Text: Sergey Chernov

Even if you bought the most modern phone or PDA with a full-fledged organizer, this does not mean that your contacts and plans for the day will always be with you. The online organizers discussed in this article will help you avoid problems with losing necessary information or accessing it.

Online organizers allow you to synchronize your phone with an online information system and view personal data from anywhere in the world where there is Internet access. For most users, the main function of the online organizer is to create another, easily updated copy of the data “just in case.”

Each of us usually keeps an address book with all contacts in a mobile phone, PDA or laptop - in the device that is always at hand. But the fact that contacts are always with you does not fully guarantee constant access to them, regardless of the circumstances.

There are two risks, and they are completely uncontrollable. Firstly, the battery is discharged and there is no way to charge it. At the same time, even if there is an alternative means of communication nearby, you will have to sit and bite your elbows - after all, all contacts are no longer available. True, you can carry a spare battery with you.

The second trouble is failures that can lead to data loss, and any electronic devices. Of course, failure is not a problem if you are used to making backups periodically. However, between the loss of data and its recovery, as a rule, some time passes, which depends on the location where the accident occurred.

For example, if your PDA or laptop breaks down while on vacation, you are unlikely to gain access to your organizer before it ends and may lose contact with important people. Online organizers help to avoid such problems.

In total, three classes of such organizers can be distinguished. The first ones are mainly focused on working with “desktop” systems. This is the most universal option, suitable for owners of all types of devices - from mobile phones to regular PCs.

The second class of organizers is optimized for mobile devices that support special synchronization protocols. They eliminate the intermediary role of the PC in downloading the address book and calendar on the Internet and are optimal for phones, smartphones and PDAs.

Finally, there are organizers that store data only online, without syncing with your desktop or mobile device. They can be useful for those who spend most of their time on the Internet and do not need an address book on their desktop computer.

One of the services of the search and information portal Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com) - a full-fledged Yahoo! Address and calendar Yahoo! Calendar. The main difference between Yahoo! from other similar systems - free utility data synchronization with desktop and pocket PCs Intellisync for Yahoo! (IS4Yahoo!). This allows us to attribute Yahoo! to the first type of online organizers described above.

To get started, you need to register on the Yahoo! at http://www.yahoo.com. Registration is free and does not require much time. After this you can contact online versions address book and calendar at http://address.yahoo.com and http://calendar.yahoo.com or by clicking on the appropriate links to home page portal.

How to set up this organizer, read in the inset on the left.

The disadvantages of the system are mainly due to localization. Although Yahoo! displays Russian characters; the online address book does not have bookmarks with letters of the Russian alphabet for quickly searching for contacts.

In addition, the letter "I" Yahoo! replaces with the "&" symbol, which can subsequently lead to duplication of entries in organizers.

Advantages:
— A complete organizer;
— Synchronization with desktop PCs;
— Direct synchronization with PDA;
— Distribution of notifications by e-mail;
— Free mobile access;
— Wide range of additional services.

Flaws:
— Incomplete support for the Cyrillic alphabet;
- No automatic synchronization data;
— English-language interface.

The Plaxo online organizer (http://www.plaxo.com) largely replicates Yahoo!, a first-class system, but specializes specifically in storing personal data. It offers two service options - paid and free.

For constant access to your contacts and data synchronization, all you need is free version service. You will have to pay for additional features, such as deleting duplicate records or accessing data via WAP.

One of the most attractive features of Plaxo is the automatic updating and filling of contact information for users registered in the system.

For example, if you make changes to your own address information, the changes will automatically be made to your friends' address books. Likewise, if your friends change their phone numbers and addresses, they will replace the old ones in your address book. Thus, contacts are kept up to date at all times without the participation of the owner.

Otherwise, Plaxo is a full-fledged online organizer with contacts, calendar, to-do list and notes.

Getting started with the service requires a simple registration on the Plaxo server (http://www.plaxo.com) - here you need to indicate your name, password, address Email and the answer to the question to recover your lost password.

In the future, to enter your own online organizer, click on the Sign In button on the Plaxo home page.

