Tried to search if everyone was aware of this problem. Don't see any references, so posting in hopes it would help others.
If you just flashed one of the awesome ICS ROMs out there and getting constant FC with the error "Google Calendar Sync Has Stopped", you may be experiencing what I have. Note: This doesn't seem to affect all ICS ROMs as I didnt have this issue with Seraphim, but I'm on Objection right now and this is exactly what is going on with my Calendar.
I've been troubleshooting, installing/uninstalling system apks, finding workarounds and have had no luck figuring this one out. At first I thought it was just an exchange issue (another problem i wont get into). But after searching the web it looks to be a known issue with "Recurring Event" and the ICS sync engine. Because I had problems with Exchange Sync on my device, I ended up syncing my Exchange Calendar with Google using a third party app (gSyncit), so I have multiple recurring meetings in my Google Calendar.
Here is an excerpt from 'ISTAR' in a google groups thread:
"The problem appears when you have eventfull calendars, with repeating events. It looks like not all of them are able to be processed with Android sync daemon. Here is the threat discussing that issue: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=23175 Depending from your calendar there could be 1 or more events bothering that app. So you have to identify them and recreate it or if you got unlucky: refrain from using such pattern.
The easiest way to identify the wrecker is 1) to install log reading app, e.g. aLogcat from Market, 2) Go Setting->Accounts->Google->UnCheck/Check Calendar wait for the error "google calendar sync has stopped" 3) run to aLogcat, pause and scroll to the red lines, saying something like "error in recurring pattern =MO TU WE, etc." The error text can vary depending from the nature of your problem. 4) Try to identify which one is bad event and remove it from all calendars. 5) Resync and go to step 1 if error appears again. After 2-3 iteration you should vanish all your malicious events.
And I don't think google will fix it fast. The problem is being known since December 11, and still in progress.
Good luck!"
I confirmed this by following his steps and removed all my recurring events one-by-one until Calendar synced successfully without the FC.
Since I haven't been able to get Exchange sync or Google Calendar Sync to work with my work email. I've resorted to using Touchdown as the solution, until this is fixed or until I find a better workaround.
Hopefully someone finds this helpful, or can provide me with a solution.
No issues with calendar sync on that Rom here....recurring events and new events sync fine.
Which version of the Rom are you using
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using XDA
im on the newest objection 2. seems that this is only affecting a handful of people (only two others on the dev thread has mentioned it). it could possibly be a way that google calendar saves exchange items in its database and unable to process it on the device. dont know. frustrating. ive also tried taking the seraphim calendar apk and dropping it in with no luck. so im stumped.
this is the only issue from making my device perfect with objection which i think is the cleanest cooked up rom
It definitely could be an exchange issue.
I do not use exchange so have no way of testing
There's an app for it
I had this issue after updating my Galaxy Note to ICS 4.0.3. Calendar sync caused forced close and no data was synced. Bought an app called CalenGoo for less than EUR5 after confirming with the very helpful dev that it is not reliant on the defective ICS sync engine. Got everything up and running in seconds!
Deleting recurring events (weekly meetings with colleagues etc) is simply not something anyone who uses their Google calendar for anything serious is going to do. And again no guarantee that adding the meetings again would not just cause the same problem. Rather buy a phone that works.
Also tried deleting my corporate google account from the phone and re-adding it (my personal account synced just fine). Not intrigued to factory reset the phone and restore all apps and lose their settings etc. while there is no guarantee that it would do any good.
It is ridiculous that Google/Samsung would release this kind of defective crap, and makes you think what else might be wrong with ICS if QA is this bad.
Fixed my issue!
Hi,
Thanks for sharing this information!
I use gSyncIt to sync from Outlook to Google, then Google Calendar Sync to sync from Google to an Asus Transformer TF101. It worked fine until I upgraded from Honeycomb to ICS and my main calendar failed to sync from that point on, with the dreaded "Sorry" message.
I followed the tips in the first post and discovered I had only one problematic recurring calendar entry. It used this Outlook pattern:
Weekly repeat, Mondays to Fridays only, started July 16, finished August 10
When I deleted it the sync worked OK. When I recreated it using this:
Daily repeat, weekdays only, started July 16, finished August 10it still didn't work. Mind you gSyncIt could be representing both of these patterns the same way in Google Calendar.
