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How to transfer contacts from android to laptop. Through the "Contacts" application

You can use your computer for backup storage of phone numbers. Here you will learn how to save your contacts from your smartphone to your personal computer. It's always a good idea to have a copy (just in case!).

It is worth saying that there are many versions of Android and on different smartphones there will be slightly different ways, but the sequence of actions is, in principle, the same. Go to "Contacts" or to the phone book (names may be different) and there will definitely be an option with export and import.

Well, let's start:

1. Click on the icon in the form of a telephone receiver, with which you enter the phone book.
2. In the lower right corner, click on the image of three small vertically arranged squares. As a result, a menu will appear. Select (click) on the menu item "Tel. book".
3. You will open a phone book with your subscribers. Click again in the lower right corner on the image of three small vertically arranged squares and in the appeared
select the menu item "Import / Export".
4. In the window that appears, select the item from where you want to save:
- from your Google account;
- from a SIM card (or one of the two, if you have a smartphone for two SIM cards);
- from the phone itself;
- from the phone memory;
5. Chose the desired item (for example, you want to save the contacts that you saved to your phone). If you want to save them from the SIM card and from the phone, just repeat these steps and select the desired item SIM card or phone. Click the "Next" button below.
6. A new window will open in which you need to select where you want to save them. In the window that opens, select the "Memory ..." item and click the "Next" button at the bottom of the screen.
7. The "Account Contacts" window will open. Here you can select the ones you want to keep. To do this, check the boxes (click the box next to the name) the contacts you need.
And if you need all subscribers, click on the "Selected" button, the "Select all" button will appear under it, feel free to click on it and all your contacts will be ticked off.
8. Then click on the "OK" button in the upper right corner.
9. A pop-up window will appear to confirm the action, it will say where the file with your contacts will be saved. This file will have a .vcf extension. Click the "OK" button in this window.
10. The process of saving the file will begin. The file will be saved in the root folder of the phone memory.
11. Then connect your Android smartphone to your computer using a USB cable. And copy the file from the subscriber to your computer.

And here is how the save looks like on the example of samsung galaxy s6.

We go to "Contacts" and click "Options". A context menu will pop out.

We select "Settings". A screen opens.

Click on "Import / Export".

If you selected in "Device memory", then a file with contacts will be created in the root of the file system.

Now you have a file with your subscribers and you can copy it to your phone (in the phone memory) at any time and restore contacts.
To restore contacts from a .vcf file, you need to do almost the same thing that we just did to save them, only you need to select the "Phone memory" item in the "select a source, where to follow ..." window, and in the "select the target storage" window where to copy ... "select" Phone ".

It is also possible to save them using third-party applications to save contacts from an android smartphone to a computer.
Such as, for example, MobileGo for Android, etc.

There is also the possibility of saving from an android smartphone to a computer using a Google account.

If you have a Google account, then go to.

Click More. And choose the option you want.

Many users face the problem of transferring information contained in the phone book of a smartphone, for example, when buying a new device. If there are few contacts, then they can be entered manually. However, this is extremely difficult to work with a large amount of information. There is a way out of this situation - save contacts from Android to your computer, and then copy them to the address book of the new gadget.

This is the easiest way to save information from a mobile device to a PC. First, the user needs to activate the built-in "Contacts" application, select the "Settings" option and mark the "Export / Import" item there. This will allow you to access the following functions:

After completing all these steps, the vcf text file can be opened using Microsoft Outlook or Windows Contacts, and, if necessary, even printed. Unfortunately, sometimes when working with this software, a problem arises - Russian letters in contacts are displayed incorrectly. At the same time, Mac OS X users will not have such troubles.

The reason for the problem is that on Android text information is saved in UTF-8 encoding. Standard Windows software tries to open it in Windows-1251 by default. To fix the problem, you need to do the following:

  • Import contacts using a UTF-8 encoded program.
  • Add special tags to the vcf file that indicate the encoding used.
  • Save the file to Windows-1295.

