Storing contacts in your Google account and transferring them there from Android devices. How to transfer contacts from phone to computer: several universal methods

Smartphone owners may encounter problems such as losing contacts. There can be many reasons that caused such an incident. To be on the safe side, it is recommended to download the numbers from your phone to your computer. Of course, if you wish, you can manually copy all your contacts into a notepad, but this is extremely inconvenient and time-consuming. Today, there are several ways to copy your contact list.

Google contacts

Users are recommended to create a Google account immediately after purchasing a smartphone. This will make the work easier in the future. After synchronization with the cloud service, the numbers automatically go online. Now all that remains is to decide how to save contacts from your phone to your computer.

You need to go to the website “contacts.google.com” (using your registration data). In the window that opens, you need to click on the inscription in the left column: “More”. When the list opens, you will need to click on the link with the “Export” anchor.

The next step requires you to decide on the contact groups that will be exported. Users can choose:

• Only selected contacts;
• Specified group;
• All contacts.

In the event that you need to export only specific numbers, for example, “colleagues” or “personal”, it is recommended to export a group. The “All Contacts” category may contain unnecessary information: email addresses and unnecessary numbers.

In addition, you need to select the format in which the numbers will be exported:

• Google CSV;
• CSV for Outlook;
• vCard.

It is best to export contacts in vCard format. This is due to the fact that such a file is supported by a large number of programs. Therefore, there will be no difficulties in importing them in the future. Of course, this does not mean that you cannot save your Android contacts in CSV format. It all depends on user preferences and the import method.

Transfer using SD card

How to copy contacts from your phone to your computer without using additional programs? It is recommended that all smartphone owners learn about this. First, the user needs to go to the list of subscribers. A similar section can be located in the main menu or on the main screen panel.

Now you need to call the context menu. To do this, you need to click on the button located in the lower left corner (on some, the menu is called differently).

In the menu that opens, you need to find the “Import/export” item. A submenu will then open with options for moving contacts. It is recommended to select "Export to SD memory card". After this, a confirmation window will appear. For a copy to be downloaded to your mobile phone, click on the “Yes” button.

To make sure that you succeeded in transferring contacts from your phone, you need to open the SD card. The media must contain a file with a CSV extension. If such a document exists, you must remove the SD card from the device.

Now all that remains is to move the file to your computer, having first connected the storage medium. In the future, the copied list can be exported to a SIM card or a new device. As can be seen from the description of the method, even an inexperienced user can copy contacts from Android to a computer.

Direct transfer to computer

How to copy the phone book to your computer if you don’t want to connect your Google account and don’t have an SD card? To do this, you can use a USB cable. First, it is recommended to install all the necessary drivers and additional software on your computer. They can be downloaded from the official website of the smartphone developer.

The next step is to synchronize both devices in order to later transfer contacts from Android to computer. It will take no more than 2 minutes to connect.

The next step is to open “Contacts” on your smartphone. Now you need to find the sub-item “Copy phone book...”. After activating this item, you will need to select a computer. After this, the copying process will begin. If necessary, you can download only specific numbers.

Cloud storage

How to save contacts if there is no computer nearby? In fact, there is such a way. To do this you will have to use Google cloud storage. First of all, you need to enter your account credentials or register a new account.

In the settings, you need to go to the “Accounts and synchronization” section. In the next step, you should select “Google”. After a second, a window will open in which you need to check the box next to the “Synchronize contacts” field. Now all that remains is to click on the “Update” icon.

Since at this stage it was only possible to transfer contacts to the Google service, you need to go to your computer. Now you need to perform the following steps sequentially:

• Open your Gmail mailbox;
• When the menu opens, select “Contacts”. After this, the phone book will open;
• Create a new book in Archiver;
• After the submenu appears, click on the inscription: “Select services”;
• Now you need to go to contacts;
• In the settings, find the “File type” section;
• It is recommended to set the value to "HTML";
• After this, you need to click on the “Create archive” button;
• All that remains is to save the file to your computer.

Having figured out how to copy numbers to a PC, users can periodically update the file. Thanks to this, there will always be a file on your computer with an updated database of numbers.

Transfer using programs

The process of saving contacts can be performed using specialized applications. On Google Play you can find more than a dozen programs that allow the user to:

• Upload data to cloud storage;
• Export contacts to a file;
• Move a list of numbers to your computer.

It is worth paying attention to such a wonderful program as AirDroid. This application allows you to transfer any files to your computer, including your contact list. Any uploaded document can be edited by the user.

