How to Import Gmail Contacts to Outlook? Stepwise Guide
When migrating from one email program or platform (like Gmail) to another (like Outlook) there may be some challenges associated with the migration process. If you’re migrating your data through a web-based service and have a large number of friends and family members as contacts in your Gmail account, migrating your contacts should not create any anxiety for you! In this tutorial, we will show you an easy way to move your Gmail contacts into your new Outlook account so that all of the important people in your life are still able to communicate with you after the migration is completed.
Gmail has excellent spam filtering and free cloud storage, whereas Outlook works smoothly with Microsoft Office applications and includes strong organizational tools. When switching email clients, transferring your Gmail contacts to Outlook allows you to use these organizing tools while also keeping your contact list centralized.
Why should you import your Gmail Contacts to Outlook?
There are several reasons to do so:
- Having all of your contacts in one location makes it easier to manage and access all of your contacts.
- When composing an email, you do not need to switch platforms while doing so.
- Taking advantage of Outlook’s features; for example, using Outlook’s functionality such as creating contact groups and using your contacts to create distribution lists to enhance your communication.
- You feel more comfortable using the Outlook interface more than the Gmail interface.
- If you plan to use your contacts for professional purposes, you likely already know many organizations utilize Outlook.
- You have the benefit of an additional layer of backup due to Microsoft’s ability to back up your Outlook data.
- Your contacts will synchronize across multiple Microsoft applications (e.g., one main desktop computer or tablet, etc.) when you move them from Gmail to Outlook.
- While there are many benefits and advantages of Outlook, you will also get advanced contacts management options such as grouping, categorizing, and other follow-up functions.
Here are some expert tips for copying contacts from Gmail into Outlook:
Before you start the import procedure, here are some useful tips:
- Before you begin, ensure that your contact information is accurate and up-to-date as errors can lead to problems when importing contacts to Outlook.
- If you have many contacts to import into Outlook and you wish to be able to quickly select them during export, consider grouping them in Gmail ahead of time as this will also help you to better organize them in Outlook later on.
- Make sure that you’re exporting your contact information in the correct file format. When you import contacts into Outlook from Gmail, you must use a file format called Comma Separated Values (CSV).
- When preparing to import your Google contacts into Outlook 365, be sure to delete any duplicate data and sort your contacts for easier transfer to Outlook.
- It’s very important to be certain that you are choosing the appropriate option for moving your Gmail contacts into Outlook to ensure that you do not make a mistake in any part of the process.
- One way to reduce the risk of losing data integrity while importing your Gmail contacts into Outlook is to test the import on a smaller group of contacts prior to attempting to execute the full import.
- Permissions are extremely important in terms of allowing Outlook to access and change the contacts. You must be sure that the Outlook profile/user you are importing contacts into has all of the necessary permissions.
Steps to Move Contacts from Gmail to Outlook
It will entail two procedures to move your Gmail contacts manually; the first is downloading them from your Gmail account in a CSV format, and the second is importing them into your Outlook account. Both processes will each be discussed further, step by step, to provide you with greater clarity about this process.
Procedure #1: Exporting your Contacts from Gmail
Step-1: Enter your Gmail username and password credentials.
Step-2: Click on the grey square (comprising nine tiny squares).
Step-3: Click on the right side of the page at the Contacts icon.
Step-4: Select Export from the menu list on the left side of the screen.
Step-5: Choose which of your contact categories (for example, Recently added) you’d like to export.
Step-6: Choose Google CSV (format used to export) as your output format.
Step-7: Click Export; you have now completed the first procedure to export your contacts from Gmail to Outlook.
Stage 2: Import Gmail Contacts to Outlook
Now you have the Gmail exported contacts in CSV format, so you can import Google contacts to Outlook 365. This approach includes the use of the default wizard.
- Open MS Outlook on your Windows system.
- Navigate to File >> Open & Export >> Import/Export.
- Choose “Import from another program or file” as your source in the Import and Export Wizard window.
- Then, choose the Comma Separated Values option under the “Select file type to import from“.
- Hit the browse option to choose the destination location and select an action for duplicates.
- Click the Next option to continue the move contacts from Gmail to Outlook process.
What are Some Reasons Why Users Fail With Manual Methods?
The manual method to transfer contacts from Gmail to Outlook is not as easy as it appears. The method has so many drawbacks, that it is advisable that you use a Gmail to Outlook contacts converter program. Some of the issues that users run into, when they try to export their Gmail contacts to Outlook are:
– If you try to export a huge number of Google Contacts to Outlook at once, you will experience many unanticipated errors.
– The exported Google Contacts do not exist in your Outlook profile. You receive a message stating, “The exported file to Outlook does not contain any Google Contacts.” This message is displayed at the completion of the import process if the contacts could not be imported.
– You will most likely lose some information when you export your Google Contacts to Outlook via the manual process.
Professional Solution to Transfer Contacts from Gmail to Outlook
You have multiple Gmail accounts, and with the manual method, you cannot import Google contacts to Outlook 365. In this scenario, we have two solutions. First, if you export contacts from Gmail to CSV, then you need to import the CSV file. The BitRecover CSV Contact converter is an ideal solution to convert multiple contacts from several Gmail accounts to Outlook without losing any bits of contact information.
Steps to Import CSV to Outlook
- After downloading the software, upload the CSV file using dual options.
- Then, check the files that you want to convert into MS Outlook.
- Choose the PST option as a “saving option”.
- Click on the “browse” button to change the saving location.
- Now you can successfully import Gmail contacts to Outlook without much effort.
On the other hand, if you have a vCard file, then you need to use BitRecover vCard Converter. With this automated utility, one can securely export Gmail contacts to Outlook. This will ensure a hassle-free solution to how to copy contacts from Gmail to Outlook.
Steps to Import VCF File to Outlook
- Upload the vCard file by clicking the Select Files or Select Folders option.
- Choose the .vcf file on the software panel.
- Select the PST option from the 10+ saving options.
- You can change the destination location to transfer Gmail to Outlook.
- Lastly, you are ready to import Gmail contacts to Outlook in bulk.
Conclusion
The above write-up explains a complete manual guide to import Gmail contacts to Outlook. Hence, the described solution can be easily followed by both technical as well as non-technical users. If you still have any queries regarding exporting Google contacts, you can contact our technical support team.
