How to export contacts from one Gmail account to another: check the old account first

The short answer on how to export contacts from one Gmail account to another: download a Google CSV from contacts.google.com in the old account, then import that file in the new one. The export only includes what sits in My Contacts, so a few minutes of checking first saves you a messy import.

The two-click version skips some contacts and copies every duplicate. So sign in to the old account, open contacts.google.com and look at three things:

1. The total count shown for My Contacts. Write the number down, because you will compare it with the new account after the import.
2. The labels in the left sidebar. They travel with the export in a Labels column, so note which ones you rely on, such as clients, suppliers or family.
3. Merge & fix suggestions. Google lists duplicates and incomplete entries here, and the number tells you how much cleanup is waiting.

Add the people from Other contacts

Gmail saves anyone you reply to or email into a separate bucket called Other contacts. Those people are not in My Contacts, so a normal export skips them. If you have only ever written to a supplier or a lead, that person may be missing from your file.

Open Other contacts in the sidebar and go through the list. Add the people you want to keep to My Contacts. Then check the My Contacts count again and write down the new number.

Merge duplicates before you export contacts

Open Merge & fix and work through the duplicate suggestions now. An export copies every duplicate as its own row, so the new account receives each one again. You would then clean up the same mess a second time, with no way to tell which copy is the good one.

Use the review option instead of merging everything in one click. Two different people can share a name, and a blanket merge combines their details into one entry. Once the cleanup is done, note the final count. That is the number you should see in the new account after the import.

When you can skip the cleanup

Skip it if the new account is a throwaway and the list is under a few dozen names. In that case, fixing duplicates by hand later takes less time than preparing the old account. For anything you plan to keep using, do the cleanup first.

How to export contacts from one Gmail account to another

The whole job takes about five minutes. You export a file from the old account, then import it into the new one. Google Contacts handles both ends, so you don't need a third-party tool.

1. Sign in to the old Gmail account and go to contacts.google.com.
2. Pick what you want to move. To select everything, tick the box next to any contact, then use the checkbox at the top of the list. To move only one group, click its label in the left sidebar first.
3. Click the three dots at the top of the page and choose Export.
4. Next, choose the scope: selected contacts, a single label, or all contacts.
5. Then pick Google CSV as the format. It keeps labels and works best when the destination is another Google account.
6. Click Export. The file lands in your Downloads folder.
7. Now switch to the new account. The quickest way is an incognito window, so the two logins never mix. Go to contacts.google.com again.
8. In the left sidebar, click Import, then Select file, and pick the CSV you just downloaded.
9. Click Import. Google then adds the contacts and tags them with a new label that carries the import date.

Before you close the old account, check the new one. Then open the import label and scroll through a few entries. Names, phone numbers and emails should all be there.

Two things that trip people up when you export Gmail contacts

Gmail also saves people you've only emailed under "Other contacts." Those don't come out in the export. If you need one of them, open it in the old account and click Add to contacts, then export again.

Duplicates are the other common problem. If the new account already has some of the same people, click Merge & fix in the sidebar after importing. Google lists the matches and merges them in one click.

Use vCard instead of Google CSV only if the contacts are headed to an iPhone's Contacts app or another non-Google address book. For a Gmail-to-Gmail move, stick with CSV, the format that this guide on how to export contacts from one Gmail account to another uses throughout. Also, don't edit the file in Excel before importing, because it can scramble accented characters and break the columns Google expects.

How to export contacts from one Gmail account to another: the old account

Open Google Contacts at contacts.google.com and make sure you are signed in to the old account. Check the profile picture in the top right corner, because it is easy to land in the wrong one. This is the first half of how to export contacts from one Gmail account to another, and it takes about a minute.

Before you click anything, decide what you want to move. You can export every contact, or only one label such as "Clients". If the old account mixes personal numbers with business ones, export the label only, or you will end up deleting the extras in the new account later. If you are closing the old account for good, export everything.

1. Hover over the round avatar next to any contact until a checkbox appears, then tick it.
2. To export everything, open the selection menu (the small arrow next to the checkbox at the top) and choose All.
3. To export one group, skip step 2. Click the label in the left sidebar instead, for example "Clients", so the list shows only those contacts.
4. Click Export in the toolbar.
5. Choose the format. Pick Google CSV if the file is going into another Google account. Pick vCard if you also want to import it into an iPhone or another address book app.
6. Click Export in the dialog to download the file.

Rename the downloaded file

The file lands in your Downloads folder. It is named contacts.csv for a CSV export and contacts.vcf for vCard. If you export several times, your browser adds a number, such as contacts (1).csv. So rename the files to show which one holds the "Clients" label and which one holds everything.

Leave the file as it is for now. Opening a CSV in Excel and saving it again can change how names and special characters are stored. Use a spreadsheet only if you need to clean up duplicates before the import.

How to export contacts from one Gmail account to another: the new account

The second half of how to export contacts from one Gmail account to another starts with getting into the new account without touching the old one. The easiest way is a separate browser profile, because Google keeps several accounts signed in at once, and contacts.google.com can open the wrong one. If you import into the old account by mistake, you get duplicates there and nothing in the new inbox.

1. Open a new browser profile (or sign out of the old account) and sign in to the new Gmail account only.
2. Go to contacts.google.com and check that the new address shows in the top-right corner.
3. Click Import in the left menu.
4. Select the CSV or vCard file you exported earlier.
5. Confirm the import and wait for the contacts to appear.

If your list is large, test first. Make a small file with 3 to 5 contacts, import it, and check the result. Names, phone numbers and email addresses should sit in the right fields. If something looks off, fix the file and delete the test contacts before the full import. That is much easier than cleaning up a few thousand entries.

Check labels and counts after the import

Labels from a Google CSV carry over, so your groupings like "Clients" or "Suppliers" arrive with the contacts. Google also creates a new label named after the import date and file. That label lists everything from this import in one place. As a result, you can select it to review the batch or delete it if the import went wrong.

Once the full import finishes, open a few contacts that had notes or several phone numbers. Then compare the total count with the old account. Both checks take a minute and show whether anything was dropped.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if I import the same file twice?

Google Contacts adds every row again, so you end up with duplicate entries. Open the Merge & fix section in the left sidebar and select Merge all to combine them. Do this before you delete anything from the old account.

Will my labels move over to the new account?

Yes, if you pick Google CSV when you work through how to export contacts from one Gmail account to another. That file has a Labels column, and the import recreates each label in the new account. Contacts exported as Outlook CSV do not carry Gmail labels, so pick Google CSV when you want to keep your groups.

Can I recover contacts I deleted from the old account after exporting?

Yes, for a limited time. Google Contacts keeps deleted contacts in Trash for 30 days, and you can restore them from there. After that they are gone, so keep your exported file as a backup.

Do the contacts I export from Gmail keep my WhatsApp and LinkedIn conversations with them?

No. A contact export only carries details such as names, emails and phone numbers, not the chats you had on other apps. If you want those conversations next to each contact, Leadrealizer is a mobile-first CRM that puts WhatsApp, email, LinkedIn DMs and calls in one inbox. It costs €25/month and has a 7-day free trial with no credit card.