Once registered, Plaxo provides the ability to import data from a variety of online systems, including Yahoo!, MSN Hotmail, and popular desktop organizers.

You can skip this step if you use MS Outlook, Yahoo! or Mozilla Thunderbird. For them, “desktop” synchronization utilities are provided, which can be downloaded in the Downloads section (http://www.plaxo.com/downloads).

For example, the synchronization client for MS Outlook is closely integrated into the organizer and, each time it is launched, checks the relevance of the information, making the necessary changes to the online and desktop version data. The synchronization procedure can also be started manually - to do this, select the Sync Now command by clicking on the Plaxo button in the new Outlook toolbar.

Download and install on your desktop PC the required version utilities for quick data exchange with the Plaxo online organizer.

Plaxo also offers import and export of information in CSV format for sharing with different versions desktop software if automatic synchronization is not supported.

Synchronization with mobile devices, as in the case of Yahoo!, is two-stage. You must first sync your phone or PDA with the desktop organizer, and then sync the organizer with Plaxo.

To restore data, these steps are performed in reverse order.

Unlike Yahoo! Plaxo correctly displays all Cyrillic characters, although it does not have bookmarks with the Russian alphabet for quickly searching for contacts.

Advantages:
— Cyrillic alphabet support;
— Automatic synchronization with desktop organizers;
— Automatic update contact details.

Flaws:
— Paid mobile access;
— No calendar notifications by e-mail;
— English-language interface.

The free mail service Mail.Ru (http://www.mail.ru) relatively recently supplemented its main activity with an online organizer. Mail.Ru offers only basic features and two sections - Addresses and Diary for storing contact information and to-do lists.

One of the biggest disadvantages of an organizer is that it is a “thing in itself”. Aimed primarily at online users, it does not sync with desktop organizers and mobile devices.

In our classification, this is a third class system.

At the same time, the Diary sends notifications about upcoming activities by email, which is very convenient.

Advantages
— Full support for the Cyrillic alphabet;
— Russian-language interface;
— Calendar notifications by e-mail.

Flaws:
- No synchronization.

The Second Memory service (http://www.2memory.ru), using Tactel AB technologies, is aimed at owners of mobile devices with the SyncML synchronization protocol.

The SyncML protocol, developed and supported by the Open Mobile Alliance, is designed for simple and convenient remote synchronization of organizer data and is optimized for use on phones. It is this specificity that allows synchronization to be carried out anywhere in the cellular network service area if the phone supports SyncML. To do this, the GPRS-WAP data service must also be activated.

Despite the ability to access contacts via the Internet, Second Memory is not an organizer in the full sense of the word. Rather, it is a data backup and recovery tool for mobile phones.

One of the most interesting applications of Second Memory is the rapid transfer of contact data when changing from one handset to another.

According to the classification described above, “Second Memory” is a second-class system.

The basis for “Second Memory” was the once free service mobical.net (http://www.mobical.net).

But, since in Russia the service has turned into a commercial one, this moment It is not possible to register a free account in this service.

This is especially unpleasant in light of the fact that Second Memory is now available exclusively to Mobile TeleSystems subscribers. Other operators cellular communications have not yet joined the service.

The monthly subscription fee for using Second Memory is $3 excluding taxes. If you are an MTS subscriber and don’t mind this amount, and your phone supports SyncML and is configured to work with GPRS-WAP, then you can try the system in action. The subscription fee will be automatically debited from your account at the time of SMS activation of the service.

Advantages:
— Direct synchronization with mobile phones.

Flaws:
— Limited compatibility;
— Limited number of telecom operators - partners;
- Only paid services.

In conclusion, it remains to be noted that online organizers not only provide convenient access to important personal data, but also act as a backup in case of malfunction of a desktop PC or mobile device. They, of course, do not eliminate the need for independent backup data, but significantly increase the overall reliability of the contact information storage system.

IN Lately More and more often in my Facebook feed I see posts with the following content:

“The phone was broken/lost/stolen/zatopeelo. Please write your phone numbers in the comments - I need to restore my address book.”

