Manual method
Download a contact list as CSV or vCard for preservation and later import.
- On a computer, open Google Contacts in the intended account.
- Select a contact, then use selection actions → All if you want the whole available list.
- Choose More actions → Export; choose Google CSV for backup and save it.
- Optionally repeat as vCard for portability and label each file with its account and date.
Coverage and limitations: Work/school directory entries cannot all be selected as personal contacts. Other contacts, labels and contact photos should be checked explicitly rather than assumed to survive every destination format.
Size and time to allow
Illustrative small / central / large case: 0.001 / 0.01 / 0.1 GB (decimal GB). These are planning assumptions, not a measured average per person. 10 MB represents roughly 1,000 contacts with notes and some metadata; embedded photos can increase it substantially.
Preparation: Usually interactive, with 1–5 minutes of manual setup as an estimate. The actual file transfer should be seconds.
For the central 0.01 GB example, network transfer alone is approximately:
| Connection | Estimated transfer |
|---|---|
| 10 Mbps | 11 seconds |
| 50 Mbps | 2 seconds |
| 100 Mbps | 1 seconds |
Assumes 70% sustained use of the stated connection. Provider throttling, many small files, retries, local extraction and copying add time. For online backup use your upload speed. These are not estimates of the provider’s preparation queue. See calculation and large-file advice.
Store and verify the archive
The example is small enough for an encrypted USB key, external drive or private cloud folder. Choose a second independent copy as well; a single USB key is easy to lose and a sync folder alone can propagate deletion.
Create google_contacts/YYYY-MM-DD/originals/, preserve the untouched download, and extract a separate working copy when needed. Allow extra free space for archive plus extraction; compressed text can expand far beyond twice its size. Record account/scope, export date, date coverage and missing items in a local README without passwords.
Check contact count, accented names, multiple phone numbers and notes using a copy of the CSV. Preserve the original unchanged. Reopen a sample from the second copy before deleting or replacing any source. Storage choices and verification.
Sources and review
Public documentation was reviewed on 27 October 2026. No signed-in export or restoration was performed. Account options and availability can change; follow the current provider instructions.