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How do you use your Google Gmail Address Book?

I simply want to forward a joke to several people in Gmail, but can't figure out how! If I click on the drop down by reply, then it opens up the TO: In regular email, you click on the TO and it opens up the address book and you can then select whom you want it to go to.

How do I get my address book open, select the people I want this to go to
and have them appear in the to window. I have been reading on the internet and talking to people, and we are all having the same problem. This does not seem to be a user friendly email. I generally don't have problems adapting to new software.


Dave's Answer:

When I first read your question I popped over to Google's Gmail and saw exactly the problem you were talking about. I mean, there's no "open address book" link on the compose message page. However, the reason you can't do it that way is simply because that's not how you use Gmail in the first place. :-)

Instead, the entire idea behind their address book is that you can simply type in the first few letters of the name of the person to whom you want to send your message and it'll pop up and be easily selected. Like this:

Google GMail: Accessing your Address Book

You can see that I've typed in ric and it's promptly popped up with all the possible matches. Some of them are from email I've sent or received, and others are from my address book. Simple enough!

Another way you can do this if you really want to use your contact list / address book in Gmail is to open up the list by clicking on Contacts, checking off the boxes of the folk to whom you'd like to send a message, then clicking Compose:

Google GMail: Using your Address Book to Compose a Message

Then just copy and paste the message you want to forward along. Note also that you can create a group of your frequently sent recipients and simply type in the name of that group to have a simple and elegant shortcut. See: Create a Group in Google Gmail.

Hope that helps clarify how to work with Gmail in this instance. If you're still curious, I have quite a bit of Gmail Help here on the site too.









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Comments

I am a gmail user and I understand their theory in using email addresses BUT I can't always remember everyone I want to send the note to !! It would be great if gmail would add an option to display the address book and let us choose.

I did create a few Contact Groups and I like that when you select a group in the To: field, it displays all of the names and not just the group name. This way I can see who is getting the note and it is easy to delete anyone I do not want to receive the note.

Posted by: Terry at March 15, 2007 9:30 AM

Dave, In opening a new account to say Google Mail their are four questions that you usually answer. 1. My name. 2. My email address. 3. The questions on bringing in mail. 4. Question on how to send mail. I don't remember the exact wording for the last two. One would be mail.comcast.com. The other would be smtp.comcast.com.
I know these last two are not exactly right. Could you give me the proper phrase on each.
If I am paying for Comcast as my Internet Service Provider, can I use Gmail.
I like to have all of my email address's in one folder, and then put an icon for that folder on my desktop so I can have that as easy access at any time without going back into the mail program.

Posted by: Jack Van Scyoc at May 22, 2007 9:14 AM

Instead, the entire idea behind their address book is that you can simply type in the first few letters of the name of the person to whom you want to send your message and it'll pop up and be easily selected.

Referring to the above, for the last 2 days, my sending of email does not do this. You type a alphabet but nothing happens. I am unable to send the item by email.

Would appreciate your comments. Thank you.

Posted by: aarvidi at October 9, 2007 7:10 AM

seems silly to me and cant think of why google just doesnt have the word addresses and your book would open. that is the way other emails are set up. im switching over from yahoo email to gmail and find gmail very complicating. i read it was the best email service but im becoming disenchanted with it alfe

Posted by: serafino alfe at December 5, 2007 10:51 PM

Just found this thread after searching Google for "google address book" and it came up in second place. Talk about good SEO!

You answered my question, thank you very much, although it could just as easily have been answered with, "durrr, look at your screen more carefully, there is a big blue link called Contacts". The web's making me increasingly blind and impatient.

Thanks for your help.

Ben

Posted by: Ben at April 24, 2008 11:25 AM

I just tried the "check the contacts, then click compose" in Firefox 3.0 using Better Gmail 2... and it doesn't bring the contacts over. Did this break, on the Gmail side, or is it my browser?

Posted by: karl at June 25, 2008 10:27 AM

Funny thing is that gmail doens't have the option of choosing your contact when you want to forward a message instead u have to type the email address under to like all you mentioned, but the funniest thing is that when you use gmail on an iPhone and you forward a message or compose an email it does give u the option to choose and click on which ever contacts u like like yahoo, hotmail, aol. If gmail makes a change and makes the email like the one u check on the iPhone, wow it will be the best email you can possibly have, it's simply amazing. For you iPhone users, go to the safari webbrowser and go gmail and you'll see.