But sometimes it’s easier to transfer your contact book to your computer. Here it will definitely be safe and sound, and at some point you will copy it to a new device. However, a question arises. How to copy contacts from Android to computer? Is it possible?

The easiest way to use a computer is as backup storage. Many users regularly upload photos taken using the smartphone’s built-in camera. Music reserves are also stored here. So why not save your contacts to your PC from time to time? In the future, if your phone breaks or is stolen, all your contacts will not be lost.

It should also be remembered that sometimes transferring a phone book from one device to another over the air is impossible. For example, how do you do this if the screen is broken and the touchscreen does not respond to your touch? In this case, a computer comes to the rescue - you just need to connect your smartphone to it using a USB cable.

The easiest way

The easiest way to download contacts is to use the tools built into the Android operating system. To do this, do the following:

Step 1. Go to the smartphone menu and open the application " Contacts».

Step 2. Here you should click on the ellipsis located in the upper right corner, and then select “ Import Export».

Step 3. On Samsung smartphones and some others, an intermediate action will be required in the form of pressing the " Settings" This will take you to a separate menu, in which you can easily find the item you need, dedicated to importing and exporting numbers.

Step 4. By clicking on the corresponding item, you will see a pop-up menu. Here you should click " Export to VCF file" Depending on the phone model, this item may have a different name. For example, " Export to storage».

Step 5. Next, you should select the location where the contact file will be saved. It is possible that you will have cloud storage here in the form of Google Drive. You can save the file on it - then all you have to do is open your account on your computer. But we will create a file with contacts in the folder " Downloads».

Step 6 Give the file a name.

Step 7 Connect your smartphone to your computer using a working USB cable. You can find the created file in the folder Download. All you have to do is copy or cut it.

Step 8 When buying a new smartphone, you will have to perform all the steps in reverse order. That is, you will copy the file to the phone’s memory, then select “ Import from VCF file».

Saving contacts using a Google account

If you have synchronization of contacts with Google servers enabled in your device settings, then you can do it even easier. You can transfer contacts without using your smartphone. This is especially true when the device is broken.

Step 1. Go to the page contacts.google.com. Here you should click on the button " Export", if necessary, expanding the tab " More».

Step 2. In the new version of the service, exporting contacts is not supported (as of summer 2016). Google suggests switching to the previous version of this page.

Step 3. Here, select all contacts, then click the “ More" and select " Export».

Step 4. From the pop-up menu, select which contacts you want to save and what format you want to use. When you do this, click the blue button " Export».

Using third party programs

If necessary, you can use some third-party programs. For example, Airdroid performs well. He will help you send numbers over the air. In this case, the corresponding application is installed on the smartphone, and on the computer it is enough to use any Internet browser.

You can also save contacts from Android to your computer using MOBILedit. We have already talked about this computer program. It is used to copy the phone book, call log, SMS messages and much more.

A computer and a telephone are two devices without which no modern person can imagine life.


Many people have problems with mobile devices, or more precisely with the contacts that are saved there. There are people who value not so much the phone itself as the notebook in it.

How to copy contacts from phone to computer? We decided to give detailed instructions on this issue so that you can solve this common problem once and for all.

Even if the device is lost in the future, you can easily restore your contact list, and this is easy and simple to do.

Copy contacts from phone to Andorid

Smartphones running this operating system allow you to transfer contacts from your phone to your computer without any extra steps.

If you have already connected on your mobile device through your Google profile (and this is required there), then all you need to do is synchronize.

Let's not talk about it for a long time, Let's show you what to do:

Now all the data has been transferred and you can log into Gmail from your computer at any time to view the desired contact. If you want to save a book with contacts in a separate file, open it on your phone and press the menu button.

There you need to select import/export, then click “ Export to SD memory card»:

After completing this action, a new file will appear on your flash drive in which all the numbers are saved. Now connect your phone to your computer and transfer this file (you can send it to yourself by email, it’s more convenient).

Copying contacts from a regular phone

Is your phone outdated and doesn't have Android? This is not a problem, you just need to find a special program.

If you still have a disk from your phone, install the software from there and run it. If it is not there, look for a client on the Internet. I had an old Nokia that required Nokia PC Suite to be installed. After launching the software, the following menu appears:

Here you need to click on contacts, after which a new window will open. In it, select all contacts ( you can press Ctrl+A) and then click on the save button, you will be prompted to specify the folder to save:

The data is saved in CSV format, and it is opened through regular Excel. You can use it later to transfer numbers to another phone.

