How to import contacts from gmail to Android Easy Way {2023}

How to import contacts from gmail to android-You’ve always used Gmail to manage your email from your PC and, of course, all your contacts are saved in the address book of this popular service. Now, however, have you bought a new smartphone and would like to know how to import your address book to it? I guessed right? Then don’t worry, because you’ve landed on the right guide at the right time!

If you allow me a few moments of your free time, I can in fact explain how to import contacts from Gmail working on a wide range of different devices and operating systems. Going into more detail, I will explain how to act on Android and iPhone, as regards the mobile side. Then I’ll show you how to synchronize your Gmail address book with PC email clients, such as Outlook and Thunderbird, and with online services, such as iCloud.

How to import contacts from gmail to android

In short, in the end you should have a fairly complete picture of the situation. At that time? May I know what are you still doing standing there? Start immediately to put the instructions below into practice and you will see that, in a flash, you will finally be able to meet your need. Having said that, there’s nothing left for me to do but wish you a good read and good luck for everything!

Do you need to import contacts from Gmail to Android ? To do this, all you have to do is associate your Google account with the device and activate the appropriate synchronization function present in the device settings. In this way, you will immediately have access to your Google contacts on your smartphone or tablet and, in addition, any changes made will be available both on the device and in Gmail.

However, keep in mind that, generally, Gmail contact synchronization is an option active by default on Android, provided you have associated a Google account with it: to make sure that the function is active on your device, click tap on the Settings icon (the one in the shape of a gear wheel ) and select the Account item first and then Google from the menu that opens.

At this point, if synchronization is enabled, under Synchronize Contacts , you should find the switch moved to ON . If not, to fix it, enable the function yourself.

If you need to get Gmail contacts from an account other than the one already configured on the device, do this: open Android Settings , select the Account item from the screen that appears, touch the wording Add account , select the Google icon and provide the data relating to the Gmail account of your interest by filling in the appropriate fields on the display, as I explained to you in my guide on how to associate an Android phone with Google.

Then select the Google item from the list of accounts, select the Gmail address you just added and check that, on the next screen, the switch located next to the Synchronize Contacts item is set to ON . If not, enable the feature yourself and you’re done.

Note: the items in the Android settings that I have indicated to you in this chapter may differ slightly from what you see on the device screen, depending on the Android version device in use. FYI, I used a Samsung Galaxy S6 updated to Android 7.0 .

How to import contacts from Gmail to SIM

If, on the other hand, you are interested in understanding how to import contacts from Gmail to SIM , know that it is feasible, but only on Android, using the device’s default functions or some third-party apps.

Before anything else, however, import contacts from Gmail account contacts into the memory of your smartphone or tablet, creating a CSV file  with the contact details of your interest. So, take your device, unlock it, access the Home screen, open the app you usually use to surf the Net (eg Chrome ) and go to the Google contact web page.

If necessary, also log in to your Google account, providing the relevant credentials. At this point, tap the button with the three horizontal lines located at the top left, select the Export item from the menu that opens, make sure that the Google CSV option is selected in the box displayed (otherwise you take care of it) and tap on the wording Export .

If you then want to export only some contacts or certain groups, first select them from the relative list and proceed as I just indicated. Afterwards, a file in CSV format will be saved on the device with all the contacts in your Gmail account.

Now, open the Contacts app  (the one with the little man icon ), tap the button with the three vertical dots located at the top right, choose the Settings option from the menu that appears and select the Import/ Export contacts from the new screen that is proposed to you. At this point, press the Import button located under the Import contacts from gmail item , select the position of your interest and the CSV file obtained previously and tap the Done item  at the top right.

If your device doesn’t offer an option to export contacts to SIM card, you can use the Copy to SIM Card application , which is free and very easy to use. To download it, visit the relevant section of the Play Store and press the Install button . Subsequently, start the app by pressing the Open button that appears on the display or by selecting the relative icon that has been added to the Home screen.

Now that you are viewing the main screen of the application, grant it permission to access the contacts by tapping the wording Allow , then go to the Phone Contacts tab and if you intend to copy all the contacts saved on the phone, check the box next to the Select item all . Alternatively, select the contacts of your interest one at a time.

Finally, tap the button with the three vertical dots located at the top right, select the Copy selected option to the SIM and that’s it.

How to import contacts from gmail to iphone

Would you like to import contacts from Gmail to your iPhone and don’t know how to do it? No problem: I’ll explain everything to you. To do this, just take advantage of the option on your “iPhone by” which allows you to associate Google accounts and, therefore, activate the synchronization of contacts with the device.

So, take the iPhone, unlock it, access the home screen and tap on the Settings icon (the one with the gear wheel ). On the screen that appears to you at this point, select the wording Password and account (on iOS 14 and later you have to go to Settings > Mail or Settings > Contacts ), tap the Add account item and touch the Google logo .

Then log in to your Gmail account by filling in the fields visible on the display with the requested data; then leave ON only the switch that you find next to the Contacts item and tap the word Save , at the top right, to save the changes.

