
Import contacts from Gmail to
Using TB 141.0 MS Word 11 Too many wrong videos, too many old explanations. It's August 2025. Please, I'm not a computer wiz. Just a home novice. OK with specific directions. How to export my Gmail contacts list and import it to my TB contacts. I have tried basic gmail export...but should it be "google .csv", " or what? I don't think I have Outlook loaded anymore on windows 11. If you could help by actually sending me instructions that I will follow direct. ie: Sign into Gmail>click on contact file to be exported>export contacts and click "google .csv" (or the correct choice there)..then what? I've been trying and it wants me to save to a file...but how? And which file? I know it's an effort on your part, but I will print and save going forward. Thanks so much. LS in AZ.
All Replies (2)
1st step: Export Your Gmail Contacts
- Go to Google Contacts
- Open your browser and go to: https://contacts.google.com - Make sure you're signed in to the correct Gmail account. - Select Contacts to Export - On the left sidebar, click Export
Under Which contacts do you want to export?, choose: “Selected contacts” (if you want specific ones) or “All contacts” to export them all - Choose the Export Format - Format = Google CSV. (This is the best one for this) - Click Export It will download a file like contacts.csv, which usually goes somewhere like your Downloads folder
2nd STEP: Find the File You Just Downloaded
Open File Explorer Click on Downloads (left side) You should see a file named something like contacts.csv - You don’t need to open it, just know it's there.
Final step: Import Into Thunderbird 141.0
Open Thunderbird In the top-right corner, click the ☰ Menu (3 lines)
Go to
Tools > Import A window will open. Choose: "From a File" (e.g. Address Books) Then click Continue
- On the next screen, choose: - IMport Address Books (CSV) - Then click Continue
Thunderbird will ask for the file. Click Browse
- Go to your Downloads folder - Select the contacts.csv file and click Open - You’ll now see a field matching screen
Thunderbird will try to match the Gmail fields to its own (like Name, Email, etc) Tip: You can click and drag the fields to match them if needed. Usually, Thunderbird does a decent job auto-matching these.
- Once matched, click Import
Done!
Your Gmail contacts should now show up in Thunderbird’s Address Book Hopefully this helps!
Modified
Hi again and thank you so much ThundaMike. This is a god-send! There's no explanation out there..either on other forums, blogs, vlogs, or YouTube. This looks so easy. I have tried it once but still have some problems: Your instruction as I import to TB: "Thunderbird will ask for the file. Click browse" There is no browse option here. Instead, there is "Choose comma or tab seperated file (.csv, .tsv) So I select that choice. Other options listed are LDIF file. Vcard file. SQLite database file. Mork database file. Again, I chose Common or tab seperated file. Don't know if that was correct... Then it all goes to hell...but I get to the sport where there is a page of display choices... "Import Address Book file. Match field names." I usually display first, last, primary email, home phone, home address, home city, home state, home zip code, work phone, work address. Then it displays a file from a secondary email account that I have...although I'm sure that the one I chose is my primary email account. I double checked myself and it's the PRIMARY Gmail account that I sign into as my first step. Have I gone so far down the rabbit hole that I can't get back out??? Look forward to your helpful reply. Thanks.