There are many ways to backup your Android contacts to a computer with using Gmail contacts being the easiest although you can backup directly from the device to a PC as well. In some cases people don’t create contacts as a Google contact and they are not backed up automatically when created. There are a few reasons you may want to backup your contacts. You want to have a backup on your PC for piece of mind in the event something happens to your phone and they are removed or you get a new phone and want to transfer them to it.

How to Backup or Restore your Android Contacts from Gmail:
If you select the option when creating contacts to save them to Google then they will be located in your contacts via Gmail. The Gmail account that will hold your contacts will be the one that you have attached to your Android device. Generally also the same as the one that you use to download Android apps from the market. You can backup and restore these contacts from here.

• To backup your contacts to your PC via Gmail: Login to your Gmail account and go to your contacts. Click on export and choose the contacts that you would like to backup. Select vCard format and you can view the contacts in your PC address book.
• To Restore Contacts to your Android Device via Gmail: Simply grab the Android device that you would like to have your Gmail contacts and attach your Google account via “settings -> accounts and sync”. Make sure that the contacts sync is on for the account you added and wait 15 minutes or so for the contacts to be added to your phone or tablet.

How to Backup and Restore your Contacts When on Phone Only:
If all or most of your contacts are saved to your phone and not backed up to Gmail don’t stress you can save them to your Gmail account via a PC backup. There is a great Software called MobileGo, an Android contact manager for PC that will detect your Android device and allows you to connect it to the software.  Download Wondershare’s MobileGo for the following methods (http://www.wondershare.com/android-manager/)

• How to Backup your Android Contacts via MobileGo: connect your Android phone to your PC via USB. Click on the contacts tab within MobileGo to get to the contact manager. Here you should see a list of contacts that are on your phone and can be exported. Now select the contacts you want to backup, click export and save them to your PC in vCard format.
• How to Restore your Android Contacts via MobileGo: Connect your Android phone to your PC via USB. Open MobileGo and click on the contacts tab, here you can import your contacts from the vCard you either exported from Gmail or a previous backup.
• How to Restore your Android Contacts via Gmail from vCard: Login to your Gmail account and go to your contacts. You can now Import your contacts from the vCard backup you made with MobileGo.

If your having any issues with baking up or restoring your contacts please feel free to ask any questions you have below. The process is very simple although results could very from device to device so there are chances that you will run into an issue that could help someone else.