Outlook has a pretty good import functionality. If you wanted to import your Gmail contacts to Outlook, you could easily accomplish the task with a wizard. However, when it comes to importing contacts saved in vCards, its another story. The import functionality in Outlook 2010 is limited to just one vcf file at a time. You cannot select a folder to import or select multiple files to do the job either. You also cannot import multiple vCard contacts in a single file because Outlook will only import the first contact in that vCard. So what is the option available to you when you want to import vCards, say from your Android device or another email client? Don’t worry, there is a work around and in this Outlook 2010 tutorial, we’ll show you how to do get your vCard contacts into Outlook in no time at all.
To Import Multiple VCF to Outlook 2010
If its just a matter of importing a few vCards, then you could double-click to open them and then click Save & Close to save them in Outlook. But when there are plentiful contacts to upload, this method is out of the question. You can do one of the following things to import vCard contacts to Outlook.
Import CSV File to Outlook
If the application from which you are importing your contacts supports CSV file format, take that option. Once you have extracted the CSV file, open Outlook 2010.
1. On the File tab, select Open and then select Import.
2. In the Import and Export wizard, select Import from another program or file and click Next.
3. On the next screen, click Comma Separates Values (Windows) and click Next.
4. On the next screen, click Browse navigate to the folder where you saved the CSV file and select it. Select the Do not import duplicate items option and click Next.
5. In the next screen, select the Contacts option and click Next.
6. Verify that you importing the right CSV file and click Finish.
Obviously, this is the usual process to import a CSV file, but what if you cannot import to a CSV file in the first place. In such instances you can:
Import vCards to Windows Contacts
In your Windows PC, there is a default Windows Contacts folder. You can import vCards to Outlook by first moving them to Windows Contacts and then exporting them to a CSV file from where you can eventually import them to Outlook. To do this:
1. Navigate to C:\Users\%username%\Contacts.
2. In the Contacts folder, click Import. The Windows Contacts importer allows you to import a single vCard with multiple contacts or import from a folder containing multiple individual vCard contacts.
3. Click Import from the top menu. In the Import to Windows Contacts dialog, select vCard and click Import.
4. Navigate to the folder containing the vCard contacts, select it/them and click Open. Click Ok to confirm all the contacts and click Import. (You may have to click OK multiple times to confirm each contact. Click Close.
5. You will notice that all your contacts are now available in the Windows Contacts folder. Now you can export these contacts to a CSV file. On the menu bar, click Export.
6. In the Export Windows Contacts dialog box, select CSV (Comma Separated Values) and click Export.
7. In the next screen, click Browse, navigate to the location where you want to save your contacts, add a file name and click Save.
8. In the wizard, click Next.
9. In the next screen, select the fields you want to input and click Finish.
Your CSV file will now be available at the location you selected earlier. Close the wizard.
To complete the transfer to Outlook 2010, just follow the steps outlined in the first part of this tutorial.
This might look like a lengthy process, but it really is quite simple as the wizard does all the work for you.
If this doesn’t satisfy you, you can buy Outlook add ons such as vCard Converter from Sperry Software to get the job done.
Downloadable PDF Version of
How to Import vCard Contacts to Outlook 2010
I hope this tutorial solved your problem and you are now able to import vCard contacts to Outlook easily.
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