Google Apps Hacks

101  - IMPORT CONTACTS FROM OTHER EMAIL PROGRAMS

HaCK 40:

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If you moved from another email client to Gmail, you lost all of your

existing contact addresses. Or did you?

Gmail allows you to import and export your contact data. The le format for this is a comma-

separated values (CSV) le. To import a CSV le, log in to Gmail and click the Contacts link to the

left. Now click Import (at the time of this writing, located at the bottom of the screen), click Browse

to select your CSV le, and click Import.

But how do you get Outlook Express, Hotmail, Thunderbird, or Mac OS X Mail to create such a le for

you? Here is how to do it in these programs; other email clients have similar export options.

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In Outlook Express, choose File→Export→Address Book. . . from the menu, as shown in Figure

5-4. In the dialog that follows, select “Text File (Comma Separated Values)” and click the Export

button. Choose a location for the CSV le and select the elds you want to export, or just leave these

checkboxes on their default selection.

If you are curious, this is what the saved CSV le may look like if you were to open it in a simple text

editor (with some of the many elds snipped for brevity):

Name,E-mail Address,Home Street,Home City,Home Postal Code,...

Frank Smith,[e-mail],,London,,...

Daniel Clowes,[e-mail],,Oakland,, ...