Posted by: Jose at July 2, 2008 6:11 PM

THANK YOU! This was so helpful! I was getting frusterated that I couldn't find my address book. Glad to have found this.

Posted by: Hannah at September 17, 2008 12:29 AM

Question. Can i import my google address book to outlook express on windows xp?

Posted by: ari at September 29, 2008 8:03 PM

How do I transfer my address book from comcast to Gmail without having to manually enter in the information in Gmail?
I have windows XP and I have been using internet explorer.

Posted by: BJ at October 24, 2008 4:04 PM

The Gmail contacts feature has been a point of pain for me for a long time. It makes it really hard for a serious business user to use Gmail over some email clients that take contact management seriously. I've written an open letter to Google about it and would like your feedback: http://shermanboyd.com/2008/11/21/open-letter-to-google-99-ways-to-improve-gmail-contacts

Posted by: Sherman Boyd at December 5, 2008 12:34 PM

Hi there. I typed Google Mail Address Book into the Google search on the opening page in hopes of finding a way to GET INTO MY ADDRESS BOOK. WHERE IS IT? HELP!!! I know I've done this before, but for the life of me, I sure cannot find it anywhere now, and I need to add some addresses to make sure they don't go to Spam. The question that you answered (above) using Contacts doesn't help me, because that just brings up people who are already on my list, or who I want to add for gmail chat. I simply want to "get TO" my address book .. and I do not see ANY link ANYWHERE on my gmail page, anywhere, unless I am going blind. Thank you in advance for your help. :/

Posted by: Lois at January 23, 2009 5:10 PM

Hi Dave

Is there an easy way to import my Yahoo contacts into Gmail? Thank you very much!!

Jill

Posted by: Jill at March 17, 2009 9:14 AM

What do I click to get my email address book. I have a gmail account and am very computer illiterate. Thank you, Pamela Kirkpatrick

Posted by: Pamela Kirkpatrick at April 18, 2009 12:38 PM

I need help..
When I want to email something, Gmail comes up but I can not put my names and address' in it. How can I add my names and address'to the Gmail address book?

Posted by: Betty Holm at April 25, 2009 11:03 AM

I am a new user and I have a new wireless HP after
having Dell dial up . Trying to find the email address book -forget it. I do not want to pay for the
service as I googled it and they said it was a free service.. If I have to I will go to html or
back to AOL. No one is helping me and the Gmail
adress book is aluding me totally. Gmail is confusing!

Posted by: Anne Perkins at May 26, 2009 3:22 PM

I have just opened my account with gmail. I have friends that are already using gmail, but I don't know their addresses. Can I find them somewhere on the gmail page? Both of the friends I am wanting to let know about my account are out of town, and I would just like to leave them a message about my new email. What can I do?

Posted by: ldavis at June 5, 2009 7:23 PM

How do I create an address from incoming e mail ?

Posted by: Sally Lowry at June 13, 2009 2:18 PM

recently gmail had a problem i have lost all my contacts and can not receive or send. how can i get back all my contacts without retyping them all?

Posted by: tom at September 2, 2009 9:21 PM

Yep I'm a total novice. And I've read everything and tried everything about gmail address book on this page and I still can't access it from an e-mail! Help- in simple terms, please! Thanks, Me

Posted by: Linda G. Griffin at December 7, 2009 5:48 PM

I WAS USING SBC INTERNET EXPLORER. I WAS TOLD THAT THEY ARE NO LONGER SUPPORTING THIS AND I SHOULD DOWNLOAD INTERNET EXPLORER. I DID THIS. NOW THE ONLY WAY I CAN FIND TO USE MY ADDRESS BOOK IS TO PUT A LETTER IN (LIKE "A"). THEN I GET SHOWN EVERYONE WITH EITHER THE FIRST NAME OR THE LAST STARTING WITH "A". IF I AM LOOKING FOR "ADAM JONES", WHEN I PUT "A" IN I GET HIM, ALSO WHEN I PUT IN "J" I GET HIM AGAIN. THERE MUST BE A BETTER WAY TO USE THE ADDRESS BOOK, BUT I CANNOT FIND IT. IS THERE ANOTHER WAY TO DO THIS?

Posted by: DAVE SMITH at February 4, 2010 6:56 PM

After reading through this thread I realized you have solved only half the problem.
What irks me is that the only way you will see Ric, Rich, or Richard in your example is if his email address begins with his first name. What about when Rich had decided to advertise his love of farm animals when choosing his email address (ie: cowtipper@hotmail? If you have added Rich's first name in your contact info profile shouldn't he too appear as an option when you type RIC? Alas, he does not. I have to remember that Richie has odd ideas on what to do on Friday nights...

