How to hide Google contacts without deleting them

How To
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Here’s how to hide Google contacts without having to delete them

Google Contacts displayed on a smartphone
(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Knowing how to hide Google contacts could be the difference between having easy access to the people you actually get in touch with regularly and having to hunt for them among a mass of unused entries.

Whether it’s the language-learning apps we promise ourselves we’ll use one day or those pet photos we never look at, our devices are brimming with things we know we don’t need but can’t bring ourselves to get rid of. 

The same can be said of contacts. Who among us doesn’t have a bunch of phone numbers or email addresses that we never use but just don’t want to part with? 

Thankfully, Google Contacts makes it easy to hide these entries by storing them in a separate folder. They’ll no longer show up on your main contact list but will still be available if you ever feel like digging them out again.

So read on and we’ll show you how to hide Google Contacts from your address book without deleting them. 

How to hide Google contacts without deleting them

1. Head to Google Contacts on a desktop browser and sign in using your Google account. You’ll see a list of all your contacts. 

(Image credit: Google)

2. To hide a single contact, start by clicking on the three dots to the right of the contact. Then, click “Hide from contacts.” This will put it into the “Other contacts” folder.

(Image credit: Google)

3. For multiple contacts, click the icon next to each contact and a checkbox will appear by each one. Click the three dots at the top of the page, then “Hide from contacts.” 

(Image credit: Google)

4. To restore a single hidden contact back to your address book, go to the “Other contacts” folder and click the “Add to contacts” icon. 

(Image credit: Google)

5. To restore multiple hidden contacts, go to the “Other contacts” folder and click the icon next to each contact so a checkbox appears by each one. Click the “Add to contacts” icon at the top of the page. 

(Image credit: Google)

Looking for more phone tutorials? We also have guides to how to hide apps on Android, how to delete multiple contacts on iPhone and how to import iPhone contacts into Gmail. 

Dale Fox
Dale Fox
Freelance Journalist

Dale Fox is a freelance journalist based in the UK. He's been a tech nerd ever since childhood, when he used the money from his first job as a paperboy to buy a subscription to GamesMaster magazine. Dale was previously a presenter and editor in China, where he also worked as a copywriter for OnePlus at its Shenzhen HQ.