Sometimes, in the event of any problems with your Android device, you have to resort to such radical measures as, for example, resetting the settings (hard reset), thereby losing (sometimes irretrievably) all information, including contacts. Anyone who has encountered such a situation at least once wants to protect themselves and save numbers from their phone book on their PC.

In fact, there are many ways to perform this procedure, and now we will tell you about them.

Transfer contacts via Google account

First, you need to create an account on Google or create a Gmail.com email (which is basically the same thing). It must be said that the Android mobile device is closely connected with the Google service, so if you want to get 100% return on your smartphone, then creating this account is a must. You will have to do this procedure from your device, so you will need a network connection.

A window will open showing your account. Here, to start synchronization, you need to click on your account, or on the “Sync” button. everything" located at the bottom of the window:

So, we synchronize phone numbers from our gadget with gmail.com mail. (that is, with the Google service). Therefore, to start synchronization, click “Synchronize”:

It remains to wait a few minutes until the end of the procedure.

Three items will appear in the window that opens: Gmail, “Contacts” and “Tasks”.

By clicking “Contacts”, we open a list of data. Here, in addition to phone numbers, there will be a list of all friends from Google+. You can start saving data into a text document. To do this, click “Advanced”, after which the “Export” window will appear. By choosing the first option, saving will take place in Microsoft Excel, but you can save in any format convenient for you:

Transfer contacts via USB

It is possible that this method will be easier for you. What do we do in this case? First you need to connect your Android to your PC using a USB cable. Then open the phone book:

Now you need to open the context menu (display button at the bottom) and select “Import/export”:

A list of commands will open, from which you need to select “Export to SD memory card”, and then confirm by clicking “Yes”, which saves the data to the SD card:

Now open the external card with the computer. A file with the VCF extension (Microsoft Outlook format) appeared on it. This is where our copied information is located:

After this procedure, by setting up mail using Microsoft Outlook, the file will open in an easy-to-read format.

If you don’t have this program, or you use another email client, then without turning off your smartphone, go into your mail again, click “Advanced” and select “Import”. Then click “Select file” and find our file in CSV format via your computer:

Now, by clicking the blue “Import” button, we will receive the data, as in the first case. And by clicking the “Advanced” button and selecting “Print”, the data will be displayed in an easy-to-read form. Now you can select the list with the mouse or hot keys (Ctrl+A) and copy it to a Microsoft Word document or notepad.

It remains to add that there are also special applications that allow you to transfer contacts from Android to your computer. However, it’s probably not worth it to specifically take up gadget space to transfer contacts using a program, because the methods that we’ve just talked about cope with the task quite successfully.

Where is it better to store contacts - in the memory of a mobile device or on a SIM card? In the event of a planned transition to service by another mobile operator or when purchasing a new mobile device, in principle, there is no difference. Today, transferring phone numbers does not even need to be done manually, because modern mobile devices are equipped with the function of exporting and importing contacts. Without taking into account force majeure circumstances, the memory of a mobile device will outperform the memory of a SIM card in terms of convenience of data presentation. The smartphone's memory provides unconstrained conditions for naming contacts, while SIM cards strictly limit the length of characters, especially in Cyrillic. You can also combine contacts in the smartphone’s memory into groups, set different ringtones, photos, pictures for subscribers, specify an E-mail, etc.

But the SIM card will be useful when resetting the settings of a mobile device, as well as in the event of its destruction. In this case, of course, the SIM card itself should not be damaged. But if both are destroyed or if you lose your mobile device with contacts, you will either have to say goodbye or make efforts to restore them. In such cases, what mobile operators can usually do is offer call details for a certain period. The most reliable way to store contacts for owners of Android gadgets is a Google account. And not only reliable, but also convenient due to cross-platform. We will talk in detail about the advantages of storing contacts in a Google account and how to transfer data from the phone book of an Android device or SIM card to it in this article.

1. Contacts trusted by Google

Storing contacts using a Google account is a guarantee that nothing will ever happen to your data. Today, Google is at the peak of its power, and its potential will last for another couple of decades to come. If there's a safer place to store data than the search giant's servers, it's a paper notepad locked in a fireproof, waterproof container. Even when switching to a mobile device with an operating system other than Android and the ability to synchronize directly with a Google account, contacts can be transferred using the universal vCard export-import file (file with the “.vcf” extension). This, in particular, is supported by Apple devices.

