MS Outlook is a popular and impactful email client used by millions. It has an address book that can save as many contacts as you require. There are multiple formats in which you can store your contact files. In this blog, you will learn about all possible ways to import contacts to Outlook .
The contacts are stored in .pst, .csv, vCard (.vcf), .xlsx, .xls, etc. When it comes to importing files into MS Outlook, it accepts only two file formats and they are .csv and .pst. So, if you have the contact files data stored in any other format, then you will first have to move them into any one of the supported files.
“I work in an IT firm and my immediate senior sent me a list of our client’s contacts. Unfortunately, those files are in vCard format and I am unable to move them into my Outlook account. How do I accomplish this task?
How to Import Contacts to Outlook?
In this section of the article, we are going to discuss the most common file formats to save your contacts and how to move them to your account.
PST File
A .pst file is one of the two accepted file formats by Outlook. Follow the below-given steps to import PST contacts to Outlook:
1. Launch Outlook and click on “File”.
2. Select the “Open & Export” option.
3. Now, click on “Export to a File”>> Next.
4. After this, choose PST option>> Next
5. Select the folder that contains your contacts
6. Provide a location to save the PST file.
7. Click on OK and map the custom fields>> Finish.
CSV File
A .csv saves contacts in tabular format. Follow the below-mentioned steps to import contacts to Outlook:
1. Open MS Outlook and choose File.
2. Click on Open & Export>> Export to a File
3. Select the CSV file and click on Next.
4. Choose a contacts folder>> Next.
5. Enter a destination location to save the file.
6. You can also create a password to protect the file.
vCard (VCF) File
vCard or VCF is a virtual standard business card file that is used to share contacts over various platforms or devices. Unfortunately, MS Outlook does not provide any inbuilt or direct method to import those files. Therefore, you will have to convert them into either .pst or .csv format because Outlook only understands those.
For this purpose, you will have to convert the vCard into .pst. PCVITA Outlook to vCard converter software is designed exclusively for this job. It accepts vCard files made from numerous platforms and allows you to export multiple files in a single attempt. You can save them in an existing PST file, or create a new one. You are permitted to import the file in an MS Outlook profile as well.
XLSX OR XLS File
As our mail client does not accept this file format, you’ll have to convert into the CSV format and follow the process mentioned above. Similarly, you can simply rename or save the other Excel formats as CSV and import them.
Conclusion:
In this blog, you learned about various methods to import contacts to Outlook. Depending upon the file type, the migration method changes accordingly. Some formats can be transferred directly while some cannot be done without using a software. I hope this article was helpful for you and you can perform the migration more efficiently.
