Smart dialing shows all names multiple times

[tmjp]

I have a problem with the smart dial function showing the same names multiple times. All the names (that qualify in any conceivable way, either by numbers or letters) seem to be always listed at least twice, sometimes some are listed three times. (I think I once saw some name four times, but can't reproduce that now.) This is very annoying, as the dialpad already takes up most of the screen (which IMHO it should not). Tapping 8, for example, I only see a friend's name thrice, with another friend's name twice, when I turn the phone to horizontal. So two names take up five slots. This is unacceptable to me.

I suspect this may in part be caused by my having some names in one or more (local) groups and in the favourites. It seems that if a name is listed in all these tabs in the address book, it will appear three times. But sometimes it will appear three times even without being listed in all three tabs. I'm absolutely amazed at the fact that this is happening.

I was actually able to find ONE contact that only appeared once. It seems that she is not listed in my whatsapp contacts or in the google account contacts. So perhaps the smart dial lists all names from as many accounts as possible, which is completely dumb. I have also linked all contacts. In my opinion that should reduce the number of hits in smart dial, right?

I have no idea what to do here, so I really hope someone can solve this. Thanks.

[NeoBeum]

Droid contacts will appear as seperate entries if they are located on different accounts on your phone and not linked.

Facebook, skype, multiple email addresses'

If you have a preferred address book, you can disable the others by going to the 'Filters' option in your contacts book.

EDIT - I didn't read your post properly and you've already said that you have linked the contacts... my bad.

Have you tried using filters?

[tmjp]

I do use filtering (only have check marks in "local contacts", none in either whatsapp or google). I have also linked all contacts. Still the problem persists.

Is it possible that some names show multiple times because they are linked and I have filtered out all but one address book?

Edit: I enabled whatsapp contacts, and there's no apparent change in the behaviour. So filtering doesn't seem to help here.

Edit 2: So, I enabled all available address books in Filtering, and then ran the link search. It gave a mass of results, and I linked all of them. I think it only made it worse: now even the single contact that previously only appeared once appears thrice. I disabled all but the local address book, but that had zero effect, she still appears thrice.

[NeoBeum]

Disable every contact list at the moment, and turn an account on one by one.

Clear the cache, restart, then enable your phone's google account, then check the dialling names.

Enable another account, and see what happens.

**Edit: Also, check the settings for each account but access them through the Email app, and then check the Sync settings there

[tmjp]

Disabling all contact lists left me with my own number and curiously enough one additional number, that I've not even called on the phone. I have no idea why it should be listed when all contact lists are disabled. Dialing did not suggest any names, so far so good. After enabling even one (whichever) contact list, I again had the double and triple suggestions.

I cleared the cache (from "contacts" and all three "phone" instances in the application list), and restarted. Now, for some reason, some names which previously were listed three times are only listed twice. Others are still listed three times, even the one contact which at some point only appeared once.

I've tried to look into why on earth there should be one contact listed even without having any contact lists enabled, but I have no clue. I don't know if it has something to do with the fact that the person has two phone numbers, since that's the only thing different from anyone else that I can think of. Edit: Well, there's another thing different: I cannot edit that contact at all. Tapping on it and then the ... the only option there is "share". What the **bleep**?

[NeoBeum]

I think I've replicated your problem. Is this it ?

[tmjp]

If only I could see something other than a yellow triangle in that image....

[NeoBeum]

One of the mods should be online, they should approve the image soon

gimme a sec, i'll link an external

http://i.imgur.com/Cb7l109.png

[tmjp]

Yes, that looks pretty much like my screen. So how did you manage to produce that? And better yet, how to fix it...

[NeoBeum]

This will be out of my control, because it's how the Dialler app has been programmed.

I know what you're after. You're after all thoses names to be as one entry - for the case in the example, you want Multiple LocalTest to show up as one name, and Multiple NameTest to show up as one name, with a total of 2 names being displayed on your screen right?
Then to access the individual fields inside each entry, you click on the name, and then you choose either, home, work or other

EDIT: You could get another dialling app, but that's a crummy solution