How to Import Contacts to Gmail from CSV (2026 Complete Method)

Prepare your CSV in Google’s format

Google Contacts recognizes multiple CSV column names but the most reliable is Google’s own template. The critical columns:

• Name: full name (e.g., “Maria Santos”)
• Given Name: first name (e.g., “Maria”)
• Family Name: last name (e.g., “Santos”)
• E-mail 1 – Value: primary email address
• Phone 1 – Value: primary phone number
• Organization 1 – Name: company name (optional)
• Organization 1 – Title: job title (optional)
• Notes: free-form notes (optional)

You do not need every column, but you must have at least Name and one other field (email or phone). Column names are case-sensitive.

Get Google’s official CSV template

Easiest way to get the right column headers:

1. Open Google Contacts.
2. Manually add ONE test contact with all the fields you plan to import (name, email, phone, address, notes, etc.).
3. Select that contact in the sidebar.
4. Click the three-dot menu > “Export”.
5. Choose “Google CSV format” and click Export.
6. Open the downloaded file in a spreadsheet tool (Google Sheets or Excel).
7. You now have a template with all the correct column headers. Fill in your other contacts as new rows.

This approach guarantees that column names match exactly what Google Contacts expects.

Import the CSV to Google Contacts

1. Open contacts.google.com.
2. In the left sidebar, click “Import”.
3. A dialog appears. Click “Select file”.
4. Browse to your CSV file and select it.
5. Optionally choose a label to assign to all imported contacts (recommended: create a label like “Import 2026-07-24” so you can find them easily later).
6. Click “Import”.
7. Google Contacts processes the file. For a few hundred contacts this takes seconds. For 5,000+ contacts, up to a minute.
8. Google shows a success message with the count of contacts imported.

Convert Outlook CSV to Gmail-compatible format

Outlook exports contacts as CSV but with different column names. To make it work with Gmail:

1. Export contacts from Outlook: File > Open & Export > Import/Export > Export to a file > Comma Separated Values.
2. Open the exported CSV in Google Sheets.
3. Rename these columns (Outlook name → Google name):
   • “First Name” → “Given Name”
   • “Last Name” → “Family Name”
   • “E-mail Address” → “E-mail 1 – Value”
   • “Business Phone” → “Phone 1 – Value” (or Home Phone)
   • “Company” → “Organization 1 – Name”
   • “Job Title” → “Organization 1 – Title”
4. Save the updated CSV.
5. Import into Google Contacts as normal.

Alternative: use the “Outlook CSV format” option in Google Contacts’ import dialog if it appears. Some versions of Google Contacts include this option to auto-convert Outlook exports.

Import from other systems (CRM, iCloud, spreadsheet)

• iCloud Contacts: Sign in to iCloud.com, click Contacts, select all, click the gear icon, and choose Export vCard. Google Contacts imports vCard directly (choose vCard instead of CSV in the import dialog).
• Salesforce, HubSpot, or other CRMs: Export contacts as CSV using the platform’s built-in export. Open the CSV in Sheets, rename columns to match Google’s template, then import.
• Excel spreadsheet: Save the sheet as CSV (File > Save As > CSV UTF-8), rename columns as needed, then import.
• Yahoo Mail, AOL, other email providers: Export contacts as CSV or vCard from the source provider’s settings, then use the standard Google Contacts import flow.

Handle duplicates after import

If your imported contacts overlap with existing Google Contacts, you will end up with duplicates. Google Contacts has a built-in merger:

1. In the left sidebar, click “Merge and fix”.
2. Google suggests contacts that appear to be duplicates (based on matching name, email, or phone).
3. Click “Merge” for each suggestion, or click “Dismiss” to keep them separate.
4. Alternatively, use “Merge all” at the top to accept every suggestion at once (do this only if the suggestions look accurate).

Merging combines all fields from both contacts. If both have different email addresses, both are preserved on the merged contact.

Common CSV import errors

• “Some contacts could not be imported because they lack a name.” Your Name, Given Name, and Family Name columns are all empty for those rows. Fill in at least one and re-export.
• “Invalid characters in the file.” Save your CSV as UTF-8 encoding (not ANSI or Windows-1252). In Excel: File > Save As > CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited).
• Special characters garbled (accents, ñ, etc.). Same fix: use UTF-8 encoding.
• Phone numbers reformatted or dropped. Excel may auto-convert phone numbers to scientific notation for long numbers. Format the phone column as Text before saving.
• Emails not linking to Gmail. Check that the E-mail 1 – Value column has valid addresses. Extra spaces around emails cause them to be treated as invalid.
• Import succeeds but new contacts do not appear. Refresh Google Contacts. Sometimes the sidebar count updates before the main list. Or the contacts imported to “Other contacts” instead of your main list; check both sections.

Best practice: import in small batches with a label

For imports over 500 contacts, split the CSV into batches of 500 rows each. Before each batch, assign a unique label (like “Import batch 1 of 5”). If something goes wrong, you can find and delete just that batch instead of your whole contacts list.

To assign a label during import: in the import dialog, click the label selector before clicking Import. Or add all contacts to a label after import: select all imported contacts (using the label filter), click Labels, and assign.