[Busaboyz]

When trying to copy individual contacts from my SIM card the menu item " Add to Contacts" is only present of a couple of contacts out of 100. Also the choices in the menu chnage depending on the SIM contact I choose. What is the reason for this?

There is also a menu item Copy xxxxx. xxxxx being the phone number. When choosing this option nothing seems to happen.

[Motorcycle Mama]

For the ones that do not show the option to "Add to Contacts" does the item contain a valid phone number?

For the "Copy xxxxxxxxxx" option, it is copying the number to the clipboard. If you compose a message or a memo and press the menu button, you will see an option for "Paste" and if you select that option, the phone number you copied will be pasted. Simple as that.

Bear in mind that for the BlackBerry, the only data that is transferred to and from the SIM card is the contact name and the phone number, which may be different from the phone that you were using previously.

[Busaboyz]

Originally Posted by Motorcycle Mama

For the ones that do not show the option to "Add to Contacts" does the item contain a valid phone number?

About 99% of the contacts have a valid phone number. It is baffling to me why the "Add to Contacts" menu choice is missing for the majority of of my SIM contacts.

I also cannot see why the menu choices would be different depending on the SIM contact chosen. Some SIM contacts give a bunch of menu choices and others give maybe half the menu choices.

[Motorcycle Mama]

Is there any difference in how the numbers are formatted (between the ones that show up and the ones that don't)?

When you say that some "give a bunch of menu choices", what are those choices? And how do they differ from the other ones?

You have to give more information if anyone is going to be able help you figure this out.

[Busaboyz]

It's not obvious what is different on the SIM card between entries. The majority of contacts have a single phone number formatted like 1XXXXXXXXXX and an email address. The info on the SIM card was copied from a Nokia smart phone.

The obvious menu difference is that the choice "Add to Contacts" has been replaced by "View Contact" for the majority of entries. I want to know how to get "Add to Contacts" to show for all entries. Entries without a phone number have a limited choice to choose when the Berry key is pressed.

[Motorcycle Mama]

What happens when you select "View Contact"? Does it open the Contact in the BlackBerry Contacts/Address Book?

Do you have an option for "Copy All to Contacts"?

Note that only the contact name and phone number are supported by the BlackBerry in copying to and from the SIM card. The email address information is not supported.

[Busaboyz]

The menu offers "View". When I select it the following is displayed:

Hidden
Phone1: 1xxxxxxxxx
Phone2: 1xxxxxxxxx
Type: None

Email



Groups
None

The "Copy All to Contacts" is always present.

When you say that email info is not supported when copying SIM contacts, I'm not sure that is true. My "Desktop" Contact List came from my SIM card. The rest of my contacts came from Yahoo and Gmail. All of them have an email address attached as well as two phone numbers if they were present.

[Motorcycle Mama]

Ok. And if you are viewing the Contact, then it shold be in your Contacts list.

My question regarding "Copy All to Contacts" was whether or not you selected that and if it in fact copied them to your Contacts.

Have you made sure that you don't have any FILTERS active in your Contact list?

What I said was that the BlackBerry does not support copying email addresses to and from the SIM card. This is ture.

[Busaboyz]

Going back to the beginning. I gave my Nokia to the AT&T sales person. They then took the Nokia SIM put it into one of they SIM readers and copied the contacts to a new SIM they then put in my 9800. I assume they then used the "Copy All to Contacts" to fill my phone book. I cannot be sure. I have never used the "Copy All to Contacts" command. One odd this was that when I tried to read the SIM card via the Blackberry 9800 it was blank. To fill my SIM back up I put the new SIM back in my Nokia and then copied all the contacts back onto it.

[Motorcycle Mama]

If the AT&T person already copied your contacts from the SIM card to the device, then I am confused about what you are trying to do now.

And I will ask one more time, have you tried the "Copy All to Contacts". If so, what happens? If not, why not?

[Busaboyz]

So basically you have no idea why the "Add to Contacts" choice is missing for most of my SIM entries?

I spent a lot of time cleaning up my phone book after I got the 9800 home. It was a huge mess. The phone book was a combination of my Outlook, Yahoo, Gmail and SIM contacts. There were a lot of duplicates. I tried exporting a CSV file so I could edit it. Unfortunately the 9800 only exports contacts from the Desktop Contact List. It will not export contacts associated with Yahoo or Gmail. I always keep my phone contact list independant of Outlook, Yahoo or Gmail. It has never been a problem for my last four smart phones.

[Motorcycle Mama]

I will go back to what I said at the beginning. Those contacts are not properly formatted for the BlackBerry or have extraneous information.

BlackBerry users typically sync their contact list with Outlook or Google and don't keep them on the SIM card because the SIM card Phone Book only stores the contact name and the phone number.

[Busaboyz]

If I sync with Outlook, all my work contact info is put on my phone. I really don't need hundreds of work contacts and addresses on my phone. Worse yet I do not want my personnel contact info uploaded to the companies server. If I sync with Gmail, none of the contacts will be put in the Desktop Contact List. They also cannot be downloaded by the Blackberry Desktop Application.

PS
Not keeping critical contacts on your SIM card is foolish. One day an old cell phone might save your butt. An empty SIM card in that old phone is useless.

[JSanders]

You could sync your device to some online service like FREE backup of phone contacts, texts, photos, and more :: m:IQ and edit your contacts there and straighten it all out.

And I don't keep diddly squat on my SIM card. I keep my contacts in my BlackBerry, I sync to Outlook and backup to my PC, as well as an online service. I'm covered.

[Motorcycle Mama]

Originally Posted by Busaboyz

If I sync with Outlook, all my work contact info is put on my phone. I really don't need hundreds of work contacts and addresses on my phone. Worse yet I do not want my personnel contact info uploaded to the companies server. If I sync with Gmail, none of the contacts will be put in the Desktop Contact List. They also cannot be downloaded by the Blackberry Desktop Application.

PS
Not keeping critical contacts on your SIM card is foolish. One day an old cell phone might save your butt. An empty SIM card in that old phone is useless.

None of your previous posts indicated ANYTHING about a work server.

And I would completely disagree about saving the contact to the SIM card being CRITICAL. My contacts are backed up in 5 different places. None of which involve the SIM card.

But good luck with whatever direction you decide to go.