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When you use Gmail to email somebody, they’re usually automatically added to your contacts list, making them appear in suggestions. However, this doesn’t help much if you want to add somebody before emailing them and can be frustrating if you don’t want every person you email to be on your contacts list.
We’re going to show you how to manually add a contact in Gmail as well as how to delete a contact from Gmail so you can remedy this.
How to find contacts in Gmail
Gmail doesn’t have its own contact list anymore. Instead, it uses Google Contacts, a separate Google service that additionally stores phone contacts from Android devices.
This means that you don’t necessarily need to add contacts in Gmail, but you can if you want. In many instances, it’s easier to add a contact directly from a received email. To delete a contact or edit a contact, however, you’ll need to switch to the contacts app. We’ll be showing you how to create and delete contacts in Gmail with both methods today:
How to Add a Contact in Gmail from a Received Email and Edit Them
In most cases, you’ll want to create a new contact in Gmail directly from an email you received. This is thankfully quite easy to achieve, but you should note that this will only work if they’re also a Gmail user:
- Click on the person’s name and press the add contact button
The button will be in the top-right of their card and feature a person with a plus to its right.
- Click their name again and press the pencil to edit their details
- Change their name and other information in Google Contacts
How to Manually Create a Gmail Contact in Google Contacts
If you’d like to add a contact before you receive an email, or the sender doesn’t have a card, you can add them via Google Contacts app. This may help them to avoid the spam filter and can help you identify them quickly.
- Press the grid icon in the top right corner of Gmail and click “Contacts”
- Press the plus icon in the bottom right corner
- Press “Create a contact”
- Enter their contact details and press “Save”
- The contact will now appear in your list
How to Delete Contacts from Gmail
You can’t delete contacts from Gmail via their card or the edit window, so you’ll have to do a bit of manual searching to remove them:
- Type the person’s name in the Google Contacts search bar and click on them in the list
- Press the three dots in the top right and click “Delete”
- Press “Delete” again to confirm your change
Extra: How to Delete a Gmail Account
You now know how to add, create, and edit contacts in Gmail, but what if it’s your own account that you want to remove. For that, you can follow our dedicated guide. It only takes a few minutes to completely wipe your account.
Extra: How to Change Your Default Gmail Account
Alternatively, you can learn how to change your default Gmail account so that Google doesn’t automatically log you into the wrong one.
