Some random contacts and some random contact images aren't imported

[novoid]

I analyzed the situation in detail in 2014 and created this issue on 2020-10-20 in order to communicate this issue to other users. (My internal heading for detailed analysis: id:2014-01-12-org-contacts2vcard-issue)

Issue Description

The issue is that (1) some contacts may not get imported to the Android contact database and (2) some of the imported contacts that got photographs associated do not get their contact image set.

Example numbers: 41 missing contacts when importing 732 contacts.

Analysis

In short, I could not get any pattern when comparing different contacts and different photographs. The "selection" of missing data seems random but constant for the same vcard file: one vcard file results in same set of missing data when imported multiple times. When same set of vcard data is re-arranged within the vcard file, the set of missing data changes.

In other words: When order of contacts in the VCard is changed, different contacts may get omitted and different images may not get imported. When I import previously failed contacts in a separate file (the missing contact is the only entry in this file), the contacts get imported flawlessly.

Therefore, it does seem to be no issue of the image files or contact data.

When I export the Android contacts to a file and re-imports this file, some contacts also get lost:

• my contacts file has 773 entries
• 732 contacts shown in contacts on Android (41 missing)
• 646 contacts in re-export VCF file found
  • another 86 missing additionally
  • totals to 127 missing for the round-trip

Meanwhile, I consider this being an Android bug in all versions since at least 2014 which is quite puzzling to me.

• re-evaluate import success and missing images with Android 9 or newer (since I stopped analyzing the issue after 2014-12)
• get feedback from other users with completely different contact data and contact images

Workaround/Mitigation

1. I'm deriving two vcard files from my contacts.org: one without the images and one with the images.
2. I purge the Android contact database, removing all contacts and all contact images.
3. Then I import both vcard files which then results in a maximum of imported contacts.

This is no 100 percent solution, just a minimization of the set of missing contact data.

Help Needed

If you do have any input on this issue, please let me know!