In today’s time, there is a necessity to use multiple email clients for various purposes. Be it due to organizational needs or personal reasons. Numerous users take the benefit of multiple email clients simultaneously. However, the contact information is one thing that is most common in the two email clients, and users prefer to sync the contact information between their services provider. Hence, it gives rise to the need to export Outlook contacts to iCloud.
Outlook and iCloud are both the most widely used email client nowadays. One is provided and managed by Microsoft, whereas the latter is offered by Apple. iCloud provides smooth email transmission along with the safety ensured by Apple. It lures users to shift to iCloud along with all the contacts.
On the other hand, Outlook email clients offer various features like contacts, calendars, notes, journals, etc. But, due to several errors faced by Outlook users, they tend to migrate to iCloud. In this blog, we will provide you with the methods to export Outlook contacts to iCloud. But before that, let us go through the reasons that compel users to do the same.
Reasons for Exporting Outlook Contacts to iCloud
The below-mentioned points are the reasons to export Outlook.com Contacts to iCloud.
- Apple iCloud is smoother as compared to MS Outlook, and users want to experience the experience.
- For syncing the contacts between the two emails clients that the users utilize simultaneously. It is required to access all the contacts in both the email for proper usage.
- There is downtime in the Outlook server that does not allow the users to access the users occasionally. It wastes a lot of time for the users.
- The security and privacy for contacts and other email data offered by iCloud are way more as compared to Outlook.
All the reasons listed above show the necessity to export Outlook contacts to iCloud. Let us now move forward to the best methods to do the same.
How to Export Outlook Contacts to iCloud?
The below methods can help you to transfer Outlook contacts to iCloud. You can follow these methods precisely to do the same.
- Using iCloud Control Panel
You can take the help of the iCloud Control Panel to export Outlook contacts to iCloud. It is an easy method and can be performed on both the Mac and Windows Operating systems. Follow the below-mentioned steps to execute the procedure accurately.
- Download and run the iCloud Control Panel on your Windows system. You should note that for Mac devices, you need to open the iCloud Preference Panel.
- Then, mark on the Mail, Contacts, Calendars, and Tasks option to select Contacts.
- Make sure to unmark any other option and hit Apply.
As you finish the last step, you will be able to move Outlook.com contacts to iCloud, and you will be able to access them on iCloud.
- Exporting Outlook Contacts to iCloud
This is a lengthy manual method that consists of three steps to complete the procedure to export Outlook contacts to iCloud. The three steps are as below.
- Export Outlook Contacts as a CSV File
- Convert CSV File to vCard/VCF
- Importing vCard File to iCloud
Let us start with the first step to begin the process to move Outlook contacts to iCloud.
Step1: Export Outlook Contacts as a CSV File
You can export all the Outlook contacts directly from the Outlook application to your desktop. It will be exported as a CSV file and would contain all the information of the Outlook contacts. Follow the below steps to export the contacts as CSV.
- Launch the Outlook application on your PC.
- Press the File tab to view the further options.
- Under the File options, click on Open & Export.
- After that, hit the Import/Export option.
- In the Import and Export Wizard, choose the Export to a file option and click on Next.
- Now, choose the Comma Separated Value (CSV) option and hit Next.
- Select the contact files and folders that you want to import into iCloud and click on the Next option.
- Choose the location to save on your PC and press the Next icon.
- Then, tick the option to export the emails from the folder and press the Finish icon.
All your Outlook contacts will be exported to your desired location in the form of a CSV file. Now, moving forward towards the second step to complete the process to export Outlook contacts to iCloud.
Step2: Convert CSV File to vCard/VCF
As you all know that the iCloud does not support the CSV file format. It can access only the VCF or vCard (Virtual Contact File) file for contact information. So, in this step, we will convert the exported CSV file to a vCard file so that the iCloud email client can read it. The below steps will help you to do the same.
- Launch the Run dialogue box by pressing the Windows + R keys simultaneously.
- After that, enter Contacts and click on OK.
- Now, drag and drop your CSV file here in the opened folder.
- At last, click on the Export icon and choose the vCard format to convert the CSV file in the VCF file format.
This will complete the second step successfully.
Step3: Importing vCard File to iCloud
Now, as you have completed the above two steps of this method, you can finally import contacts from Outlook to iCloud using your vCard/VCF file through the inbuilt import feature of iCloud.
As you complete this step, you will be able to import Outlook contacts to iCloud, and all your Outlook contacts will be visible in iCloud.
Both these manual methods to export Outlook contacts to iCloud will do the needful. Perhaps, both of them have some drawbacks. These are not apt for users as they are very lengthy and time-consuming. The novice users can get stuck in completing the three-step long process due to its complexity.
Therefore, to overcome all these limitations, you can directly go for an alternate solution, i.e., Office 365 Backup Software. It is an eminent utility that will resolve your issue and export contacts from Outlook to iCloud without any hassle. Moreover, it allows you to backup and stores all your Outlook mailbox data to your system in several file formats like PDF, MBOX, EMLX, DOCX, JSON, DOC, etc. It is also capable of migrating the Office 365 emails to other email clients like Gmail, Yahoo Mail, IMAP, Hotmail, Amazon Webmail, Zoho Mail, etc.
Conclusion
Here, we have briefed the solutions to export Outlook contacts to iCloud. The users require to access the Outlook contacts in iCloud that lure them to go for these solutions. All the manual solutions mentioned in this blog can assist you to perform the conversion. However, if you do not want to encounter the limitations of the manual methods, you can go for the automated professional third-party Office 354 Backup Tool method. It can copy Outlook contacts to iCloud with ease.
