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If your business contacts live in Outlook but you want them on your iPhone or in Gmail, there is no direct button to send them there. iCloud cannot import a CSV at all, and if the column headers are wrong, email addresses and phone numbers do not map correctly.
Outlook exports contacts as a CSV file (or a PST file for another Outlook). Google Contacts can import the CSV, and Google can then export a vCard, which is the format iCloud accepts. Once the contacts are in iCloud, they sync to your iPhone and iPad.
The one step people miss is fixing the CSV column headers before importing, so the email and phone fields get the right labels.
What you need
- Outlook (desktop app or Outlook on the web) with the contacts you want to move
- Excel or another spreadsheet app to edit the CSV
- A Google account for Google Contacts
- An Apple ID with iCloud Contacts, if you want the contacts on your iPhone
Step by step
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01
Export contacts from the Outlook desktop app
Open the contacts section in Outlook and select the account whose contacts you want. Go to File > Open & Export > Import/Export. Choose Export to a file and click Next.
Pick Comma Separated Values (CSV) if you are moving the contacts to Google or iCloud. The Outlook Data File (.pst) option only works for importing into another Outlook. Select the Contacts folder, click Next, choose where to save the file, then click Finish.
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Or export from Outlook on the web
In Outlook on the web, open People, select your contacts, then Manage contacts > Export contacts. Keep All contacts selected and click Export. You get a CSV file similar to the desktop export. The web version only exports CSV.
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Clean up the CSV and fix the headers
Open the CSV in Excel. Delete the empty columns so only the columns with data remain.
Then rename the headers so Google applies the right labels. The email header should include
WorkorHome(for example, rename the email address column toWork Email), and the phone header should includeWorkorMobile. Without a label, Google marks the email as Other, and iCloud will not map it correctly later. Save the file as CSV. -
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Import the CSV into Google Contacts
In Google Contacts, click Import, select your CSV file and click Import. Open a contact and choose edit to check that the email shows the Work label.
Google adds a label such as "Imported on" with the date to every imported contact. If you only use Google as a stepping stone to iCloud, you can later delete that label and choose to delete the contacts with it.
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Export a vCard from Google Contacts
Select all the contacts, click the three-dot More actions menu and choose Export. Select the vCard option for iOS and click Export. Google downloads a file named
contacts.vcf. -
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Import the vCard into iCloud
Sign in to iCloud in a browser and open Contacts. Click the plus icon, choose Import Contact, select
contacts.vcfand click Open. All your Outlook contacts appear with name, company, title, phone and email, and the email keeps its Work label. -
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Check the contacts on your iPhone
On your iPhone, open Contacts and select All iCloud. The imported contacts sync automatically to any device signed in to the same iCloud account.
Tips and common problems
- Choose CSV when exporting for Google or iCloud. The PST (Outlook Data File) option only works with Outlook.
- iCloud cannot import a CSV file, only vCards. That is why the contacts go through Google Contacts first.
- Rename the email header to include Work or Home, and the phone header to include Work or Mobile, before importing to Google. Otherwise the email is labelled Other and does not map in iCloud.
- If you do not want the contacts to stay in Google, delete the Imported on label after exporting the vCard and choose the option to delete the contacts too.
Questions
How do I export contacts from Outlook to a CSV file?
In the Outlook desktop app, go to File, Open & Export, Import/Export, choose Export to a file, then Comma Separated Values, and select the Contacts folder. In Outlook on the web, open People, then Manage contacts, Export contacts.
Can I import a CSV file into iCloud Contacts?
No. iCloud Contacts only imports vCard (.vcf) files. Import the CSV into Google Contacts first, then export the contacts from Google as a vCard and import that into iCloud.
Why are email addresses missing after importing contacts to iCloud?
The email field probably had no label. Rename the email column header in the CSV to include Work or Home before importing to Google, so the vCard carries the label and iCloud maps the field.
How do I get my Outlook contacts on my iPhone?
Export them from Outlook as a CSV, import them into Google Contacts, export a vCard from Google, and import it into iCloud Contacts. They then sync to your iPhone under All iCloud.
