Share Contacts with a Large Number of Users

Sharing contacts with many users at once can be a tedious task when done manually. The need to enter the users one by one is time-consuming.

When large organizations have a turnover, it forces the contact list owners to continuously share the database with new users. Also, they need to remove access permission to the departed users. This system can be heavy to maintain in the long run.

Shared Contacts for Gmail© has an excellent yet economical solution: sharing contacts with domain groups instead of individual users.

Time needed: 2 minutes

Follow these steps below to learn how to share with a domain group:

  1. Log into Google Admin console

  2. Click on ‘Groups’


    Click onto 'Groups'

  3. Click ‘Create group’


    Click 'Create group'

  4. Follow all steps in creating a new domain group. In this example, we are creating a Marketing group.

    To set up group settings and access allowance, click ‘Next’ and follow the instructions to complete group set-up. Now, you are ready to share your contacts with many users.
    Follow all steps in creating a new domain group

  5. Log into Share Contacts for Gmail® and share a label with the domain group you just created by clicking on the ‘Share’ icon of a label and entering the domain group as a collaborator.

    To see how to create and share a label click here.
    share a label with the domain group you just created

  6. When someone leaves the Marketing department, access Google Admin and remove that member from the domain group.


    access Google Admin and remove that member from the domain group.

  7. When someone joins the marketing department, add a new user to this domain group from the Google Admin console, and NOT from Shared Contacts for Gmail®.


    add a new user to this domain group to share a google label with a domain group

  8. The contacts lists get automatically shared/unshared with these users when any editions are made to the contact label from Shared Contacts for Gmail®. 

How to see who is in a group?

From Shared Contacts for Gmail® app

To view the members of a domain group within Shared Contacts for Gmail® simply click on the shared icon of a label > Click ‘Group Members’.

How to see who is in a group in How To Share Contacts With A Large Number Of Users


From Gmail

To view the participants of a domain group within Gmail, you will first need to download the Shared Contacts for Gmail Add-On from Google Workspace Marketplace. This Add-on gives Gmail users a sidebar that contains all email recipient and sender contact information of the email they are currently viewing.

Click here for a step-by-step guide to view all emails as well as group domain participants by using this add-on.

to see who is in a group in How To Share Contacts With A Large Number Of Users


From Google Contacts

To view the members of a domain group in Google Contacts, simply click on the ‘share’ icon of a label > Click the domain group’s icon/avatar to view all group participants.

See who is in a group In Google Contacts How To Share Contacts With A Large Number Of Users

It’s that easy! Sharing contacts with many users need not be a tedious task. Now, you will always know who you are leasing with by seeing who is in those domain groups.