Contacts from Outlook

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Contacts from Outlook

I have 1000+ contacts in Outlook that I would like to transfer to my new iPhone. I have been told that I need to import them in v-card format, but I don't know how to save them in v-card format. When i try exporting them from Outlook, the only 2 export options are Export To A File and Export RSS Feed. Seems like I should choose Export To A File, but getting into v-card format on the next screen is not clear. How can I do this? Thanks.

Posted on Oct 27, 2009 8:38 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 27, 2009 9:11 AM in response to nick11570

No need to export anything. As long as you're using Outlook 2003 or 2007, iTunes will pull the contacts from Outlook and sync them with your iPhone.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1386

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Answer 2

nick11570 Author

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Oct 27, 2009 9:20 AM in response to neuroanatomist

Sorry, i should have specified that the contacts are on a Windows machine at work and i need to transfer the contacts to my macbook at home, where i plan to use iTunes and sync my iPhone. How can i accomplish this? Thanks.

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Answer 3

Oct 27, 2009 9:46 AM in response to nick11570

You can only Export vCards one at a time from Outlook, since it doesn't support the group vCard format (Address Book does). So, you have three options - two free and one cheap.

One free way is to export the contacts as a .csv file (comma separated values, i.e. a spreadsheet), then import that into Address Book, mapping the fields appropriately.

The other free way is to select all the contacts in Outlook, then right-click one of them and select Forward Items. You'll then get an email with all your contacts as individual .vcf files. You can email that to yourself, or just copy all those files to a flash drive. However you get them to your Mac, select them all and double-click and Address Book will bring them in.

The cheap way is a $10 sharware utility, O2M (Outlook2Mac). That will export your contacts (as well as calendars and/or email) from Outlook in Mac-friendly formats.

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Answer 4

nick11570 Author

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Oct 28, 2009 6:48 PM in response to neuroanatomist

Thanks very much for the advice. I tried option #2...selected all and chose to Forward them, which attached all of the individual cards separately in an email (pretty sure they were .vcf files). the email server at work would not let me email the attachments, so i copied all of the files to a flash drive, which i then plugged into my macbook at home. however, when i selected the files and double clicked them with Address Book opened, i got an error message saying "no importable cards were found." For some reason, the files appear on the macbook as .msg files. Again, i'm pretty sure they were .vcf files when i copied them at work. any suggestions? thanks.

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Answer 5

nick11570 Author

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Oct 29, 2009 7:18 AM in response to neuroanatomist

You can disregard my previous message. I now realize that I did not copy the files properly yesterday. I selected to Forward the items in Outlook format. I now see that when I select to Forward them in Internet format they become vcf files. I will try again using Internet format and report back. Thanks.

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Answer 6

nick11570 Author

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Oct 30, 2009 10:24 AM in response to neuroanatomist

I successfully transfered my contacts to my macbook address book and then to my iPhone. Thanks! Some of the data transfer was mixed. For example, some contacts are listed according to first name and some according to last name, whereas in outlook they were all alphabetized by last name. also, in the contacts note section there is alot of jibberish text that seems to be computer code that was not in the original outlook notes section. seems like i will need to go into each contact and delete this code and clean up the data fields. is this to be expected or is it possible to have a better transfer? thanks again.

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Answer 7

Oct 30, 2009 11:23 AM in response to nick11570

Not unexpected. That's one advantage of the shareware program - it orders things properly and strips out the excess stuff.

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Answer 8

nick11570 Author

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Oct 30, 2009 11:39 AM in response to neuroanatomist

I didn't go the shareware route becasue i wasn't sure if my work computer would cooperate fully. i dont mind tweaking the transfers i've already done. thanks again. great advice.

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