How to swop Accounts to backup to

Question

I have two Google accounts and now want to have my android 6 phone (Moto) back up to the new account and not to the old one.  How do I do this? 

Thanks

Brianna Castro · Answer

First add new account to the old phone and then back the phone data to the new account, then You Get the all the Data For the New Google Account

Change Agent · Answer

Indeed that is what I did.  However how do I select the new account to be backed up to?   That is what I am looking for.
It only backs up to the old one.

Bastian Siewers · Answer

Hi,

open the settings on your phone and look for "Backup & reset". Under "Backup account" you can choose which account to use for the backup.

Change Agent · Answer

I did that for starters.  But if I go to Accounts>Google I see both accounts and for the old one it tells me the last time it was synced.  For the new one it tells me: 'Sync is OFF'

Change Agent · Answer

For clarity let me explain more in detail.

There are two phones (A and B) related to account 1.  Both phones are and will stay in use and both are used by different people.  I want to now disconnect phone B from account 1.
Next I like to sync phone B to account 2.  Phone A stays with account 1.
If I delete account 1 on phone B it warns me I lose lots of stuff.  So I want to sync phone B to account 2 before I delete the obsolete account.

Now if I go to Accounts>Google I see both accounts and for account 1 it tells me the last time it was synced.  For account 2 it tells me: 'Sync is OFF'.

So how do I activate account 2 so it syncs there too, or only there?

Bastian Siewers · Answer

Hi,

check under Accounts > Google > Account 2 if sync is turned on for the things you want to synchronize. If not, simply turn them on and wait for it to finish the synchronization.

The problem is that most of your data on your phone, for example contacts, are still connected to Account 1. This will not change by simply turning on the synchronization for Account 2. You need to manually transfer the contacts to Account 2. Do the following to transfer them:

 - Open the contacts app on your phone
 - Open the settings
 - Open "Account contacts" (right at the bottom)
 - Click on Account 1 and select all of them
 - Hit the three dots on the top right and click on "Copy"
 - Choose Account 2 to copy all the contacts to that account

After that you should be able to simply delete Account 1 and all the contacts should still be there. Don't worry, even if this doesn't work, there's still a solution, you do need a PC for that though. Let me know if the steps above didn't work and I will explain how to transfer the contacts using a PC.

Change Agent · Answer

Thanks Bastian.

It is not there, I explain.

Open the contacts app on your phone - √
Open the settings - √
Open "Account contacts" (right at the bottom)  - *Not there at all.*  

All I see at this point is "Sort by...". and "Name Format..."

That is it.  What to do?

PS. I do not have a PC I work exclusively on Mac Computers.

Bastian Siewers · Answer

Hey,

which Moto device exactly are you using?

Well, it doesn't really matter if you are using a Mac or PC, as you simply need a browser. You can copy the contacts the following way:

 - Open Gmail in your browser
 - Log in to your old account
 - On the top left, click on "Gmail" so the drop down opens up and click on "Contacts"
 - In the list on the left click on "More" and then on "Export"
 - Save the file to your hard drive, so you can find it again
 - Log in to your new account and open the contacts again
 - Click on "Import" and import the just saved file

All your contacts should be imported to you new account now and therefore synchronised with your phone.

Change Agent · Answer

Thanks Bastian.

if you say Gmail, do you mean my Google account?  See I do not use Gmail at all, do not even know that I have a Gmail account.

Helly Han · Answer

Open setting and check Backup & Reset. Select Backup option and go it.

Change Agent · Answer

Hi Helly, thanks.  That I did ages ago but it does not allow me to turn on backup for account 2.  See previous posts.

Bastian Siewers · Answer

A Google Account is always providing Gmail. With "Open Gmail" I mean open mail.google.com in your browser :)

Change Agent · Answer

Dear Sebastian,
OK I give that a go, if I get stuck I report.