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Where can I copy contacts from my phone? Copying via USB. Saving contacts using third-party programs

Smartphone users are often interested in how to copy contacts from Android to computer. If you also have a similar need, then this article should help you. Here you can learn two ways to copy contacts to your computer.

Copy contacts using an Android device

The easiest way to copy contacts from Android to a computer is to export contacts from the Contacts application on your mobile device, and then import them into some program on your computer (if necessary).

To do this, launch the Contacts application and open the application's context menu (using the three-dot button or the touch key below the screen). In the context menu you need to select the “Import/export” item.

After this, another window will appear on the screen in which you need to select the “Export to internal memory” item.

As a result, all your contacts will be saved in the internal memory of the Android device in the form of the “Contacts.vcf” file. Then you can copy this file to your computer by connecting your Android device using a USB cable.

Copying contacts using the Google Contacts service

You can also copy contacts from Android to your computer using the Google Contacts service. To do this, go to Google Contacts using a browser (site address). In the Google Contacts service, you need to click on the “More” button, and then on the “Export” button.

After this, the service will offer to switch to the old version of the Google Contacts service. We agree and wait for the page to reload. Next you need to click on the “More” button and again on the “Export” button.

Next, a window with export settings will appear. Here you need to select the format in which you want to copy the contacts to your computer, as well as the desired group of contacts. After selecting the desired settings, simply click on the “Export” button.

As a result, the browser will download contacts from the Google Contacts service and you can use them on your computer.

Sometimes, in the event of any problems with your Android device, you have to resort to such radical measures as, for example, resetting the settings (hard reset), thereby losing (sometimes irretrievably) all information, including contacts. Anyone who has encountered such a situation at least once wants to protect themselves and save numbers from their phone book on their PC.

In fact, there are many ways to perform this procedure, and now we will tell you about them.

Transfer contacts via Google account

First, you need to create an account on Google or create a Gmail.com email (which is basically the same thing). It must be said that the Android mobile device is closely connected with the Google service, so if you want to get 100% return on your smartphone, then creating this account is a must. You will have to do this procedure from your device, so you will need a network connection.

A window will open showing your account. Here, to start synchronization, you need to click on your account, or on the “Sync” button. everything" located at the bottom of the window:

So, we synchronize phone numbers from our gadget with gmail.com mail. (that is, with the Google service). Therefore, to start synchronization, click “Synchronize”:

It remains to wait a few minutes until the end of the procedure.

Three items will appear in the window that opens: Gmail, “Contacts” and “Tasks”.

By clicking “Contacts”, we open a list of data. Here, in addition to phone numbers, there will be a list of all friends from Google+. You can start saving data into a text document. To do this, click “Advanced”, after which the “Export” window will appear. By choosing the first option, saving will take place in Microsoft Excel, but you can save in any format convenient for you:

Transfer contacts via USB

It is possible that this method will be easier for you. What do we do in this case? First you need to connect your Android to your PC using a USB cable. Then open the phone book:

Now you need to open the context menu (display button at the bottom) and select “Import/export”:

A list of commands will open, from which you need to select “Export to SD memory card”, and then confirm by clicking “Yes”, which saves the data to the SD card:

Now open the external card with the computer. A file with the VCF extension (Microsoft Outlook format) appeared on it. This is where our copied information is located:

After this procedure, by setting up mail using Microsoft Outlook, the file will open in an easy-to-read format.

If you don’t have this program, or you use another email client, then without turning off your smartphone, go into your mail again, click “Advanced” and select “Import”. Then click “Select file” and find our file in CSV format via your computer:

Now, by clicking the blue “Import” button, we will receive the data, as in the first case. And by clicking the “Advanced” button and selecting “Print”, the data will be displayed in an easy-to-read form. Now you can select the list with the mouse or hot keys (Ctrl+A) and copy it to a Microsoft Word document or notepad.

It remains to add that there are also special applications that allow you to transfer contacts from Android to your computer. However, it’s probably not worth it to specifically take up gadget space to transfer contacts using a program, because the methods that we’ve just talked about cope with the task quite successfully.

