How to Successfully Open VCF File in Outlook 365?

Published By Raj Kumar

Approved By Aswin Vijayan

Published On April 28th, 2025

Reading Time 6 Minutes Reading

Category VCF File

In this computerized technology, contact management has become critical for keeping track of individual & professional connections. One of the commonly used file formats for storing contact details is the Virtual Contact File, also known as vCard. If you ‘ve received a vCard /VCF file by email or downloaded it from another source, you may want to open VCF file in Outlook 365 seamlessly. Fortunately, the method is straightforward and simple to follow. This blog will walk you through the steps needed to open and import a VCF to Outlook 365. Let us understand the topic with the help of the question.

User Query: 

“Hello, I am an HR from a reputed company and because of my job, I have a large collection of contacts from the employees working in my office and people coming for interviews. I want a more convenient way to read vCard contacts files that reduces my time and effort, but I don’t know how to import VCF with multiple contacts to Outlook 365.

Reasons to Access VCF Contact File in Outlook 365

There are several benefits to open vCard file in Outlook 365:

• Backup Contacts: If you’re switching from an email provider or another device that stores contacts in VCF format, importing them into Outlook ensures that your contacts are stored in the cloud service.
• Convenience: Import VCF with multiple contacts to Outlook 365 lets you easily manage, edit, and share contacts within the Outlook interface. It also lets you integrate these contacts with other Microsoft applications like Teams or Skype.
• Easy Contact Sharing: Outlook users can export their contacts to VCF format to share them with others. This makes it easy to share contact data across platforms and systems.

Also Read: Import VCF File to Gmail Contacts

By importing vCard contacts into Outlook 365, you can simplify contact management while increasing compatibility across devices and applications.

Manual Techniques to Open VCF File in Outlook 365

If you want to view and import VCF with multiple contacts to outlook 365, you need to follow the below-mentioned steps:

1: Using App Microsoft 365 App Launcher

• Open Outlook 365 and click the Applications icon.
• Start the app launcher tool in the top left of your Outlook 365 on the web window as shown below.
• Choose an option to “People.”
• On toolbar, press the down arrow next to Manage  option and choose Import contacts
• For the ‘vcf’ file, select “Outlook 365.”.
• Click on the Browse button to find and choose your file
• Click Upload.
• Next, while your contacts are imported, and then successful message will be displayed.

2: Import a Single VCF Contact File

• Download or find the VC data file.
• Make sure you have saved the .vcf file to your PC/computer.
• Launch Outlook 365 on your computer.
• In Outlook, go to the Contacts view by selecting the little person icon in the bottom left corner, or select Contacts from the ribbon.
• Double-click the .vcf file you saved.
• This opens the vCard as an Outlook contact window.
• Click Save and Close in the vCard window to save the contact to your Outlook contacts.

3: Import Multiple VCF Files

If you have multiple vCard files, it can be difficult to import them one by one. Here’s how:

Step 1: Merge Multiple VCF Files (optional for bulk import):

You can use the Windows command prompt to combine all VCF files into a single file.

• Open a command prompt.
• Navigate to the folder where your .vcf is saved (ex: cd path to folder).
• Copy *.vcf combined.vcf.
• This will create a combined.vcf file with all your contacts.

Step 2: Open VCF File in Outlook 365 Via Outlook Import Wizard

1. Open the Outlook 365.
2. Click the File tab.
3. After that, Select the Open and Export button and click the Import/Export.
4. Pick the Import vCard.vcf file and press Next.
5. Locate the .vcf file (combined or single file) and select Open your contacts will be imported into Outlook.

4: Drag and Drop (for One or More Files)

• Open your File Explorer and search your .vcf file.
• Start the Outlook and switch to the Contacts (People) view.
• Drag the .vcf file from File Explorer into the contacts pane in Outlook.
• Now, Contact file will be transferred.

5: Using the Microsoft Outlook Mobile Phone App

For those using the Outlook mobile phone application, importing VCF data files is also possible, however it is a bit more limited compared to the desktop or web versions. You will want to first access the VCF contact file in a suitable program (like your phone’s Contacts app) and then sync it with your MS Outlook account.

Here’s how to manually import and open vCard file in Outlook 365:

Limitations of Manual Approaches

However, the manual approach comes with several annoying limitations. So, we came up with a third-party tool.

•  It is a very lengthy and time-consuming process. A difficult task for non-technical people.
• When using this method, there are many possibilities for data loss and corruption.

Open vCard File in Outlook 365 – Stepwise Guidance

1. Install and Run VCF Viewer Tool on the Windows system.
2. Select the Add File or Add Folder.
3. Click on the Radio button for the VCF file, and click on the “Explore” tab.
4. View vCard contacts files with all details.
5. Open the Outlook account and import the VCF contacts file into Your Outlook.

Prime Feature of this Software

• Allows to sort contacts within vCard file of desired folder
• Software provides option to split large VCF files
• It supports view and open Modified or  Altered VCF contact files
• Allows to view and read vCard data files in bulk
• It is compatible with all VCF versions, like 2.1, 3.0, 4.0, etc.
• Compatible with all the latest versions of Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, etc.

Troubleshooting Ordinary Issues

While the task of moving VCF to Outlook 365 is relatively simple, you may encounter some issues. Here are a some ordinary issues and how to solve them:

• VCF Data Not Appearing in Contacts: If your VCF file does not appear in the People section after importing, try refreshing the page or restarting Outlook.
• Multiple Contacts Not Importing: If the VCF file contains multiple contacts, ensure that the file is formatted correctly. You may require to manually split the file or check for any issues in the formatting.
• Corrupted vCard /VCF File: If the VCF contact file is corrupted, you may need to download it again or ask the sender to resend it.

Conclusion

In the above section, we discussed two ways to help users effectively open VCF file in Outlook 365. However, the manual approach includes several annoying limitations. Therefore, we came up with a third-party tool. With the help of professional tools, users can easily open vCard file in Outlook 365.