Move Outlook contacts to iCloud

By mistake I had Outlook set as default contact database when I switched iPhone recently. This means that all newly created contacts are in the Outlook list in my iPhone, not iCloud. This usually works fine, but I noted some strange behaviours such as name of message sender not showing up due to that the contact is saved in Outlook, not iCloud. Therefore I would like to move the Outlook contacts to iCloud, but didn't find any easy export/import mechanism, at least not in iPhone. I tried disabling and then reenabling iCloud contacts trying to get a merge prompt but this didn't work. Do I need to go via a PC to do an export/import or can it be done in the iPhone itself?

iPhone 14, iOS 16

Posted on Jan 27, 2023 8:37 AM

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1 reply

Jan 29, 2023 3:07 PM in response to da_1

Hi da_1,


To associate these contacts with your iCloud account, it would be necessary to export them using the current service that stores them, and to then import them into iCloud. Once you have exported those as a vCard file, see Import or export a vCard in Contacts on iCloud.com for the steps to import them to iCloud:


"Import a vCard

If the vCard contains contact information for more than one person, each contact becomes a separate entry.

  1. In Contacts on iCloud.com, click the Show Actions Menu pop-up button in the sidebar, then choose Import vCard.
  2. Select a vCard to import.
  3. Contacts from imported vCards are added to the All Contacts group. You can add contacts to any other group by dragging them. See Create and manage groups of contacts on iCloud.com."


Regards.

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Move Outlook contacts to iCloud

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