25.05.2017 21:27:00

After purchasing a new phone, the user inevitably has the question of how to transfer contacts from the old gadget. In the case of photo and video files, everything is simple - the data is simply copied to the SD card. But what to do with hundreds of numbers in the phone book?

Manually rewriting numbers is unlikely to work here. This is too long, and there is a possibility that you will make a mistake in one or another figure. If you transfer contacts, a computer or laptop will come to the rescue. But how to transfer contacts from your phone to your computer? You will find the answer in our article.


There are three main ways to move contacts on your PC:

Method 1. Through a Google account

Each Android smartphone user must have a Google account, which can be used to install and update applications. Through your account, you can copy numbers in two stages.

Before you transfer contacts from your phone to your computer, you need to synchronize:

  • Login to your smartphone settings
  • Select "Accounts"
  • Click on the Google item or add it using the command in the list
  • Set the switch next to the “Contacts” item
  • Click on the menu in the upper right corner
  • Click "Synchronize"

After this, you can proceed directly to copying numbers. This happens using the settings of the “Contacts” system application. This program has an export and import function. All numbers are packaged into a vcf file, which can then be sent by email:

  • Launch the Internet on your smartphone
  • Open "Contacts"
  • Click on the drop-down menu
  • Select Import/Export
  • Specify a SIM card or internal memory as the export source
  • Select email address
  • Specify contacts to transfer

After a few seconds, all contacts will be reset to email. They can be left in the email box or transferred to the PC memory.

By the way, numbers from the phone book in the form of a vcf file can be copied to an SD card, and then transferred to the computer’s hard drive via a card reader. In this case, it is important that there are no applications installed on the card that will be removed after it is removed.

Method 2: How to transfer contacts from your phone using USB via a computer

If you need to transfer contacts from your phone urgently, but there is no time to synchronize with your Google account, you can copy the phone book to your PC via USB. To do this, you first need to move all the numbers to the memory of your mobile device:

  1. In Android settings, open Contacts
  2. Select import/export
  3. In the “source” field, select a SIM card
  4. Designate your phone memory as a storage location

Now contacts from the phone memory can be transferred to the SD card as a vcf file. Make sure that the copying was completed correctly and connect the phone to the PC using a USB cable:

  • In the USB startup menu on your phone, assign file transfer
  • Open the folder with disks on your PC
  • Find your phone in the list
  • Go to internal memory
  • Copy the business card file to the PC memory

Method 3: How to copy contacts through third-party programs

The “Applications” section on the Play Market contains hundreds of programs that can be used to copy phone numbers to your computer. Despite the differences in settings and interface, all these applications have one thing in common - the principle of creating a vcf file into which contacts are packaged for sending to a PC.

Having tried several programs for transferring contacts, we decided to recommend to our readers the AirDroid service, which allows you to remotely control your phone from a PC. An account in this service is created in three steps:

  1. Open the official website of the service and register
  2. Install the AirDroid application on your mobile device
  3. Sign in to your account


The need to backup contacts on Android may arise if you plan to reset the system to factory settings, reflash your smartphone, or buy yourself a new device. Whatever the reason for the backup, performing this procedure will not be difficult. Let's look at how to create a backup of the phone book for its subsequent restoration.

Ways to copy contacts on Android

You can create a backup copy of your phone book in several ways:

  • Using tools built into the Android OS;
  • Via Google cloud service;
  • Manual copying;
  • Through special programs installed on the computer.
Each reservation method has its own advantages and disadvantages. For example, to use Google virtual storage, the smartphone must be connected to the Internet. However, a cloud drive will allow you to save numbers and other personal data even if you lose your mobile device.

Creating a backup using built-in Android capabilities

The developers of the Android OS took care of preserving the personal data of users and provided the ability to backup the phone book without the use of additional software and even in the absence of an Internet connection. This tool is called “Import/Export”. It allows you to create backup numbers as a separate file with the extension .vcf. In this case, this document can be saved in the internal or built-in memory of the gadget.

