Google Contacts sync issues

[creativeflare]

Hi everyone

Sorry if I've listed this problem in the wrong section but I couldn't find any other category it seemed to fit...

I have the Xperia Z (L36H) running Android 4.4.4

Until recently I had never bothered with Google account syncing on my phone as I haven't ever bothered with my Google and Gmail accounts.
However I have just started using Google calendar as a replacement for my physical work diary. I noticed that when adding the title to a new appointment, as I type in a client's name, the app will suggest names from my Google Contacts list - if I choose a suggested name the contact is then linked to that particular appointment. Very clever, thought I. However I have now noticed that newer contacts aren't appearing as a suggestion and any edits I have made to my phone's contact list haven't carried over to the calendar app. Syncing issues, thought I. So I went about searching through all the system menu routes I could find to see if I could re-sync the contacts list. To my dismay I have now come to realise that for some reason, there is absolutely NO way to sync the contacts at all and the only reason they are even displaying in the suggestions box in my calendar app at all is because my google account has a contacts list that was imported from an old phone from back in the days when I maybe used my Gmail account for a short while I assume, hence why only the older contacts are there.
The funny thing is, when I go to the Google account settings section of my phone's settings app and find the individual sync options, there is actually no mention of "contacts" anywhere on the list of checkbox syncables?!
The Google-syncable things I can toggle on/off are as follows:
App data
Calendar
Drive
Google Opinion Rewards
Play Movies & TV
Google+
Google+ Photos
Google+ Uploads
Keep
People Details

Why isn't Contacts part of that list? It's really frustrating because I'm actually really starting to enjoy using Calendar and all the other things that work hand-in-hand with it!
When I add a new contact to my phone book I have also noticed there is no option to save as a Google contact like some other people seem to have been advised to do on this forum previously (only sim or local options), and there is also no option to "send to Google" or anything similar to that anywhere in any of the contact settings menus...

Heeeeeeeeeelp!

Is it me? Is it my phone? I have checked literally every box necessary, deleted and re-added accounts and still no change.

[Uliwooly]

It's probably a restriction, when you open a contact > edit > what do you see under the name ?

[creativeflare]

Doesn't matter I've found the solution...

Was browsing my app settings individually to see if there was anything there that could be helpful and noticed a convenient system app called Google Contacts Sync. It was disabled as a default! So I enabled it and with a bit of jiggery-pokery of exporting and re-importing my phone contacts as (now available) Google Contacts and voila - contacty satisfaction.

However I now note that if I edit one of these contacts (like change the name slightly) this doesn't immediately take effect in the calendar suggestions. Any tips?
Have already tried re-syncing the Google accounts but no dice...

[Uliwooly]

How often are you syncing your calendar, it also has to do with your internet connection, do you keep data/wifi on at all time? do you have stamina mode on? etc

[creativeflare]

I assume the calendar is supposed to sync automatically (that's what Google says it should do anyway lol) but I HAVE tried syncing the Calendar in my Google account settings AND syncing the whole account with all the checkboxes ticked. No change yet...