Friends. Please remember one simple rule: losing contacts in 2015 because your phone is broken/lost is a shame. How to lose important documents due to getting caught HDD on the computer.

Ashamed. This is the first thing you must understand. If a similar situation happened in your life (not in the sense that something happened to your phone, but in the sense that you lost your contacts), then you are doing something wrong. Such a tragedy as the loss of some important data should not exist at all in our time.

How to be? I'll tell you now. Although, it seems, I have already told you, but repetition is the mother of learning.

So, absolutely all modern smartphones have a special skill. Thus, which will allow you to never lose your contacts. For example, I haven’t lost my contacts since about 2005, although during this time probably about a hundred have passed through my hands various phones. iPhones, Android smartphones, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Windows Mobile(who else remembers this), MeeGo (many have never heard of this beast), Symbian. As soon as new phone falls into my hands, I just need to connect it to the Internet, and in 5 minutes all my contacts are already there. And I never lose them - it’s impossible to lose them because the phone itself no longer plays a role here. I had buggy and “engineering” and all sorts of different phones. They even broke down, sometimes, but the contacts are always with me, my address book has been gradually updated since 2005, and entries in it disappear only at my request - if I delete them myself.

How?

The answer is simple: synchronization with Google. And wait, don't close this post if you think it's difficult. It's easier than steamed turnips. It's easier than calling grandma. It's easier than sending an SMS to a friend. It's easier than posting a selfie on Instagram. And, most importantly, it’s a shame not to do this.

Of course, not only Google servers can store contacts. Windows Phone will offer you its Outlook cloud service for this, iPhone - iCloud, but I recommend Google because absolutely all smartphones work with Google, by default, without crutches, “out of the box”, with basic settings.

All you need to never lose your contacts is to create a Google account. if you have GMail mail- this means you already have a Google account. If you have a YouTube account, then you have a Google account.

Android

If you have Android, congratulations, you already have everything you need to never lose your contacts. To be honest, I don’t understand why Android users in my Facebook feed most often ask for phone numbers in the comments. This is illogical.

Why? Yes, because you cannot fully use an Android smartphone if you do not have a Google account. In order to download even free application from the Google Play Store you need a Google account. Actually, Google account information is the first thing that will ask you to enter the phone after the very first turn on. And if you don’t have an account, it will offer to create one. Of course, you can skip this step; theoretically, you can even use an Android smartphone without having a Google account. But then why have a smartphone at all, if you can’t even download and install the app properly? (It’s not humanly possible, but we won’t talk about that). However, if you skipped a step accidentally or intentionally (for example, you didn’t have the Internet at hand, and without the Internet authorization will not work), you can force it: “Settings” - “Accounts” or “Settings” - “Add account” - “ Google."

So, the account information is your login and password. At the same time, the login is an email address, which in most cases ends in “@gmail.com”. For example, my Google email address and, in combination, Google account login - [email protected]. Well, I won’t tell you the password - it’s just gimmicks.

So here it is. When you “feed” your Google account data to your Android smartphone, Android automatically turns on synchronization of your data: contacts, mail, calendar, photos, and much more. There’s even Google+, but you can turn off the extra stuff later if it’s disgusting to you for religious reasons.

From the moment you connect your Google account, all your contacts on your Android smartphone will be synchronized with the Google server. You can easily check this by logging into Google mail from any browser on your computer and going to the “Contacts” page.

Some smartphones, however, allow you to store contacts only on your phone even if you have a Google account configured. But you need to turn it on manually and also find where to turn it on.

iPhone

If you have an iPhone, then a Google account is not required for you (an Apple ID is already required here), but, nevertheless, with Google synchronization, iPhones work no worse than Androids. Moreover, you may not have an Apple ID, but you can still set up Google synchronization. It’s just that the phone itself won’t offer you this - you need to go to “Settings”, select “Mail, addresses, calendars”, click “Add account” and select the “Google” logo.

Well, then - select the elements to synchronize. By default, all are selected - pay attention to "Contacts", they should be enabled. If the rest is not needed, you can turn it off.

