How to share Google contacts between accounts

Remember when you only had one email account? Those were the simple days. But they are long gone. We're taking on more. And use our digital addresses as a center for our work responsibilities. Therefore, we have to organize them well. It is only fair to have more than one email account. This habit also demands us to share Google contacts between accounts. Once you start having to swap from account to account, copying and pasting email addresses and details, you realize you would save time if you could easily share contacts between your Gmail accounts or Google Workspace accounts. This would be helpful not only for individuals, but also for companies. That's because collaborators need access to the same information. Especially when creating a distribution list. But there are ways to flip this worry into having a shareable system for your contacts. In this article, we will help you find a solution to this problem. We are aware that it may not be as easy or intuitive as one might think. However, it's totally doable to share Google contacts between accounts. Stick with us!

Why you should share Google contacts

Decades ago, teams and collaborators were sharing physical phone books with important contacts on them. Now, in a digital world, especially with remote work becoming the main choice for many companies, it is crucial to have easy access to contacts online. This is why it’s necessary to share Google contacts and even are essential for a business that values integration among teams and processes. Relevant information should be in a secure place. Yet accessible to the ones who need it. That makes collaboration and productivity more fluent.

3 ways to share Google Contacts between accounts

Do you need to share contact labels with users or groups of users? And keep the sharing always in sync? There are a few different paths you can take.

1. Manually transferring your contacts

If you don’t need to sync all contacts in real-time and don’t mind manually copying contacts from one account to another, there's an easy way. You can follow a step by step to share Google contacts with another account of your own or a collaborator. You can do it by exporting contacts and, then, importing them to the selected account. To share Google contacts between accounts: 1. Go to your Gmail and click on the menu in the top right corner. 2. Select the “Contacts” option. 3. On the “Contacts” screen, you will be able to see all the contacts you have saved so far. You can also edit them and make changes you find necessary. 4. On the top right of the screen, you will see the options “Import” and “Export”. 5. If you want to share Google contacts from the account you are accessing, then you should click on “Export”, which will open a window similar to the one below. You will be able to choose the format to download those contacts, such as CSV, and then save it on your computer. Now, how to import them into your other Google account? Once your file is safe and sound on your device, then you can switch to the other account and do the same process as above. The only difference is that you will have to click on “Import”.

The downside of manually transferring contacts

2. Using Gmail Delegation

Need access to other users’ accounts? One of the best features Google Workspace offers is Gmail Delegation, which allows a user to access another user’s Gmail emails and contacts, without having the password to it. This usually works wonders for personal assistants, but granting access to an account can also be quite useful for small teams that share email inboxes. There are limits to this feature. But it's better and safer than simply sharing passwords around the office. Keep in mind that Google Delegation has limitations such as:

• The delegate user cannot access shared contacts from mobile phones or other apps.
• You cannot find shared contacts using Gmail/Google Contacts search feature.
• Shared contacts don't show up in Gmail autocomplete.
• Contact labels are missing
• It's impossible to set specific lists. All contacts will be shared with the delegate.
• You cannot restrict permissions (e.g. “View Only”).
• Contacts cannot be shared with Groups of users, you will need to share them one by one.

3. Using an extension such as Gmail Shared Contacts

You can download specialized tools from the Google Workspace Marketplace. One of these tools is Gmail Shared Contacts. This solution will allow you not only to assign access privileges to certain contact lists, but also to decide which fields should be visible or not (like personal phone number or email). The shared contacts in Google Workspace will be synchronized across all apps and devices of the authorized users.

Taking team collaboration to the next level

Sharing Google Contacts FAQs

How to Share Contacts from One Google Account to Another Google Account?

Google doesn’t provide a built-in feature for automatic contact syncing between accounts, but you can do it manually or with third-party tools.

Method 1: Export and Import Contacts

1. Open Google Contacts in the source account.
2. Click Export, select Google CSV or vCard, and download the file.
3. Sign in to the destination account, go to Contacts, and click Import.
4. Upload the exported file to transfer contacts.

Method 2: Use a Contact Sharing App

For ongoing sharing, tools like Shared Contacts for Gmail or ContactBook allow multiple Google accounts to access and edit the same contact list.

How Do I Forward a Google Contact?

Google Contacts doesn’t have a direct “forward” option, but you can share a contact’s details in two ways:

Method 1: Copy and Paste Contact Details

1. Open Google Contacts.
2. Click on the contact you want to share.
3. Copy their name, email, and phone number.
4. Paste the details into an email or message and send it.

Method 2: Export and Send as a File

1. Select the contact(s) you want to share.
2. Click Export, choose vCard (VCF) or CSV, and download.
3. Attach the file to an email and send it.
4. The recipient can import it into their Google Contacts