Sync Outlook contacts with Google Workspace

You can use Google Workspace Sync for Microsoft Outlook (GWSMO) to synchronize your Outlook contacts with Google Workspace. You can sync your personal contacts and any global contacts set up for your organization. If you do, you need to remember a few items.

With Contacts in Google Workspace you can...

• View the same personal contacts available in Outlook—GWSMO imports and syncs nearly all of your personal contact information between Outlook and Google Workspace. You can find your contacts in Google Contacts or when entering addresses in mail messages. For details, go to Access and view contacts.
• View your global contacts—You can view all data fields your administrator has made available in your domain's Global Address List.
• Add information that Outlook doesn't support—You can add contact information, such as a custom email address. In Outlook, this information appears as a read-only attachment to the contact.

You might also want to...

• Re-create your personal distribution lists as Google Groups—GWSMO doesn't synch your personal distribution lists between Outlook and Google Workspace. To send mail from Google Workspace using the same distribution lists from Outlook, you can re-create each list as a group using Google Groups. For details, go to Create a group.
• Re-create your contact folders in Groups—In Outlook, you can organize contacts in separate folders, such as one for work and one for family and friends. In Google Workspace, contacts from all folders appear together in Contacts. Use Groups to replicate the folders you use in Outlook. For details, go to View, group & share contacts.

However, you should avoid...

• Updating contacts from Google Workspace (if you're still using Outlook)—Currently, updating a contact in Google Workspace can cause unexpected results in Outlook, including:
  • A full name in Google Workspace might appear as a first or last name in Outlook.
  • If you update a Notes field in Google Workspace, your updates don't appear in Outlook.
  • Subsequent updates in Outlook overwrite changes made in Google Workspace.

Note: If you switch permanently to Google Workspace, this restriction doesn't apply.

Syncs that aren't available...

• Directory information–The directory information that Google Contacts displays as part of the contact won't sync. If you add a contact from the directory to your personal contacts in Contacts, only the email address is added. The rest of the information (name, phone number, and so on) is completed from the directory when the contact displays in Contacts. Following a sync, you only receive the contact's email address in Outlook. You won’t get the name and phone number.
• Contact follow-up flags—You can flag a contact for follow-up in Outlook so it appears in your To-Do list. However, contact flags don't sync and aren't available in Google Workspace.
• Categories—You won’t get Outlook categories in Google Contacts.
• Rich formatting in descriptions—Links, bolding, and other rich content added in Outlook to a contact's Notes field appear as plain text in Google Workspace.
• Contact notes larger than 16 KB—Notes larger than 16 KB in an Outlook contact are currently truncated in the Google Workspace interface. The full note, however, remains available in Outlook.

Ready to install GWSMO?

Go to Get started with Google Workspace for Outlook.