmail "custom" phone number descriptions shown on WP 8.1?

I don't think that's the question. As I read it, suppose I have one contact with two mobiles, one they use for work and one personal. The OP is asking if there's any way I can set up the phone numbers types to read "Work Mobile" and "Personal Mobile" rather than "Mobile" and "Mobile 2". I would like this feature, too, but I don't think it's available.

 

[jcwrks]

Re: Why aren't Gmail "custom" phone number descriptions shown on WP 8.1?

tamanasi, thanks for mentioning the merge option. I may end up having to go that route.

Zahid is spot on. I guess we can only hope that MS will implement this feature request.