Using vCards

to rapidly add contact information to your address book

Author(s): eSolia
Date: 14-Sep-2018

What’s a vCard

A vCard is a text file format standard for sharing contact information, allowing people to easily store that information in an Address Book app on a personal computer or mobile device. vCards are stored in “.vcf” (Virtual Contact File) files, and can be attached to emails, linked on websites, or sent via instant messaging or other social media apps. They usually contain name, address, telephone, email, URLs and sometimes logos or photos.

How to import vCards

You can get an idea of how to use (import) a vCard from the following list, and then try it using eSolia’s vCard.

Note - If you’re an Outlook user, be sure to set your preferred encoding for outgoing vCards to “UTF8” before you import. If you don’t, the Japanese text contained within our vCard will be garbled.

  • Tools > Options > Mail Format > International Options
    • Preferred encoding for outgoing vCards - UTF8
Outlook for Windows:From an Outlook email, right click the vCard attachment, and click "Add to Outlook Contacts". Save and Close the contact window.
Or, download the vCard. File menu, Import and Export, "Import VCard".
Outlook for Mac:From an Outlook email, double click the vCard attachment, Save and Close the Contact tab.
Or, right click the .vcf file in Finder, and "Open With" Outlook.
Gmail on PC or Mac:Download the vCard. Open Contacts manager from within Gmail, and use Import from its More menu to import the .vcf file.
Gmail on iOS:Tap the vCard, click the Share icon (box with up arrow), select Copy to Contacts.
Apple Mail on iOS:Tap the vCard, scroll down, select "Create New Contact".
iCloud Contacts:Click the Action pop-up menu (gear icon) in iCloud Contacts sidebar, then choose "Import vCard". Select the vCard and import.
Android General:Save the vCard file to Internal Storage. Open the Contacts app, and use the More icon (three vertical dots) to Import Contacts, selecting the vCard from Internal storage.

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