If you have several accounts, you can select the one that will be used by default. In the “Mail, Addresses, Calendars” settings, scroll down a little and find the “Standard account” setting in the “Contacts” section. Select the one you created to sync with Google.

OK it's all over Now

You have everything set up and you don’t have to worry about breaking/losing your phone. No, of course, you shouldn’t lose or break phones - they’re not that cheap. But now if, God forbid, something happens to your device, or you just want to buy a new one, it will be enough to do the steps described above.

What if...?

Well yes, there is one more thing. Purely theoretically, your contacts could disappear from Google’s database because some “evil virus” will delete them from your phone, and Google will decide that you deleted them deliberately and will clean out your address book. This is a very unlikely scenario for the development of events, but there is control over it.

We go to edit Google contacts, if the “Yet” item is not opened, open it, and the item “Restore contacts” appears to our attention. True, it is only available in the new Google Contacts interface, but you can switch to it from the old one by clicking the “Try Contacts Preview” button at the bottom.

Important Additions

Oh yes. If you lose your phone or have it stolen, take the trouble to change your Google account password. The best way to do this is through the website:
Well, accordingly, remember New Password and when creating an account, enter it exactly.

Well, when you sell your old phone, at a minimum, delete all your accounts. Better yet, do it full reset. On Android this is done like this: “Settings” - “Backup and reset” - “Reset settings” - select the checkboxes, if any - “Reset phone settings” or “Reset” or “OK” or whatever the button is called.

On iPhone - “Settings” - “General” - (at the very bottom) “Reset” - “Reset content and settings”.

No smartphone at the moment can fully guarantee stable and correct operation, as well as 100% safety of all data in the phone’s memory or SD card. Quite often, users encounter problems when the contact sheet is partially or completely removed and reset when returning to factory settings. And if the same photographs can be partially found in in social networks in your profile, then with contacts everything is more difficult!

But don’t despair, because there is a way out of this situation, and you can choose from several options, which we will talk about in this material. So, how to restore contacts on your Android and what is needed for this?

Overview of possible methods

The Android operating system has a built-in module that allows you to restore contacts from the cloud; there are also specialized programs for Windows that can be used to “return” not only contacts, but also any other data. We will describe each method in detail so that you have fewer questions when performing the described actions.

Here is the list possible ways recovery:

1. Restore via phone settings
2. Recovery with EaseUS Mobisaver for Android
3. Recovery with Android Data Recovery
4. Recovery Super program Backup Pro

It’s worth noting right away that contact recovery can be done not only in the event of a phone glitch or unexpected formatting. Very often, users reset the settings to factory settings, but forget that contacts are also deleted, because the phone is completely returned to its original state with clean memory and standard applications.

Recovering contacts using phone settings

Android, as mentioned earlier, provides an automatic data synchronization function, thanks to which your contacts are saved in cloud storage under the account. Even if you delete all data from your phone, your contacts can be restored. But this is provided that a backup was created by the system!

1. Take your phone and open the Contacts tab.
2. Next, select “More actions” and click “Restore contacts”.
3. Next, you will need to indicate the approximate time when the copy of the data was created. For example, it could be half an hour ago, a day, a week, a month, and so on.
4. Confirm the operation and select the location where the copy will be restored.

You can also restore via Google on the official website. To do this you need:

1. Log in to contacts.google.com
2. Select the “More” tab and save the file to your computer.
3. Then connect your mobile phone, send this file and in the smartphone settings specify the path to it during recovery.

Restoring contacts using EaseUS Mobisaver for Android

With this utility you can recover not only contacts, but also any other data from your phone. Download the installation file from the official portal of the company easeus.com (provided free of charge) and install on your computer. Attention! The interface is in a foreign language, however, this does not complicate the process much.

To use this software you must have root rights on your phone. Also, additionally enable the “For Developer” mode, which is located in the “Settings” item.

