How to find contacts on Gmail

You have to send an e-mail message from your Gmail box but you don’t remember the recipient’s email address, which you had saved in your contacts. You have tried to untangle the settings of the Google WebMail service but, nothing, you cannot find a solution to the problem. If that’s the case, don’t worry, now I’m here to help you.

In today’s guide I will show you, in fact,  how to find contacts on Gmail using the Web version of the service or the tools included in Windows and macOS. Then, in case you want to act as a smartphone or tablet, I will show you how to do this also from Android and iOS. Finally, in case you need to retrieve a contact from the Gmail address book, I will explain how to export one or more contacts to other email service accounts and how to recover a contact deleted by mistake.

So, is that just what you wanted to know? Very well, then I invite you to read this guide immediately. Come on: make yourself comfortable, give me a few minutes of your free time, in order to consult all the tips and procedures that you will find in the next chapters, and put everything into practice. I just have to wish you a good read and a big good luck for everything!

Index

• How to see contacts on Gmail
  • Web
  • Windows
  • macOS
  • Android
  • iOS
• How to recover contacts on Gmail
  • Exporting contacts
  • Recovery of deleted contacts

How to see contacts on Gmail

If your intent is to see the contacts you have saved on Gmail, keep reading: in the next chapters of the guide I will show you how to do this both from the Web and from your computer, smartphone and tablet. I will then explain how to add a Google account to your device, how to activate contact synchronization and, finally, how to view the address book.

Web

The Gmail contact list can be consulted directly from the Web, using any browser. If you want to consult the list of your contacts, you must first access Google Contacts, available at this link.

After reaching the page in question, log in through your Google account, by entering the Gmail address and the password associated with it. Once this is done, on the main screen of Google Contacts, you will find the list of all the contacts you have saved on your Google account, from Gmail or from the address book of smartphones and tablets. In case you were directed to another screen, you can view the contact list by clicking on the Contacts tab, which you can find in the left sidebar.

If you need to read more detailed information about a contact, in addition to their email and phone number, you need to click on them to view their profile. In this screen that is shown to you, you can delete or add information to contacts using the appropriate icon with the pencil.

Windows

If you want to find Gmail contacts on your computer and you use  Windows 10, you can also act through the Contacts application of the Microsoft operating system. First of all, however, you need to add the Gmail account on Windows, a procedure which I will talk about in detail in the next lines.

First, access the Windows 10 Settings panel, using the Win + i key combination or by clicking on the gear icon found in the Start menu. Once this is done, select the Accounts > E-mail and accounts items and press the Add an account button.

Now, in the box that is shown to you, press on the Google entry and enter the credentials of your Gmail account, typing the email address and password connected to it. Once logged in, the information on the PC will be synchronized.

If you want to make sure that the synchronization of contacts was successful, go to the Accounts > E-mail and accounts section of the Windows 10 Settings panel, click on the item that shows your Gmail address and press the Manage button.

Once this is done, in the screen that you see, press on the wording Change mailbox synchronization settings and make sure that the lever located next to the Contacts item is set to ON, then pressing the Done button.

At this point, to view the Gmail contact list, start the Contacts application, which you can find on the Windows Start screen. After launching the application, you will be shown the list of contacts synchronized with all your accounts.

To view only those coming from Gmail, click on the filter icon (the one with the funnel ), and leave the checkmark only on the Gmail box, then confirming the operation using the Done button.

macOS

If you have a Mac, you can also access Google’s contact list from the macOS Contacts application. First, however, you need to associate your Google account with the system. To do this, click on the icon with the bitten apple in the upper left corner of the screen, on the menu bar.

Once this is done, in the box that is shown to you, select the System Preferences item and choose the Internet Account item from the macOS settings panel. At this point, click on the Google logo and enter the login information ( email and password ) relating to your Gmail account. Among the options that will be shown to you on the screen, make sure that the box next to the Contacts item is activated and click on Finish.

Very well! We are almost there! All that remains is to start the Contacts application, whose icon is present in the macOS Launchpad. When the application is started, on its main screen, click on the All (Google) item and the Gmail contact list will be shown.

Android

In case you want to view the Gmail contact list on your smartphone or tablet with Android operating system, you can use the phone book pre-installed on the device or the Google Contacts app.

Before starting with the procedure to view Gmail contacts on Android, you must associate a Google account with the smartphone or tablet in use: to do this, start the Settings panel, whose icon is present on the home screen, then select the voice or user account and press on the words Add account, which at the bottom.

In the screen that is shown to you, press on the Google item and follow the on-screen procedure to connect your Google account, by typing your Gmail address and the password associated with it. Now, on the screen or user account of the Settings Android, press the voice Google and then on ‘ Gmail address just added. Among the options you see on the screen, make sure it is set to ON the voice Synchronize Contacts.

At this point, you can open the address book (the one with an agenda icon ) of your Android device and find the newly synchronized contacts in the list that is shown to you. Alternatively, use the Google Contacts app, available for free in the Android Play Store.

To install it, reach the link I gave you directly from your smartphone or tablet, in order to open the Play Store and tap the Install button. At the end of the procedure, then press the Open button to start the app.

After launching the Contacts app, you consent to access the device features. In the main screen of the app you will find the list of all contacts arranged in alphabetical order. Select, therefore, a contact by tapping on it, to view the associated information, such as telephone number or email address.

iOS

If you have an iPhone or iPad, you can see Gmail contacts directly from the iOS Contacts app, by associating the Gmail account with your device. To do this, first add your Gmail account via the iOS Settings panel.

To do this, start the Settings app through its icon on the home screen and select the Password and account items (on iOS 14 and later you need to go to Settings> Mail or Settings> Contacts ) and then Add account > Google. In the screen that is shown to you, enter the Gmail address and the password associated with it, to log in and move the lever relative to the Contacts option to ON.

If you have already added a Gmail account to iOS and want to check if contact synchronization is active, go to the Password and account section  (on iOS 14 and later you need to go to Settings> Mail or Settings> Contacts ) of the system settings, select the Gmail item and check if the lever near the Contacts item is moved to ON (if not, you can fix it).

At this point, start the Contacts app, whose icon is present on the home screen, to view the list of all the contacts synchronized on your iOS device, including those from Gmail.

How to recover contacts on Gmail

If your intent is to recover contacts on Gmail, perhaps to export them to another mail service or to restore a name deleted by mistake from the address book, continue reading: in the next chapters I will show you how to do these operations via the Web panel. of  Google Contacts.

Exporting contacts

The process of exporting Gmail contacts, useful for example for importing the address book into other e-mail services, is a procedure that takes only a few minutes and is very simple to complete.

First, sign in with your Gmail account on the web page of Google Contacts. Once this is done, through the left sidebar, select the item More and then press on the word Export. In the box that is shown to you, select the extraction format of all contacts ( CSV Google to import them into another Google account, CSV Outlook to import them into a Microsoft account or vCard to import them on an iOS device), then press Export and a file containing the list of your contacts will be downloaded.

Alternatively, if you want to export individual contacts, select them from the list that is shown on the screen and then click on the More > Export items. In the box on the screen, make sure the Selected contacts box is activated, choose the format of your interest and then press the Export button.

Recovery of deleted contacts

In case you have deleted some contacts on Gmail, you can proceed with the data recovery through the appropriate panel in the web version of Google Contacts. Then reach the link I gave you and log in with your Gmail account, using your email and the password associated with it.

Once this is done, select the items More > Cancel changes from the left sidebar and choose the time interval for which you want to cancel the changes made to your contacts, then clicking on Confirm. I remind you that you can only undo changes made in the last 30 days.