What is a VCF file and how do you open it?

A VCF file is a contact card, also called a vCard: a small text file that holds a person's name, phone numbers, email and other details. To open it, tap it on your phone and add the contact, or import it into Google Contacts, iCloud or Outlook on a computer (according to Microsoft's help, the new Outlook and Outlook.com take a CSV file instead: see below).

What is inside a VCF file?

A .vcf file is plain text in a standard format, so phones and mail programs can read it. Each contact starts with the line BEGIN:VCARD and ends with END:VCARD. In between, one line per detail:

• VERSION:3.0 says which version of the format is used (2.1, 3.0 and 4.0 exist).
• FN:Sara Haddad is the name as it is shown.
• TEL:+15555550123 is a phone number.
• EMAIL:sara@example.com is an email address.
• ORG: and TITLE: hold the company and the job title.

The format can also carry a photo, and one file can hold many contacts one after the other: a whole address book is often exported as a single .vcf file.

Is every .vcf file a contact?

Almost always. The same extension is also used by the Variant Call Format, a file type for genetic data. If your file came from a phone, an email or a website, it is a contact. If it came from a lab or a science tool, a contacts app cannot use it.

How do I open a VCF file on an iPhone?

Apple's help says to tap the .vcf attachment in an email or a message:

1. Tap it. A contact preview opens.
2. Tap Create New Contact, or Add to Existing Contact if the person is already in your list.
3. Check the details and save.

If the file holds several contacts, the screen offers to add them all at once.

From a computer or a tablet, you can also go to icloud.com/contacts, click the add button, choose Import Contact and pick the file. Apple says each person in the file becomes a separate contact in the All Contacts list. It then reaches your iPhone if iCloud contacts are turned on there.

How do I import a VCF file on Android?

In Google's Contacts app:

1. Open Contacts.
2. At the bottom, tap Organize, then Import from file.
3. If you have several accounts on the phone, pick the one that should keep the contacts.
4. Find and select the .vcf file.

On phones with their maker's own Contacts app, such as Samsung, look for Import in that app's menu or settings. The file must already be on the phone, for example in Downloads.

How do I import a VCF file into Gmail?

Gmail keeps its contacts in Google Contacts, so the import happens there:

1. On a computer, go to contacts.google.com with the same Google account.
2. In the left panel, click Import, then Select file.
3. Choose your .vcf file and click Import.

The contacts then show up in Gmail. Google advises importing no more than 3,000 contacts at a time and allows 25,000 in all. If a detail seems missing afterwards, Google suggests looking in that contact's notes.

How do I open a VCF file in Outlook?

It depends on which Outlook you have.

In classic Outlook, you can also right-click a vCard in an email and choose Add to Outlook Contacts. In Outlook for Mac, Microsoft says each contact in the file is saved separately, even if the window shows only the first. For the new Outlook and Outlook.com, Microsoft's help describes importing a CSV file only: People, then Import contacts (under Manage contacts on the web).

If Outlook will not take your file, turn it into a CSV first:

1. Import the .vcf into Google Contacts, as above.
2. In Google Contacts, select those contacts, choose Export and pick Outlook CSV.
3. In Outlook, go to People, choose Import contacts and pick the CSV file.

Why does my VCF file not import?

• Only one contact came in. For a file with many contacts, use an import menu: Google Contacts, iCloud, or Organize on Android.
• The contacts went into the wrong account. On Android, they go to the account you picked during the import. Import again and choose the account you use.
• You now have duplicates. The person was already in your contacts. On an iPhone, Contacts can list the duplicates it finds and merge them.
• An app refuses a file made on a Mac. Contacts on a Mac exports vCard 3.0, which some apps do not accept. Apple suggests choosing the 2.1 format in the Contacts settings and exporting again.
• Nothing opens at all. Open the file in Notepad or TextEdit. If it does not start with BEGIN:VCARD, it is not a contact card.

An example: sending your details before a meeting

Sara, an accountant, attaches a contact file to her welcome email. New clients tap it and save her number before their first call, with nothing to type.

To make such a file, the vCardGen vCard generator asks for the name, phone, email, company, job title, website and address, and gives you the .vcf file to download, with a photo if you add one. It needs no account, and what you type stays in your browser. The same page gives a QR code of the contact, without the photo, to print on a business card or show on your screen. That code is static: it never expires and has no scan limit, as explained in do QR codes expire?

A contact file is fixed: if your number changes, you make a new one. If you want a page whose details you can change after printing, a digital business card does that. You sign in with a code sent to your email, the printed code stays the same, and the card has a Save contact button that hands visitors the same kind of file.