In the end I recreated the repeating calendar entry as 4 separate week long repeating events and it synced fine to Google and through to ICS.
So if you are running into this bug my suggestion would be to check for any daily recurring events that run longer than a week but exclude some days of the week (especially weekends). I have lots of other daily, weekly and monthly recurring events but this is the only one that had that pattern (and the only one that killed the syncing process).
Thanks,
Matt
OP - thanks for the info, been experiencing this since I've upgraded my Galaxy Note to ICS.
One thing to add upon the info on this thread -- it seems to me that when accessing, via the Google Calendar website, the events that cause the crashes, they seem to show a message "This event has a recurrence rule that cannot be edited in Google Calendar" next to the "Repeat:" checkbox of the event.
This might be easier to detect for you than searching the logs. Of course, you still have to go over all of your reoccurring events to find the offending ones.
sagie said:
OP - thanks for the info, been experiencing this since I've upgraded my Galaxy Note to ICS.
One thing to add upon the info on this thread -- it seems to me that when accessing, via the Google Calendar website, the events that cause the crashes, they seem to show a message "This event has a recurrence rule that cannot be edited in Google Calendar" next to the "Repeat:" checkbox of the event.
This might be easier to detect for you than searching the logs. Of course, you still have to go over all of your reoccurring events to find the offending ones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for showing a way out.. fishing for those offending entries...
Simple mistake maybe
Hi folks I thought I had this same problem as well but found out there was a simple solution. If the duplicate events have a different colour tab on the lefthand side it means they are coming from different calendar feeds and to stop this happening I just clicked on the drop down menu next to 'Calendar' top left of screen and unchecked everything apart from my Gmail email address & UK Holidays.
After that everything went back to normal ... simple mistake or just me?
galaxytab1 said:
thanks for showing a way out.. fishing for those offending entries...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There was one offending monthly reminder about my Evernote subscription, deleted the series, sync working now. Happy!
I have only Google Calendar (3 agendas thouhg - personal, professional, birthdays) and after I upgraded my Defy to ICS (Nightly build of 2012.05.29, Kernel CM9) I cannot sync Calendar anymore. Try out different Gapps, always cleaning/wiping cache/dalvik, but nothing seems to solve the problem. Not sure what else I could try. Has anyone find a solution/workaround?
Related
Hi all,
Received my new Thunderbolt on Friday and all looks good except battery life and the Exchange ActiveSync Calendar sync. The battery life I can work around, but it seems a lot of people trying to sync the TB to an Exchange 2010 calendar are having issues. I cant post links yet, but a google search for "thunderbolt exchange calendar" will show the posts from others.
Here is what is happening:
When the account is created on the phone, the initial sync of calendar fails with "sync is currently experiencing problems". No existing events are pulled to the phone. However, you can create new events and they do sync immediately with the Exchange calendar - edits and deletes are fine too.
This is likely a Sense 2.0 issue because 2.2 with Sense 1 works fine on other devices with Exchange 2010.
I have tried removing the account several times, clearing data in the calendar app, removed all sync accounts and readded - nothing works. I changed the duration of data sync for calendar, nothing.
I am going to try removing the phone relationship from the Exchange server and start over to see if that works.
Just posting here as an FYI and to see if anyone has an idea for troubleshooting.
Tried wiping the phone and deleting the Exchange relationship - no go, same issue.
I am having the same issue. There is a Google thread in their forums with others as well
I hope they get it fixed soon.
Exchange issues have plagued 2.2 for some time.
Works great in 2.3 however (not a help I know).
Which data package are you subscribed to?
tformed said:
Which data package are you subscribed to?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
PDA/Smartphone Nationwide Email for Business
boingboingbilly said:
PDA/Smartphone Nationwide Email for Business
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure if that plan is similar to the following two data packages offered by Verizon.
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/...m=phoneFirst&featureType=phone&featureId=2547
I have broken Active Sync as well. I love HTC phones and my Incredible was killer phone wise, synced with no issues - even when the Motorola phones where broken due to an update that forced security policies to the phones.
I just spoke to someone at Verizon and they where not aware of any issues. The data package shouldn't effect sync issues cos I haven't paid their exchange package EVER and have had 0 issues with exchange mail with 2 other phones. This is exclusive to the Tbolt.
