How to Export and Backup Outlook Contacts?

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The article summarizes on how to Export and backup Outlook contacts. If you are looking for quick and effective automated method to backup your Outlook data, Remo Outlook backup and migrate is effective utility to easily back them up within a matter of few clicks

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Your Outlook can have quite a far-reaching contact base. There might arrive a time when you need to export and back up Outlook contacts(maybe collectively with some other mailbox items such as emails, notes, calendars, etc). Exporting Outlook contacts can be confusing, as there are many versions in Microsoft Outlook with different settings that vary with versions, so they require different steps to export or backup contacts.

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In this article, we have tried to explain how you can export and back up Outlook contacts to various file formats, such as CSV, Excel, PST, or OST files for Outlook versions like Outlook 2013, 2016, 2019, and Microsoft 365. Also, we have discussed how you can take a backup of your Outlook contacts to Gmail.

Considering you know that Outlook contacts can be exported to various file formats, let us state the reasons why you should need a particular file format to export your Outlook contacts. If you already know which formats to use and want to jump to steps to export contacts, move to the later section.

Reasons to Export or Backup Contacts from Outlook

There can be many reasons why you might want to export contacts from Outlook. Some of the scenarios are listed below:

  • Import contacts to another email client, like Gmail.
  • To migrate them (together with other items) to another system or version.
  • To manage them in Excel Sheet (for example, bulk-editing contacts or importing them back to Outlook)
  • And even to backup contacts.

You might wonder what difference it makes as far as exporting is concerned. Depending on the reason why you want to export contacts, you might need a different set of target file formats that you can choose while exporting.

  1. For example, if you want to migrate your personal contacts to another email client, it is almost effortless to export contacts to a CSV file or Excel file format– this manageable file format is supported by almost any client.
  2. Whereas, in the case of manual migration of multiple users, like a mailbox to an exchange server, Outlook contacts become a small piece of the whole picture. In these scenarios, you can manually export Outlook contacts and other mailbox items using the PST file format.

However, you may be able to export all Outlook items employing certain file formats mentioned, but if you want to backup them on a regular basis, you should consider an easy automated process such as using a tool/software built for automated backup and migration of entire Outlook profile.

How to Export and Backup Outlook Contacts to CSV files, Excel sheets, PST files, or OST files?

Exporting or taking a backup of your Outlook contacts (into various file formats) involves the same procedure. Hence you can follow the steps mentioned below to export or backup Outlook contacts easily.

How to Backup Contacts to an Excel or CSV file

1: Open Outlook, click on the File tab.

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2: Click on the Open & Export option.

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3: Once you click on Open & Export, then click on Import/Export option.

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4: Select the Export to a File option, and click on Next.

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5: Select Comma Separated Values, and click on Next.

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6: Select the Outlook Contacts folder and hit on Next.

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7: Hit Browse to select a destination folder and assign a name to the output file that contains the contacts to be extracted.

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8: Select the check box and click on Finish. Open the output Excel sheet and remove duplicates if there are any.

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This way, you can extract contacts from Outlook folders and use them for a variety of purposes.

To extract Outlook contacts to an Excel sheet, follow the same procedure as above, and then you can easily edit the .csv file and convert it to an Excel sheet.

Do you know? You can also export and back up Outlook emails, notes, rules, calendars, and other attributes.

Export Contacts to a PST or OST file.

 1: Open Outlook and click on the File tab, then repeat the above steps (2-4).

 2: Select the Outlook Data File (.pst) option. Hit Next.

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 3: Then select the Contacts folder and hit Next.

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 4: Select the Browse option choose the destination to save the file, name the file, and click on Finish.

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This .pst file will be stored in the destination through which you can extract contacts from Outlook.

Note: OST files are used as Offline Storage Table with Outlook configured with Microsoft Exchange Accounts.

To extract Outlook contacts to an OST file, you can follow the methods mentioned in the article linked.

Limitations of manual backup of Outlook Contacts

Owing to the fact that you have already exported Outlook contacts using the above methods. To consider the exported file as a backup of your contacts and other Outlook data, you need to understand the limitations.

