- As of May 2011, Gmail lets you choose which list of contacts you would like to export. You can, of course, also export your entire contacts list -- but if you have separate lists for "Home," "Work" and "School," you can easily export just the one you need. In addition, you can choose between formats, according to your exported contact file's eventual destination: Google CSV, Outlook CSV and v-Card are the options available.
- After you've logged into your Gmail account, click "Contacts" on the left side of the screen. You'll see a list of all your Gmail contacts. Click the drop-down menu that says "More Actions." Choose "Export" and a menu will appear onscreen that will ask you which contacts to export and in which file format you want them exported. Make your choices and hit the "Export" button. You will then be able to save the exported file of your choice on your computer.
- You may wonder what "CSV" stands for because the Google and Outlook file options use it as a means of saving your contacts. It's an acronym for "Comma-separated values," and is a simple way to save lengthy sets of data, including letters and numerals, in such a way that many programs can access and display the data correctly. For example, Microsoft Word saves your documents with the file extension ".doc," and only some programs can open these files as a result. CSV files avoid this problem by being more accessible than proprietary formats.
- Once you've saved your exported file, you can easily clean it up before you import it into your selected email program. Open it in the spreadsheet program of your choice for ease of viewing, then double-check that your contacts list is accurate. It's a good idea to keep your contacts list up-to-date anyway, whether you're in the middle of exporting it elsewhere or not. To keep your contacts lists synced between your email accounts, import your edited list into your destination email account and your Gmail account when you've finished editing.