Table of Contents
- Key Terms
- How Do You Export Gmail Contacts From Your Address Book?
- How Do You Export Contacts Gmail Added Automatically?
- How Do You Export Every Email Address You’ve Ever Interacted With?
- What’s the Difference Between These Export Methods?
- When Should You Use Each Export Method?
- Frequently Asked Questions
- How to Set up Gmail Reminders in 5 Steps
- 20+ Gmail Statistics to Know
- Google Workspace Shared Mailbox: The Ultimate Guide
Key Terms
Google Contacts: Google’s contact management tool that stores email addresses, phone numbers, and other information for people you communicate with.
CSV File: Comma-Separated Values file format used to store contact data that can be opened in Excel, Google Sheets, or imported into other email clients.
vCard: A file format (.vcf) for electronic business cards, commonly used to transfer contacts between email programs and mobile devices.
Other Contacts: Email addresses Gmail automatically saves when you reply to or forward emails, stored separately from your main contact list.
There are lots of articles about how to export your Gmail contacts. But they all tell you the same thing: how to export Gmail contacts that are in your “Contacts” list.
What if you want to export a list of every email address you’ve ever sent to or received an email from? And get rich response time data on each of those people?
Short Answer: Export Gmail contacts from Google Contacts as CSV or vCard. For a complete list with response time data, use EmailAnalytics to export all email addresses you’ve interacted with.
How Do You Export Gmail Contacts From Your Address Book?
Quick Answer: Open Google Contacts, click Export, choose your format (Google CSV, Outlook CSV, or vCard), and download the file.
First, we’ll cover how to export your actual contacts in Gmail—the ones in your address book.
Step 1: Open Google Contacts
Visit contacts.google.com or click the menu in the upper-right corner of Gmail and choose “Contacts” from the list of apps.
Step 2: Click “Export”
In the left sidebar, click “Export” to open the export options.
Step 3: Choose an Export Format
You can choose from three formats:
- Google CSV: Exports all data in Unicode format, which preserves international characters. Outlook does not support Unicode.
- Outlook CSV: Exports all data and converts characters to default character encoding, which is supported by Outlook.
- vCard (for iOS Contacts): Supported by many email programs and ideal for importing to Apple devices.
Step 4: Click Export
Click the Export button to download your contacts file.
How Do You Export Contacts Gmail Added Automatically?
Quick Answer: In Google Contacts, go to “Other contacts,” select all entries, then click Export and choose “Selected contacts.”
Gmail automatically adds email addresses to your contact list whenever you respond to an email or forward one to a new email address. You can find these entries under “Other contacts” in Gmail Contacts.
Step 1: Select a Contact
Hover your mouse over one of the contacts. You’ll see a checkbox that you can tick to select that contact. Click to select the contact.
Step 2: Select All Contacts
Click the newly-appeared drop-down box that appears as the new column header, and select “All.”
Step 3: Click Export
Click Export and select “Selected contacts” to download only the Other contacts you’ve selected.
How Do You Export Every Email Address You’ve Ever Interacted With?
Quick Answer: Use EmailAnalytics to export all email addresses you’ve sent to or received from, including response time metrics for each contact.
What about email addresses you’ve received an email from but didn’t respond to or forward? The methods above won’t capture those. Here’s how to export a complete list that includes every email address.
You can also get rich insights about each email address, including how many emails you’ve sent and received from each one, as well as each party’s average email response time.
We’ll use EmailAnalytics to do this. If you don’t already have an account, sign up for a free trial (it takes 10 seconds). This method works with a free trial or an active paid account.
Step 1: Login to EmailAnalytics
Sign in to your EmailAnalytics account to access your email data.
Step 2: Set Your Date Range
All contacts exported will be within the date range you choose. Make it as large as you like. If you’re on the free trial, you’ll be limited to just a few weeks of data.
Step 3: Export Your Top Interactions
In your Top Interactions table, click the triple-dot icon then select “Export (ALL).”
You’ll be able to download an Excel file with your list of contacts and metrics about each one, including:
- Email address
- Number of emails sent to that contact
- Number of emails received from that contact
- Your average response time to that contact
- Their average response time to you
What’s the Difference Between These Export Methods?
Quick Answer: Google Contacts exports saved contacts only. EmailAnalytics exports every email address you’ve interacted with, plus response time data.
| Feature | Google Contacts Export | EmailAnalytics Export |
|---|---|---|
| Saved contacts | Yes | Yes |
| Auto-added contacts | Yes (Other contacts) | Yes |
| Emails received but not replied to | No | Yes |
| Email count per contact | No | Yes |
| Response time data | No | Yes |
| Date range filtering | No | Yes |
| Export format | CSV, vCard | Excel |
When Should You Use Each Export Method?
Quick Answer: Use Google Contacts for migrating to a new email client. Use EmailAnalytics when you need interaction data and response time metrics.
Use Google Contacts export when:
- Moving to a new email client like Outlook or Apple Mail
- Backing up your address book
- Importing contacts to your phone or CRM
- You only need basic contact information (name, email, phone)
Use EmailAnalytics export when:
- Building a list of everyone you’ve ever emailed
- Analyzing which contacts you interact with most
- Tracking response time patterns with specific people
- Creating sales or outreach lists based on email history
- Identifying contacts who haven’t responded to you
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I export Gmail contacts to Excel?
Export from Google Contacts as a CSV file, then open it in Excel. CSV files are compatible with Excel and will display your contacts in spreadsheet format with columns for name, email, phone, and other fields.
Can I export Gmail contacts to Outlook?
Yes. In Google Contacts, choose “Outlook CSV” as your export format. This ensures character encoding is compatible with Outlook. Then import the CSV file into Outlook’s contact manager.
How do I export Gmail contacts to iPhone?
Export from Google Contacts using the vCard format. Email the .vcf file to yourself, open it on your iPhone, and tap to add the contacts. Alternatively, sync Google Contacts directly with your iPhone through Settings.
Why are some email addresses missing from my Google Contacts export?
Google Contacts only includes addresses you’ve saved or replied to. Emails you received but never responded to aren’t saved. Use EmailAnalytics to export a complete list of every email address you’ve interacted with.
Can I export Gmail contacts with response time data?
Google Contacts doesn’t include response time data. EmailAnalytics exports contacts with metrics including emails sent, emails received, your average response time, and their average response time to you.
Where are “Other contacts” in Gmail?
In Google Contacts, click “Other contacts” in the left sidebar. These are email addresses Gmail automatically saved when you replied to or forwarded emails, but that you haven’t manually added to your main contact list.
Jayson is a long-time columnist for Forbes, Entrepreneur, BusinessInsider, Inc.com, and various other major media publications, where he has authored over 1,000 articles since 2012, covering technology, marketing, and entrepreneurship. He keynoted the 2013 MarketingProfs University, and won the “Entrepreneur Blogger of the Year” award in 2015 from the Oxford Center for Entrepreneurs. In 2010, he founded a marketing agency that appeared on the Inc. 5000 before selling it in January of 2019, and he is now the CEO of EmailAnalytics and OutreachBloom.
I have used gmail on my laptop forever, and have created numerous groups over the years. Recently I’ve bought and been trying out iPhone and iPad to ‘keep in touch’ with my children and grandchildren. While I use gmail on both Apple products, neither of them displays or even know about the groups that exist on my laptop?? And I can’t seem to figure out WHY or how to make them active on my iPhone or iPad. What must I do to use mailing groups in gmail on my iPhone and iPad? Would be great to use on vacations as well as generally.
Thanks for any help