Google and Gmail devotees regularly deal with duplicate contacts, sync abnormalities, over-stuffed contact groups, and other problems.

Here are our best methods for fixing those annoyances yourself until Google does for real.

Advertisement What the Gmail Team Is Working On Developers and product managers from the Gmail team hosted a jam-packed panel at SXSW Interactive Read more Photo by sidewalk flying.

Lets be clear: We love how Google Contacts functions as a centralized database of email addresses, phone numbers, birthdays, mailing addresses, IM handles, and much more for our various Google services.

Our readers generally dig it, too, though not without complaints about its sometimes unpredictable nature.

What Im aiming to do in this post is detail how Google Contacts works (its probably not how youd expect), explain some fixes for common Contacts annoyances, help you clean up and organize your Contacts, and point out the proper way to sync Google Contacts to your various devices.

Your contact list is growing larger every day, and so are the number of email addresses, instant Read more How Google Contacts Works You dont actually need a Gmail account to use Google Contacts, but Gmail is normally where most users start using Contacts.

If you use nearly any kind of Google service, Google has probably set up a Contacts section for you, which you can visit at google.comcontacts and start tinkering with.

GO Media may get a commission Kids Ultra Stretch Denim Slim Fit Pants Buy for 15 from Uniqlo If youre using Google Apps with a particular domain, your Contacts page can usually be found at google.comcontactsasitename.com, replacing sitename.com with your own organizations URL.

Google Contacts acts a bit differently inside an Apps account, and can cause some stress when used alongside a personal Gmail accountbut well get to that in a bit.

Take some time to get familiar with the web interface, and learn what you can and cant do in it.

It is always, always the primary place to fix problems and negotiate sync issues with your various apps and devicesmake a change here, and its the only way to ensure it will (probably) stick.

Googles Help section for Contacts doesnt get nearly nitty-gritty enough, but a read-through does provide a few pointers.

The most helpful explainer is about Default contact groups, which really explains the five contact groups that you cant delete, rename, or change, and the one contact group that drives a lot of office app veterans nuts: All Contacts: Just what it sounds likethis is a list of everyone youve composed an email to, or replied to, from this GoogleGmail account.

You dont have a lot of say in the matter as to who goes into All Contacts, but if it ever feels like just too much information stashed away about your email, there are nuclear options, detailed below in Fixes.

My Contacts: Google automatically populates this group, and you cant delete it or manage who automatically goes into it, though you can manually add or remove individuals from it, as noted below.

Contacts in this group tend to rank higher in Gmails auto-completing address function, and in other Google apps, whenever you start typing.

Your Friends, Family, and Coworkers: Default groups, created by Google, and you cant delete them.

If Google Contacts was very, very smart about which contacts it created, which contacts it let into My Contacts, and how it syncs up and eliminates duplications between all your accounts, desktop apps, and devices that can access it, this would be the end of this post.

We soldier on, though, because there are many other points to discuss.

Any group you create on your own: Create your own group, and Google wont automatically shove people or fake namesnumbers into it, and if youve got the right kind of phone or syncing app, you can make that your primary People I Actually Correspond With list.

Highly recommended.

Advertisement Well get to the fixes and tweaks first, and then list some syncing tools that might help you connect Google Contacts in a better way to all your communication outlets.

Fixes Advertisement Remove contacts from My Contacts: My Contacts should only contain people who you would actually email, on your own, to update, ask something of, or chat real friendly-like.

It can, occasionally, get cluttered up with people you might have had one lengthy exchange with, but never plan to email againa Craigslist buyer, perhaps.

Google Contacts For Mac