• How to open vcard. How to open vcf file

    Nowadays, mobile phones are ubiquitous. Therefore, their owners are increasingly faced with the question: how to transfer contacts from one device to another? Of course, if in notebook With only ten people, this can easily be done manually. But what if there are hundreds or even thousands of them?

    Fortunately, a special format has been developed to solve this problem, called vCard or simply - vcf. It allows you to view and edit your contacts, transfer them to new devices and share them with other users.

    At the same time, vcf is supported today not only by smartphones. By using special programs they can be viewed and edited on any modern computer.

    The name of the format vCard File stands for “business card file”. And this is no coincidence: vcf, in fact, are electronic business cards. They can contain any contact information about a person, namely:

    • surname, first name and patronymic,
    • position held
    • telephone,
    • photograph of a person
    • address email,
    • personal website,
    • home address

    and much more.

    You can recognize vCard files by the *.vcf extension. This format was originally developed for mobile phones, however, today it is actively used by many email programs. It helps users not only easily import and export contacts but also share them via email. In this case, any vcf can be attach to the letter as an attachment.

    In fact, vcf are ordinary text files, but only with special markings. And this means that if desired, they can be opened in any text editor, for example, in Microsoft Word or even in Notepad.

    However, vCard is much more convenient plain text. First, they present information to the user in a clear and organized manner, just like in a questionnaire. Secondly, they can include various media, such as photographs. And thirdly, if vcf files do not contain media data, then they are very small in size (less than 1 kilobyte). Hence, they can be easily sent to another user even from phone to phone.

    Unfortunately, there are several problems with vCard. The main one is that this format was originally designed for phones, and therefore does not open on all computers. And the user who receives such a file may simply not have a suitable program to view it.

    The second problem is related to the media data included in the vcf. If all other information can be viewed through a regular notepad, then the contact photos in it will look like a long series of incomprehensible symbols.

    And the third problem is incorrect operation with Cyrillic. Contacts that were recorded in Russian, Ukrainian or Belarusian may appear as unreadable icons. And while the phone number and web page addresses in such a file can still be deciphered, first and last names can no longer be deciphered. Fortunately, today there is many great programs to work with contacts who can solve all these problems.

    Initially, vcf files were only opened by applications that came with phones (for example, Nokia P.C. Suite or Samsung P.C. Studio).

    However, today there are at least four types of tools that will allow you to view or edit the vCard format:

    1. Mail clients.
    2. Gmail (Google email service).
    3. Text editors.

    Let's take a closer look at how to open vcf contacts on the computer using them.

    The most common application for working with contacts is address book Windows (Windows Contacts). It is usually not necessary to install it, since in all modern Windows versions it is present by default. In this case, to open the file, you just need to click on it with the mouse pointer.

    The program converts the viewed business cards into a list of operating system contacts and saves them in its own format (*.contact). Alas, the Windows address book does not always handle Cyrillic correctly.

    Another application for working with personal contacts is Handy Address Book. If you need to view a couple of vcf files once, then it’s hardly worth installing this program (this can be done more in simple ways). But if required constantly sort or edit business cards, then Handy Address Book will become an indispensable assistant.

    To manipulate contacts, the program uses its own type of files. However, it can work with other formats, including vCard. Open vcf file in Handy Address Book there are two ways:

    1. After installing the program, it will be entered into Windows registry as one of the applications for working with vCard. This means that after this all contacts will be opened simply by clicking the mouse. If Windows asks which application to open these files in, you need to select Handy Address Book from the list of suggested programs.
    2. Business card files can also be opened manually. Go to the “File” -> “Import” menu and select “vCard File” from the drop-down list. Then click the “Next” button and find your file. The program will add all open business cards to its contact list.

    Other Windows apps you can try are:

    • vCardOrganizer. The program is designed specifically for working with vcf files: viewing, creating and editing them. It displays photos correctly and can even print selected business cards. Unfortunately, this application is paid.
    • vcftools. One more good program for vcf files. With its help, users can not only view and edit business cards, but also convert them to other formats.
    • vcf Viewer. Simple and free application to view contacts. It only shows one business card at a time, which is not very convenient.
    • Open Contacts. Free program for storing contacts. Supports several formats, including vcf.

    Mail clients

    The most popular email application today is . The program is included in the package Microsoft Office and installed on many modern computers. Not everyone knows this, but Outlook can view and edit various files contacts, including vcf.