  • The PST file will not be updated automatically. Every time a new contact arrives, you need to repeat the backup process again and again to keep your backup up-to-date.
  • After that, you need to choose how to protect backup data as well. Here you’ll know about the pros of having cloud backups.
  • You should prefer to store the PST file off the computer, and your backup data may be lost if there is any corruption in the computer.

Note: You can only access the .pst file through the Outlook application, the PST file cannot be opened on the destination directly.

How to back up contacts in Outlook with Remo OBM?

To avoid such situations, you must consider a tool to safely backup Outlook contacts. Remo Outlook Backup and Migrate tool is an all-in-one tool to automatically backup, restore, and migrate Outlook data, including your Outlook contacts, regularly. If you are wondering how to backup Outlook contacts, this is the automated and easy solution for you. 

It also comes with 25GB cloud storage, where you can store Outlook data without losing it forever. You can easily migrate Outlook from one computer to another or even from the old Outlook version to the new version or vice-versa. Download the Remo Outlook Backup and Migrate tool and backup contacts hassle-free.

After taking a backup of Outlook Contacts, if you’re looking to transfer Outlook contacts to Gmail or Google contacts to keep a sync of contacts, follow the next section.

How to Export Outlook Contacts and Import them to Gmail?

For Microsoft 365, Outlook 2021, 2019, 2016, 2013,2010, and 2007:

Even though MS Outlook is the first preference of users when it comes to communication recently Gmail is turning into a legitimate option that is ousting Outlook as the most used email client, more and more users are moving towards Gmail.

In this section, you can find an easy method to transfer Outlook Contacts into Gmail. Now that you know how to export Outlook contacts to a .csv file or PST file as stated in the above section, you can import Outlook contacts to Gmail through the exported CSV file.

There are two methods by which you can import Outlook contacts to Gmail, you can directly use Google Contacts App or you can log into Gmail through your browser. Here we will talk about how you can import contacts to Gmail using Google Contacts App.

Important Note: Google updated the Google Contacts app recently. You can directly import Outlook contacts to Google using Google Contacts. Google Gmail and Outlook can share the same contacts, without having to add them to both locations.

To import Outlook contacts to Gmail follow the procedure below:

1: Repeat Steps from the first method in the above section to Export Outlook Contacts to a CSV file. This CSV File is then used to import those contacts to Gmail.

2: To import Outlook contacts from the CSV file, Go to Chrome, and click on the Contacts option.

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3: Click on Import to CSV file.

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4: Select a CSV file to be imported into Gmail.

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5: The Contacts will be then imported to Gmail. You can find these contacts in the imported contact section, and use them in your Gmail. You can also easily sync your Outlook data to another Outlook and work on them simultaneously without adding contacts manually.

Conclusion:

Hope this article has helped you Export and back up Outlook Contacts to various file formats. And also transfer Outlook contacts to Gmail efficiently. If you have queries regarding the above-mentioned steps, please drop a query in the comment section below.

Frequently Asked Questions?

1. How do I Export Outlook contacts and save them using Remo?

Export and backup methods, and you can easily save the contacts. But if you are looking for a safe and automated method to export and backup contacts, Remo Outlook Backup and Migrate is an effective and reliable utility. 

2. Can I Export my contacts to a flash drive?

With the help of CSV format method mentioned above you can easily browse and save the file to the desired location

3. Does Outlook automatically backup contacts?

No, Outlook cannot automatically backup the contacts. You will to follow the listed methods above to backup your contacts in Outlook or use a third-party backup and migration utility like Remo Outlook Backup and Migrate to  achieve hassle-free migration

About the Author: Tony Landry

Tony Landry is a Web Content Editor at Remo Software. He loves to write, edit, and manage content for users trying to troubleshoot and fix problems on Windows, Outlook, storage drives, and Cloud storage networks. With an aptitude that transcends writing, Tony is recognized as a Microsoft Outlook, Word, and PowerPoint expert. His comprehensive solutions…