1. Connect the device via USB, allow access (usually requested 2 times for different actions).
2. Open the program on your computer's desktop.
3. Click the Start button in the utility window and wait until the file search is completed. The system automatically divides them into types.
4. To quickly access your contacts, click the Contacts tab on the left side of the window. Check necessary files or data and click the Recover button.

Restoring contacts using the Android Data Recovery application

The recovery process in this utility is similar to that described above. What exactly to choose is up to you. Let us immediately note that this program paid, but the free version is enough to recover contacts, messages, in general, everything except multimedia.

1. Download the installation file from the official website and install on your computer. As in the first case, you will need to enable debugging mode on your device. To do this, go to “Settings” and activate the “For Developer” mode.
2. Now connect your mobile phone to the computer and allow access in the notification window that appears.
3. Launch the program and select the file types you need to recover. IN in this case this is Contacts.
4. Click Next and wait for the program to complete the operation.

All contacts will be restored and shown in the general list in the program window. You can view each (name, phone, etc.).

If we compare both utilities, then in our opinion Android Data Recovery is much more convenient, because it allows you to specify data types in advance.

Restoring contacts on Android using Super Backup Pro

Don't have access to a computer to use the programs described above? Even in this situation, there is a way out - installing the Super Backup Pro application on your smartphone!

The only disadvantage of this application is that it restores previously created copies! This is an alternative to the standard Android copy service!

1. Install the program on your smartphone and launch. By the way, root rights are not required for it.
2. Here you will need to select the data type tab. In this case, you select “Contacts”.
3. To restore, click “Restore Contacts”. If you are creating another backup copy, then select the “Make backup” item. When restoring, the user can choose one of several copies made earlier. A separate folder is created on the SD card for storage, so all data can be copied to another phone or computer without any problems.

conclusions

In general, the process of restoring contacts is not difficult, especially for those who have access to a computer. Don’t forget to make regular backups and synchronize your data in Google services so that you can restore it or transfer it to another device at any time if you sell your phone or buy a new one.

Topic description

One of the most difficult questions that owners of smartphones or tablets have is how not to lose contacts if the device is stolen, breaks, or wants to be replaced. We have prepared instructions that will help you save your contacts so that you don’t have to think about it anymore.1. Create a Google accountIf you already have an account, you know the login and password, proceed to the second step.1) Open the device menu.2) Select the “Settings” item.3) Select the “Cloud and Accounts" If there is no such item, proceed to the next step.4) Select “Accounts.”5) Select “Add an account.”6) Select “Google.”7) Select “Or create a new account.”8) Select “Or create a new account.”8) Write your first and last name and click “Next”. 9) Enter your date of birth and gender, click “Next”. 10) Create a username (login): a unique combination of English letters and numbers without spaces. It is better to use several numbers as a username mobile phone and the first letter of the name - easy to dictate and remember. Write the user name and click "Next". If someone is already using the same username, an error will appear. In this case, add or delete a couple of characters and try again.11) After logging in, create a password: a combination of English letters, numbers and special characters. A strong password contains at least 12 characters: Zx34_29vdPCW. Enter your password twice and click Next. Be sure to write down your username and password. If you forget them, you will lose all contacts.12) You will be prompted to link your account to a phone number. Click Skip.13) The next screen will display your account terms and conditions. Scroll down and click “I Accept”.14) Click “Next”.15) Select “No, thanks” and click “Continue”.16) Done, account added.2. Transfer contacts to your Google account At this stage, we will transfer all the contacts that are on the device to your Google account. Contacts from the device memory will be transferred to your account. If you have contacts on a SIM card, first copy them to the device memory, and then transfer them to your account.1) Open the Contacts application. It is “Contacts”, not “Phone”. 2) Click the “Options” button (may look like three dots at the top right). 3) Select “Manage Contacts”. If there is no such item, select “Settings”. 4) Select “Contacts”. If there is no such item, go to the next step. 5) Select "Move Contacts" or "Move Contacts". If there is no such item, return to step No. 1 and select “Contacts” and not “Phone”. 6) Select the account that you created. 7) Contacts will be transferred to the account. 3. Set up saving new contacts to your Google account1) Open the Contacts application.2) Click “Create contact”.3) Select your account as the storage location for the contact. Now create any contact and save it.4) Done. Now all your contacts are stored in the account, and all new contacts will also be saved in it. How can you make sure that the contacts are stored in the account?1) Open this link from your computer: https://contacts.google.com/2) Enter the name user and click Next3) Enter the password and click Next.4) A list of contacts will appear. You can also create and edit contacts directly on your computer, all changes on mobile device will appear automatically. How to transfer contacts to a new Android smartphone? Just add your account to new smartphone. All contacts will be downloaded automatically.

