2 Ways to Import Gmail Contacts to iCloud Easily and Quickly

This article will talk about how to easily import Gmail contacts to iCloud. Gmail is one of the most popular email services in the world. You can effortlessly save and manage your Gmail contacts in Google Contacts, Google’s contact management tool. Sometimes, you may need to export contacts from Gmail and import them to other services such as iCloud. And there are two common methods available for that.

Method 1. Import Gmail contacts to iCloud with a drag-and-drop

This method applies to macOS 10.11 and later. If you are using a Windows PC or a phone, you can check out the second method. Mac users can use Cisdem ContactsMate to easily transfer contacts between different services such as Gmail and iCloud.

Before getting started, download and install ContactsMate. When you open this contact manager for the first time, it will ask for access to Mac Contacts app. Click OK.

1. Click Add Account in the toolbar.
2. Select Google and sign in to it.
3. Make sure the box next to Contacts is selected. Click Done.
4. Click plus the plus icon in the corner.
5. Select iCloud and sign in to it with your Apple ID and password.
6. Select the box next to Contacts.
7. Quit and relaunch ContactsMate. Now you should find the Google group and iCloud group in the left sidebar.
8. Select the Google group, bulk select all contacts in it, and drag them into the iCloud group.

If you visit https://www.icloud.com/contacts, you will find that all Gmail contacts are imported to your iCloud.

Tips

Here’s how to transfer selected contacts from Gmail to iCloud. In step 8, select the Google group in the sidebar and then select the specific Gmail contacts. Now drag them into iCloud group.

When you transfer contacts from Gmail to iCloud, if you have the same contacts on both services, there will end up being duplicates. In such a case, ContactsMate can prevent duplicate contacts. After you finish the process above, select the iCloud group in the sidebar and click the Scan button in the toolbar. In the Conflict Resolution window that shows up, you can view and remove or merge duplicate contacts. Here are more details.

Method 2. Transfer Gmail contacts to iCloud via vCard

Google Contacts provides helpful features for you to manage your Gmail contacts. The Export feature is one of them. iCloud also makes it easy to import contacts if the contacts are in vCard format. The good news is that Gmail does allow you to export contacts as vCard.

1. Open your web browser. Sign in to Google using your Google account.
2. Click the Google apps menu and select Contacts. If you can't find it, click More.
3. In the sidebar on the left, click Export.
4. You can choose to export all of your Gmail contacts, or selected contacts or contacts with a certain label.
5. Under the Export as section, select vCard (for iOS Contacts). Click Export.
6. Once the download is done, you can find the exported vCard file (with the extension of .vcf) on your computer.
7. Visit https://www.icloud.com/contacts and sign in to it.
8. Click the gear icon in the bottom left corner.
9. Choose Import vCard and import the exported vCard file.

Note

It’s recommended to do the above steps on a computer because it will be easier to operate. That being said, you can use this method on iPhone or Android phone without problems.

How to keep Gmail and iCloud contacts in sync

If you want to sync contacts between Gmail and iCloud instead of making a one-time transfer of contacts, there are third-party apps that can help. Contacts Sync for Google Gmail is one of them, but note that this app is only available for iPhone and iPad. And you can get it from the App Store.

Primarily designed to sync Gmail and iPhone contacts, this versatile app can be used in a number of ways. You can use it to quickly and effortlessly sync your Gmail contacts with iCloud (and other supported services). Any changes made in one service will be synced to the other instantly and automatically. In addition, it is convenient to use with a set of customization options. For example, you can choose to sync all fields or selected fields in your contact entries.

Merge all Gmail contacts to iCloud to avoid duplicates

After you import Gmail contacts to iCloud, it’s a recommended practice to find duplicate contacts and merge duplicates (if any). Duplicate entries of the same contacts could cause inconvenience or confusion. The most common way to handle this situation is to merge duplicate entries. Before you do the merging, you can backup your contacts first. This guide gives more details that you may need.

Conclusion

There is more than one way to import Gmail contacts to iCloud. You can also choose to sync contacts between them. Regardless of the method you use, it won’t be difficult or time-consuming. Once the transfer is finished, it will also become readily easy to copy Gmail contacts to iPhone if you want to. Do you find this article helpful? Which method do you prefer?