If you access your Gmail account in Mozilla Thunderbird, it makes sense to export your Gmail contacts to Thunderbird too, so you have them available wherever you are. Here’s how to do it.

Import Your Gmail Contacts In Mozilla Thunderbird

To export your Gmail address book and import it into Mozilla Thunderbird, you must first save your Gmail contacts as a contacts.csv file.

  • Open Gmail.
  • Select the apps icon next to your profile picture in the upper right of the screen.
  • When the list of available apps appears, select Contacts.
  • On the Contacts screen, turn your attention to the menu on the left, and press Export.
  • Select Outlook CSV from the formatting options.
  • Press Export to generate the contacts.csv file.

Then comes the finicky part—importing the contacts.csv file into Thunderbird.

Open Gmail.

Select the apps icon next to your profile picture in the upper right of the screen.

When the list of available apps appears, select Contacts.

On the Contacts screen, turn your attention to the menu on the left, and press Export.

Select Outlook CSV from the formatting options.

Press Export to generate the contacts.csv file.

  • Select Tools > Import from the menu in Mozilla Thunderbird.
  • Make sure Address Books is selected.
  • Press Next.
  • Highlight Text file (LDIF,.tab,.csv,.txt) under Please select the program from which you would like to import.
  • Press Next.
  • Locate the contacts.csv file you just created in Gmail, and select it.
  • Press Open.
  • Make sure First record contains field names is checked. You can safely leave the defaults here, but if you want to alter the entries, refer to the next step.
  • Use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to match Mozilla Thunderbird address book fields on the left with Gmail fields on the right. Make sure at least Primary Email aligns with E-mail Address and Last Name aligns with Name. (Gmail has a unified name field and does not distinguish between first and last names.)
  • Use the Next button at the top to see what the import process will produce.
  • Press OK.
  • Press Finish.

In your Mozilla Thunderbird address book, you will now find a folder named “contacts” with all imported Gmail contacts.

Select Tools > Import from the menu in Mozilla Thunderbird.

Make sure Address Books is selected.

Press Next.

Highlight Text file (LDIF,.tab,.csv,.txt) under Please select the program from which you would like to import.

Locate the contacts.csv file you just created in Gmail, and select it.

Press Open.

Make sure First record contains field names is checked. You can safely leave the defaults here, but if you want to alter the entries, refer to the next step.

Use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to match Mozilla Thunderbird address book fields on the left with Gmail fields on the right. Make sure at least Primary Email aligns with E-mail Address and Last Name aligns with Name. (Gmail has a unified name field and does not distinguish between first and last names.)

Use the Next button at the top to see what the import process will produce.

Press OK.

Press Finish.

Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day