The simplest of all the considered methods is the third. To solve this problem, you can use the advanced text editor Notepad ++. First, you should use it to open the desired file, and then go to the "Encodings" option. In the drop-down menu, hover over the "Encoding" item, and then select "Cyrillic" and Windows -1251. After saving the file, Outlook will open it correctly.

Google account

Another pretty simple way to transfer contacts from Android to computer. Create a Google account allows users to use all the services of the company, as well as log in to various web resources. Another advantage of having a Google Account is that you can quickly download contacts from HTC or another phone and transfer them to your PC.

To do this, you must first synchronize contacts on your PDA with your account. The next step is to visit the contacts.google.com page. On the left side of the window there is a menu, in which one has to click on "More" and "Export".

A window will appear with a list of contacts. Among them, you can choose those that you want to save on your PC. Also, the user will have to decide on the format in which numbers from the address book will be copied:

  • Google CSV.
  • Outlook CSV.
  • vCard.

After completing these actions, all that remains is to click on the "Export" button.

Third party software

To transfer contacts from Android to your computer, you can use third-party applications. Several utilities are popular among users, and it is worth talking about working with them.

MOBILedit program

According to many mobile device owners, this particular application is the best. It not only does an excellent job of the task at hand, but is also very easy to use. To transfer contacts from Android to your computer using MOBILedit, you need to perform a number of actions:

  • The Android Connector application must be installed on the mobile device, and MOBILedit must be installed on the PC.
  • After launching the application on your computer, you first need to click on the Phone button.
  • In the next step, the user must decide on the connection method. If you are using a USB cable, then you need to click on the Cable connection. It is also possible to connect using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth wireless communication protocols.
  • Clicking on the Phonebook will display on the screen all contacts from the address book, copying of which will start after clicking on Export.

AirDroid Utility

The ability to save your Android phone book to your computer is just one of the many features of this program. Among the advantages of the application are a free distribution scheme and work over Wi-Fi. If you create an account on the developers' website, then the user will be able to transfer information from the address book without a router.

Speaking about the main functions, it is worth noting that the program can:

  • Exchange any files between a PC and a mobile device.
  • Play music and view photos from your phone on your computer.
  • Send SMS from PC via smartphone.
  • Control the camera, as well as all applications installed on the phone.

In this case, the client does not need to be installed on the PC. After starting the program, the user can immediately start working or create an account. Even without registration, the entire set of functions is available, but only within the same local network. Then two screens will appear with the addresses that are required to connect to the computer. The first one is used in a situation where there is an account. The second is suitable for unregistered users.

As soon as the required address is entered into the browser, the control panel will be displayed on the screen. It has a simple interface, but at the same time is as functional as possible. The presence of icons for quick access to all options makes the work with the application extremely convenient.

If the user wants to transfer files between devices, then just click on the "Files" icon. Immediately after that, a window will open with the contents of the flash drive installed in the phone. Further actions for the transfer do not differ from working in any file manager. It is just as easy to transfer information from the address book from a mobile gadget to a PC.

The developers have also created an application for a desktop computer. In comparison with the mobile version, it has several additional functions:

  • You can control several devices at the same time.
  • Fast file sharing.
  • Receive notifications about calls, SMS and other messages coming to your smartphone.

Yandex Moving

This is a relatively new utility from a well-known domestic company. To transfer contacts, the user needs to install the appropriate applications on the PC and phone. To copy information from the address book of a mobile device to a computer, you have to perform a number of steps:

  • Run the program on Android and enter the login. This will allow you to receive a PIN code via SMS, which you will need to complete the data transfer.
  • Open the application on a PC and log in with the same account.
  • In the mobile utility, click on "Moving from phone to computer".
  • The service will ask you to enter the previously received pin code.
  • After its introduction, it remains to confirm the start of the operation.

When the data transfer process is completed, the program will inform the user about it. Any of the described methods allows you to quickly solve the problem. The choice depends on the preferences of the user, and it is rather difficult to recommend one.