Posted by: Carey at February 11, 2010 3:55 PM

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GREAT ADVICES!!!!

Posted by: DAINA at April 19, 2010 4:06 AM

Hi, Im so sad, Gmail hasn't any Address book in gmail :( Sometimes when I need send email some friends, but I don't remember which email addresses each friends have. So I have to add each chars a-z and I have to choose each email. It isn't good choice :(
I need it :( anybody who knows, some other solution or some solution how can I add address book to Gmail?
Thanks Tom.

Posted by: tom.i at May 21, 2010 5:58 AM

How do I transfer my old emails saved and those sent while waiting to set up my Gmail account TBS was former user and they said I had to re-connect to send this info, which means I have to re-subscribe, is this the only way.

Posted by: Dan Danford at May 27, 2010 6:59 AM

I can't open the gmail address book. Please assist me cause I want to share with other gmail users.

Posted by: Gerrit at May 28, 2010 4:23 AM

I need to set up vacation responder that alerts only people my contacts. Can you please help?

Posted by: Bev at June 17, 2010 12:48 AM

how do i delete a contact from a folder

Posted by: vince g at August 22, 2010 3:50 PM

When I compose an email and click the " To " link to get to my contacts , I get a " Client Error " message . When I click on the contacts box on the mail home page , I get a message that says my " Groups " couldn't be loaded error 6 . My contacts are all listed when I click the " old contact manager " link , but I can't get them back to where they should be . Can this be fixed ? Thank you for your time !!

Posted by: Jim at September 25, 2010 11:03 AM

I'm a gmail user. I want to add some email addresses to my address book but I dont know how to do that because I can't see the address book. Thanks.

Posted by: Seyi Taofiq at October 2, 2010 7:05 AM

vince g - to delete a contact:

Just had to do this as a buddy of mine switched companies. Click on the 'Contacts' link on the left.

In the text box where you can enter something to either 'Search Contacts' or 'Search the Web', enter a portion of the name you are looking for. GMail will try to guess who you are after. In my case, my buddy is in there twice with a work and a personal email, so I don't know which is which. So I click the Search Contacts button and it brings up both email addresses.

Select the checkbox for the one you want to delete. Click the 'More actions' button and select 'delete contact'. There's no verify screen, once you click the button, the contact is gone.

Posted by: Craig Q at November 9, 2010 5:57 AM

I wanted to start using gmail(defalt) but after reading all the trouble people are having with not being able to open gmail's address book. Maybe I'd better skip the idea, and go to Yahoo. I can't find how to put the names I want in the book in the first place. At 87 yrs young I got to have something more simple than Gmail I think????

Posted by: Camille Smith at February 10, 2011 9:34 PM

After i read all the answers i did a lil' research and found the SOLUTION! If u wanna forward an email to ur desire contacts from gmail address book just CLICK on the "To" text which just shown on the left of the box where u put ur destination e-mail address. That "To" text is clickable and most of us never realise it :|

A new windown will pop up after clicking which contains all ur g-mail contact list.

Enjoy g-mail service. Thanks. God bless all :>

Posted by: Kushal at March 7, 2011 11:01 AM

Dave,

I have Gmail set up with a separate addressee group besides "My Contacts". For some reason, most of the addressees in My Contacts are duplicated in my custom group. I'd like to remove (delete) these from the My Contacts list and have them appear only in the custom group. Unfortunately, when I go into My Contacts and delete them there, Gmail also deletes them from the custom group!!! Uggh!!!

How can I do what I want to do?

Posted by: TommyC at March 31, 2011 10:05 AM

How do I create an address from incoming e mail ?

Posted by: Joe at May 10, 2011 10:01 AM

Dave,

I have an address book in MS Outlook that I have names, e-mails, street addresses, comments etc. that sends from my old e-mail address psmiley@cox.net. I am trying to switch to all gmail, but I suspect that gmail's address book is wanting from reading this email string and your replies. Is there any way to link gmail and MS Outlook? I already have my old psmiley@cox.net forwarding emails to psmiley1945@gmail.com.

Also, Is there a gmail phone number for a help desk?

Looking forward to your reply.

