How to Add an Image to a Contact in Gmail

Email & Messaging

Updated June 10, 2019

Would you rather see email addresses or pictures of your friends and colleagues?

Well, you can make Gmail display any image for any contact. Others can "suggest" a picture to be displayed (as can you), but you can override this easily.

Once a contact has been assigned a picture, you can see it whenever you position the mouse over an email address or name. Because Google's apps are linked, the pictures you add will carry over to your Android contacts too, if their email and phone number are in the same entry.

Add an Image to a Contact in Gmail

To set up a picture for a Gmail contact:

Open up Gmail in your browser, and sign in.
Find the app icon in the upper right of the Gmail screen. It's a grid of squares, similar to the app launcher on Android. Select it.
A new menu will open, displaying your Google apps. Choose Contacts.
You'll land on a list of your contacts. Pick a contact that you want to add a picture to, and mouse over it. The listing will darken, and a set of icons will appear to the right.
Select the pencil icon to the right of your contact to start editing.
A new form will pop open displaying your contact's information. You can edit any of your contact's details here, including their photo. Find the gray portrait icon in the upper left of the form, and select it.
Yet another new modal window will slide onto your screen with the option to Upload photo. Press it.
Browse for your profile photo, and select it.
After your photo is uploaded, you'll have a chance to make minor edits before saving it.

When you're done, you'll return to the contact form. Now, the image will be there in place of the gray portrait icon. If you're done editing, press Save.
Gmail will now show you your contact's new profile, including the image you just added.