A vCard file has the extension VCF and contains one or more contact entries per file. Typical fields in a vCard file are Name, Title, Phone, Fax, Address, City, State, and Zip. When we import a vCard, we import the data from these fields into matching fields in a contact document.

We may have received an e-mail from a colleague or associate that contains their vCard. We can select a contact and click the Forward vCard button. This creates a memo that includes a populated Subject field, the attachment, and instructions on how to view the attachment.

To view the vCard in Lotus Notes, simply double-click the attachment, which will open the attachment for us to view the contact details and we will also see a button to save the vCard into our Contacts. If we use another e-mail system, we may have to save the file and then import the file into that system's contact database.

Often people will send an e-mail that will include a vCard as this is a handy and convenient way to send someone all our details. Many people actually include a vCard as part of their signature. If we do receive a vCard and we want to add that person's contact details to our Contacts, simply double-click the vCard attachment. This will open a dialog box that shows all the contact details; we can either click Save or Cancel as per our requirement. If we select Save, the contact is added to our Contacts.

We have already mentioned how we can import a vCard. We can also import files from other formats such as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV file. To import contacts, open Contacts and select File | Import Contacts, or click the More button and select Import Contacts; we will then need to select the file you want to import. A dialog box will open that will allow us to view each contact within the file before importing. If information is appearing in the wrong place, we may have to review and adjust field mapping. To do this, click the Map Fields button within the dialog box. This will open a dialog box.

In the left-hand column, we have the field names of the fields we are importing into our Contacts in Lotus Notes. In the column underneath the left-hand column, we can preview the values for each field we select. In the right-hand column, we have the Lotus Notes fields. When we select a field in the Import fields column, it will highlight the field it is mapped to in the Lotus Notes field column. To map a field, drag it from the Import fields column to the Lotus Notes field column, and place with the field we want to map to. To unmap a field, select a field in the Lotus Notes field column, and then click the yellow x icon beside it. Once we are happy with the mapping, we can click the Apply button.

We can select one or more contacts and then either select File | Export Contacts or, from within the Contacts view, we can click the More button then select Export Contacts.

The Export Contacts dialog box will appear and we will need to select several options, including if we want to export all our contacts or just the one selected. We will also need to decide how much information we want to export. If we select Only basic fields, only name, e-mail, primary phone number, company, date modified, and category are included.

We will then need to select where we want to save the file and its name. When selecting the file format, for best results use vCard (vcf) for Yahoo! and IBM Lotus Notes mail clients, whereas use CSV for Google gmail and Microsoft Outlook mail clients. Note that when we export to a vCard file, only one file is created, no matter how many contacts were selected when we exported.

Under Advance Options, we can select if we want to Include field names, which is a handy option. The file can be found in the location we entered to save it.