Google Mail: Export and Import Contacts

Unlike Groupwise, Google Mail does not allow you to share contact groups (in Groupwise, address books) with others. However, if you would like to share your contact group with another Google Mail user, you can export the contact group and then have them import it into their Google Mail.

These instructions assume you are using Google Chrome to access your mail as that is the university's preferred browser.

Note: Please be aware that after the other person imports the contact group into their Google Mail, any changes you make to the contact group in your Google Mail will not show up in the other person’s Google Mail. You will either have to tell the other person to make the changes manually, or you both will have to go through the process of exporting and importing again.

To Export a Contact Group from Google Mail (for the person sharing the contact group):

The newer Google Mail only offers a preview version of your Google Contacts. Google will prompt you to restore your old contacts in order to export them. If you already have the older version of Google Contacts pulled up on your screen, you can skip to Step 6.   

1. Log in to your Cedarville Google Mail account cedarville.edu/google. 
2. In the upper-left corner of the screen, click “Mail" > From the drop-down menu, select "Contacts."
3. From the "Groups" list in the left side panel, select the contact group you wish to export.
4. From the "More" drop-down in the left side panel, select “Expoxt.” 
5. In the resulting dialogue box, click [GO TO OLD CONTACTS].
6. In the resulting window, click [More] > Select "Export..."
7. Under “Which contacts do you want to export?”, use the "The group" drop-down menu to select the group you wish to export. 
8. Under “Which export format?”, select “Google CSV format (for importing into a Google account).”
9. Click [Export]. A .csv file named “google.csv” downloads. You can find the file down in your toolbar. (If you are using Safari, you can find the filed by clicking the [Downloads] icon in the top right-hand corner of the browser. In Internet Explorer, a pop-up will appear at the bottom of your screen. In Firefox, a pop-up will appear in the center of your screen.)
10. Open the “google.csv” file and save it in the desired location. You may want to rename it to a more specific name (for example, the name of the group).
11. Email the .csv file to the person you want to import the contacts.

To Import a Contact Group into Google Mail (for the person receiving the contact group):

The newer Google Mail only offers a preview version of your Google Contacts. Google will prompt you to restore your old contacts in order to import them. If you already have the older version of Google Contacts pulled up on your screen, you can skip to Step 5.

1. Log in to your Cedarville Google Mail account cedarville.edu/google. 
2. In the upper-left corner of the screen, click “Mail" > From the drop-down menu, select "Contacts."
3. From the "More" drop-down in the left side panel, select “Import.” 
4. In the resulting dialogue box, click [GO TO OLD CONTACTS].
5. In the resulting window, click [More] > Select "Import..."
6. In the resulting dialogue box, click [Choose File] and double-click the file containing the shared contact group > Click [Import].
7. Click the name of the contact group in the sidebar. (The name will be “Imported” along with the date.) You will have a notification that “These contacts have been imported, but not yet merged.”
8. Click [More]  > Select “Find & merge duplicates.”
9. Click [Merge]. The contacts are now merged and imported.
10. To rename the group, select the group from the left side panel.
11. Click [More]  > Select "Rename group".
12. In the resulting dialogue box, enter a new name in the provided field, and then click [OK]. The group is renamed and will appear as that name in the contact groups list.

Note: All of the imported contacts will be listed in your “My Contacts” group as well as the group you renamed. If you do not need the separate contact group that you renamed, you can delete it by clicking [More] > “Delete group.” The group will be deleted, but the contacts will not. They will remain under “My Contacts.”