Export Gmail Contacts
Your contact list is like an old rolodex. Everything’s in the right spot, but if you move offices you’ll need to make sure that the rolodex comes with you. Exporting your contacts from Gmail allows you to store your contacts as a file on your computer, both for safekeeping and for easy transfer to another mail service. Follow this guide to learn how.
Steps
- Open your Gmail account. The easiest way to access your Google contacts is through the Gmail web interface. The mobile Gmail app cannot export contacts, so you’ll need to have access to a computer.
- Click the Gmail link in the top-left corner. It has a down arrow icon next to it. Select Contacts from the menu that appears. This will load the Contacts organizer.
- Select the contacts you want to export. If you only want to export specific contacts, check the box next to each contact that you want to export. If you want to export all of your contacts, or all of a specific group, you don’t need to check anything.
- You can browse through your various groups of contacts using the menu on the left. Contacts are sorted by Manage-Contacts-in-Gmail as well as your Google+ circles.
- Click the More button. This is at the top of your contacts list. It has a down arrow icon next to it. Select “Export…” from the menu.
- Choose which group of contacts to export. If you checked specific contacts in Step 3, you can choose the “Selected contacts” option. You can also choose a group of contacts or all of your contacts. The number next to each option will show how many contacts that option will export.
- Select your format. There will be three different format options to choose from, pick the one that best suits your needs:
- Google CSV – This option is best suited for exporting contacts into another Google account. This is useful if you are creating a new account but want to keep your old contacts, or you want to backup your contact list in case something happens with your Google account.
- Outlook CSV – This option is for exporting contacts to programs and services that can import CSV files, such as Outlook, Yahoo!, Mail.com, and more.
- vCard – This format is best used when exporting contacts to the Apple Address Book, iCloud, and other contact organizers.
- Download the file. Once you have selected your format and clicked the Export button, the exported contacts file will be downloaded to your computer. Depending on your browser’s settings, the file may download automatically, or you may be prompted to save it. Once the file has downloaded, you can import it to your Manage Contacts.
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