Maximizing Business Connections: A Guide to Google Contacts Best Practices

Introduction
Benefits
Basic Functions
  Add, edit, and delete a contact
  Hide contacts
  Send an email or message, start a video call, and schedule an event
Features
  Merge
  Import
  Trash
  Labels (Contact Groups)
Limitations
 Sharing Contacts
 Integration with Non-Google Platforms
 30-day Contact Data Recovery
Conclusion

Introduction

Connectivity has the utmost importance in everybody’s lives, more so these days than in previous decades. The technological advances currently available pave the way for better communication.

As e-commerce becomes the norm, businesses find their leads, pitch their marketing materials to prospects, and make actual sales online. Simultaneously, they purchase from their suppliers, correspond with vendors, and may even find investors online. 

This is made possible through various platforms like email, social media, and messaging apps. Accordingly, a reliable contact management system must be in place. Google Contacts, a part of the Google Workspace suite, meets the need for a reliable contact database. 

In this article, you will learn more about the Google Contacts features, benefits, and advantages of Google Contacts. Also, it lets you explore other ways to maximize the use of Google Contacts so that it becomes a powerful business tool. 

Benefits

Integration with Google Services

Google Contacts, being the contact management app developed by Google itself, connects directly with Google Workspace, Google Calendar, and of course, Gmail among other Google products. It is readily accessible to those widely used applications without synchronization issues.

Cross-Platform Accessibility

As a cloud-based application, Google Contacts can be managed, accessed, and used from almost every electronic device. This accessibility comes in handy especially when you work with mobile devices and multiple machines.

Synchronization

Any changes are done on your contact database- whether you added, edited, or deleted a contact automatically reflects across all the devices where you have signed in to your Google Contacts. This synchronization feature eliminates your need to tediously input those developments manually on each platform. 

Suggested Entries

Google Contacts lists the email addresses and phone numbers of those you have interacted with. It appears in the ‘Other Contacts’ folder. Through this feature, you can grow your contact list conveniently. 

Contact Notes

Sometimes, you want to remember more than just the phone number and email address of your contacts. This is when Google Contacts Notes comes in handy. This Google Contacts feature is the space wherein you can write details about your contacts beyond the available fields like physical address, birthday, and even organization name.

Read more: Google Contacts Notes vs Shared Contacts for Gmail Comments

Basic Functions

Add, Edit, and Delete a Contact

Add a contact:

1. From your browser, open Google Contacts.
2. At the top left of your screen, click Create Contact.
3. Choose whether you would create a contact or create multiple contacts.
4. Fill in the contact information. You may also insert a photo and add a label already.
5. When done inputting the details, ensure to click Save.     

Edit a contact:

1. From your Google Contacts dashboard, find the contact entry you need to edit.
2. As you highlight the contact, click the edit contact icon.
3. Make the necessary changes.
4. When done inputting the details, ensure to click Save.     

Delete a contact:

1. From your Google Contacts dashboard, find the contact entry you need to delete.
2. As you highlight the contact, click the More Options icon.
3. Select delete from the menu.
4. A pop-up will appear to confirm if you want the contact to move to trash.
5. The deleted contacts remain in the trash folder for 30 days unless you manually choose to delete forever or recover them. After that period, it is automatically taken out of the system and irrecoverable. 

Hide contacts

You can declutter your contact list by hiding seldom-used contacts such as those from signup confirmations, warranty purposes, or project-based email addresses. To do so, follow these steps:

1. From your Google Contacts dashboard, find the contact entry you want to hide.
2. As you highlight the contact, click the more options icon.
3. Select hide from contacts on the menu.
4. The hidden contacts can still be viewed on the Other Contacts folder at the left panel. 

Send an email or message, start a video call, and schedule an event

Google Contacts provides users with a seamless experience by offering the ability to send emails, initiate video calls, and even schedule events without needing to leave the application. By simply clicking on a contact from the list, you’ll find these options conveniently accessible through icons located below the contact’s photo.

Google Contacts Features

Merge Contacts

Duplicate contact entries serve as a clutter to your phonebook. Practicing good data hygiene helps maintain a healthy business contact list.

1. On the Google Contacts interface, go to the left pane and click on merge & fix. The number displayed is the occurrence of duplicate contacts detected by the app.
2. If there aren’t any contacts to merge, the list would be empty. Else:
   • To merge all duplicates, go to the top right corner and click Merge all.
   • To review each contact before merging, scroll through each entry then decided whether to Merge or Dismiss the merging of the data.

Import

Import lets you upload data from external sources, which can either be online like other cloud-based apps, or offline spreadsheet files in .csv format. Then, combine it with your current contact database.

How to import contacts from a file:

1. Sign in to the Gmail account you want to import contacts to.
2. On the left panel, click Import.
3. A popup will appear then click Select file.
4. Choose the CSV file that you want to import.
5. Click Import.

How to import contacts from one Gmail account to another Google Contacts account

First part: Exporting Gmail contacts

There are several ways to export data depending on the number of contacts or groups of contact you want to export.

If you want to export all contacts:

1. Sign in to the Gmail account you want to export contacts from.
2. Access Google Contacts either from the Google Apps button or through another opened tab.
3. Click the icon at the top right for export.
4. A popup will appear. The export contacts automatically select Contacts.
5. Select Google CSV.
6. Click Export at the bottom of the popup.
7. Sign out from this account.