The need to copy the address book usually arises when buying a new smartphone. Transferring the accumulated music library, your favorite photos and videos is easy, just place them on the SD-card. But what about the myriad phone numbers? The best option is to transfer your address book to your computer. In the future, the numbers can be downloaded to another mobile device, and a backup copy of the phone base will always be at hand. Consider 3 main options for how to copy contacts from Android to computer.

We use a Google account

The easiest way, which does not even require the participation of the smartphone itself in the process. In case the gadget is broken, this is the only option for restoring the address book. In order to use the ability to save contacts from Android to a computer using a Google account, two conditions must be met:

Will be useful

If the smartphone is in working order, before copying contacts from Android to the computer, it is recommended to check the synchronization setting and, if it is turned off, activate it first.


Copy using USB

How do you usually transfer contacts to a new smartphone?

Another common way to transfer contacts from Android to computer is direct with a USB cable. In this case, all the main work is done directly on the smartphone. To save the address book as a file, do the following:


The rest is simple. We connect the gadget to the computer using a USB cable. Through a standard conductor, go to the folder in which the telephone directory was saved, find the file you need and copy it to your computer's hard drive.

note

To use the saved address book on a new smartphone, you will need to perform these steps in reverse order, only instead of exporting data, import from a VCF file.

Specialized software

For those who, for whatever reason, do not like the two methods described above, special programs have been developed for copying contacts from an Android phone to a computer. Most of these utilities are free and can be easily found in the standard Google Store. In addition to the function of saving contacts, they offer quite significant functionality for managing the address book, call lists, received and sent messages, so each user can additionally find something useful for himself.

We think we will not be very wrong if we assume that the first question that immediately arises for a user who just bought a brand new mobile device on the Android operating system is "How to transfer contacts from an old phone to a new smartphone or tablet." Manual re-filling of all contacts in the phone book will obviously not suit buyers who have purchased a modern Android device. There are various ways to help automate the process and make transferring contacts quick and user-friendly. We will talk about the most popular of them in the following article in our database of frequently asked questions.

Before reading about the methods of importing and exporting your contacts, we suggest that you additionally familiarize yourself with the methods. If you are migrating from one device with an installed Android OS to another with the same operating system, it will be very convenient to transfer not only contacts, but also system settings and even installed user applications to the new device.

If you are switching to Android from a regular phone or smartphone on a different operating system, read on about how to transfer contacts to devices with our favorite mobile operating system.

How to transfer contacts to Android using a sim card

Undoubtedly, the oldest and most familiar way of copying a phone book between devices to the owners of the first mobile phones is to save it to a SIM card and then import it from a SIM card into the memory of a new phone. If, for some reason, technical progress until that time did not concern you, and you are switching to the Android operating system from the simplest and most primitive mobile phone, the above method of transferring contacts may be the only one possible for you. In order to transfer contacts in this way, copy your contacts to the SIM card in the old phone, and then insert this SIM card into your smartphone or tablet on Android OS and in the "Contacts" device press the "Menu" button by selecting for this item "Import from a SIM card".

The above method, despite its simplicity, has many restrictions: on the length of the contact name; according to the information that will be transmitted (only the username and his phone number); by the number of contacts that can be saved to the SIM card. Therefore, if your old device is not the most primitive "dialer" for which this method is the only one, it is better to try something more modern and convenient for transferring contacts.

How to transfer contacts to Android using a Google account

The Android operating system was developed by Google, which means that devices on which this OS is installed synchronize with Google services as well as possible. If by this time you have not yet managed to get an account in Google services, with the purchase of a smartphone on Android OS it is high time to do it, because both the Android application store and other functionality of Android devices with Google services are tied very tightly.

The user's contacts are located in Google Mail. Go to your mail account and click the down arrow next to the Gmail inscription in the upper left corner of the mail window. In the drop-down list you will find the "Contacts" menu item.