To copy contacts on Android to a separate file, you need to:

Using the "Import/Export" function, you can also copy contacts from the SIM card directly to the phone book. To do this, in the list of available actions you need to click “Import from SIM card”.

After backup, the created file can be easily transferred to your computer and opened through the standard Microsoft Outlook or Windows Contacts application.

However, you need to take into account that the names of the numbers written in Russian letters will be displayed in the form of hieroglyphs. This is because the Android system copies contacts to a text document with UTF-8 encoding, and Windows works with Windows code 1251 by default.

The Sublime Text program will help get rid of such inconsistency:


After this, all numbers will be displayed in standard form.

Copying a phone book via Google

Android OS provides mobile device owners with ample opportunities to use all Google services for free, be it Play Market, cloud storage, Gmail, etc. Therefore, if you need to backup contacts from your phone, you can use Google virtual drive.

Before you back up your contacts, there are two steps you need to follow:

  1. Log in to Google.
  2. Activate data synchronization on your smartphone.

After completing the binding, you can proceed directly to synchronizing data and creating a backup:

Considering how to copy contacts to a virtual disk, we can note another synchronization method:


A backup copied using the Google service will be available on any mobile device or computer connected to your account.

All contacts in the phone book are stored on the system partition of the device in the data directory. This file is called contacts.db. If necessary, it can be copied to the SD card of your smartphone or transferred to a PC.

However, access to system data is only possible if the owner of the device has Superuser rights. Therefore, before saving contacts on Android manually, you will have to activate root access, for example, through the Kingo Root program.

A manual backup of the phone book if you have root rights is done as follows:

Timely synchronization of contacts on Android with a computer helps prevent the loss of data from the phone book during, or in other similar cases. Even if the smartphone fails irreparably, the information copied from the mobile device will not be affected. Let's look at how to save contacts from Android to a computer.

Ways to synchronize your phone book with a PC

You can transfer contacts to a computer or laptop in the following ways:

  • Using standard Android functions;
  • Manually copying a file with a database of numbers;
  • Through Google virtual storage;
  • Through additional software.

The choice of a specific backup method depends on what functionality your device has. So, if you are connected to the Internet and you have your own Gmail mailbox, the easiest way to synchronize Android contacts with your PC is through the Google cloud service. If you don’t have access to the network, you can transfer numbers manually or use the built-in tools of your smartphone.

Copying a phone book using standard Android functions

When considering how to copy contacts from Android to a computer, it should be noted that this operating system is endowed with extensive capabilities for saving personal information. One such tool is the Import/Export function. With its help, you can write data from the phone book into one file, and then transfer this document to your PC via a USB cable.

The recorded document will be called Contacts.vcf and will be located in the storage/emulated/0/ directory. Now, in order to transfer contacts from Android to a computer, you will need to connect the smartphone to the PC via a USB cable and copy the required file to the hard drive.

If necessary, you can open this file and edit contacts using the standard Windows utility Microsoft Outlook. Please note that the numbers in the backup are saved in UTF-8 format, while Windows by default reads text information in Windows 1251 encoding. This leads to incorrect display of Russian letters.

The Sublime Text program, which must be installed on your computer, will help get rid of such inconsistency. You need to open the Contacts.vcf file through it, and then change its format in the settings.

Creating a backup of contacts manually

When considering how to transfer contacts to a PC, you should note the manual backup method. To do this, you need to know in which folder your contacts are stored on Android. All information from the phone book is located in the data directory (file contacts.db). If necessary, you can copy it to your computer or external media:

Using Google Cloud Storage

If your phone is connected to the Internet, you can save your Android contacts to Google Virtual Drive and manage them using your computer. This is done as follows:


When you save the file in CSV format, you can later manage synchronized contacts via PC using Outlook.

Phone book synchronization via additional software

When considering how to synchronize Android with a computer, you need to highlight the MyPhoneExplorer application. With its help, you can not only back up contacts, but also create a complete backup of the system, which is especially important before updating the firmware or resetting the settings on your smartphone.

To copy the phone book through MyPhoneExplorer, you need.