I've seen numerous questions regarding problems merging sms messsages after being restored from databases, applications, social networks or ported from different operating systems, etc all of which seem to relate to compatibility issues. My issue is, on the face of it, much more simple but I have yet to find a solution.
One of my contacts recently changed telephone numbers resulting in subsequent texts being listed in a different thread. After adding the new number to the existing contact I now have two sms threads under the same person's name. I'd like to merge these and delete the old number but I can't find a way to do that. This means that if I want to keep a name for the old sms thread then I have to keep the old number in my contacts. Seems a bit daft to me.
I'm currently using a Samsung Galaxy GT-I9000 with 2.34 firmware but unless I'm missing something WM, iPhone, etc have the same issue. Does anyone know if merging texts in the way I've mentioned can be done?
I don't know if apps like GO SMS and Handcent address this problem but even if they did its like taking a sledgehammer to a minor inconvenience.
Thanks
I'm having exactly the same problem for more than a year now. I really hope someone will come up with a solution for this! Thanks
I have been also trying for a solution but nothing
(Hope I'm not resurrecting a too old thread...)
I successfully merged SMS threads by creating a backup using SMS Backup & Restore.
Just open the created .xml file in e.g. Notepad++, then replace your contact's old number in the "address" field with the new one. Now load the altered backup file back onto your phone, delete your messages from within the app, and restore your newly created backup file.
Although it worked fine for me on the first try, I recommend keeping your initial backup file, and save your editing to a copy - just in case.
Using this method, I also fixed some splitted threads, where one contact with one number got split up in several threads, because of an incorrect number restore from backups when switching phones.
Hope this helps.
Thanks to pucksen for resurrecting this old thread. I got here by google.
My problem was a bit different - I had multiple conversation threads from the same number from the same contact (in both stock SMS app and Go SMS Pro). It started after using Pure Messenger, and only affected my two contacts with iphones. It seemed random which messages ended up where.
Looking in the XML backup file from SMS Backup & Restore, I noticed why I was having this problem, the address field sometimes had random space characters appended to the end of the numbers! For example:
address="4165555555"
address="4165555555 "
Removed the spaces after the affected messages and voila, all is well.
No idea how or why this happened, or if im going to have to export/fix/reimport my messages often to keep my conversations readable... but at least there's a way to fix it.
Now if only I knew how to write an app that could automate this for me...
epexegenesis said:
Thanks to pucksen for resurrecting this old thread. I got here by google.
My problem was a bit different - I had multiple conversation threads from the same number from the same contact (in both stock SMS app and Go SMS Pro). It started after using Pure Messenger, and only affected my two contacts with iphones. It seemed random which messages ended up where.
Looking in the XML backup file from SMS Backup & Restore, I noticed why I was having this problem, the address field sometimes had random space characters appended to the end of the numbers! For example:
address="4165555555"
address="4165555555 "
Removed the spaces after the affected messages and voila, all is well.
No idea how or why this happened, or if im going to have to export/fix/reimport my messages often to keep my conversations readable... but at least there's a way to fix it.
Now if only I knew how to write an app that could automate this for me...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thread re-resurrected! Not sure if you've solved this, but I imagine the process could be expedited by using the Find/Replace feature in Notepad++ (or practically anything else) by searching for " with a space in front of it and replacing it with " with no space.
As for the thread's OP, I agree that Android needs to have this functionality built-in. Especially considering how many users have alternate Google Voice numbers.
This is the one thing that WebOS actually got right. Never believed I'd ever actually miss something from that terrible phone.
Thanks patthew, that makes it a bit quicker - it is still a pain though. And unfortunately the problem also has gotten bigger....now I've got this:
address="4165555555"
address="+14165555555"
So up to 4 threads with each contact.
This is ridiculous.
