How to Import iPhone Contacts into Gmail

My blog is not usually a very technical one, but I searched for over an hour to the answer to this. I never found it! I had to figure it out for myself and so I would like to share it for anyone else who is looking to do this.

Why I Wanted to Back up my Contacts on Gmail
I recently synced my iPhone to a trial subscription of MobileMe. MobileMe is a great Apple product that allows you to wirelessly sync your contacts, calendars, photos and more to your computer and an Apple server wirelessly and instantly. Since my phone is technically a work phone, and the service with the trial MobileMe account is only good for a year; I needed to have my contacts backed up elsewhere for when the trial account ended.

Why Gmail?
I have lost two computers in a very short amount of time at the hands of my 2 year old, and/or viruses. Because of that, I didn't want to rely only on my hard drive to store my contacts. When you sync your iPhone with iTunes (on a PC), your contacts are saved on your PC's hard drive. If you store them on outlook and your computer dies, say bye bye. I had decided since I didn't trust my computer to stay alive or accessible, I wanted to back up all of my contacts on a trusted server. I use gmail, and thought it would be nice to have all of my contacts there. A nice combination of safekeeping and convenience.

How to Import Your Windows Contacts into Gmail
Please note that I was using Windows 7 starter at the time I did this

If you're using a PC like I am, then you might find it difficult to find where your contacts are going when you sync your iPhone. They are hidden in an elusive place called "Windows Contacts". This is the default setting if you're using your iTunes on a PC.

I couldn't find any site that would tell me where my windows contacts were, but here is where I found them. C:/users/crystal[your user name would go here, of course]/contacts

You can find them by going to your start menu > computer > C: > Users > [your user name] > Contacts

Single click on your very first contact and then scroll all the way to the bottom of the list. Hold down your shift key and at the same time click on your very last contact. This selects all of your contacts. There is a bar at the top of the screen that lists action options. It will say: Organize, Open, Share with, E-Mail... and so on. Find the option that says "Export" and click on that. A new window will pop up. Choose CSV by double clicking on it. A new window pops up that says "save exported file as:"

Now you will need to choose a place to save your CSV file. Click on the browse button. I chose to save my CSV file in C:/Users/Crystal [your user name]. I saved the file with the name ContactsCSV so that I would be able to tell it apart from my other contact file. You can save your file any place that is easy for you to find. When you find a place to save your file, and you have given it a name, click "save".

Now you need to sign into your gmail account. On the left hand side of the screen there will be a list of action options, find the option called "contacts" and click on it. On the right side of the screen there is a section that says : import export print. Choose Import and click on browse. Find your CSV file that you created earlier and click open. Then, click on import and TA DA!