You can export contacts from your old device in * .csv format from the popular programs of Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express, from Yahoo mail and Hotmail. It also supports vCard format and even export from Apple Address Book.

This way of storing your contacts is very functional in that you can edit them directly on your desktop computer, and have access to them from anywhere with the Internet, even without an Android device. In addition, when you activate the automatic synchronization of contacts on your smartphone or tablet with Android OS, the contacts will be automatically transferred to your Google account and saved there.

To transfer contacts from your Google account to your Android device, as well as other operations with them, click the "Advanced" button. Above the list of contacts, you will see the "Export" menu item. By selecting it, you can save your contacts in a convenient format, and then transfer them to the memory of your new Android device.

How to transfer contacts to Android using an SD flash card

VCard files, each of which store information about one contact, are a convenient way to transfer contacts from one device to another. If you have saved your contacts in vCard format, you can easily import them into the memory of your Android device using an SD flash card, which is the standard for Android mobile devices.

Each Android device has an SD card import function in the Contacts app. Create a "Contacts" folder in the root directory of the flash card and copy your contacts in vCard format to this folder. After that, go to the "Contacts" application on your phone, press the "Menu" button and select "Import / Export" and then "Import from SD card".

The contacts on the flash drive will be transferred to your phone. In the same way, you can make a backup copy of all contacts in vCard format to a USB flash drive, if you select "Export to SD card" in the "Import / Export" menu. In this case, a "Contacts" folder will be created on the USB flash drive, in which vCard files of all your contacts will be saved.

Transferring contacts to Android using Bluetooth

The Bluetooth wireless module is present in many mobile phones, even quite old models. Its use can be very convenient in order to copy contacts from device to device without resorting to a computer or additional applications.

Activate Bluetooth on both of your phones and establish a connection between them, entering a password on each of them if necessary. Go to the "Contacts" menu item on your old phone and look in its options for something similar to "Select all" or "Select several". If there is no such item, then (for example, such a menu hierarchy is implemented in Samsung phones), you need to go to "Options" here in contacts and select the "Send contact" item there, specifying the Bluetooth option after that. After that, the "Select All" item may appear in the list.

If your old phone supports group selection and transfer of contacts via Bluetooth, this method does not require much time and the need to use additional applications from you, and you will quickly transfer your phone book to a new device.

Transfer contacts to Android with MOBILedit! PC Suite

The developers of software for the Android operating system have created many applications for easy import and export of contacts. One of the most functional among them is the MOBILedit! PC Suite available for download on the Google Play Store. The program has a huge database of phones of various models and, in addition to importing and editing contacts, it can also do a whole list of very useful operations. Of course, such a program can be useful to every owner of a smartphone or tablet on the Android OS.

Install the application on your desktop computer, connect your old phone to your PC via USB and synchronize your phone with your computer. After that, a list of information available on your phone will appear on the left side of the "Navigation" panel.

In this case, we are interested in transferring contacts, so select the "Phonebook" menu item and press the "Export" button at the top of the application window. We save the phone book in the desired format, for example * .csv, and disconnect the old device.

After that, we just need to connect our brand new Android smartphone to the computer in order to import contacts. We press the "Import" button at the top of the program window, and indicate on the computer the folder in which the file with the contacts of the phone book we just saved is located.

Other ways to transfer contacts to Android

Each major manufacturer of mobile devices has its own software that makes it easier to work with contacts on devices of this brand. For Nokia, this is Nokia Suite, for LG, the program is called LG PC Suite, and so on. Usually these programs are able to work with the universal file format * .vcf or * .csv (of which the former is more preferable due to its standardization). Therefore, if you purchase a branded device, or switch to Android between devices of the same company, it is possible that using the software of this company will seem to you the most convenient way. Carefully study the instructions for your phone to see if this functionality is supported.

As you can see, the question "How to transfer contacts to a device with the Android operating system" has many answers. Transferring contacts to a new smartphone or tablet with this OS from an old one to another operating system can be done in various ways. We are sure that among the methods given in our article you will find an option to your liking. Do not forget to regularly make backups of your contacts outside the phone memory, and everything will be fine.

