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How to Restore Phone Contacts From Gmail Account

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You can restore your Google contacts in case they have been accidentally deleted or altered. To accomplish this, sign in to your Google account, access your contact list, choose a restoration period, and restore. Afterwards, it's a good idea to make a backup copy of your contact list. Google can only restore contact data reaching up to 30 days back, so if you wait too long after making any changes, you may not be able to successfully restore.[1]

  1. 1

    Go to Google Contacts and sign into your Google Account. Enter your Google email and password and click "Sign in". You will be taken the contacts profile of your account.

    • You can also access this page by signing into Gmail and selecting "Contacts" from the "Gmail" menu in the top left corner.
  2. 2

    Click "Restore Contacts". This option is listed in the left sidebar and will open a popup window to select a restoration period.

    • If this option does not appear, click "More" in the left sidebar to expand the menu. The menu is expanded by default.

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  3. 3

    Choose a restoration period from the list. You will need to choose a period before the changes to your contacts were made (e.g. if changes were made yesterday, you should choose a restoration period at least 2 days in the past).

    • You can restore from a custom period if you do not want to use the default periods, but these are still limited to the 30 days in the past.
  4. 4

    Click "Restore". This button is at the bottom of the restoration period window and will revert your contacts to the state they were in at the selected restoration period.

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  1. 1

    Go to Google Contacts and sign into your Google Account. Enter your Google email and password and click "Sign in". You will be taken the contacts profile of your account.

  2. 2

    Click "Export". This button is listed in the left sidebar.

    • Exporting is currently unsupported by the Google Contacts preview (enabled by default) and will automatically redirect you to the old version of Google Contacts.
  3. 3

    Open the "More" menu and select "Export". This menu is located just below the search bar. An export popup window will appear.

  4. 4

    Choose an export setting. By default, "Export All" is selected. You can also choose to export only specific groups or specific contacts.

    • In order to export only specific contacts, you must select the checkboxes next to each contact name you want to export before selecting the "Export" option from the menu.
  5. 5

    Select the file format you want for your contacts export. Google CSV is the format for import into another Google account (This is the best choice as a Google account backup). You can also choose Outlook CSV or vCard if you use Microsoft or Apple products frequently.

  6. 6

    Click "Export". A save dialog will appear.

  7. 7

    Choose a save location and click "Save". A backup file with your current Google contacts will be saved to the selected location.

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  1. 1

    Go to Google Contacts and sign into your Google Account. Enter your Google email and password and click "Sign in". You will be taken the contacts profile of your account.

  2. 2

    Click "Import…". This button is listed in the left sidebar and will open a window to select an import source.

  3. 3

    Click "Choose File". This will open a window to browse for the contacts file you created when you exported.

  4. 4

    Select a contacts file and press "Open". The file will appear in the import window.

  5. 5

    Click "Import". This will import the contacts from the contacts file into your Google contacts list.

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Add New Question

  • Question

    How do I restore Google contacts on an Android device?

    Community Answer

    Currently you cannot restore contacts using the Gmail or Contacts app. However you can use the restore feature by using your device's web browser to access the contacts website.

  • Question

    How can I restore contacts after I get a new SIM card?

    Community Answer

    You will want to Import your contacts instead of restoring them. If you store your contacts with Gmail, then you can also link your Gmail account to your new device and the contacts will sync.

  • Question

    How do I restore contacts from about 2 month's ago?

    Community Answer

    Unfortunately, this is beyond the restoration window. If you have a backup of your contacts exported then you can import the contacts file to restore to that period.

  • Question

    How can I restore my contact numbers?

    Community Answer

    If the phone number is saved in the contact profile, then this method will restore that phone number.

  • Question

    How can I restore my people contacts on my lumia 640 mobile?

    Community Answer

    If your contacts are stored in Google, this method will work fine through your mobile web browser.

  • Question

    Is there any way I can still recover my contacts more than 30 days after my phone was stolen?

    Community Answer

    Unless you have a backup of your contacts, 30 days is the maximum period from which you can restore your Google contacts using this feature.

  • Question

    How can I restore a Gmail account without having backup access to the Gmail backup recovery email or phone number?

    Community Answer

    The listed method does require the recovery email or recovery phone number.

  • Question

    Is there a way to recover my contacts if I accidentally deleted them from contact manager?

    Community Answer

    Make sure to choose a restoration period prior to date/time you deleted you contacts, and this method should work.

  • Question

    These options are not coming up on my Android device. What can I do?

    Community Answer

    The site must be accessed via your device's web browser. The Contacts and Gmail mobile apps currently do not support this feature.

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  • Keep your contacts export file in a safe place, like an external backup drive.

  • At the moment, restoring contacts cannot be performed through the mobile apps, and must be done through the website.

  • Export a contacts file regularly if you frequently update your contacts.

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  • Even using a custom period, Google only backs up contact information 30 days back. You must perform the operation within this time frame or make your own backup before it becomes permanently lost.

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About This Article

Article SummaryX

1. Sign in to https://contacts.google.com.
2. Click Undo changes.
3. Select a time you want to restore to.
4. Click Confirm.

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How to Restore Phone Contacts From Gmail Account

Source: https://www.wikihow.com/Restore-Google-Contacts