Subsequently, open the Contacts app (the one with the icon depicting a phone book ) and, among the contacts in the list, those of the Google account will also be visible. If this is not the case, it is because you must first enable its display: to do this, press the item Groups , at the top left, select the item All (Gmail) that you find under the wording Gmail and touch the item Finish , located at the top.

How to import contacts from Gmail to iCloud

Now let’s see how to import contacts from Gmail to iCloud , the storage and synchronization system made available by Apple for its users. The practice in question must be carried out from the browser but, once imported, the contacts are also accessible on all iPhones, iPads and Macs connected to the same Apple ID.

Before proceeding, however, you need to worry about creating a vCard file  with all the contacts in Gmail (which you will then have to upload to iCloud): to do this, start the browser you usually use on your computer to surf the Net (e.g. Chrome ) and go to the web page dedicated to Google contacts. If necessary, log in to your Google account, providing the required credentials.

At this point, select the Export item found in the left sidebar, choose the  vCard option (for iOS contacts) in the box that opens and click on the Export item , in order to obtain your file with all the contacts . If you want to export only some contacts or certain groups, on the other hand, first select them from the list in the center of the page, then proceed as I just indicated.

Now, visit the iCloud.com home page and log in to your iCloud account by filling in the appropriate fields visible on the screen with the requested data. Subsequently, click on the Contacts icon (the one with the address book ), select the gear wheel button located at the bottom left, click on the wording Import vCard in the menu that appears and select the previously obtained vCard file . to upload the contacts, which you can access from the same section.

It should be noted that this procedure does not synchronize contacts between Gmail and iCloud: it only imports Gmail contacts to iCloud at the current moment. The changes made on one or the other platform will remain confined to the same.

How to import contacts from Gmail to Outlook

If you are interested in understanding how to import contacts from Gmail to Outlook , because you also use the Microsoft home e-mail service or the related computer client, I inform you that not only is this feasible but, moreover, it is also very simple. Find everything detailed below.

Outlook.com

If you use the Outlook.com Webmail service and want to import your Gmail contacts into it, first save your Google account address book as a CSV file . To do this, start the browser you usually use on your computer to surf the net (eg Chrome ), go to the web page dedicated to Google contacts and log in to your account (if necessary).

Then select the Export item located in the left sidebar, choose the Outlook CSV option from the box that opens and click on the Export heading . If you only want to export specific contacts or certain groups, first select them from the relative list and then proceed as I just indicated. After doing this, a file in CSV format will be saved on the computer with all the contacts in your Gmail account.

Now, go to the Outlook.com home page and, if necessary, sign in to your Microsoft account. Then, select the icon with the two little men located in the lower left, to access the service address book, click on the Manage item located in the upper right and choose the Import contacts option from the menu that appears.

Finally, click on the Browse button , select the CSV file obtained previously and proceed with importing the Gmail contacts by clicking on the Import button . Done!

It should be noted that this procedure does not synchronize contacts between Gmail and Outlook but only brings the Gmail address book into Outlook. Subsequent changes will only remain on the platform used.

Microsoft Outlook (Windows/macOS)

Do you use Microsoft Outlook as a client to manage e-mail on Windows or macOS and would you like to know how to proceed in this case? Then first save the Gmail account address book as a CSV file , following the instructions on what to do that I gave you in the previous chapter.

Next, follow the instructions below, depending on the operating system you’re using Outlook on.

• Windows – start Microsoft Outlook by selecting the relevant link from the Start menu , click on the File tab at the top left, select the Open and export item from the menu that opens and click on the Import/export button located in the displayed panel. Then, click on the item Import data from other programs or files , press the Next button , select the item Comma separated values ​​, click again on the Next button , then on the Browse button and select the CSV filepreviously created. Finally, choose whether to replace the duplicates, create them or avoid importing them, by ticking the most suitable box, click on the Next button, select the Contacts folder attached to the e-mail account you are using and press the buttons Next and Finish .
• macOS  – right-click on the previously saved VCF file and choose Open with > Microsoft Outlook from the menu that appears. Finally, click on the Save and Close button , top left, and you’re done.

At the end of the procedure, regardless of the OS used, you can view the imported contacts by clicking on the icon depicting the two little men that you find in the lower left part of the program window.

To get a synchronization of the contacts, instead of a simple import of the same from Gmail to Outlook, follow the advice I gave you in this other tutorial of mine

How to import contacts from Gmail to Thunderbird

In conclusion, I would like to explain how to import contacts from Gmail to Thunderbird , the Mozilla e-mail management client. First, save the Gmail account address book as a CSV file , following the instructions on what to do that I have given you in the chapter dedicated to Outlook.

Then start Thunderbird , click on the button with the three horizontal lines located at the top right and select the first item Tools from the menu that appears and then the Import item . In the further window that opens, choose the Address books option and click on the Next button , then highlight the Text file option and click again on the Next button .

Once this is done, select the file of your interest, click on the OK button and, finally, press on Finished . You will then find all the contacts in the Address Book section of the program, accessible by clicking on the appropriate item located at the top.

This procedure imports contacts but does not sync them between Gmail and Thunderbird. To get a synchronization, follow the advice I gave you in this other tutorial of mine.