What are sync settings?
Sync Settings for Google / iCloud / Exchange:
Contacts+ offers two settings for your connected address books (Google Contacts, iCloud, and Exchange): ON (blue color) or OFF (greyed out):
This can be set for each individual address book. If toggled on, it means contacts will be added to your My Contacts list, as well as combined with any other connected address books also set to on. These contacts will sync back to your connected sources. In other words, for as many address books that you've connected (and turned syncing on for), expect that they will mirror each other.
If toggled off, you are essentially making that connected source a part of your Contacts+ account, but those contacts will only be used to update existing contacts in your My Contacts. The changes you make to these contacts will sync bi-directionally, but not with your My Contacts. In other words, they are kept separate from My Contacts unless you manually add these contacts to your My Contacts.
Sync Settings for Import Files:
If you choose Update Existing when importing your CSV/vCard file, we will only update your existing My Contacts with contacts found to be in common with those in your imported file. However, if you choose to Add as New, expect that all contacts in your imported file will get added to your My Contacts.
How do I know which sync settings are right for me?
If you're looking to combine all of your address books (work/personal email sources), turn syncing on your Sync Sources page. This will ensure that each address book has the same contacts. So, if you make a change/edit to a contact in one address book (let's say it's your personal Google Contacts account), that change will also sync to your other connected/synced sources (let's say that's your work Exchange address book).
For import files, it depends on whether you want ALL of the contacts in your imported file to be added to your My Contacts.
For example, if you have your personal Google Contacts account connected/synced to Contacts+ and you don't want ALL of your import file contacts to be added to your My Contacts/Google Contacts, choose Update Existing. However, if you want all of your imported contacts to be added to your My Contacts, choose Add as New.
Remember, even if you choose Update Existing, you can always manually add contacts to your My Contacts. If there are contacts found to be in common, Contacts+ will deduplicate your My Contacts.