By adding contacts to our phone book, we form a connection with our environment, our friends, colleagues and business partners. Phone numbers accumulate for a long time, several years. And the immediate loss of all contacts leads to a feeling of confusion and confusion. How to restore contacts on Android and what is needed for this? Let's talk about this in our review. To restore contacts we can use the following tools:

• Google account;
• Third-party data recovery programs;
• Basic import/export functions;
• Basic functions of working with contact lists.

Let's look at these tools in more detail.

Smartphones and tablet PCs running on the operating system Android systems, are able to save some data on Google servers– the user only needs to have an account there. And since almost all users have Google accounts, restoring contacts is not difficult. If for some reason they are deleted, turn on synchronization and make sure that you are downloading contacts from Google servers.

If for some reason the contacts do not load, try going to the Gmail service website from your computer and find the “Contacts” section there. All telephone records saved from the smartphone are stored in this section. After making sure that you have contacts, you must do one of the following:

• Reboot your phone and try to start forced synchronization;
• Try installing another application for working with contacts;
• Reset your phone to factory settings, specify your account information and wait for the data to sync to an empty device.

The last method, if there are still contacts on Google servers, helps in 100% of cases.

If you still don’t have a Google account and you store all your contacts on a SIM card or in your phone’s memory, immediately create an account, copy your contacts to it and set up synchronization. All these steps will help you quickly recover contacts from Google on Android if they are lost locally.

Recovery using third-party programs

Lost contacts on Android - how to recover them using third-party programs? To do this, you need to find suitable software in the Playmarket application catalog. There are a lot of applications here - MobileDev360, Restore Contacts, Deleted Contacts and many others.

note that Some of these applications are focused on searching for deleted and damaged contacts, and the other part performs the function of first saving contacts in a backup copy and then restoring them.

In our case, since the contacts disappeared due to unknown reasons, we need applications to restore deleted contacts, since we do not have any backup copy. By the way, the idea of ​​storing a backup copy is quite good - pay special attention to it.

Restoring contacts by import/export

Please note that almost all applications focused on working with contacts have functions for importing/exporting phone book entries. If you really value your contacts, make periodic copies and save them on a memory card or internal memory. Also, almost all applications implement the function of sending contacts by email.

If you suddenly want to restore contacts on Android if they are damaged or accidentally deleted, all you have to do is import the saved files. By the way, if you saved contacts as a vCard, then you may find applications for bulk importing them useful.

Restoring the correct display of lists

We already know how to restore deleted contacts on Android - using third-party applications and backup copies. But sometimes situations arise when contacts remain on the phone, but we simply cannot see them. This happens when there is a problem with the phone book settings, as a result of which it tries to show us contacts from the SIM card or from the phone’s internal memory. And if the phone memory and SIM card are empty, then we will not see anything.

In order to restore the display of the phone book and regain access to phone records, you need to go to the application settings for working with contacts. Here we need to find the item “Show contacts”, “View”, “Source of contacts”, etc. (the name of the item differs depending on the program used).

After visiting this item, you need to select the storage location for your current phone book - if it is stored in Google account, choose to display contacts from your account. Here you can also choose to display data from the following sources:

• SIM card (sometimes more than one);
• Phone memory;
• Contacts in applications (Skype, Viber, etc.);
• Contacts via email;
• Contacts on social networks.

If you select an empty source, the contact list will be empty. Thus, failures in applications often lead to the absence of displayed contacts - you just need to understand their settings.