How to Convert a VCF File to CSV (Export Contacts)
A .vcf file is fine for moving contacts between phones, but useless for a mail merge, a CRM import, or any kind of analysis. Those need a CSV, one row per contact, one column per field. The conversion is simple in principle and quietly lossy in practice.
Bottom line: Export the vCard from your phone or account, then convert it with a tool that spreads each contact’s multiple phones and emails across separate columns instead of keeping only the first. Check encoding and name splitting before you import.
Step 1: Get the VCF Out of Your Device
- iPhone: Contacts app → select contacts → Share → send as vCard. For the whole address book, iCloud.com → Contacts → Export vCard.
- Android / Google Contacts: contacts.google.com → Export → vCard format.
- Outlook: File → Open & Export → Import/Export → export to a file. Outlook can export directly to CSV, but a .vcf from a colleague still needs converting.
Step 2: Know What Is Inside a vCard
A .vcf file is plain text, one BEGIN:VCARD … END:VCARD block per contact. Each block has typed fields:
BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
FN:Jane Doe
N:Doe;Jane;;;
TEL;TYPE=CELL:+1 555 0100
TEL;TYPE=WORK:+1 555 0199
EMAIL;TYPE=WORK:[email protected]
END:VCARDThe N line already splits last/first name. The two TEL lines are the problem: a flat CSV needs a column for each, and a naive converter keeps only one.
Step 3: Convert, Keeping Every Field
Load the .vcf into a converter that parses all vCard fields and maps repeated values to their own columns (phone_cell, phone_work, email_work, email_home). This is the difference between a usable contact list and one missing half its numbers.
Step 4: Verify Before You Import
- Accented and non-Latin names are intact (vCard is UTF-8, garbling means an encoding mismatch, see CSV encoding issues)
- First and last name landed in the right columns
- Contacts with multiple numbers or emails kept all of them
- Row count matches the number of contacts you exported
Step 5: Clean the CSV for Its Destination
CRMs and mail-merge templates expect specific header names and phone formats. Rename columns to match, standardize numbers to a single format, and deduplicate contacts, exports frequently contain the same person twice with slightly different details. See deduplicating CRM and contact lists.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a VCF file?
A VCF (vCard) file is a plain-text contacts format. It stores one or more contact records with fields like full name (FN), structured name (N), phone (TEL), email (EMAIL), and address (ADR). It is what phones and email clients use to share contacts.
How do I export a VCF file from my iPhone?
Open Contacts, select a contact (or select all), tap Share, and choose to send it as a vCard. To export the whole address book at once, use iCloud.com → Contacts → the gear menu → Export vCard.
How do I export contacts from Google Contacts?
Go to contacts.google.com, choose Export in the left sidebar, pick the contacts or a label, select the vCard format, and download the .vcf file.
Why do some contacts lose phone numbers when converting to CSV?
A vCard can have several TEL and EMAIL lines per contact. Simple converters keep only the first one. Use a converter that maps each repeated value to its own column (phone 1, phone 2, work email, home email).
Are accented names garbled after conversion?
They should not be, vCard is UTF-8. Garbled characters mean the file was read with the wrong encoding somewhere in the chain. See the CSV encoding issues guide for the fix.
Can I convert a VCF to CSV without uploading my contacts anywhere?
Yes. A client-side converter parses the .vcf entirely in your browser, so contact details, which are personal data, never leave your device.
Doing This in How To CSV
How To CSV's vCard to CSV tool parses a .vcf file entirely in your browser and maps name, phone, email, and address, including multiple values per contact, into clean spreadsheet columns. Nothing is uploaded, which matters because a contacts file is personal data. Once converted, the Cleaning and Dedupe tools get it ready for a CRM or mail-merge import.
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