How to Import Proton VCF Contacts?

sdoca

Hi, I'm new to GrapheneOS and am struggling with importing contacts from a vcf file exported from Proton Mail. I found a few older posts on these forums regarding v.4 support in GrapheneOS and that "not all v.4 data is supported" but I can't find which data that's referring to. Has anyone got a solution to this problem? Do I need to convert to a csv file? Which format? Any help is greatly appreciated as this is my last major hurdle in getting my phone ready for use as my prime device.

Murcielago

sdoca

and am struggling with importing contacts from a vcf file exported from Proton Mail.

Could you explain in more detail what exactly you are struggeling with?

The import of .vcf files should work fine, I have just checked it as follows:

Proton

Select contacts to be exported > Export selection as .vcf

GrapheneOS

Open Contacts app and go to:
Settings> Import> Import contacts from: .vcf files> save imported contacts to: Device

In the dialogue navigate to the Proton .vcf file you want to import. Done.

sdoca

Murcielago I exported my contacts from Proton Mail via the Windows desktop app and uploaded it to my Proton Drive which is synched on my phone. I opened Contacts on my phone, selected IMPORT, selected to import from ".vcf file", navigated to my Proton Drive, selected the Proton file and the short message "Couldn't import vCard" is displayed. The system notification also includes the statement "The format isn't supported."

Grapi

The VCF format is a most incompatible format in the world. There is always no guarantee you can import a vcf file created by another software.

That is why you have to try other apps to be able to properly import your vcf file from proton to GrapheneOS.

SimpleMobile Contacts was a good one - you have to find a last FDroid version, because for now this app was bought by another company and they are keeping to destroy it.

SimpleMobile Contacts can import different versions and formats of VCF files.

Dumdum

Grapi SimpleMobile Contacts was a good one - you have to find a last FDroid version

Or just use Fossify Contacts.

Grapi

Dumdum

Hmm... It looks like the Fossify is a fork of SimpleMobileTools?

Do we have a new hope?

sdoca

Dumdum I'd like to use the included Contacts app if possible, but may look into this if there's no way I can import.

Dumdum

Grapi Do we have a new hope?

Have done for over 6 months.

Murcielago

sdoca

Two ideas:

Have you tried downloading the .vcf file from Proton Drive to your phone beforehand and then importing it into the Contacts app from your device storage?

Can the .vcf file be opened correctly with another program? I seem to remember that sometimes a corrupt file was created when exporting from Proton (i can't remember if this happened when exporting contacts or calendar events though) this showed up an error message in Proton during the export process.

sdoca

Murcielago I downloaded the vcf file to my phone and it still wouldn't import. I downloaded the Fossify Contacts app and it successfully imported the file. However, it only gave me an option to store them so that other apps can't view them. I opened the phone app and it can't see my contacts.

Murcielago

sdoca

Sorry to hear. Running out of ideas, for me it worked fine the way I described it above.

sdoca

Murcielago I appreciate you trying to help me.

I exported a vcf file from Fosdify Contacts and tried to import that one into Contacts. That halfway worked. It popped up a message saying "Contacts will be imported shortly" and then get a notification they were successfully imported but the list is empty.

I'll try exporting from Proton again later today and see if that works.

Murcielago

sdoca

I noticed one more difference: I did not use the Windows Desktop App but the Proton Web GUI (unlikely to make a difference but maybe worth a try).

sdoca

@Murcielago Thanks again for your suggestions. I tried exporting from the Proton web app, but still no luck getting the GrapheneOS Contacts app to import them. As per my earlier post Fossify Contacts has no issues importing the file and I also tested it in Outlook with no problems. Not sure what the issue is with GrapheneOS.

I didn't want to have to download Fossify Phone and Messaging apps, so went looking for a solution to the issue of the GrapheneOS apps not being able to see them and found a workaround in this bug report: https://github.com/FossifyOrg/Contacts/issues/225

You need to create a dummy contact in the GrapheneOS Contacts app before importing the vcf file into Fossify Contacts in order for the "Phone storage" option to be available in the dialog instead of just "Phone storage (not visible by other apps)". If you select the "Phone storage" option, the contacts will be visible to all the apps with contacts permission. I called my dummy contact "Zzz" so it's on the bottom of the list.

I thought about uninstalling Fossify but noticed it displays birthdates that GrapheneOS doesn't, so decided to keep both. It's a bit of a kludge, but it works. :)