I also can't believe how many people there are with the same problem and no fix. From page 1 google search:
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1262261
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1397030
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1192736
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1124902
http://android.stackexchange.com/qu...-creates-multiple-threads-for-the-same-number
http://www.droidxforums.com/forum/d...t-creating-multiple-threads-same-contact.html
hello all,
I am also having this problem, i confirm that not even with handcent sms it doesn't work if a contact has several numbers it opens a new thread by phone number.
the manual edition of the xml file seems the only workaround is the edition of the backup file which is of course prone to error.
anyway thanks for the tips i hadn't thought of editing the sms backup and restore xml.
kind regards
Mario
Before doing this BACK UP YOUR SMS/MMS!!! If you screw something up and lose everything don't come crying to me, back your crap up!
Now, here is how I did it. This merged 2 different phone numbers/threads into 1 SMS thread and moved all MMS (Pictures/Media) as well.
In my XML file I found these 4 formats for the number I was changing, why the numbers are all different formats I have no idea. Make sure you don't have even more.
(555) 444-7777
5554447777
+15554447777
+1 555-444-7777
And here is a small sample from the XML file with the numbers changed to the 555 crap or X'd out.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<threads count="7" xmlns="XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX">
<thread address="+15554447777">
<sms msgBox="inbox" date="2012-07-30T21:40:43.522Z" locked="false" seen="true" read="true" serviceCenter="+1XXXXXXXXXX" address="+15554447777" encoding="plain">Hello World!</sms>
<sms msgBox="inbox" date="2012-07-30T21:41:13.522Z" locked="false" seen="true" read="true" serviceCenter="+1XXXXXXXXXX" address="+15554447777" encoding="plain">Hello World AGAIN!</sms>
<mms msgBox="sent" version="1.2" type="sendReq" contentType="application/vnd.wap.multipart.related" date="2012-09-08T02:30:19.000Z" locked="false" seen="true" read="true" subject="">
<addresses>
<address type="from">insert-address-token</address>
<address type="to">5554447777</address>
</addresses>
<part contentType="application/smil" contentId="<smil>" contentLocation="smil.xml" encoding="plain"><smil><head><layout><root-layout width="1230px" height="720px"/><region id="Image" left="0" top="0" width="1230px" height="648px" fit="meet"/></layout></head><body><par dur="5000ms"><img src="IMG_20120907_212958.jpg" region="Image"/></par></body></smil></part>
<part contentType="image/jpeg" order="0" contentId="<IMG_20120907_212958>" contentLocation="IMG_20120907_212958.jpg" encoding="base64">/9j/4ABAAD/2wBDAAIBAQEBAQIBAQECAgICAgQDAgICAgUEBAMEB</part>
</mms>
</thread>
</threads>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First off, I used Titanium Backup Pro to dump SMS/MMS to XML (It's under Options/Backup data to XML) I have no idea if the standard Titanium Backup has this or not.
Titanium Backup Pro stores the messages with all SMS first, then all MMS after for that thread. What I did was a search/replace for all 4 different number formats listed above to the new phone number, then I cut/pasted all of the SMS from the new number thread the old number thread right under the last SMS message in that thread, then I cut/pasted the MMS from the new number thread to the old number thread at the end of the MMS section. In short, I moved the SMS and MMS from one thread to the other to their corresponding areas. I moved the "new" number to the old number thread because there were only a handful of messages in the new thread so I went that route. And because I did it this way, all the messages were in order by date.
After I had emptied out the thread (nothing between <thread address="XXXXXXXXXX"> and </thread>) I deleted the thread.
Then I updated the threads count to "6" because I was merging 2 threads and of course taking one thread away from the 7 threads = 6, saved it, and then restored it using Titanium Backup and BAM, 2 threads were now 1 with all of my texts and pictures intact.
Now, I have no idea if the cut/pasting is necessary or if Titanium and Android can magically figure out the two threads belong together after changing all the numbers but I didn't feel like messing with it. I just made it a nice neat XML file like I figured it should be and went with that.
For the XML editor I used XMLSpy 30 day trial (it's expensive to buy but I figured I would only be doing this once so what the heck, trial it is) but I'm sure anything that edits XML properly
would do just fine.
Initially I tried merging the two threads using Sqlite3 update commands on mmssms.db and succeeded in merging the 2 SMS threads but found that MMS didn't follow and decided that I'd rather mess with XML. Eh...