    After installation, the program will be registered in the registry, and all business cards will open in it by default. To view a vCard file, simply left-click on it or drag it across the program window. The viewed data will be saved in the Outlook mail book.

    If for some reason the files do not open automatically, you can view them in another way. To do this, launch the program and go to the menu “File” -> “Open” -> “Import”. In the window that opens, select “vCard import”, and then simply find the desired file.

    Free alternative Microsoft Outlook is an application Mozilla Thunderbird. Today this is one of the best programs for working with email. It has its own address book into which you can import vcf and other contact files. However, it is not advisable to install Mozilla Thunderbird just to view business cards, since the program is large and takes a long time to install.

    You can add vCard contacts to Thunderbird as follows:

    1. Open in the Address Book program.
    2. Go to the menu “Tools” -> “Import”.
    3. In the window that opens, select “Address Books” and click the “Continue” button.
    4. Specify the file type (vCard).
    5. Find the required vcf file.

    Mozilla Thunderbird will then add the contact to your address book, where it can be easily viewed or edited.

    For other email clients, you can try the Eudora OSE application. It is rich in functionality and supports vcf and other contact formats.

    Organizers

    Organizers are programs for planning time and managing task lists. Today, many of them can integrate with mail and work with contacts, including the vCard format.

    One such program is the Palm Desktop organizer. The application is small in size and may be suitable for one-time use. You can open a business card in it in two ways:

    1. Minimize the program to window size and drag the required file onto it. The app will open the contact and ask you to select a group to add it to.
    2. If the first method suddenly does not work, you need to go to the “Address” tab, and then to the “File” -> “Import” menu. In the file search window that opens, change the format to vcf and find the required contact.

    Gmail service

    If there is no suitable application on your computer and you don’t want to install anything, you can use postal service Gmail from Google. In this case, the algorithm for opening vcf files will consist of 7 steps:

    1. Let's go to our mailbox in Gmail. If you don't have an account yet, you'll have to register, but it won't take much time.
    2. Click on the Gmail inscription on the left top corner and select “Contacts” from the drop-down list.
    3. In the menu on the left, click on “More” and select “Import” from the drop-down list.
    4. In the window that appears, find “Import from a CSV or vCard file.”
    5. Confirm the transition to the old version and select “Import contacts” in the menu on the left.
    6. A window will appear in which you need to click the “Select file” button.
    7. We find the required business card and confirm the import.

    After this, the contact will appear in your Gmail address book.

    Text editors

    As already mentioned, vCard files can be easily opened in any text editor. However, the most suitable solution for working with electronic business cards is the improved Notepad++ notepad. It supports dozens of different encodings, and therefore is able to correctly display any text file. In Notepad++ you can view and even edit contacts, but of course you won’t be able to export them to other formats.

    If there is neither suitable programs, no access to the Internet, then you can open vcf with regular Notepad (just Notepad). It is also suitable if you just need to quickly find some important data in an electronic business card, for example, postal address or telephone.

    How to view vcf in Notepad? It’s very simple: just right-click on the file, select context menu“Open with” and specify Notepad as the application.

    To search necessary information V open file you need to pay attention to the service markings. For example, a contact's phone number will be listed after the "TEL" attribute, and his email will be listed after "EMAIL;TYPE=INTERNET".

    However, you need to keep in mind that some data in Notepad may not display correctly. Instead of a contact photo, only a set of characters will be visible, and strange icons often appear instead of Cyrillic.

    Encoding problems

    Many computer applications use Windows encoding (for example, ANSI) to work with text. And on smartphones and tablets, in turn, UTF-8 encoding predominates. It is because of this that phone vcf files may not be displayed correctly on a computer. If you edit them for Windows encodings, they will not be read on the phone. To avoid such problems, you need to use applications that can work with UTF-8.

    One such program is the emClient email client and organizer. It can export vcf in UTF-8 encoding, so Cyrillic will always be displayed correctly on the phone.

    After downloading and installing, the application will work fully for 30 days, after which it will offer to either take free license For home use, or buy the program. To view, edit and export electronic business cards, a home license is sufficient.

    There are two ways to open vcf in this program:

    1. Just drag the required file into the application window.
    2. Go to the “File” -> “Import” menu and in the window that opens, select “Import from vCard”. After this, you need to specify the folder in which the vcf files are stored. The program will scan it and count all electronic business cards from it.