FYI...Only fix is to Root device
Active sync works with everything once I rooted the TB. The calendar sync didn't work before root. I rooted and kept the default HTC ROM and kernel and then the calendar sync started working. I didn't try contact sync before I was rooted so I can't comment on the validity of this working before root. Hope this sheds some light on the subject. I seems that VZW blocks the sync active sync unless you purchase the higher "business" data plan.
theaustins513 said:
Active sync works with everything once I rooted the TB. The calendar sync didn't work before root. I rooted and kept the default HTC ROM and kernel and then the calendar sync started working. I didn't try contact sync before I was rooted so I can't comment on the validity of this working before root. Hope this sheds some light on the subject. I seems that VZW blocks the sync active sync unless you purchase the higher "business" data plan.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rooting doesnt make any difference for us, we have 3 Bolts at work all rooted running different ROMS and none would sync calendar with Exchange.
The workaround is to go into your calendar, change to list view, select all items, add a category (any will do). Then select all items again and remove the category. After that sync of calendar items both past and future will work.
I've done some looking around, but I haven't found a solution that has solved the problem, so I hope this isn't redundant:
I have two or three Google calendars. If I go to the website, I see them all fine and can see the information in them. I have my EVO 3D (stock, Gingerbread; too many ICS complaints for me to run the Sprint OTA) set to sync and to show these calendars, but none but the main one will show. This is true whether I have them set to show multiple calendars together or set to show only individual ones. I tried clearing the data in Calendar Storage and resyncing; it made no difference. I don't use the stock Calendar app; I use Jorte and Pimlical, but none of the three of them will show the other calendars (which I believe is because there's only one group of calendar selection settings, no matter which app you use). BTW, the other calendars don't show on either of my tablets, either, so it's not really just a 3D problem.
Does anyone have any idea how to correct this situation?
EVO Longoria
This was an issue with Gingerbread which (for me at least) was resolved in ICS. When I used GB, I got around this problem by using multiple Google accounts and then sharing them with the primary account (the one you have linked to your phone). I had our family calendar as the calendar on my primary Google account. My wife's work calendar was on her account. I created another Google account for my work sked. The key on your secondary calendars, is to go to settings and share them with your primary account. If you select "Make changes and manage sharing" under permissions, you'll be able to make changes from your phone.
Like I said, on ICS, the issue went away for me, and I have created several new calendars on my primary Google account and all of them show up on my E3D.
nobody291 said:
This was an issue with Gingerbread which (for me at least) was resolved in ICS. When I used GB, I got around this problem by using multiple Google accounts and then sharing them with the primary account (the one you have linked to your phone). I had our family calendar as the calendar on my primary Google account. My wife's work calendar was on her account. I created another Google account for my work sked. The key on your secondary calendars, is to go to settings and share them with your primary account. If you select "Make changes and manage sharing" under permissions, you'll be able to make changes from your phone.
Like I said, on ICS, the issue went away for me, and I have created several new calendars on my primary Google account and all of them show up on my E3D.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for responding. I wrote you a long post which got lost because my login timed out before I was finished writing. I should have copied it first, but didn't so let me just say this: There is information going around that clearing Calendar Data solves the problem. I have three devices; it didn't work on any of them, and it also made me lose the ability to see anything on my device past a month ago, which it turns out Google warns you about on a Google Calendar help page:
Clear your device's Calendar application data
Warning: After performing the following steps, events from more than 30 days ago will no longer be available for viewing on your device. Rest assured these events remain saved on the main Google Calendar server and are accessible via the web. Further, these steps will cause your Calendar app settings (e.g., Calendar notification ringtones) to be reset.
We recommend proceeding with these steps only if the above steps did not resolve the issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I solved my problem by exporting all my calendars, deleting all data from my primary calendar and importing the data back in to it.
This process had differing results on my three devices, but I was at least able to get a complete "timeline" in one calendar to show on each device. This doesn't help everyone, but it may help some. Remember: If you need to keep any extended period of time available on your device, DON'T clear Calendar Data!
It's sad that after all this time Google hasn't been able to do better than this.