If you want to export by labels:

1. Sign in to the Gmail account you want to export contacts from.
2. Access Google Contacts either from the Google Apps button or through another opened tab.
3. Click the icon at the top right for export.
4. A popup will appear. Click the drop-down arrow beside Contacts.
5. Select the group label you want to export.
6. Select Google CSV.
7. Click Export at the bottom of the popup.
8. Sign out from this account.

Otherwise, if you want to export particularly selected contacts only:

1. Sign in to the Gmail account you want to export contacts from.
2. Access Google Contacts either from the Google Apps button or through another opened tab.
3. On your contact list, select the contacts you want to export.
4. At the top right corner, click More Actions.
5. A popup will appear. The export contacts automatically highlight Selected contacts.
6. Select Google CSV.
7. Click Export.
8. Sign out from this account.

Second part: Importing contacts

1. Sign in to the Gmail account you want to import contacts to.
2. On the left panel, click Import.
3. A popup will appear then click Select file.
4. Upload the CSV file that you recently exported.
5. Click Import.

Trash

The “Trash” folder, as the name implies, serves as the repository wherein all deleted contacts temporarily are stored for 30 days, starting from the date of deletion. After this period, said contacts will be automatically removed from your database.

If you wish to permanently delete all the contacts in less than 30 days, you can select Empty Trash Now at the top menu. You may also do a bulk action of selecting the contacts you want to perpetually remove in your system and choose Delete forever at the menu just above the contacts. Note that this action is irreversible. 

On the other hand, there is the recover function. This option allows you to reinstate the deleted entries back to the contact database and make them available again across all the platform that accesses Google Contacts. However, this feature will not be available after 30 days from the deletion date or if the user used the “empty trash now” or “delete forever”.

In addition, Google Contacts reminds the users how the entries ended up in the Trash folder. The “Why in Trash?” column showcases one of the following reasons:

• Deleted in Google Contacts – a manual deletion done within the app itself
• Merged with Duplicate Contact- this entry is deleted by the system to clear out the redundancy in your active contact list.
• Deleted by a Third-Party App- the app where the deletion of the entry took place is also displayed. 

Labels (Contact Groups)

Labels allow users to group their contacts accordingly. This categorization makes sending group emails, marketing materials, or organization-wide memos more convenient than manually entering email addresses in the recipient field. 

Read more: How to Share Labels in Google Contacts and Get Organized

Limitations

Sharing Contacts

Google Contacts does not allow users to share their contacts even within the same organization. This hampers a smooth collaboration between different departments. Furthermore, users don’t enjoy the benefits of having a centralized database wherein contact details of prospects, clients, suppliers, and other stakeholders are always updated and readily accessible across all the authorized platforms.

Read more: What is Contact Sharing and Why is it Important

To allow sharing contacts in Google Contacts, users may install Shared Contacts for Gmail®. Sharing contacts empowers your team with seamless access to a collaborative contact database, from any device, any app.

Limited Integration with Non-Google Platforms

While Google Contacts works well within the Google ecosystem, it may have limited integration or synchronization options with non-Google platforms or applications, which can be a drawback for users who primarily use non-Google services.

Users can resort to Shared Contacts for Gmail® to boost the integration scope of Google Contacts. This contact management app can permit the integration of your Google contacts with various CRMs and other messaging platforms. 

Read more: Zapier Integration – Shared Contacts for Gmail®

30-day Contact Data Recovery

Google Contacts allows you to recover deleted contacts from the “Trash” folder for up to 30 days from the date of deletion. This means that if you delete a contact, you have a window of 30 days to restore it from the Trash before it is permanently removed from your account.

This can be troublesome if you discover the deletion late. Important contact information is lost forever. 

Read more: Advantages of Having Unlimited Recovery Time for Deleted Contacts

However, you may say goodbye to the worries of losing crucial contact information. With Shared Contacts for Gmail©, the power of unlimited backup for deleted contacts is now at your fingertips, exclusively for Corporate accounts. Now, you have the freedom to restore an unrestricted number of contacts, no matter how much time has passed since their deletion from your contact list.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Google Contacts undeniably stands as a powerful tool that greatly enhances the way we manage and organize our contact information. Its user-friendly interface, seamless integration with various Google services, and robust features make it an indispensable resource for personal and professional communication needs. Furthermore, the ability to synchronize and access contacts across devices ensures a streamlined experience, while Google Contacts features such as contact grouping, custom fields, and label-based organization enable efficient sorting and searching.

Google Contacts’ intelligent suggestions, automatic updates, and deduplication capabilities further contribute to its effectiveness, reducing manual efforts and minimizing errors. Additionally, its compatibility with third-party applications and easy sharing options enhance its versatility and utility.

With the ever-growing importance of interconnectedness and efficient data management, Google Contacts emerges as a tool that not only simplifies our daily interactions but also helps us maintain meaningful relationships and stay organized in an increasingly digital world. Whether for personal use or professional networking, Google Contacts remains a cornerstone in managing our ever-expanding network of connections, truly exemplifying its status as a powerful and essential tool.