Importing Contacts from Gmail

Step 1

Connect Gmail First

Before you can import Gmail contacts, you need to connect your Gmail account to SalesSheet.ai. This integration gives SalesSheet permission to access your Google Contacts.

If you haven't connected Gmail yet, go to Settings > Integrations and click Connect Gmail. Follow the authorization flow to grant SalesSheet access to your Gmail and contacts. See our detailed guide on "Connecting Your Gmail Account" if you need step-by-step instructions.

Once connected, the Gmail integration card in Settings > Integrations will show a green "Connected" status with your email address displayed. You're now ready to import contacts.

Step 2

Navigate to Contacts Import

From your SalesSheet.ai dashboard, click Contacts in the left sidebar to open your contacts list.

In the top-right corner, click the Import button (or the upload icon). A dropdown menu appears with several import options: CSV, Gmail, Outlook, and other integrations.

Select Import from Gmail. This launches the Gmail contact import wizard, which connects to your Google account and retrieves your contact list.

You'll see a loading indicator while SalesSheet fetches your Gmail contacts. For accounts with thousands of contacts, this may take 10-20 seconds. Once loaded, you'll see the contact selection interface.

Step 3

Select Which Contacts to Import

The import wizard displays all contacts from your Google Contacts, organized in a searchable list with checkboxes. You can see each contact's name, email, company, and phone number (if available in Google Contacts).

Smart Filters: At the top of the contact list, you'll see filter options to help you choose which contacts to import:

• All Contacts: Shows every contact in your Google account
• Frequently Contacted: Shows people you email regularly (recommended for sales CRM)
• Has Company Info: Only contacts with company/organization fields filled in
• Has Phone Number: Filters to contacts with phone numbers (useful for calling)
• Not Already in CRM: Excludes contacts already imported into SalesSheet (prevents duplicates)

Use these filters to narrow down to business contacts only. For example, applying "Frequently Contacted" + "Has Company Info" typically gives you your actual customers and prospects, excluding personal contacts.

Search and Select: You can search for specific contacts by name, email, or company using the search box. Check the boxes next to contacts you want to import, or use "Select All" to import all filtered contacts at once.

Preview Contact Data: Click on any contact row to see a detailed preview of what information will be imported: name, email, phone numbers, company, job title, address, and notes. This helps you verify data quality before importing.

The import counter at the top shows how many contacts you've selected (e.g., "247 contacts selected"). Be mindful of your account limits if you're on a plan with contact restrictions.

Once you've selected the contacts you want, click Next: Review Settings.

Step 4

Review Import Settings and Start

Before finalizing the import, configure how SalesSheet handles the data and potential duplicates:

Duplicate Handling: Choose what happens if a contact with the same email already exists in your CRM:

• Skip duplicates: Don't import contacts that already exist (recommended for most situations)
• Update existing contacts: Replace existing contact data with information from Gmail (use this if Gmail has more current information)
• Merge data: Combines data from both sources, keeping existing info and adding new fields from Gmail

Contact Owner: Assign ownership of imported contacts. Options include:

• Assign all to me (default)
• Distribute among team members (round-robin)
• Leave unassigned (contacts go into a general pool)

Apply Tags: Optionally tag all imported contacts with a label like "Gmail Import" or "Google Contacts 2026" so you can easily identify and filter them later. This is helpful for tracking which contacts came from this source.

Sync Settings: Choose whether to enable ongoing sync or just do a one-time import:

• One-time import: Imports contacts now but doesn't sync future changes from Gmail
• Enable ongoing sync: Automatically updates SalesSheet when you add or modify contacts in Google Contacts (recommended)

If you enable ongoing sync, any changes you make in Google Contacts will automatically reflect in SalesSheet within a few minutes. This keeps both systems in sync without manual work.

Review the import summary showing the number of contacts to import, estimated duplicates, and contacts with missing information. If everything looks correct, click Import Contacts.

Step 5

Monitor Progress and Verify Import

SalesSheet begins importing your Gmail contacts. You'll see a progress bar showing the import status. For a few hundred contacts, this typically takes 30-60 seconds. Larger imports may take a few minutes.

You can safely navigate away from this page while the import runs. SalesSheet will send you a notification when the import completes.

Once finished, you'll see a completion screen with detailed results:

• Successfully imported: 234 contacts
• Updated existing: 13 contacts
• Skipped as duplicates: 8 contacts
• Failed (missing required data): 2 contacts

Click View Import Report to see a detailed breakdown of each contact's import status. This report identifies any contacts that failed to import and explains why (usually missing email addresses).

Click Go to Contacts to see your newly imported Gmail contacts in your CRM. They'll have the tag you specified (if any) and will be immediately available for all SalesSheet features.

Verify the import: Spot-check a handful of imported contacts to ensure:

• Names, emails, and phone numbers imported correctly
• Company information populated the organization field
• Additional details like job titles and addresses transferred properly
• Contact owner assignment worked as expected

If you enabled ongoing sync, you'll see a "Synced with Gmail" indicator on these contact records. Any changes in Google Contacts will automatically update in SalesSheet going forward.