Alright, I'll be brief. I set up several recurring events on Google Calendar and when I sync my Android Calendar the recurrence and location are deleted. I'm left with just the original start date with only an event name.
I searched the forums and didn't find this posted yet.
Steps taken to duplicate problem:
Create a recurring event with Google Calendar on PC.
Give the event a title, description, location and recurrence (8:00 every Mon at "White House" for example).
Sync Google Calendar with Android Phone
Wait ~15 mins or reboot
Only the original event is left with just an event title. Recurrence and location wiped.
I'm not sure what is causing this, it's happened on every single ROM I've tried so far (GB, ICS and JB). Changing kernel makes no difference.
Can anyone else confirm this or is there perhaps a known solution?
IconRunner said:
Alright, I'll be brief. I set up several recurring events on Google Calendar and when I sync my Android Calendar the recurrence and location are deleted. I'm left with just the original start date with only an event name.
I searched the forums and didn't find this posted yet.
Steps taken to duplicate problem:
Create a recurring event with Google Calendar on PC.
Give the event a title, description, location and recurrence (8:00 every Mon at "White House" for example).
Sync Google Calendar with Android Phone
Wait ~15 mins or reboot
Only the original event is left with just an event title. Recurrence and location wiped.
I'm not sure what is causing this, it's happened on every single ROM I've tried so far (GB, ICS and JB). Changing kernel makes no difference.
Can anyone else confirm this or is there perhaps a known solution?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I cannot give you a solution, but the problem most certainly exists on your phone, possibly a rogue app? I have multiple recurrent meetings and they show just fine - some are at least a year old. Recent (new) daily and weekly meetings show up as well.
Good luck,
T
I recently solved a real pain of an email issue I was having, and wanted to pass along the experience. I had tried searching these forums for several days, but didn't quite find my problem, and didn't find the solution all in one place. With that in mind, I'm hoping this information helps someone, even if a bit of it may be covered in other threads (sorry if so).
I had upgraded recently to JB 4.1.1, and was having a lot of problems getting my corporate/exchange email account to work. The calendar and contacts would work sometimes, and the email never got past the "waiting for sync" screen. Anytime the calendar and contacts would work, they would break after a reboot of the phone.
I also found that sometimes exchange account would stick around after it stopped working, and other times it would disappear (from the Android settings > accounts list) completely. I had set the accounts up both through the stock email app, and through a third - party email app (Enhanced Email, a good app).
I tried deleting and recreating the accounts, with varying settings (port numbers, accepting all security certificates, etc.). Later on, I went to my company's online web access for Exchange, and deleted all the mobile connections so that it would create a new connection for my current phone and ROM. I recreated the account (for what seemed like the 50th time) after that. Still no good.
The thing that made the difference: I finally read a tip somewhere to force stop the (stock) email client, and clear its cache and data. After that, the email app needed to be set up again, but email synched for the first time since I installed this ROM, and my calendar and contacts work reliably. It's been several days and reboots, and no further problems have come up.
I hope this helps someone, and again, apologies if the information is duplicative. I couldn't find it all in one place, and was really beating my head against the wall trying to find a fix.
buzban said:
I recently solved a real pain of an email issue I was having, and wanted to pass along the experience. I had tried searching these forums for several days, but didn't quite find my problem, and didn't find the solution all in one place. With that in mind, I'm hoping this information helps someone, even if a bit of it may be covered in other threads (sorry if so).
I had upgraded recently to JB 4.1.1, and was having a lot of problems getting my corporate/exchange email account to work. The calendar and contacts would work sometimes, and the email never got past the "waiting for sync" screen. Anytime the calendar and contacts would work, they would break after a reboot of the phone.
I also found that sometimes exchange account would stick around after it stopped working, and other times it would disappear (from the Android settings > accounts list) completely. I had set the accounts up both through the stock email app, and through a third - party email app (Enhanced Email, a good app).
I tried deleting and recreating the accounts, with varying settings (port numbers, accepting all security certificates, etc.). Later on, I went to my company's online web access for Exchange, and deleted all the mobile connections so that it would create a new connection for my current phone and ROM. I recreated the account (for what seemed like the 50th time) after that. Still no good.
