Home » Gmail » Export Gmail Contacts – Step-by-step Guide

Gmail is one of the biggest email giants present in the world, it has made personal and professional life easier for billions worldwide. The software supports easy-to-use features and simple functionality. As Gmail has billions of clients worldwide, exporting contacts from Gmail is the biggest concern of many people and businesses. Despite what purpose you are using the Gmail account, you can simply export Gmail contacts to another application with some simple steps.

In this guide, we are going to discuss the simple steps that can help you to export the Gmail contacts to other software or applications. So, keep reading the guide and find simple instructions to do the task. 

Read Also: Explained: How to Forward Emails from Gmail Directly?

Here is how you can Export Gmail contacts: 

 

Steps for Export Contacts from Gmail

 

1. Open the Gmail Contacts 

There are two ways to open the Gmail contact;

 

A) Directly Open the Contact: 

1. Tap on the “Mail” option, you can find this option present on the top-left corner of the screen. 
2. After this, select the “Contact” option. You will see the contacts of your Gmail account appearing in the new tab. 

B) Open Contact with Keyboard Shortcut 

1. Press the “G+C” button and contact information will show in the same tab. 

If you are choosing the traditional way, you will be directed to the latest version of the Gmail contact, and if you are choosing the shortcut, you will be directed to the older version. 

Important: Here, we will recommend you to choose the keyboard shortcut option to Export contacts from Gmail as the latest version does not have Gmail yet. 

If you are using the latest version of the Gmail contact, proceed with the steps below to export the Gmail contacts. 

 

Step 2 & 3 For the Newer Version of Gmail

2. Choose “More” Option 

From the left side panel, tap on the “More” option. Here, you can see the multiple options like Import, Export, Undo Changes, and the others. 

 

3. Select the “Export” Option

To Export Gmail contacts, you need to choose the export option, however, the newer versions do not support the feature to export the contact. Thus, you will get the pop-up on your screen saying that “ Export from the old version”. 

Choose the “Go to the old version” option and you will see the Gmail contacts from the older version appearing in the new tab. 

 

Step 2 & 3 For the Older Version of Gmail

2. Select the Contacts You would Like to Export 

From here, you can choose the contacts that you want to export and proceed next with the following step. 

 

3. Click on the “More” Option

Once you have selected to contact from the list, tap on the More option to proceed with the Export Gmail contacts process. 

 

Steps to Newer as well as the Older Version

4. Choose the “Export” option

After choosing the contact, you need to click on the “Export” option. 

 

5. Choose the Options to Export

You need to choose from the following options to Export Gmail contacts from your list: 

• Choose “Contacts” (the contacts you have chosen in the second step).
• The Group. 
• All contact. 

 

6. Choose “File” Format 

Choose “File Format” from the below-mentioned options : 

1. Google CSV ( google.csv).
2. V.card format (contacts.vcf).
3. Outlook CSV ( Gmail-to-outlook.csv). 

You have to choose the “Google CSV” option if you want to export contacts from Gmail to your Google account.  With the help of Outlook CSV format, you can move the contacts to your Outlook account. By using the vCard format, you can export the contact from your Gmail account to Apple books or the other application. 

 

What is the Difference Between All These Formats? 

• The Gmail CSV works upon the “Unicode” that helps to preserve the international characters. 
• MS Outlook does not support international characters. With Outlook CSV format, you can transport the name to the “Default Character encoding. 
• vCard works as the “Internet Standard” and is used by numerous email applications and contact managers. 

 

So, these are some simple steps that can help you to Export Gmail contacts from your account to other software or applications. 

Read Also: Gmail Login Problems | How to Fix the Sign-in Issue? [Solved]

 

Automatic Contact Creation in Gmail

While using the Gmail services, you can take the benefit feature that automatically adds every person to your contact list who has contacted you. The Gmail create the contact every time when: 

• The user reverts to an email. 
• Forward the email to a new address. 
• All the contact information will be saved under the “Other Contacts” option. 

 

If you want to disable the Automatic Contact Creation in your Gmail account, follow the steps below: 

1. Go to the “Settings” on your Gmail account. 
2. Here, find the “Create a contact for auto-complete” using the General tab.  
3. Here, you will see that option “When I send a message to a new person, add them to Other Contacts so that I can auto-complete to them next time” is chosen. 
4. You need to choose the “I’ll add the contact myself” option. 
5. Hit the “Save Changes” option. 

 

Are You Unable to Export Gmail contacts? Here is What You Can Do: 

If you are getting an error message while trying to Export Gmail contacts, then you might be trying to import more than 2000 contacts to your Outlook account. It is recommended to open the CSV you have downloaded and separate the smaller CSVs and after that try to Export the contacts from Gmail to Outlook.

 

Wrap Up

Gmails has made the life of billions of users better by providing outstanding emailing services and additional functionalities to handle other processes efficiently. Your Gmail account comes with a feature that allows users to export Gmail contacts to Apple, Outlook, or other applications as per their preference. The post above is providing clear details about how the user can export their contact from the Gmail account. 

The provided steps are very simple to follow. But, if you are still unable to export the contact from your Gmail account and need help, you can always contact the Gmail support team. The experts are available around the clock to help and provide the necessary help the user needs to complete the task.