Free tech support / small logo


How do I export my Gmail contacts?

I've become addicted to Gmail thanks to your writeups and based on my intense dissatisfaction with Hotmail. Now, however, I find that I'd like to export my address book from Gmail so I can import it into a different email program as a backup. Is that doable?


Dave's Answer:

Actually, you're in luck. Apparently this capability was just recently added to the Gmail service, and it's relatively straightforward:

Log in to your Gmail account, then click on Contacts on the left side. You'll see:

Gmail Contacts List

Notice in the top right there's now an Export link. Click on that and you'll see:

Gmail Export Contacts List

This is about as straightforward as it gets! Choose between "Gmail CSV" (a neat idea if you have more than one Gmail account or want to share your address book with a colleague or friend, but generally probably not that useful) and "Outlook CSV" for the ubiquitous Microsoft Outlook email system. Before you panic because you're running Apple Mail or Thunderbird or some other email client, check your documentation: almost all modern mail programs can import Outlook format address books.

Once you choose the format that best fits your needs, click on Export Contacts and in the blink of an eye, you'll have a filename like "gmail-to-outlook.csv" on your computer, ready to be imported into another email program.

Oh! And one helpful tip: Microsoft Excel and other spreadsheets live and breath comma-separated-values (CSV) files, so if you wanted to prune your address book before importing or distributing it, opening up the file in a spreadsheet could be your simplest solution.

Hope this gets you going, and for those of you still looking for Gmail invitations so you can get accounts of your own, please do read Can I have a free Gmail account?









Subscribe!
Never miss another Q&A article! Click to subscribe: Add to Google Reader Add to My Yahoo! Subscribe in NewsGator RDF XML
Comments

Incredible, Dude.
Now a have a beautyful file on mi desktop (either unicode or Coma sepparated values) But it doens´t seem to possible to put them into Mozilla´s cute Thunderbird... what can I do, Lord?

Thanks!
Thanks!
Thanks!
Zeta!

Posted by: Zeta at August 31, 2006 6:43 PM

I've had big troubles importing my google contacts into Thunderbird because the fields don't line up. Any advice?

Posted by: mike at December 18, 2006 3:31 PM

Dave,
Thanks a lot for the info, it really helped me in sending New Year wishes to all my Clients,
and Wish You a happy and prosperous New Year 2008
Ehsan
Bangalore

Posted by: Ehsan at December 31, 2007 12:33 AM

Thanks Dave Tayler. It worked !!!

Posted by: Thas at January 8, 2008 6:10 PM

Awesome!!! I never thought it would be so easy... to tell you the truth I'm a big nooby regarding these kinds of things... In my workplace I use Ubuntu and have all the contacts on Evolution, I'm trying to get them somewhere else to keep them safe since my computer has been acting up a lot lately and dont want to lose the information... thanks!!

http://labs.brotherli.ch/vcfconvert/index.php

Is the page that I used to convert Vcard to CSV in case it's usefull for you.

Thank you thank you!!!

Posted by: Mariana at March 20, 2008 1:12 PM

How do I export my emails from my gmail to my new live.com account?

Posted by: Mystress at April 9, 2008 5:42 PM

Sigh.....Can someone tell me how to export from gmail to live? Even Microsoft won't answer. =(

Posted by: Patty at April 27, 2008 4:20 PM

Dave I am trying to export contacts to csv file...it goes into the process...but never completes it...any suggestions? I have tried both outlook and gmail csv...

Thanks.

Ron

Posted by: ron stone at May 3, 2008 9:25 AM

GOOD DAY
HOW DO I TRANSFER MY GMAIL CONTACTS TO INCREDIMAIL CONTACTS
THANKS
JERRY

Posted by: jerry at June 19, 2008 7:37 PM

Hi! Need some help. I have a account with gmail. I received a lot of emails that includes email addreses (in the text/format/body) of the emails. I need to export all to a CVS File in order to export to use it in IContacts.. Theres a program that recognize ALL EMAILS ADDRESS in gmail..??? Emails that are in the body of the messages??
Thanks Guru
Diana

Posted by: Diana Ricart at March 4, 2010 8:34 PM

This appears to be an old tutorial, since the first comment is back from 2006.

Is there still a way to export a group contact list to another gmail account?

Posted by: Rose at September 22, 2010 11:30 AM

Thanks for the reminder that I need to update this, Rose. It's straightforward in the modern (2010) Gmail interface. Go to Contacts, then under "more actions" is "Export...". Choose that and you'll see how to proceed. Also take note that there's an "Import..." option on this same menu in Gmail. :-)

Posted by: Dave Taylor at September 22, 2010 11:33 AM

How do I please export all my Gmail emails to my computer? With out using any Thunderbird or Outlook , noor forwarding it to another email account.
Can I have my email stored in one simple folder on my PC ?

Thank you

Posted by: Spongebob at November 26, 2010 10:50 AM


Hi, thanks for this informative post. You could also refer to Scrubly, it provides troubleshooting infos/tips on sync services (How to Sync Outlook 2011 for Mac with Mac Address Book). They have also a tool, its service scans and removes duplicate contacts from your Outlook, Gmail and Google Apps accounts.

http://www.scrubly.com/blog/index.php/2011/01/how-to-sync-outlook-2011-f...

http://www.scrubly.com

Posted by: Chris Smith at February 17, 2011 6:34 PM

Well, the procedure posted 9/22/2010 no longer works because the "more actions" options of My Contacts is gone. It is possible to highlight the whole area of the contact information, do a control-c, then paste the clipboard into an open spreadsheet. (Only tested in LibreOffice Calc.)

Posted by: Doug Wilson at August 29, 2011 12:57 PM

Dear Dave,

Happy New Year. For months I've been wanting to export my contacts into exel file. Thanks for sharing, I am able to do now.

Blessings to you.

With Metta,
Sheila

Posted by: Sheila Villena at January 2, 2012 1:11 AM

I can get the contact into a CSV file,, but the format is so whacked that it's useless - everything jammed into one cell or split into 10 cells, and not in any consistent way.

Posted by: Cynthia at January 20, 2012 12:51 PM

I have something to say, now that you mention it, but ...
Starbucks coffee cup I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!











Remember personal info?


Please note that I will never send you any unsolicited email. Ever.

While I'm at it, please note that by submitting a question or comment you're agreeing to my terms of service, which are: you relinquish any subsequent rights of ownership to your material by submitting it on this site.









Recent Entries


Search
I Need Help!
Need Help? Ask Dave Taylor!


© 2002 - 2012 by Dave Taylor. All Rights Reserved.

Note: This web site is for the purpose of disseminating information for educational purposes, free of charge, for the benefit of all visitors. We take great care to provide quality information. However, we do not guarantee, and accept no legal liability whatsoever arising from or connected to, the accuracy, reliability, currency or completeness of any material contained on this web site or on any linked site.

[whiteboard marker tray]
"Ask Dave Taylor®" is a registered trademark of Intuitive Systems, LLC.