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How to Import Excel Contacts to Outlook Windows & Mac?

  author
Rollins Duke   
Published: May 10th, 2024 • 8 Min Read

If you wish to import Excel contacts to Outlook, this blog is for you. The advent of email in the late-20th century changed the way we communicate with each other. From letters delivered in a few days to emails sent and received in a few minutes, our conversation medium has developed immensely. And when it comes to emails, the arrival of many email clients has made us spoilt for choices since they offer comfort while ensuring the safety of our emails. You need to read this article till the end to learn the manual and professional ways to import contacts from Excel to Outlook.

Talking about email clients, Outlook is a robust email client by Microsoft, having features like automated email arrangement, task management, etc., making it a favorite amongst many email users. Excel is another Microsoft-owned software – technically a spreadsheet software with calculation capabilities, graphing tools, and much more. We will discuss the solutions for importing your Excel contacts to Outlook, so keep reading this blog to know everything!

You can’t directly import your Excel contacts to Outlook since Outlook accepts only CSV and vCard files to import contacts. That doesn’t mean you can’t import your contacts from Excel to Outlook. In upcoming sections, you will read all details to resolve this query by importing CSV and vCard contacts.

Table of Content Hide
  1. Quick Way to Import Excel Contacts into Outlook
  2. #1 Method to Solution to Import Excel Contacts to Outlook
  3. #2 Method to Import Contacts from Excel to Outlook
  4. #3 Method to Import Excel Contacts to Outlook Mac
  5. Which Is the Most Proficient Way and Why?
  6. Frequently Asked Questions
  7. Ending

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Quick Way to Import Excel Contacts into Outlook

  • Step 1: Download BitRecover Tool on your pc.
  • Step 2: Use software to save contacts to vCard.
  • Step 3: Run MS Outlook and choose Import/ Export.
  • Step 4: Import vCard contacts to Outlook client.
  • Step 5: Choose People to access contacts in Outlook.

#1 Method to Solution to Import Excel Contacts to Outlook

All you need to do is convert the Excel sheet to CSV format and upload that new sheet to your Outlook account. First, follow these steps to convert your Excel file to CSV:

Stage 1- Use Save As to Convert Excel Contacts to CSV

  1. Open the Excel Sheet having your contacts.
    excel contacts
  2. Click File and then Save As.
    save as
  3. In the Save As Type menu, select CSV as the file format and the destination folder for the resultant file.
    save as csv
  4. Click Save and save the Excel sheet (XLSX or XLS) in CSV format.
    save contacts in csv file
  5. Your original file in XLSX or XLS format will stay safe from this conversion.
    csv contacts

Now that the Excel Workbook (XLSX) is converted to the CSV format, now complete 2nd stage to import Excel contacts to Outlook:

Stage 2- Import CSV Contacts to Outlook

  1. Open Outlook and choose File from the ribbon menu.
    file option
  2. Select Open & Export and click Import/Export.
    import export
  3. Select Import from another program or file in the Import and Export Wizard and click Next.
    import excel contacts to outlook
  4. Now select Comma Separated Values and click Next.
    comma separated values
  5. Click Browse to select the CSV file and choose your preferred option related to the duplicates under Options. Click Next.
    browse
  6. Select the CSV file from your pc and press the Ok button.
    select csv file
  7. Select a destination folder to import contacts accordingly and hit Next.
    select destination folder
  8. Now click the Map Custom Fields option as shown in the figure.
    map custom fields
  9. Complete the contacts field mapping process and click Ok.
    map contact custom fields
  10. Select the Finish button to start importing contacts to Outlook.
    finish
  11. You can see imported contacts under the selected destination folder.

Recommended: Free Method to Import Excel Contacts to Salesforce CRM

#2 Method to Import Contacts from Excel to Outlook

Download Excel Contacts to vCard Converter on your computer and use this software to save contacts in vCard format. Thereafter, complete the process to import converted vCard files using a few simple steps. Let’s know the whole process now.

