Import email and contacts
If you're switching to Gmail from another email provider, you can easily transfer your old emails and contacts to Gmail. New emails are forwarded to your Gmail account for 30 days to give you time to tell your friends about your new address.
- 126.com
- 9business.fr
- 9online.fr
- aim.com
- ameritech.net
- aol.com
- att.net
- att.yahoo.com
- bellsouth
- bigpond.com
- bk.ru
- bol.com.br
- bt.com
- btinternet.com
- btopenworld.com
- cegetel.net
- clear.net.nz
- comcast
- cox.net
- cs.com
- earthlink.net
- flash.net
- free.fr
- freenet.de
- freeserve.co.uk
- frontier.com
- gmx
- hotmail
- icloud
- inbox.ru
- juno.com
- kimo.com
- laposte.net
- libero.it
- list.ru
- live
- livemail
- mail.ru
- msn.com
- myfairpoint.net
- netscape.com
- neuf.fr
- nvbell.net
- o2online.de
- o2.pl
- optonline.net
- optusnet.com.au
- orange.fr
- orangehome.co.uk
- outlook.com
- pacbell.net
- paradise.net.nz
- peoplepc.com
- prodigy.net
- q.com
- qip.ru
- qq.com
- rambler.ru
- roadrunner.com
- rocketmail.com
- rogers.com
- rr.com
- sbcglobal.net
- sbcyahoo.net
- seznam.cz
- sfr.fr
- snet.net
- sprint.ca
- swbell.net
- sympatico.ca
- talk21.com
- telecomitalia.it
- tiscali.co.uk
- verizon.com
- virgilio.it
- voila.fr
- wanadoo
- wans.net
- web.de
- windowslive.com
- worldnet.att.net
- xtra.co.nz
- y7mail.com
- yahoo
- yandex
- ymail.com
Start importing mail and contacts
Before you begin, keep in mind that you'll need to have access to the other email account for this to work.
- Open Gmail.
- Click the gear in the top right.
- Select Settings.
- Open the Accounts and Import tab at the top.
- Click the Import mail and contacts link.
If you don't see this setting, it may be because the administrator for your work or school account hasn’t allowed users to import mail. - Enter your information for your old account and choose what to import. If you’re trying to import from another Gmail address, click here to import your emails a different way.
- After you click Start import, look at the “Import mail and contacts” setting again to see whether your import has started. If you see a message that your account requires another confirmation, click Proceed.
Automatically forward new messages to Gmail
New messages sent to your old account will be forwarded to Gmail for the next 30 days by default. If you want to continue to get new messages forwarded to Gmail, try setting up auto-forwarding in your old account. Keep in mind that not all email providers support auto-forwarding.
Find your imported emails and contacts
Find your imported emails
- Click your email address listed below “Inbox” on the left side of Gmail.
- If you had folders set up in your old account, click the arrow
next to your address to see them. Your folders are now Gmail labels.
next to your address to see them. Your folders are now Email your contacts
- Click the Compose button.
- Start typing the name of your contact in the To field. Your contacts will come up as suggestions.
- To see your entire list of contacts, click Gmail in the upper left corner of Gmail and select Contacts.
Troubleshoot issues
First, visit the import mail troubleshooter to see if your issue is listed.
If the troubleshooter doesn’t solve your issue or you have more questions, ask our user experts in the Gmail Help Forum.
Learn more
How do I learn more about Gmail?Check out the Get started with Gmail topic in the help center to learn the basics.
You can always find help in Gmail by following these steps:
- Open Gmail.
- Click the gear in the top right.
- Select Help.
To import your mail and contacts, Gmail uses a third party service called ShuttleCloud. The username and password you provide are used to enable ShuttleCloud to copy your email and contacts from your old account and then transfer them to your Gmail account. ShuttleCloud only stores the username and password of your other account for the duration of the import. Google doesn’t store this information at all.
Vivian is a Gmail expert and the author of this help page. Leave her feedback about this help page.