Also, if for some reason (like me) you can't see the XML backup file in Windows I wound up just using adb to pull/push the file from/to the phone.
Anyway, hope this helps those of you trying to do this. Good luck!
Good method but UNconceivably hard to perform on 9000 text messages, when more than 2 or 3 are seperated into multiple threads
But i did it (at least for the contacts i sms the most)
It cannot be that difficult for an average IT student to write a simple script to do what android should be doing on its own.
Anyway.
Just try and find the contacts whose conversations have been split. Note them down and open the xml from sms backup and restore through Notepad++ or a simple kate (if you are in a linux environment)
Search for your contact using some of the characters of its name. For example if the conversations of Smith John have been split, then try first to look for smith (disable case matching)
When you find the line that corresponds to the first message of Smith, copy every single character in address.
ie
Code:
address='"SMITH JOHN" <693123458>'
Here you HAVE to copy everything after the = until the gt;'
DO NOT include the =, nor any character after the last ' , NOT EVEN the space that comes right after.
Paste
Code:
'"SMITH JOHN" <693123458>'
in the find and replace dialogue.
For the replace part, include only the phone number between ""
Code:
Replace with
"693123458"
Replace all.
Now try again searching for smith. Sometimes we change little things in our contacts and over time conversations split for that reason. You might find that you once upon a time you had saved the contact as Smith Johny. So search again. Then search using the phone number if your phone has the bad habit of spliting up the numbers like
123-1234-123 or something
Try looking for -123 or space123
Replace everything with the phone number alone surrounded by "".
This way when your contacts are in place there will be only one thread for each contact.
SO many hours of sleep lost
epexegenesis said:
Thanks to pucksen for resurrecting this old thread. I got here by google.
My problem was a bit different - I had multiple conversation threads from the same number from the same contact (in both stock SMS app and Go SMS Pro). It started after using Pure Messenger, and only affected my two contacts with iphones. It seemed random which messages ended up where.
Looking in the XML backup file from SMS Backup & Restore, I noticed why I was having this problem, the address field sometimes had random space characters appended to the end of the numbers! For example:
address="4165555555"
address="4165555555 "
Removed the spaces after the affected messages and voila, all is well.
No idea how or why this happened, or if im going to have to export/fix/reimport my messages often to keep my conversations readable... but at least there's a way to fix it.
Now if only I knew how to write an app that could automate this for me...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Learn how to code & do that in a handful of lines of code
Indirect Solution but this might come handy for most people in this thread
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=angel.twitch&hl=en
Another workaround
Another workaround would of using hangouts version 10 as an SMS app.
Thread re-resurrected, again. lol
Anyway, Galaxy S21U, Android 11, stock messenger. Added their old number to their contact, but all it did was name both threads after them, not merge them.
When I run SMS Backup & Restore, it doesn't seem to get ALL of the messages from the new number's thread. It did seem to get all of them from the prior thread though. SEEM being I'm not entirely sure whether it retrieved all of both theirs and my messages, without further investigation.
If it did not retrieve ALL of the messages, how would I go about making it do so? Settings, a different app/method?
Using Notepad++ was a breeze to find/replace all of the old numbers to the new one though.
If I were to restore my edited backup, without deleting any of the messages that are currently there, what happens?
Does it overwrite what's currently there, deleting the current set of messages, or does it just add back all of the messages to the specified thread, resulting in double messages that would need to be deleted?
Thanks for any help with this. Didn't anticipate this issue. Didn't think this person was going to change their number, or how seemingly difficult this problem actually is.
Hello!
Sorry if this is asked/answered, search isn't working on my phone.
Is there any way to change just the text field editing interface on the sgs2? cyanogenmod seems to have it down pretty well but the stock Samsung one that appears in practically all the ROMs I've tried is absolutely pathetic. If anyone is confused about what I mean, I mean selecting words, highlighting words, copying and pasting words, the little text selection arrows etc. It is frustratingly incompetent ATM and is making me want to throw my phone at a wall.