The thing that made the difference: I finally read a tip somewhere to force stop the (stock) email client, and clear its cache and data. After that, the email app needed to be set up again, but email synched for the first time since I installed this ROM, and my calendar and contacts work reliably. It's been several days and reboots, and no further problems have come up.
I hope this helps someone, and again, apologies if the information is duplicative. I couldn't find it all in one place, and was really beating my head against the wall trying to find a fix.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi there, I think im glad i found this thread although not sure it will help with my corporate mail problem. My problem exists only with contacts not syncing from my corporate exchange account. My mail and calendar is ok just no contacts sync.
You mention to force stop the stock email client, can you advise the steps and exact name of the process? Do you mean in manage apps - All - Email ? I cant seem to stop that process its all greyed out.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, due to my role i really need my exchange contacts to sync.
Cheers,
Hi guys,
My experience is different.
If you have problems to sync your email you need to clear all previous mobile connections from outlook (via outlook web access) and set up your account from zero on the device.
Quick question why do you use a third party email client? Do you have Samsung device? Got the same problem and had to move to a asop (CM10)
Samsung email client and exchange doesn't work well since the original Galaxy.
Regards
Sent from my GT-P1000 using Tapatalk 2
solution for me
For me what solved was a solution I found in another post here in the forum: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1774978&page=2
In summary:
"Settings --> Data Usage --> Menu --> and check Auto Sync Data
Try setting up Exchange account again and you'll see the prompt to activate a Device Administrator this time. "
My understanding is that this is a known issue, I'm looking for a workaround or resolution.
Using KitKat, and the standard AOSP email client, I setup my corporate email account in the usual way. Everything works the way it is supposed to except for syncing contacts.
Normally I have fewer than 100 contacts, but with KitKat I end up with over 600. From my research into this issue it is because KitKat is syncing the "suggested contacts" from exchange, not just the contacts listed in my address book. I'm not sure who made the decision to do that, but it doesn't sound like the best idea to me.
I see this problem on my tablet which is running the CM 11.0 nightlies, but I do not see it on my HTC One running AndroidNow, even though Android Now is at 4.4. That is what tells me that the problem is in Exchange Services for the standard AOSP client. I confirmed this by finding this site:
http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/1...4-4-with-gmail-style-ui-and-a-slide-out-menu/
I downloaded the appropriate files and installed the apks on my HTC One. When I setup my corporate email there I started seeing the same issue.
Does anyone have any news or recommendations on this issue? By the way, I'm not looking for "install such-and-such email client, it's better" type recommendations. I've tried the majority of them already.
Thanks
It is interesting to me that no one has anything to say on this issue. Perhaps no one saw my post?
At any rate, I found a "solution" which is clumsy but seems to do the trick. The suggestion I found in the google forums was to delete the "Suggested Contacts" folder (I did it in the Exchange web mail app), delete the Corporate account and recreate. I did and I now have the correct number of contacts.
From what I have found this problem is caused by code added to KitKat for syncing sub-folders. It is an issue that Google is aware of, but has marked at a very low priority. I assume that means that a real fix for this will be a long time coming.
dlbarron said:
It is interesting to me that no one has anything to say on this issue. Perhaps no one saw my post?
At any rate, I found a "solution" which is clumsy but seems to do the trick. The suggestion I found in the google forums was to delete the "Suggested Contacts" folder (I did it in the Exchange web mail app), delete the Corporate account and recreate. I did and I now have the correct number of contacts.
From what I have found this problem is caused by code added to KitKat for syncing sub-folders. It is an issue that Google is aware of, but has marked at a very low priority. I assume that means that a real fix for this will be a long time coming.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In case you may not have noticed, there is a open issue for this now:
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=61979
Im having the same problem with you, but removing the "suggested contacts" folder from Outlook didn't work (not that I should have to do that). It was if the contacts were cached to the phone.... even after removing the account. I even tried disabling sync, putting it in airplane mode, and using "Contact Remover" from the Play Store to delete the contacts from my phone (disabling sync and airplane mode to prevent a total deletion of all contacts on next sync). After that, I removed the account from Android, removed all phone pairings from Exchange (through OWA), and cleared the cache of the phone. As soon as I resynced, they all came back.
I'm beyond pissed. I literally have 5,000 contacts, and I can barely open the People applet. This is ridiculous.
