How to Backup and Restore Gmail and Google Contacts on Android Phone & Computer

Before, it was such a hassle to save your contacts in your cellphone and sync them to your email accounts. You could only save them in the SIM card and had to manually create a single contact on your computer. If you didn’t do this and your cellphone got damaged or lost, all those contacts will be permanently gone without any way to restore. Nowadays, technology has made our lives easier and we can sync, backup and restore files through our smartphone and computer. Let’s show you how to do this.

How to Sync and Backup Gmail or Google Contacts:

Android Phone

Some mobile applications save your contacts in your SIM card or device storage, meaning that you are only able to access them in that phone or device. However, if you have an Android phone, you can automatically sync and save all of your contacts in your Google or Gmail account.

1. On your Android phone, go to the “Setting” options.
2. Scroll down to the “Google” menu and enter.
3. Here it can show an option called “Contacts” that will direct you to download the “Contacts” app. This app will automatically save any contact as a Google contact.
4. After you downloaded it, return to the Google menu and access the “Account Services” option.
5. There, press the “Contacts Sync” option and a new menu will pop up.
6. Here, it will show the “Automatically sync Google contacts” and “Backup and sync device contacts” menu.
7. Turn on the tab on each one of them.
8. Now all your contacts are automatically saved and sync in your Google account. Additionally, it is automatically backed up.

Computer

On a computer, you must create an CSV file that contains your contacts.

1. Sign-in in your Gmail account.
2. Go to the right upper corner and click on the “Google apps” option next to your profile.
3. Click on the “Contacts” option.
4. On the left side of the computer, a menu will appear. Scroll down to the “Export” option.
5. A menu will pop up, where you can save specific or all of your contacts. You can also the file as a Google CSV, Outlook CSV or a vCard (for iOs contacts).
6. Download the file and now you have created a backup file of your contacts.

How to Restore Contacts:

Android Phone

If you sign-in on a new Android phone for the first, it will ask you to sign-in in your Google or Gmail account. Once you entered and sync the account to your device, it will restore the data, including contacts you backed up. For this to occur, you have enter the same Google account you used to backup your previous data.

However, you are also able to manually restore your contacts by following the next steps:

1. Go to the “Settings” option.
2. Press your Google menu.
3. Scroll down and tap the “Restore” option.
4. Tap the “Restore contacts” option.
5. Select the account from which you will restore your account and tap “From account”.
6. Click on the “Restore” option and wait a certain amount of time until it displays “Contacts restored”.

Computer

On a computer, you must import contacts from a previous CSV file to restore your contacts.

1. Sign-in in your Gmail account.
2. Go to the right upper corner and click on the “Google apps” option next to your profile.
3. Click on the “Contacts” option.
4. On the left side of the computer, a menu will appear. Scroll down to the “Import” option.
5. A menu will pop up, where you press the “Select file” and upload the CSV file.
6. Tap “Import” and all the contacts you backed up in that specific file will be restored.

Now you can safely protect your contacts from your smartphone or computer.

Use our Google Contact Sharing App – ContactShareApp.com to share Gmail Contacts across other users.