You can change your Android device every day or reset its settings to factory settings; your contact book will be restored a couple of seconds after connecting your Google account and completing the synchronization process. The necessary conditions for this are the presence of the Internet and an active auto-synchronization function, if not the entire account, then at least the contacts application.

Now about the cross-platform mentioned above. Contacts of an Android device can be managed in a browser window on a computer with any desktop operating system - be it Windows, Mac OS, or Linux. The Google Contacts web service is an interface for working with phone book data stored and synchronized on mobile devices. Edits made to contacts within the web service will be available in the Android device's phone book either within a few seconds if the Internet is connected, or when it becomes available. And vice versa: contacts edited in the smartphone’s phone book with an active Internet connection will appear in the Google Contacts web interface.

2. Google Contacts web service

And contacts synchronized with Android devices are presented in the main window of the web service, also known as the “All contacts” section. To create a new contact, click the button at the bottom of the browser window.

Enter the subscriber’s name and click “Create”.

We fill in the required fields of the form, if desired, we can add a photo and click “Save”.

Existing entries are edited and deleted using the buttons at the end of each individual contact's line.

Having selected the desired subscriber, directly from the Google Contacts web service window, you can call this subscriber through another Google service - Hangouts. True, calling mobile operator numbers in this way is not a cheap pleasure. And before that, of course, you need to top up your account balance.

3. Connecting a Google account on an Android device

In earlier versions of Android, this settings section is called “Accounts and Sync.” Inside it you need to click the “Add account” button.

Select an account, respectively, Google.

4. Transfer existing contacts to your Google account

On your smartphone, go to the contacts application and select “Settings”. In other versions of Android, this may be a button with three vertical dots or a touch button on the smartphone panel. In the settings we need the “Import-export contacts” section.

In it, select the “Custom import/export” item. In other versions of Android, the option labels may differ, but the essence will be the same.

In the list of sources for obtaining contact data, we indicate either a phone or a SIM card. If you need to export data from both sources, we first work with one, then repeat the procedure with the other. Click “Next”.

The next step is to select the location where the contact data should be transferred. Accordingly, select a Google account. Click “Next”.

In a couple of seconds, you can go to Google Contacts and work with data in the web interface.

But Android is a whimsical platform. In some cases, the described option may not work and may freeze at the stage of exporting data to a Google account. In this case, you can resort to the method of exporting/importing contacts using a universal vCard file format. In the same version of Android 4.4.2, having selected “Import-export contacts” in the phone book settings, select another item – “Export to storage”.

An action confirmation window will follow, where the path to save the vCard file with exported contacts will be indicated.

Now the vCard file should be imported using the Google Contacts web service. Having opened its location path in the file manager of the Android device, we can transfer the vCard file to the computer using any available communication channels.

Or we can transfer this file to a computer by connecting a smartphone to it using a USB cable. To import a vCard file by the Google Contacts web service, a computer does not need to be involved. The web service can be opened in a smartphone browser window, but the screen size of not every Android device will make this process quick and convenient. In the Google Contacts web interface, click the “Import” function and select “Import from a CSV or vCard file.”

The Google Contacts website has been switched to the Material Design style, and some of the capabilities of the web service in the new interface format do not yet work. But these opportunities open up when you switch to the old interface format in a new tab. Click “Go to previous version of contacts”.

Click “Import contacts”.

In the window that appears, click the browse button labeled “Select file” and specify the path to the file with exported contacts (remember, its extension is “.vcf”). Next, click the “Import” button.

After this, all entries in the smartphone’s phone book will appear in the web interface of the Google Contacts service.

Importing and exporting contacts is also possible using third-party applications from the Google Play store. But there is no need for them, since the standard Android functionality can completely cope with these responsibilities. Thus, even the old version of Android 2.3 supports the ability to transfer contacts to a Google account from the phone’s memory or SIM card. In the contacts application, you need to call up the settings with the touch button and select “Merge with Google”. This is the option to transfer contacts to a Google account, however, only for entries in the phone’s memory. To transfer all contacts to your Google account, you first need to copy those stored on the SIM card to the phone's memory. This is done by clicking the “Import-export” inscription and then selecting the “Import from SIM card” item.

5. Force synchronization of contacts on Android device

We enter the synchronization parameters.

We find the “Contacts” item and by clicking on it, we force synchronization of the phone book.