Contact details showing up for sources that have sync turned off I am new to Android, and I am trying to learn, (sometimes unlearn) and work around "issues". So please bear with me for my naïveté.

I have multiple accounts (multiple Google accounts, Skype, WhatsApp etc) configured on my phone. I want to sync contacts only from one Google account (let us say x.y@gmail.com). I have turned off Sync for all other accounts (let us say a.b@gmail.com and p.q@gmail.com) in the Accounts settings page.

I see that only contacts from x.y@gmail.com getting displayed by default, but if the same contact exists in another account as well, when I see the details from the other account also when I open it.

Say I have two accounts, x.y@gmail.com and a.b@gmail.com.
I have a contact named "Test Sync" in both these accounts. I don't use a.b@gmail.com for contacts any more but it has a older copy of Test Sync with a older number. x.y@gmail.com has the latest details and this is the account I intend to use for contacts.

x.y@gmail.com has 9876543210 which is the latest number  
a.b@gmail.com has 12345678900 which is an older number.


Sync is off for contacts from a.b@gmail.com.

In the contacts app, in the "Contacts to Display" section, only x.y@gmail.com is selected (a.b@gmail.com is not selected)

When I see the list of contacts, Test Sync is listed, which is expected as this contact is present in x.y@gmail.com.
When I tap this contact to open it, I expect to see the number 12345678900 but I do not expect to see the number 9876543210. 
But I see both:



I don't want my phone to use a.b@gmail.com at all, in any way, for contacts. This is what I would expect when I turn off contacts Sync for an account and when I leave it unselected in the "Contacts to Display". Is this possible without removing the account altogether or deleting all contacts from the account? 

(I have a HTC one)
The Sync option only controls whether changes are synchronized to and from that device: that is, if you add or delete a contact on the device, this change is reflected on other devices, and vice-versa. Disabling sync just means the contacts that have already been synced to the device will get out of date when you change them.

To control which contacts are shown, you need to go into the People app, then choose Contacts to display from the overflow menu (the three-dots in the top-right corner). Then choose Customise from the Contacts to display dialog, and you can choose which groups of contacts from which accounts to show.

When you create a new contact, you can choose from the menu at the top which Google account to create it in (or to keep it on the phone only). It remembers your previous selection, so if you only want to use one account, you only need to set it once.