Can i do a mail merge using gmail contacts

While Gmail Contacts doesn't have a built-in mail merge feature, you can still use it to create a list of contacts and then use a third-party tool or script to merge the data with a template. Here are a few options:

Option 1: Google Sheets + Gmail

1. Export your Gmail Contacts to a Google Sheet using the "Export" feature in Gmail.
2. Create a template in Google Sheets with the fields you want to merge (e.g., name, email, address).
3. Use the QUERY function in Google Sheets to merge the data from your Gmail Contacts with the template.
4. Use the MAIL Merge add-on in Google Sheets to send the merged emails.

Option 2: Zapier + Gmail

1. Connect your Gmail account to Zapier.
2. Create a Zap that exports your Gmail Contacts to a CSV file.
3. Use a template in a third-party email service (e.g., Mailchimp, Constant Contact) to merge the data with the template.
4. Send the merged emails using the email service.

Option 3: Python Script + Gmail

1. Use the gdata library in Python to connect to your Gmail account and export your contacts.
2. Use a Python script to merge the data with a template (e.g., using pandas and jinja2 libraries).
3. Use the smtplib library to send the merged emails.

Here's an example Python script to get you started:

import gdata.contacts.client
import pandas as pd
from jinja2 import Template

# Set up Gmail API credentials
client = gdata.contacts.client.ContactsClient()
client.ClientLogin('[email protected]', 'your_password')

# Export contacts to a CSV file
contacts = client.GetContacts()
df = pd.DataFrame([contact.ToDict() for contact in contacts])

# Load template
with open('template.html', 'r') as f:
    template = Template(f.read())

# Merge data with template
merged_emails = []
for index, row in df.iterrows():
    email = template.render(**row)
    merged_emails.append(email)

# Send merged emails
for email in merged_emails:
    # Use smtplib to send the email
    server = smtplib.SMTP('smtp.gmail.com', 587)
    server.starttls()
    server.login('[email protected]', 'your_password')
    server.sendmail('[email protected]', '[email protected]', email)
    server.quit()

Note that this is just a basic example, and you'll need to customize the script to fit your specific use case.