Importing and Exporting Contacts

Importing allows you to copy contacts from external programs into your Contacts folder. Exporting lets you copy contacts to another program or a format that’s compatible with an outside program. We start this section with importing.

Importing people to your contacts folder

You can import names and addresses from the following formats into your Windows Contacts folder:

• CSV (Comma-Separated Values): This is a generic format to which many programs can export data. You start in the other program by exporting names and addresses to a CSV file. Then you open your Contacts folder and import the CSV file you created from the original program.
• LDIF (LDAP server): Use this format to import contacts from a directory server that uses Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP).
• vCard (VCF file): This format is used by many programs to store virtual business card data. In contrast to other options described here, you might use this format to import a single contact whose data is stored in a .vcf file.
• WAB (Windows Address Book): This format imports contacts from the .wab file used by Windows Address Book and Outlook Express in earlier versions of Windows. Typically, you find that file in the x:Documents and SettingsUserNameApplication DataMicrosoftAddress Book folder, where x is the disk drive and UserName is the name of the user account.

If the data you want to import isn’t already in one of these formats, open the program that you normally use to manage those contacts. Then search its Help for “export” to see whether you can export to CSV or another compatible format.

When the data you want to import are in an appropriate format and you know the location of the file, follow these steps to import the data to your Contacts folder:

1. Open Windows Contacts.

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Tip

If you plan to import from Application Data or another hidden folder, click the Organize button and choose Folder And Search Options. Click the View tab and then click Show Hidden Files, Folders, And Drives OK. Doing so ensures that all folders and files are visible in the steps to follow.

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2. Click the Import toolbar button.

3. Click the format in which the data to be imported are stored; then click Import.

4. Navigate to the drive and folder in which the data to be imported are stored; then click (or double-click) the file to import. Click Next.

5. If importing from a CSV file, in the CSV Import dialog box, verify the field mapping to use for the import. To change a field, click the field, click Change Mapping, choose the field you want to map to, and click OK.

6. When you are satisfied with the mapping, click Finish.

You should see an icon for each imported contact.

Exporting contacts to vCards

Many programs store contact information in virtual business cards, where each contact is a file with a .vcf extension. Before you get started, you might want to create a folder to store the exported data. That way, all the exported contacts will be together in a single folder.

To export contacts in vCard format:

To verify the export, open the folder to which you exported. You should see an icon for each exported contact. The contacts won’t show any pictures because the vCard format doesn’t support the use of pictures.

Exporting to a CSV file

You can export contacts to a single Comma-Separated Values (CSV) file for later import to another program. For example, after exporting contacts to a CSV file, you can open them in Excel, import them to a Microsoft Access table, or use them for a Microsoft Word mail merge. With Word and Access, you can print form letters, mailing labels, and envelopes from the CSV file.

To export contacts to a CSV file, open Windows Contacts as you normally would. Then:

1. Click the Export toolbar button.

2. Click CSV (Comma-Separated Values) Export.

3. Type a name for the exported file. Or click the Browse button, navigate to the folder in which you want to store the file, enter a filename, and click Save.

4. Click Next.

5. Select (check) the fields you want to export and click Finish.

6. Click OK when the export is complete.

To verify that export, open the folder to which you exported the file. To view the contents of the file using Notepad, right-click its icon and choose Open With Notepad. That will show you the file in its raw form. But in actual practice, you’ll likely import it into whatever program you want to use.