How to Automatically Create New Contacts in Gmail

Gmail can save people you email as contacts automatically. In your Google Account, open People & sharing, choose Contact info saved from interactions, and turn on Save contact info when you interact with people. Then, in Gmail’s settings, check that Create contacts for auto-complete is set to add new people automatically, not I’ll add contacts myself. People you email are saved to Other contacts in Google Contacts.

This guide follows Google’s help articles Change who’s saved & suggested as contacts and Add or move contacts. It covers both settings, who gets saved, where those contacts go, how to turn them into regular contacts, and how to stop or clean up automatic saving.

Step 1: Turn On Automatic Saving in Your Google Account

1. Go to your Google Account at myaccount.google.com.
2. Select People & sharing.
3. In the Contacts panel, select Contact info saved from interactions.
4. Turn on Save contact info when you interact with people.

Result: Google starts saving contact info from people you interact with across Google products, not just Gmail.

Step 2: Check Gmail’s Auto-Complete Setting

Google says that if you use Gmail, you can also choose whether Gmail saves contact info from people you email.

1. Open Gmail on a computer.
2. At the top right, click Settings (the gear icon), then See all settings.
3. On the General tab, find Create contacts for auto-complete.
4. Choose the option that adds new people to your contacts when you send them a message. The other choice, I’ll add contacts myself, turns this off.
5. At the bottom of the page, click Save changes.

Result: The next time you email someone new, Gmail saves their address so it auto-completes when you start typing their name. This is on the General tab, and it saves a lot of time once it’s on.

Who Gets Saved Automatically?

With the Google Account setting on, Google says it keeps contact info for:

• People you’ve emailed in Gmail
• People you’ve shared something with, like a document in Drive
• People who share content with you, like shared albums in Google Photos
• People included in events or groups you’re in
• People you mark as known
• People you accept calendar invitations from

Google saves their names, email addresses and phone numbers.

Where Automatically Saved Contacts Go

Automatically saved people don’t land in your main contact list. Google puts them in Other contacts. To see them, go to Google Contacts on a computer and click Other contacts on the left.

Google notes that you won’t see Other contacts on an iPhone, iPad or Android device, so check from a computer. These people still show up as suggestions when you type a name in a new Gmail message. If the same kind of list bothers you in presentations, see how to stop Google Slides from suggesting contacts in a comment.

How to Turn an Auto-Saved Person Into a Regular Contact

If you want someone in your main list, with a phone number or other details, add them as a contact. In short:

1. Open an email from the person in Gmail.
2. Click the sender’s profile picture at the top of the message.
3. In the card that appears, click Add to contacts.

Result: The person is saved to your contacts in Google Contacts. Try checking the same card first. If you see an edit (pencil) icon instead of an add icon, the person is already saved, which helps you avoid duplicates.

You can also add someone yourself. In Google Contacts, select Create contact at the top left, enter their info, and select Save.

How to Stop Saving Contacts Automatically

• Everywhere in Google: turn off Save contact info when you interact with people in your Google Account (Step 1).
• Just Gmail: in Gmail settings, set Create contacts for auto-complete to I’ll add contacts myself and click Save changes.

How to Remove or Hide Auto-Saved Contacts

1. Go to Google Contacts and click Other contacts.
2. Point to the names you want to remove and check the boxes that appear.
3. At the top, click More > Delete.

Result: Those people are removed from Other contacts. Google says that to keep them from being added back, you also need to stop automatic saving.

To keep someone but stop them from appearing as a suggestion, Google says you can hide them. In Gmail, click Compose, type their name in the To field, right-click the suggestion, and click Hide suggestion.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why don’t auto-saved contacts show up in my contact list?

They’re saved to Other contacts, not your main list. Open Google Contacts on a computer and click Other contacts to see them, or add a person as a regular contact from their email.

Does this work on my phone?

You can turn on the Google Account setting from a phone too, since Google’s steps work in the Google Account settings on any device. But Google says the Other contacts list itself isn’t shown on iPhone, iPad or Android, so manage it from a computer.

More Gmail Guides

• How to CC in Gmail
• How to set your picture in Gmail
• How to stop Gmail from adding events to Google Calendar

To see everyone Gmail has saved, including Other contacts, here’s how to view your Google Contacts list on a computer or phone.

You can also enable the unread message icon in Gmail to see your unread count right on the browser tab.