How to Add an Image to a Contact in Gmail

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Updated January 10, 2020

Replace the initials for contacts in your Gmail address book with pictures of your friends and colleagues. Gmail can display any image for any contact. Others can suggest a picture to be displayed (as can you), but you can override this. When a contact is assigned a picture, you'll see an image next to their email address and name. Because Google apps are linked, the pictures appear in your Android contacts, too.

Instructions in this article apply to the web version of Gmail and Google Contacts and should work in any web browser including Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox.

Add an Image to a Contact in Gmail

To set up a picture for a Gmail contact:

Open a web browser, go to Gmail, and sign in.
Go to the upper-right corner of the Gmail screen and select the Google apps icon.
Choose Contacts.
Hover over a contact to display a set of icons on the right.
Select Edit contact (the pencil icon).
Select Set contact photo (the portrait icon).
In the Pick a photo window, select Upload photo.
In the Open dialog box, choose an image, then select Open.
In the image editing window, move or resize the selection box so that the part of the picture you want to appear as the profile image is highlighted. The picture can also be rotated.
Select Done when the image appears the way you want.
In the Edit contact window, the image replaces the default portrait icon.

Add or change other contact information, if needed.
Select Save.
Gmail displays the contact's new profile, including the new image.