Once again, the hard working Gmail Developers have implemented yet another much-requested feature: Import Contacts! Read on for more details…

For the best explanation of just how to Import Contacts, log into your Gmail account, click on Contacts, and click on the new “Import Contacts” link at the top of the Contacts screen.

But what can you import and how do you import? Gmail will let you import address books into Contacts from Yahoo!, Orkut, Outlook, and pretty much any other service by uploading CSV (Comma Separated Value) files to your Gmail account. You can even manually edit and create CVS files for importing using Microsoft Excel.

Just remember that currently, Gmail’s Contacts fields are limited to just “Name”, “Email Address”, and “Notes”. According to the Help screen, all other fields will be imported into the Notes field.

Gmail’s COntacts aren’t sophistocated, but now that you can Import, they certainly are more useful!

One small side note: On the Import Contacts Help page, it reads, “Because Gmail does not offer group or distribution list functionality at this time, this information won’t be transferred from other address books into your Gmail Contacts list.” The key words to me are “at this time”…not sure if this implies these functions will be incorporated or not, but we can dream…