Mountain View, California — Undoubtedly, there still remains a large populace who do not use a Gmail account but still feel the need to organize their contacts, and seemingly Google is bestowing a favor toward them, too. Google Apps users and those seeking a safe, central, convenient spot for storing their contacts, can now rejoice as search giant Google has recently launched a standalone contacts manager that lets users of services like Google Docs, Picasa, and Calendar manage your contacts without having to be a Gmail users.
If you are using Google Docs, Picasa, or Google Calendar for example, you can now update people’s contact information without having to use Gmail. Google Contacts, is now part of Gmail which allows you to edit and organize your personal address book, is now a standalone service. This option was not available before.
Aimed at enabling users share contacts seamlessly between different services, Google Contacts works like any other contacts function. This would be particularly beneficial for those who do not use Gmail, but use other Google products that offer sharing capabilities.
Now anyone having a Google account, or those who wish to sign up for one, can access the service at www.google.com/contacts; in Google Apps you must add it in the control panel by clicking “add more services” and then choosing “Contacts,” to start adding and managing contacts.
“We hope that you find this new tool useful,” says Google Apps Marketing Manager Debbie Light. “It is just one of many that we have been working on to help you access your data more easily and connect with the people that matter to you.”
You might wonder why would a non-Gmail user want to do such a thing? For one, Google’s Contacts manager supports imports and exports from a wide range of apps, like Outlook, Yahoo, Hotmail, and, using the free A to G app, Apple Mail. So it makes for a nicely web-accessible backup, and won’t require another account if you’re already using another Google service.
If you are part of a business, school or other organization using Google Apps, the administrator will have to enable this functionality within the control panel by clicking on the “add more services” link, finding the “Contacts” option and clicking the “add it now” button.
Furthermore, you can export or import contacts from a CSV file by clicking the “Import” option, located at the upper right portion of the Contacts page, print the page, edit contact details and organize contacts into groups.