Phase 1- Use Tool to Save Spreadsheet to vCard

  1. Launch the suggested software and choose the Select button to add contacts in the software panel.
    start software
  2. Select Excel Workbook XLSX file from your pc and press Open to add it.
    select excel contacts
  3. Choose the Save As option and browse a specific destination path.
    save as option
  4. Now see Excel contact fields under the CSV Fields column.
    excel csv fields
  5. Click the Select button for choosing the vCard contact fields.
    select vcard field
  6. Select specific mapping fields according to your choice.
    complete contact field mapping
  7. The field mapping process has been completed successfully as per choice.
    see contact field mapping completed
  8. Press the Convert button to start the conversion process.
    import excel contacts into outlook
  9. Get resultant contacts in vCard format.
    resultant contacts

Now you can see Excel Spreadsheet XLSX file is converted to vCard format, now stay tuned to complete 2nd phase to import Excel Spreadsheet to Outlook.

Phase 2- Import Converted vCard to Outlook Client

  1. Run the Microsoft Outlook client and choose the File option from the menu.
    file option
  2. After that, select Open & Export >> Import/ Export to continue.
    import export
  3. Select Import a VCARD file (.vcf) and press the Next button.
    import excel list to outlook contacts
  4. Select the converted vCard file from your computer and press Open.
    import contacts to outlook from excel
  5. Click the People icon and go to Outlook contacts to access imported contacts.
    people

Recommended: Tips to Import Excel Contacts to Mac Address Book

#3 Method to Import Excel Contacts to Outlook Mac

This is a very good decision to import contacts from Excel to Outlook Mac, but the difficulty comes when a user needs to import Excel contacts to Outlook Mac 2021, 2019, 2016, and 2011 accounts. For this, you first need to save Excel address list into Outlook contacts, supported vCard files. Once you get the file, you can easily import vCard to Outlook Mac with just a little preparation. There are two major steps:

Phase 1: You can easily complete the 1st phase using the suggested software that allows you to save Excel Spreadsheet contacts to vCard format as shown in the #2 method. Now you need to complete the 2nd phase, so we are discussing phase 2 in detail.

  1. To import contacts from Excel to Outlook Mac, first compose a new email message from any of the email clients such as Gmail, Yahoo, or any other email id. Attach the vCard file as an attachment to this message. Send this message to the email account configured into Outlook Mac.
    compose mail
  2. Open the email received in your Outlook Mac account >> right-click on the attached file. Now, a list of options will be displayed. Choose Preview of all the given options to import contacts.
    select preview
  3. Now. You can see all the contact names in the attachment. Here, from the top of the screen, hit the Add Contacts button to import Excel contact list to Outlook Mac.
    import excel contacts to outlook mac
  4. Outlook for Mac will display a pop-up message. Here it will be asked Are you sure you want to import contacts? Click Import and import contacts from Excel to Outlook.
    import contacts from excel to outlook mac

In addition, you can verify if there is a duplicate contact in your vCard file. For this, you can click on the Review Duplicates option.

Which Is the Most Proficient Way and Why?

The above explained both techniques are tried and tested to import Excel to Outlook. You can choose any method according to your preferences and budget. However, the suggested software is an expert recommendation to complete this task in a proficient way due to several reasons.

When you try to import Excel contacts into Outlook contact group via uploading a CSV file then it asks you to set the destination folder. Some of the users make mistakes while selecting the destination path and as a result, they may be unable to view contacts. When users complete this task with the vCard file then it does not ask to select the destination folder, as a result, your contacts are directly imported to Outlook contacts (People Pane).

As we all know that vCard is the standard format to store contacts so if you want to import Excel Spreadsheet to Outlook contacts with vCard then your task will be completed successfully with 100% accuracy. While if you use CSV instead of vCard then you may face formatting and data loss-related issues.

Frequently Asked Questions

Ques 1: How to import contacts from Excel to Microsoft Outlook?

Ans: We have explained the 2 best techniques to import Excel to Outlook. You can choose a relevant method according to your choice. For home users, we recommend manual method while business users can go with a professional approach.

Ques 2: I have some single contact vCard files and I want to import them in Outlook, is it possible?

Ans: Yes, first use vCard to PST Converter and make a PST file for all contacts. Thereafter, you can import PST file to Outlook as this is a native format of Outlook.

Ques 3: Can I use your software on both Windows and Mac computers?

Ans: Yes, the suggested software is compatible with all the latest Windows as well as Mac OS computers.

Ending

Most Outlook experts use these suggested approaches to import Excel contacts into Outlook. If you are doing this first time, then we hope this write-up will surely be helpful to you. If you have any questions about this query, then you can feel free to connect with us.

Read Similar: Free Method to Import Excel Contacts into Hotmail