Computer Tricks and Secrets

Short answer: save every contact to your Google account instead of the phone or SIM, and Google Contacts becomes one address book that syncs automatically to every device you sign in to, phone, computer, and Gmail. Your contacts are backed up, deduplicated, and always up to date. Here is how to set it up properly. Why put contacts in Google instead of the phone Contacts saved "to the phone" or "to the SIM" are trapped, lose the device and you lose them. Contacts saved to your Google account live in the cloud and appear on any device where you sign in. Switch phones and they are all just there, no export/import needed. Make Google the default save location On Android, open Contacts and check the account new contacts save to, set it to your Google account , not Phone or SIM. In Settings, make sure Contacts sync is on for that Google account. On a computer, manage everything at contacts.google.com . Move existing phone/SIM contacts into Google Export y...

Short answer: to export your Google Contacts, go to contacts.google.com , select the contacts (or all), and use Export to download them as a vCard (for phones/Apple) or CSV (for spreadsheets/Outlook). It is a quick, important backup, and the way to move contacts to another account or device. Here is how, and how to import them back. How to export your contacts Go to contacts.google.com and sign in. Select the contacts you want (or click the top checkbox for all). Open the menu and choose Export . Pick a format: vCard (best for iPhone/Android/Apple Contacts) or Google CSV / Outlook CSV (for spreadsheets or Outlook). Download the file, that is your backup. Which format to choose Format Best for vCard (.vcf) iPhone, Android, Apple Contacts Google CSV Re-importing to Google Outlook CSV Microsoft Outlook Import contacts back (or to a new account) In Google Contacts, choose Import from the menu. Upload your vCard or CSV file. Google adds the contacts; use ...