Phil Smiley

Posted by: Philip Smiley at June 22, 2011 8:21 AM

Phil, this looks useful:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/export-outlook-contacts-to-google-gmail-HA001148902.aspx

In terms of a Gmail help desk? Google doesn't really like to talk to its customers from what I can tell. No phone number, no live chat, and some support discussion forums, but they're generally populated just by users, not Google folk. So we're on our own. :-)

Posted by: Dave Taylor at June 22, 2011 10:00 AM

sir how i know that in which location my g mail account access before month ago....

Posted by: ADITYA MISHRA at June 25, 2011 7:27 AM

I find this complicated compared with outlook express.If i want to forward mail i click onto my contacts click on there name that goes into the recipient box press send job done

Posted by: terry tilsley at June 30, 2011 7:13 AM

Using android, themenu to select the address does not appear. Instead, google makes up accounts, that proved to exist. This way, my e-mail is being send to random people with addressess that resemble the ones in my address book.

This is no good at all.

Posted by: d at September 11, 2011 5:28 AM

Hi,

I need to send an email to a friend, however, she has a strange email address. Can I display my entire address book so that I can find her?

Tricia

Posted by: Tricia Smith at September 12, 2011 9:53 AM

ive 4got my google address on my mobile n now my phone is blocked. how do i find out what my address is please

Posted by: ady at December 3, 2011 3:03 AM

I switched from Yahoo email due to all the problems there lately (and they were legion). But Gmail has the dumbest address book for email that I've ever seen. It doesn't seem to exist! You can't add or edit it in anyway, only import addresses from Yahoo, because you can't freaking find it!! I tried every tip on this forum, only to discover no such "Contact" button exists.

I don't know what the email gods at Gmail are smoking, but you guys take the cake for DUMB. As soon as Yahoo gets its act together again, I'll be switching back. At least they have an address book that you can access and edit.

Despite all the benefits of Gmail (which means, email actually gets sent when you send it, unlike Yahoo), Gmail has the most confusing interface I've ever used.

You guys need to put down your crack pipes and start redesigning for the common folk, who are not lost in debating esoteric interface arguments. We just want to be able to work with our address books.

Posted by: Stinger51 at January 1, 2012 7:54 PM

not happy with the changes. can't get my address bookto come up. this is suppose to be easy. what happened?

Posted by: frankie cook at January 16, 2012 8:26 AM

How do I change or delete an email address in my "contacts" list in Gmail? I can not find "contacts" anywhere on my screen. I need to update a group list with some email address changes. I am totally frustrated.

Posted by: Sharon at January 17, 2012 9:30 PM

I AM NOT YELLING, I JUST CAN'T SEE SMALL LETTERS WITHOUT A GREAT DEAL OF PAIN TO MY EYES. I HAVEN'T SET UP A CONTACT LIST YET. THAT'S WHY I'M LOOKING FOR A WAY TO ADD ADDRESSES!

Posted by: CAROL at January 30, 2012 11:26 AM

The problem here is that Google is making a lot of incorrect assumptions about how I'm using their products. This is a common problem with Google, but in this instance, I would like a contact list because I am trying to "whitelist".

My situation is this: I go to a school. Which means everyone's address ends in @myschool.edu . Now my school allows anyone to pay the IT department to send out a mass mailing to everyone at the school, that comes from the client's address. Which ends in, you guessed it, @myschool.edu . To make matters more complicated, I work with a new set of students on team projects every semester, so I have to be able to get new e-mail from @myschool.edu addresses I don't recognize.

One classic solution (and the right solution, although impossible the way Google's mail is set up) is to archive everything except from addresses I trust. I can then go through at the beginning of the semester and simply add all the e-mails I want to actually get inbox mail from to my filter. This works opposite the way google's filters seem designed to work, which seems to involve trying to guess what looks like certain categories of mail, tagging them, and sending them somewhere other than my inbox. But it is nonetheless possible and easy using existing gmail technology.

Or, rather, it would be, if I could pull up a list of my existing contacts to begin with.

I don't expect this to change anything. Google abandonded its KISS roots years and years ago. The days when they gave us a simple interface to a simple bot that "just worked" with awesome behind-the-scenes data miners are gone. This is just one of many, many symptoms. It's ironic; the better Google tries to "get to know me", the less it seems to.

Posted by: Sean at January 31, 2012 4:40 PM

How do I delete some of the email addresss that are obslete, keeping only the current ones?

Posted by: mason fogg at February 3, 2012 1:32 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!











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