How to Export Contacts Csv from Google Contacts (2026 Guide)

Follow these steps to export your Google Contacts contacts csv as a CSV file. Once exported, you can use any of our converter tools to transform the data for your target system.

Export Steps

Open Google Contacts

Go to contacts.google.com in your web browser and sign in with the Google account that contains the contacts you want to export. You can also access Google Contacts by clicking the Google Apps grid icon (nine dots) in the upper-right corner of any Google service and selecting 'Contacts'.

Google Contacts interface accessed from the Google Apps grid menu showing the contacts list — Access Google Contacts from contacts.google.com or the Google Apps menu.

Select the contacts to export

Decide whether you want to export all contacts or only a specific subset. To export all contacts, you can proceed directly to the export step. To export specific contacts, check the boxes next to each contact you want to include. You can also use the search bar to find contacts and select them individually.

Tip: To quickly select all contacts, check the box next to any one contact, then click 'Selection Actions' in the top-left and choose 'All' to select every contact in your list.

Google Contacts list with checkboxes next to contacts for selecting which ones to export — Check the boxes next to contacts you want to export.

Open the export dialog

Click the 'Export' option in the left sidebar, or click the three-dot 'More actions' menu at the top of the contacts list and select 'Export'. A dialog box will appear asking you to choose which contacts to export and in what format.

Google Contacts three-dot More actions menu with the Export option highlighted — Click the three-dot menu and select Export to open the export dialog.

Choose the Google CSV format

In the export dialog, you will see three format options: Google CSV, Outlook CSV, and vCard (for iOS Contacts). Select 'Google CSV' to export in Google's native CSV format. This format uses numbered multi-value fields like 'E-mail 1 - Value', 'Phone 1 - Value', and 'Organization 1 - Name' for structured data.

Tip: Choose 'Google CSV' if you plan to re-import into Google Contacts later, or if the converter you are using supports Google's multi-value column naming convention.

Google Contacts export dialog showing format options: Google CSV selected, Outlook CSV, and vCard — Select Google CSV, Outlook CSV, or vCard depending on your needs.

Download the CSV file

Click the 'Export' button to start the download. The file will be saved as 'contacts.csv' to your browser's default Downloads folder. The download should complete almost instantly, even for large contact lists with thousands of entries.

Verify the exported data

Open the downloaded CSV file in Google Sheets or Excel to review the contents. Google Contacts CSV exports include columns like 'Name', 'Given Name', 'Family Name', 'E-mail 1 - Value', 'Phone 1 - Value', 'Organization 1 - Name', and 'Group Membership'. Confirm that your contacts and their details appear correctly.

Warning: Google CSV exports use the ' ::: ' separator (space-colon-colon-colon-space) for multiple group memberships within a single cell. Do not alter this separator format if you plan to re-import the file.

Required Contacts Csv Fields

Field	Type	Description	Example
Given Name	Text	First name	John
Family Name	Text	Last name	Doe

Your Google Contacts export must include these fields for successful conversion.

Next Step Once you have exported your contacts csv, use one of the converter tools below to transform your file.

Frequently Asked Questions

Google Contacts exports contacts csv as a CSV (Comma Separated Values) file, which can be opened in Excel or Google Sheets.

The file is usually downloaded to your browser's default Downloads folder. Check your Downloads folder or look for the download notification.