Applies ToOutlook for Microsoft 365 Outlook 2024 Outlook 2021 Outlook 2019 Outlook 2016 Office for business Microsoft 365 admin Outlook on the web Outlook.com Microsoft Office New Outlook for Windows

Outlook has an Import/Export wizard that makes it easy to import contacts from a CSV file.

Select a tab option below for the version of Outlook you're using. What version of Outlook do I have?

Note: If the steps under this New Outlook tab don't work, you may not be using new Outlook for Windows yet. Select the Classic Outlook tab and follow those steps instead.

In this section:​​​​​​​

Import local contacts from classic Outlook to new Outlook

If you used classic Outlook before moving to new Outlook and you saved contacts locally, those contacts may not have copied over to new Outlook. To import locally saved contacts from classic Outlook to new Outlook, you need to export these contacts to a .csv file in classic Outlook and then import that file to new Outlook.

Export contacts from classic Outlook to a .csv file

  1. If classic Outlook isn't already open, go to Start and begin typing Outlook.

  2. Right-click Outlook (classic) to open it.

  3. In classic Outlook, select File > Open & Export > Import/Export.Choose Open & Export, and then choose Import/Export.

  4. Choose Export to a file > Next.

    Choose Export to a file.

  5. Select Comma Separated Values > Next.

  6. In the Select folder to export from box, scroll to the top if needed and select the Contacts (This computer only) folder that's under your account. Then select Next.

    Screenshot in classic Outlook with Contacts (This computer only) selected for export

  7. Choose Browse for the location to save the .csv file, name your file, and select OK.

    Assign a name to your contacts file.

  8. Confirm where your new contacts file will be saved on your computer, and choose Next.

  9. Choose Finish to start exporting your contacts immediately. Outlook doesn't display any message when the export process is complete but the Import and Export Progress box goes away.

    A picture of the export progress box.

  10. Locate the new .csv file on your computer and open it with Excel to verify your contacts are there. You'll likely have a lot of empty cells. That's normal.

    An example of what a csv file looks like after contacts are exported from Outlook

  11. Generally we recommend closing the file without saving any changes; otherwise the file might get messed up and you won't be able to use it for importing. If that happens you can always run the export process again and create a new file.

    You can use Excel to update the information in your .csv file. For tips about working with a list of contacts in Excel, see Create or edit .csv files.

  12. Now that your contacts are copied to a .csv file, you can import them to new Outlook following the steps in the next section Import contacts to new Outlook using a .csv file.

Import contacts to new Outlook using a .csv file

Use a comma separated values file (CSV) to import your contacts into your Outlook account.

Tip: For best results, make sure that the CSV file has UTF-8 encoding. This encoding works for all languages and alphabets.

  1. In new Outlook, from the navigation bar, select Outlook People icon People.

    Tip: If People aren't already in the left navigation bar, select More apps, then People to add it. After adding People, right-click and select Pin to keep it in the left navigation bar.

  2. From the ribbon, select Manage contacts > Import contacts.

    Select import contacts from the Manage menu 

  3. Select Browse, choose your CSV file, and select Open.

  4. Select Import.

Note: If the file doesn't have UTF-8 encoding, the import tool may not recognize and display all text correctly. The import tool will then show you some example contacts from your file, and you can check that the text is readable and correct. If the text is not displayed correctly, select Cancel. You will need a file in UTF-8 encoding to continue. Convert your CSV file to use UTF-8 encoding and restart the import. To learn more about UTF-8 encoding, see Why should I care about UTF-8 encoding?

Export contacts to a .csv file in new Outlook​​​​​​​

When you export your contacts from new Outlook, a copy of your contacts is saved to a CSV file. You can then use this file to import your contacts to another email account.

  1. On the side panel select Outlook People icon People.

  2. From the ribbon, select Manage contacts > Export contacts.

    Select import contacts from the Manage menu 

  3. In the dropdown under Contacts from this folder, choose an option then select Export.

  4. The exported .CSV file is saved to your Downloads folder.

Why should I care about UTF-8 encoding?

Typically, you can import contacts without worrying about the underlying details of how the text is stored in the CSV file. However, if the contact information includes characters not found in the English alphabet, such as Greek, Cyrillic, Arabic, or Japanese characters, this can cause problems when importing contacts. Therefore, you should save the contacts file with UTF-8 encoding if you have that option during export.

If you can't export your contacts using UTF-8 directly, you can convert the exported CSV file using Excel or third-party apps. How to do this will be different between apps and app versions.

How to convert your CSV file to UTF-8 using Microsoft Excel:

  1. In Excel, create a new blank document (workbook).

  2. From the Data menu, select From Text/CSV. Browse to your exported CSV file (you may have to select to display Text Files (....csv) to see it). Select Import.

  3. In the dialog box that appears, under File Origin, choose the encoding that makes the characters in the text appear correctly, for example, Cyrillic Windows 1251, and then select Load.

  4. Check that characters are displayed correctly in Excel.

  5. Select File >Save As. Enter a name for your file, and select CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) (*.csv) as your file type.

  6. Select Save.

Related articles

Import email messages, contacts, and other items into Outlook for Mac​​​​​​​

Create or edit .csv files to import into Outlook

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