Its the one main thing that bothers me about Android, iOS has this perfectly sorted.
Most of the time now I have to write my emails/forum posts/Facebook posts etc (ie anything with multiple lines of text) in a notepad type program and copy and paste it over, as trying to select a sole word in the middle of many in a websites text field (or similar) is quite literally impossible.
Someone help me, it is driving me insane.
Thank you.
Is there seriously nothing that can be done about this?
I find that quite hard to believe..
I have a large number of incorrect words in my HD2's dictionary. How do I go about deleting them, without hard resetting my phone?
Thanks,
David
http://samsamuel.co.uk/news.php?id=7
could be useful?
Thanks, but that seems to be a list of words added by HTC to the dictionary. I've added a bunch of words spelt incorrectly, like yoy for you etc. Where are those words stored? Any ideas?
have you tried et9mywords.exe? its been a while since i used winmo but im pretty sure you can use it to remove words as well as add them. (thats why i posted that link, to point you to et9mywords and HTCMDB.txt because theyre the two things i know of related to custom words.)
Unfortunately I don't seem to have that program on my HD2. Could be the ROM I'm running. Could I download it maybe?
it should be in the windows folder, and its possibly hidden, so you would need to 'show all files' (i think)
As for download, not sure if it needs any reg enttries, but heres the exe
I copied the file to the \windows directory, and it did run ok, but it didn't pick up any of my added words. I think you may be right, in that it is missing a registry entry. Any ideas?
nah sorry, not without a running rom to examine. Have a look in that txt file i mentioned, could be they get written to there, its all a bit of a hazy memory.
Using forums are now a nightmare. whenever I scroll in the text box (the place you type your messages) it brings me to the top of the page. Pasting copied text pastes either at the beginning of a message or randomly in the middle instead of the end where I want it to go and the new auto correct doesn't correct many spelling mistakes but insists on correcting any number I input (I'll type 4 and the phone changes it to 47 every time) and on top of all that my battery drains almost twice as fast when used.
Anyone else having these or similar issues? Is there anything I can do?
We have a 4.3 discussion thread .
Hello XDA community!
I'm not quite sure if this is the right place to ask this, but I couldn't quite find a forum suited for this type of question. In any case here goes: is there any way to identify someone's email address or Google account from his/her Google Play Music ID?
Here is why I'm asking. Recently, my wife and I stayed in a hotel and at the end of our stay, my wife brought back a USB key which she assumed was mine. The USB key must have belonged to a prior patron as it was not mine. On the key, I saw that there were several family photos which seemed like they would be quite important to the owner. However, I could not find a single shred of identifying information on the key, with the exception of an "Android" folder with a "com.google.android.music" sub-folder containing a file named "._playmusicid" in it. This file contains a string of characters which appear to be a unique identifier for a Google Play Music account.
I would like to be able to identify the owner of the USB key so I can send him his data. From the photos on the card, I can only assume he is now quite far away from me (I am in Canada, he is likely in Asia somewhere), so I would send the information online. I've called the hotel, and they can't tell me who previous renters were (quite strange, given the nature of my request).
If anyone knows how to accomplish this, please let me know. Thank you!
What is this file ? Little Off Topic but my Sprint Sammy Note 4, Stock ROM, v5.1 LoLPoP with No Root, puts this file on any media I attach to it to include Micro SD Cards, USB Thumb Drives and small portable Hard drives.I will rap it up with the path oh yea, if the end file leaves the path it is auto replaced so it stays with you, would be perfect way to spread something. Any way the file is a hidden one so most people wouldn't even notice unless your looking for anything.
This is on any removable media. Google Play Music File that replaces itself if moved, removed, or renamed from initial location. Can be removed once disconnected from phone, does not remove itself.
( REMOVABLE MEDIA NAME HERE ) > Android > data > com.google.android. music > files ( Hidden In Here ) > ._playmusicid ( Hidden File )
Is it saying You Were Here, here is your invisable ink stamp saying you bumped uglies with my phone?
That is all.
Sent from my SM-N910P