Guides
Export your Gmail contacts to Excel or to a CRM
Gmail contacts are exported from contacts.google.com: tick the contacts, open More actions, then Export, and pick the Google CSV format. The file downloads at once. It stores every email and phone number as two numbered columns, a label and a value, which takes a little care in Excel and in a CRM. Kasar imports it as is, and connecting the Gmail mailbox does the rest.
Facts checked on October 6, 2026
01Exporting from Google Contacts
- 1
Open Google Contacts
Go to contacts.google.com with the Google account you want to export from. Gmail and Google Contacts share the same address book.
- 2
Select the contacts
Tick one contact, then the others. To take them all, tick one contact, then at the top left click Selection actions and All.
- 3
Open More actions, then Export
The menu sits at the top right of the list.
- 4
Pick Google CSV
It is the format Google points to for a backup. vCard is for moving to a phone or another address book, not to a spreadsheet or a CRM.
- 5
Click Export
The contacts.csv file downloads right away, with no email and no wait.
02How the Google CSV file is built
The Google CSV format follows the structure Google documents for its import template. One contact fits on one row, but a contact can have several emails, phone numbers and addresses. Google numbers them: one column for the label of email 1 (work, home), one for its value, then the same for email 2, and so on.
First, middle, last name, prefix, suffix
- What it holds
- The name in pieces
- What to do with it
- First and last name are enough for a CRM
Email 1, 2… with label and value
- What it holds
- One address per number, its label alongside
- What to do with it
- Keep the values, ignore the labels
Phone 1, 2… with label and value
- What it holds
- One number per slot, its label alongside
- What to do with it
- Same
Organization: name, title, department
- What it holds
- The company and the role
- What to do with it
- The name becomes a company, the title stays on the contact
Address 1, 2… across several columns
- What it holds
- Street, city, postal code, country
- What to do with it
- Keep it if you visit your customers
Labels
- What it holds
- The contact groups, separated by “:::”
- What to do with it
- Transform before importing
Notes, birthday, website
- What it holds
- Free text and dates
- What to do with it
- Notes to description, the rest as needed
Google also sets two caps worth knowing if the file ever goes back to Google: 3,000 contacts per imported file and 25,000 contacts per account. They do not matter for a CRM, but they explain why an old address book tends to look like a junk drawer: things pile up and nobody sorts them.
03Opening the file in Excel without breaking accents
The most common trap is not at Google, it is in Excel. Excel set to a European locale often expects a semicolon as separator: a comma separated file then opens in a single column, and accented characters can come out garbled. Do not double click the file. Use Data, then From Text/CSV: the dialog lets you pick UTF-8 and the comma delimiter before loading.
- Phone numbers : Excel may turn them into numbers and drop the leading + of the country code. Set the column to text when opening.
- Empty columns : an ordinary address book only uses part of the dozens of columns in the format. Hide them rather than delete them if the file goes back to Google.
- Duplicates : the same person saved twice, once with a work email and once with a mobile number, comes out on two rows. Sort by name to spot them.
- Resaving : a file saved by Excel changes encoding and sometimes separator. For a CRM import, keep the original from Google.
04Importing Google contacts into Kasar
Kasar reads the original file: it detects the separator and encoding on its own, including the Windows-1252 of a file resaved by Excel. Import is open on every plan, up to 150 MB per file. The only useful preparation concerns the labels column.
- 1
Replace “:::” in the labels column
Kasar splits multi select values on commas by default. Replace “:::” with a comma in that column and your Google groups become options. Beyond 60 distinct labels, the column stays text.
- 2
Drop the file and choose the mapping
“Import with Leo” if you want Leo to propose the plan, or “Map it myself” to adjust the automatic mapping column by column.
- 3
Send every email value to the contact emails
Kasar accepts several columns into the emails of one contact, the first one becoming the primary address. Do the same with phones.
- 4
Set label columns to Ignore
Work, home, mobile: those words are neither addresses nor numbers. Ignored, they produce no warnings in the report.
- 5
Turn the organization name into a company
Choose Relation to companies, matching on name. A missing company is created and linked to the contact. The title goes to the contact job field.
- 6
Set the phone country
Kasar converts each number to international format from the country you pick. A number that stays invalid is dropped and flagged, and the row still goes through.
Before you start the import
- The file is the Google CSV original, not a copy resaved by Excel.
- Email and phone values are mapped, labels ignored.
- The labels column uses commas as separators.
- The phone country matches most of your contacts.
- The company directory mixed in with your sales contacts.
Duplicates are handled at the same time: Kasar treats two contacts as one when they share an email, a phone number or a LinkedIn profile. For an address book that complements a database already imported, choose “Update”: mapped fields on existing records are filled in instead of a second record being created.
Frequently asked questions
On contacts.google.com, select the contacts, open More actions then Export, and pick Google CSV. In Excel, open the file through Data then From Text/CSV, choosing UTF-8 and the comma. Double clicking the file may put everything in one column.
Google CSV for a spreadsheet or a CRM: one row per contact, one column per piece of information. vCard moves contacts from one address book to another, a phone for instance. Google recommends Google CSV for a backup.
Because the Google address book also holds numbers saved from a phone, with no address. Kasar still imports them: a contact can be matched on its phone number. Those with neither email nor phone get a new record on every import, so sort them out first.
No, once the Gmail mailbox is connected to Kasar. New conversations land on existing records, and someone you write to for the first time gets a record. The Google export is for the first move, not for keeping things current.
Sources
Every fact on this page can be checked on the official page below, read on the date shown.
- Google, Exporter ou sauvegarder des contacts · read on October 6, 2026
- Google, Import your contacts into Google Contacts · read on October 6, 2026