How do I import my GMail contacts to Address Book?

[Beezzy]

Hey everyone,

Brand new to Macs, I got the i5 MacBook Pro 13'' 2011 yesterday, loving alot of it, still learning how things work different than Windows. But one thing I'm having a hard time with is getting my GMail contacts to import! Where do I even go? I try going to Address Book > Import, but then there is no GMail option. Thanks in advance!

 

[mac-er]

Welcome. You'll need to export the contacts from Gmail and then import that into Address Book.

See if this helps:
http://www.maciverse.com/import-gmail-contacts-to-address-book.html

 

[Beezzy]

Wow that was simple, like fast too! Thanks!!!

 

[blevins321]

There is a better option that will let you automatically sync the contacts back and forth between your Mac and Gmail.

Open the address book application on your Mac and open the preferences. There's an option there to synchronize with Google. Enter your account info and you're all set. It takes a little while for the Mac to start the first sync. It'll perform it within an hour.

If you've already imported from Gmail the other way, delete the contacts from your local address book first to avoid strange conflicts.

 

[velocityg4]

There is a better option that will let you automatically sync the contacts back and forth between your Mac and Gmail.

Open the address book application on your Mac and open the preferences. There's an option there to synchronize with Google. Enter your account info and you're all set. It takes a little while for the Mac to start the first sync. It'll perform it within an hour.

If you've already imported from Gmail the other way, delete the contacts from your local address book first to avoid strange conflicts.

This is the best option. However, unless Apple or Google has fixed the issue groups do not sync. So I use the Gcontactsync plugin for Thunderbird, it's not perfect but better than Address Book. I also use the Lightning plugin for calendar syncing in Thunderbird, I prefer the layout over iCal though trying to Cache data does not work so well meaning your calendar only is visable when you have an internet connection.