Issues Importing Contacts into BT SmartHub
It is important to note that, with the digital voice handsets, contacts are stored in the BT SmartHub and not in the handsets. The handsets synchronise anew with the hub each time the contacts are called for.
Inputting contacts via the digital voice handsets is a slow business. (It requires 4 presses of the number 7 key simply to enter the letter ‘s’, for example).
For those who use Google contacts on their smartphone/computer, exporting contacts from Google contacts and then importing them into the BT SmartHub would seem a better option, but it can be problematic, and some of the issues outlined below may well be the cause of disappearing contacts and failures of the hub to communicate contact details with the handsets properly. So, what are the issues, and how might they be solved?
- The file format has to be vcard format (.vcf).
[Shame BT don't include a .csv option.]
- Exporting from Google Contacts is straightforward.
- Importing into the hub is a little trickier, but is documented at:
https://www.bt.com/help/landline/digital-voice-phones/migrating-contacts.
Note: importing a vcf file into the hub replaces all the previous contacts in the hub, so if contacts have already been added/changed via the handset, those changes would be replaced/lost.
- Google usually exports to vcf format with a lot of data, and as you might expect, much of that data is stripped out when you import into the hub.
- The hub only accepts telephone numbers labelled ‘Home’, ‘Cell’ or ‘Work’. Customised labels (eg ‘Mobile 2’ or ‘London Flat’) created in Google are not imported.
- Google allows more than one number under one type (eg two work numbers) but the BT digital voice handsets will only handle one.
- Telephone numbers will likely be imported with spaces or hyphens within the number. That can cause problems such as not showing on the digital voice handsets, or not triggering caller display.
- Numbers that were stored with a ‘+’ at the start in Google (often used for international numbers and mobile numbers) are imported into the hub without any replacement of the ‘+’s with ‘00’, and those numbers starting with ‘+’ are then not usable on the digital voice handsets contacts lists.
- One solution is to edit the vcf file before importing into the hub, but vcf files are tedious to edit. There is software available to make editing vcf files easier, but the vcf file is a text file and can be edited with Notepad on a windows computer. (Right-click the file and select ‘Open with’ and choose Notepad). The aim is to:
(a) Replace all ‘+’s with ’00’. For phones being used in the UK, the whole of ‘+44’ can be replaced with a single ‘0’.
(b.) Remove all the spaces, hyphens and non-numeric characters from within the telephone numbers.
(c). Ensure there is a maximum of one ‘home’ type, one ‘cell’ type and one ‘work’ type of telephone number per contact, in the format TEL;TYPE=HOME:01234567890, or TEL;TYPE=CELL:07123456789 or TEL;TYPE=WORK:01234123456. Those formats should be imported correctly, though the hub may add extra details (such as TEL;VALUE=uri;TYPE=home:tel:01234567890).
- Another option is to import the contacts into the hub, then export from the hub, edit the exported file, then reimport that back into the hub. The vcf file is probably shorter and easier to edit after it has been through the hub, but the downside of this option is that some numbers may have been lost if they are of a custom type (see 5 and 9c above).
- If you are editing a vcf file exported from the hub, ignore the apparently misspelt MEDLODY: apparently the melody type won’t be read if you correct the spelling!
Hope this helps.
GOOD LUCK !!!
