Contact and spreadsheet CSV workflows

Format a Google Contacts CSV With the Correct Field Headers

Use Google Contacts headers, numbered email columns and valid CSV quoting, with a checked two-record example and a clear distinction between parsing and import.

By Uddhav Gopani, FounderPublished 27 September 2026Updated 29 September 2026

Format a Google Contacts CSV With the Correct Field Headers

A Google Contacts CSV needs two kinds of correctness: valid CSV structure and headers that identify the intended contact fields. Quoting a comma correctly prevents a broken record, while the header tells the importer where that record’s value belongs. Check both before importing a contact list.

Use field names from the destination template

The Google Contacts template documentation identifies fields such as First Name, Last Name, Organization Name and Notes. Email and phone fields use numbered Label and Value columns. Keep the exact template names for the fields you use.

For two email addresses, pair Email 1 - Label with Email 1 - Value, then use the corresponding number 2 columns for the second address. A label describes an address, such as Work; it does not contain the address itself. Numbered columns also avoid squeezing several different addresses into a single ambiguous string.

Read a complete two-record fixture

First Name,Last Name,Email 1 - Label,Email 1 - Value,Email 2 - Label,Email 2 - Value,Organization Name,Notes
Asha,Rao,Work,asha@example.com,Home,asha.home@example.com,"North, East Ltd","Says ""hello"""
René,Park,Work,rene@example.com,,,,

This example has eight columns and two fictional contacts. Asha has two email addresses, an organization containing a comma and a note containing literal quotation marks. René has one address, leaving the remaining optional fields empty. The empty fields still occupy their column positions.

The organization value North, East Ltd is enclosed in quotes because its comma belongs to the value. The note’s quotation marks are represented by doubled quotes. After parsing, the note is Says "hello" without the CSV escape syntax becoming part of the contact text.

Preserve empty field positions

Consecutive commas represent empty fields; deleting them shifts everything that follows. In the second record, an absent second email does not mean the organization value should move into that email’s column. Compare each row against the header by position.

Distinguish an empty optional field from an unwanted extra record. A row containing a stray note or space can look visually blank in a spreadsheet while still containing data. Remove accidental rows from the export copy, and check the final parsed record count.

Treat quoting as syntax, not formatting

A CSV field with a comma, quote or line break needs proper serialization. Hand-editing a long list by inserting commas is error-prone because a comma can be either a separator or part of a value. A CSV-aware writer or spreadsheet export applies the quoting rules consistently.

Do not replace every comma inside the source with a space merely to avoid quoting. That changes organization names and notes. Preserve the value and encode it correctly. If the receiving application imposes additional restrictions on a particular field, handle those separately from CSV syntax.

Keep telephone identifiers textual

For a phone number, the country code and leading digits belong to the contact value. Preserve them as text in the preparation sheet. A telephone field should not be calculated, rounded or reformatted as a date before export.

Inspect the resulting characters rather than relying on a formatted cell display. An identifier beginning 0012345 is a useful preservation test even though that short example is not a complete real number. It reveals a leading-zero loss that an ordinary integer-like example would miss.

Validate the table without claiming an account import

A local CSV preview can confirm that the fixture has two data rows and eight columns, that René remains accented and that the organization comma stays within one value. These checks establish file structure. They do not demonstrate that a particular Google account accepted the file or that every address is deliverable.

Use the destination’s template and inspect a small actual import to verify contact-field interpretation. When troubleshooting, examine a missing field individually instead of assuming that a successful file upload proved every column was recognized.

Review records before combining them

Do not deduplicate solely on the displayed name. Different people can share a name, and one person can have changed details. Compare the available identifiers and decide which fields belong together before producing a combined record.

Keep a stable original file and save the reviewed export separately. If a later correction is needed, you can compare the exact header, row and value involved. This is more informative than repeatedly importing edited files without knowing which version created a contact.