Flapjack said:
In case you may not have noticed, there is a open issue for this now:
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=61979
Im having the same problem with you, but removing the "suggested contacts" folder from Outlook didn't work (not that I should have to do that). It was if the contacts were cached to the phone.... even after removing the account. I even tried disabling sync, putting it in airplane mode, and using "Contact Remover" from the Play Store to delete the contacts from my phone (disabling sync and airplane mode to prevent a total deletion of all contacts on next sync). After that, I removed the account from Android, removed all phone pairings from Exchange (through OWA), and cleared the cache of the phone. As soon as I resynced, they all came back.
I'm beyond pissed. I literally have 5,000 contacts, and I can barely open the People applet. This is ridiculous.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't argue with your assessment, especially since it is a known issue that is, apparently, not getting any attention from Google. That is disappointing.
dlbarron said:
I can't argue with your assessment, especially since it is a known issue that is, apparently, not getting any attention from Google. That is disappointing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have this same problem, but it seems to be Exchange email address history (start a new email: start typing address and the autocomplete list appears)that is causing the problem for me. If I delete the history the contact is now longer shown in my contact list. The problem is this history list is ever growing and changing. It seems we are forced to live with excess users until Google gets this fixed.
zoaguy said:
I have this same problem, but it seems to be Exchange email address history (start a new email: start typing address and the autocomplete list appears)that is causing the problem for me. If I delete the history the contact is now longer shown in my contact list. The problem is this history list is ever growing and changing. It seems we are forced to live with excess users until Google gets this fixed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahhh, well that would make sense why deleting the "suggested contacts" folder doesn't fix it. I don't want to flush my autocomplete history. It's quite useful.
In the interim, I'm just 'pushing' my contacts from Touchdown using the "Copy to Phone" option, and not adding the corporate email option for now.
Here is a pretty nice work around to this issue.
Go into outlook and create a new category for all of the contacts you want to sync with your device. Once the contacts are part of the new category, go to your device and in the contacts>>accounts to display>>select the corporate account>> and select which list(select the category you created in outlook>> thats it and resync your contacts.
zoaguy said:
Here is a pretty nice work around to this issue.
Go into outlook and create a new category for all of the contacts you want to sync with your device. Once the contacts are part of the new category, go to your device and in the contacts>>accounts to display>>select the corporate account>> and select which list(select the category you created in outlook>> thats it and resync your contacts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A slick solution to the problem. To bad it is necessary.
dlbarron said:
A slick solution to the problem. To bad it is necessary.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed, a true fix is still needed. The biggest problem with this solution is making sure you put new contacts into the new category when they are being added.
I have the issue that my phone will not sync to the exchange contacts PERIOD.
It downloaded them fine apparently, but any changes made on the device do not get updated on the server.
WTF? How ****ing stupid is google to break activesync!?
I'm not just having problems with contacts... my entire calendar will not sync. I basically get no meeting reminders. I can log into exchange webmail and check my calendar there, but that is ridiculous.
As for the contacts, none of the tips and tricks in this thread have helped. I have completely deleted "suggested contacts" (which is a shame, because it was actually useful), but my phone is still pulling them from somewhere....
The only thing that works for me is installing Touchdown and using it to sync, then push the contacts to the phone. It does pick up the bullshvt ones...
Sent from my Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk
This is by far the most irritating part of KitKat.
I work for a mobile phone company with business customer and its a very common complaint.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
BazmanFoo said:
This is by far the most irritating part of KitKat.
I work for a mobile phone company with business customer and its a very common complaint.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't understand why it cannot be fixed. I don't even fully understand the problem, as I've gone through Outlook/Exchange multiple times cleaning out the "suggested contacts" and still had my phone's contact list spammed with every email address that is and ever was.
It took a long, long time... but I used "Contact Remover" from the Play store and just went down the list checking contacts I wanted to delete. It's much faster than going into each contact, hitting menu, then hitting delete. Still, you have to be careful not to delete contacts you want to keep. Many times, they're named exactly the same as the spam ones.
On a side note, I am struggling to understand why there are so many contacts that have been "augmented" by apps such as Facebook and Lync 2013. I never choose to sync those, but it appears to have done so anyway.
same problem here, contacts on phone (nexus 5) are filled with rubbish now