The issue of keeping a backup copy of the phone book of mobile devices is very important for many users. If synchronization with cloud services is disabled, as well as when subscriber information is saved to the phone's memory, and not to an external media or SIM card, it will be almost impossible to restore it. Therefore, you will have to decide for yourself the question of how to transfer contacts from your phone to your computer using universal formats. This is necessary in order to quickly restore them in the event of a breakdown or loss of the device.

How to transfer contacts from phone to computer using the simplest method?

There are several basic methods that allow you to quickly and easily export your phone book to various devices, including personal computers. At the same time, very many users very often forget about the universal method, which in a few seconds solves the problem of how to transfer contacts from the phone to the computer, preferring to transfer them wirelessly or by installing additional utilities.

In any modern smartphone and in some outdated models, in general, you can use a special export function for the entire contact list, which is stored in the device's memory or on a SIM card.

To do this, just go to the phone book and use this option. In most cases, a list of devices to which you can export is displayed. In this case, it is advisable to select a removable drive, on which, after confirmation, a special file in the VCF format will be saved, which is recognized by all computer and mobile systems. Upon completion of the process, all that remains is to find it in the device's memory and copy it to the desired location on the computer's hard drive.

Troubleshooting encoding issues

The above method, although it is the simplest, nevertheless its main drawback is that the saved test file is encoded in UTF-8, and most Windows systems try to open it by default using the Windows 1251 standard, as a result of which, instead of the usual Russian letters incomprehensible icons are displayed.

To fix the situation, you can start writing special tags or use a small utility called Sublime Text, which is much easier. Even a portable version that does not require installation on a hard drive is perfect. In its file menu, it is enough to select the activation of the encoding process (Encoding) and specify the Cyrillic standard (Windows 1251) as the course. After that, the file will become readable in all applications used to open it.

How to transfer contacts to a computer from a Samsung phone using registration records

More relevant is the method that involves the use of accounts. In the case of Android systems, this is registration in Google services using Gmail, for Windows devices it can be Outlook registration or Microsoft account, for Apple gadgets - AppleID.

In any case, you need to enter the service for which the initial registration was made, find the contacts section there and use the export toolkit. The final format is selected depending on which device the phone book can be transferred to later. To simplify the work, it is better to use the universal vCard standard, which is recognized by absolutely all programs designed for this and most operating systems. But there are also pitfalls here. The same Gmail service, even with synchronization enabled on a mobile device, does not always display all entries in the phone book, let alone those numbers or contacts that are stored on the SIM card, but are not included in the phone's memory. Therefore, it is better to use other methods.

Transferring contacts using management utilities

But a rather interesting solution to the question, how, for example, to transfer contacts from a Samsung phone to a computer (or from any other model), is the use of specialized control utilities developed by a manufacturer of mobile equipment specifically for their devices.

So, for Samsung, the Samsung Kies application is used, for Sony gadgets - Sony PC Companion, for LG - LG PC Suite or LG Bridge, for iPhone - iTunes, etc. In any such program installed on a stationary computer or laptop, you can find a special function of saving a contact list in a selected location on a hard disk or on removable media.

To solve the problem of how to transfer contacts from a phone to a computer, you can also use unified utilities. The best option is the installation of the MyPhoneExplorer application, which can work with almost all models of mobile devices known today, including outdated phones without operating systems installed on them. True, you won't be able to create a list in any universal format, but nevertheless, the phone book can be exported to Word, Excel, or saved as an HTML page.

What to do with damaged devices?

It remains to add that it is impossible to transfer contacts from a broken phone to a computer, depending on the degree of damage. In the best case, you can use your account to which the contact list is linked. Advanced users can be advised to use the Android Debug Bridge protocol or ADB for short. But this technique can only be applied to those models of smartphones on which USB debugging was activated even before damage or breakdown. Otherwise, no effect should be expected.

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