The File You’re Importing isn’t Formatted for Google Contacts [FIXED]
“Whenever I am trying to import my Outlook account contacts to Gmail, it fails. I have exported my Outlook contacts to a CSV file and now when I’m attempting to import this contact CSV, my Gmail account is throwing an annoying error saying ‘Unknown error: The file you’re importing isn’t formatted for Google Contacts’. Google is not accepting the file and I have no idea how to fix this issue. So does anyone know why this error is coming and how can I fix this?”
Is your computer throwing the same error and you are thinking about how to get rid of this? If so, then this article is meant to you only. Here we will show you some most common reasons responsible for Google Contacts import CSV not working error and how can you fix this. Let’s start with a quick introduction to Google Contacts.
What are Google Contacts?
Google Contacts is a contact management service offered by Google to organize contact information of different people one needs to communicate with. The contact information of a person includes details like name, contact numbers, email addresses, photo, physical address, job title, etc. With Google Contacts, you can manage, review, and merge your contacts and create a personal group also to send the message to the entire group at once. It is the best way to centralize your contacts and access them from all the devices.
The File You’re Importing isn’t Formatted for Google Contacts: Why?
Importing CSV contact files to Google Contacts is a direct approach because Google provides an option to import contact CSV. However, there come times when Google refuses to import the contact CSV list into Google Contacts and displays errors like “Importing contacts from Excel (CSV) into Google Contacts not working”. Well, this happens because the CSV is not Google Contacts compatible. Besides, there are several other reasons for what such error occurs:
- The first line of CSV in which all the contact fields are mentioned is missing or not formatted correctly
- Information saved within the CSV file is not managed correctly in separate columns and rows
- CSV file you are trying to import is corrupted and Google Contacts is unable to access it
- The CSV file is not a contact CSV. You are trying to import the wrong CSV file
- While exporting contacts in CSV from your previous email client or application, you haven’t selected the Google CSV option
How to Fix Google Contacts Import CSV Not Working Issue?
In order to fix the file, you’re importing isn’t formatted for Google Contacts error, first, you need to make the CSV file Google Contacts compatible and this can be done after converting CSV to vCard file format. Once it’s done, the resultant vCard can be imported simply to your Google Contacts account. So follow the steps given below to convert CSV to vCard file format simply:
If you are a Windows user:
- Download the software to export Excel Contacts to vCard on your Windows computer and launch it
- Click on the Browse button and add the contact CSV you are unable to import to Google Contacts
- The software will load the added CSV and display a preview of CSV content along with the entire contact details. Click Next
- Now, you need to map CSV contact fields with vCard contact fields. To do so, select a CSV contact field and add it with the corresponding vCard field and map all the contact fields. Click Next
- Select vCard version 2.1 / 3.0 / 4.0 and check Create Single vCard option. Choose a destination location to save contacts. Hit the Convert button
- CSV contacts will start converting to vCard file format and once it’s done navigate to the location where contact vCards are saved. Now, your vCard is ready to import to Google Contacts
If you are a Mac OS X user:
- Download the software to Convert CSV Contacts to vCard on Mac and run it on your Mac OS X machine
- Click on Add File(s) button and add the contact CSV to convert it into vCard file format
- Select VCF as export option and choose Mac vCard option. Select vCard version 2.1 / 3.0 / 4.0
- Map CSV Columns with vCard Contact Fields and select a destination location to save the resultant vCard
- After doing all the settings, hit the Export button and all the CSV contact fields will start converting into vCard file format
- CSV contact fields are converted into vCard file format and now you can import the CSV contact file simply to your Google Contacts account
Bonus Tip
If you don’t know how to import a vCard to your Google Contacts account then, follow the steps given below:
- Login to your Google account in which you are trying to import the contact CSV
- Open Google Contacts and click on Import
- Hit the Select File button and add the contact vCard exported above. Click Open
- Let the import process completed successfully and all the CSV contacts will synchronize with your Google Contacts list automatically
Final Words
The file you’re importing isn’t formatted for Google Contacts is a very common error that occurs while importing a contact CSV to Google Contacts. In this article, we have discussed a step-by-step solution for both Windows and Mac users to resolve Google Contacts import CSV not working error. Moreover, the software mentioned above to fix this issue is completely safe to download and can be installed in all the available versions of Windows and Mac OS X.
Frequently Asked Questions
A. Google Contacts supports importing and Export CSV (Comma Separated Values) and vCard / VCF (Virtual Contact File).
A. 3 Simple steps to import a CSV into Google Contacts:
Step 1: Log in to your Google Account
Step 2: Click on Settings >> Contacts >> Import
Step 3: Add Contacts CSV to import
A. First of all, save all your contacts into an Excel file (CSV recommended). Then import CSV to Gmail by using its Import option. In case if you have saved your contacts into some other Excel format like XLS, XLSX, XLSM, or other then, use SysTools Excel to vCard tool to import the converted vCard to Google Contacts.