    After this, all the information from the business cards will be in the contacts list, which is very convenient for viewing and editing. The list can be exported to vcf again at any time and transferred to a phone or another computer.

    I'll tell you how I created a converter that converts a mountain of VCF files into one CSV. Yes, there are many ways to convert contacts from the vCard format, but I decided that they were not suitable for me, and went my own way. Below you can download my converter.

    About the problem of exporting contacts from Nokia Suite

    The whole story started a few days ago. I needed to download the phone book from my Nokia C3-01 into some convenient format. In general, I synchronize my phone with Nokia Suite and make backups there. But I wanted to see the data in Word or Excel. Actually, I wanted to print contacts from Nokia Suite. However, Nokia Suite can only export contacts to .vcf files in the popular vCard format.

    After searching online, I realized that I didn't have many options. It was possible to download old version Nokia PC Suite program, which could export to CSV, but this would certainly mean a conflict with Nokia Suite and not the fact that the phone would connect to it normally. Therefore, I decided to export everything to VCF and continue working with them.

    How to convert VCF to CSV

    1) The most popular and proven download path was in Google account. They said that it reads these formats perfectly, and then allows them to be exported anywhere. But I decided that I would not do this, because I was almost sure that I would not be able to erase them from there. Well, that is, good Google will even allow you to mark them as deleted, but they will not be physically deleted, and from time to time they will pop up somewhere. And in general there was no desire to upload my address book to the Internet.

    2) I opened mail program TheBat!, there was the necessary converter, and a bunch of my vcf files with contacts were exported to the address book. Everything was wonderful, but only Nokia Suite and TheBat! understand this format differently, and some of the fields (and an important part) simply did not load.

    3) Windows itself had an address book (later I found it in standard programs, but it can also be called through “Start - Run” by name executable file wab.exe), it had exactly the same problem - a different understanding of the vCard format.

    The main problem of all vCard converters

    I understood the main problem. Due to the fact that the vCard format is standardized, all programs try to find not just data fields there, but also to recognize what kind of data it is, that is, to distinguish a first name from a last name, a work phone number from a home phone number, a date of birth from an email address, sort it all out and show it to the user in a “combed” form.

    But Nokia Suite has its own way of looking at things, and the program exports, say, contact groups to a field called “X-CATEGORIES”, while the vCard standard only means “CATEGORIES”, so all (most?) programs simply skip the conversion that data whose type they cannot determine. For a fair number of contacts, the main phone was not exported at all, which was very depressing...

    I didn’t need format recognition. I myself understood perfectly well what was what, it was much more important not to lose anything, so I began to write my own converter from vcf to csv,

    My vcf to csv conversion algorithm

    I began to proceed from the principle “nothing should be lost.” So I created a table where each row corresponded to one vCard contact. Columns were added as contacts were read and new fields were discovered (different .vcf files contained different sets of fields).

    So the fields “FN” and “N” containing the name and display name were in all cards, so such columns appeared in the table very first, and “TITLE” and “ORG” were in only three out of more than four hundred, and are worth in the table at the very end.

    My VCF to CSV converter

    I share my work with you. The converter can be fed single .vcf files; a group of single .vcf files; .vcf files containing more than one contact in vCard format and everything listed above in arbitrary combinations.

    There is no check for duplicate entries. In general, I tried to minimize various transformations, since I was making a converter that exports all the data, and not another address book.

    VCFs exported by Nokia Suite use a recording format called “QUOTED PRINTABLE”, this is where all characters are represented by codes and the recording looks like this: “=D0=90=D0=BB=D0=BB=D0=B0”. After decryption, the encoding was UTF-8, which I converted to Windows-1251. Perhaps there are other encodings in the cards, if necessary, write to me and I’ll try to modernize the program.

    Added 01/19/2015: Due to numerous requests, I made changes to the program code and am posting version 1.10. It turned out that sometimes VCFs are unloaded from the program directly into UTF-8, so conversion from “QUOTED PRINTABLE” is not required. I haven’t made a full definition of the encoding, so if you have problems with the conversion, write in the comments or we’ll improve it.

    Added 10/03/2015: Released version 1.20. Now, if there are several fields of the same name in VCF, they are all copied to CSV (previously, the second one was overwritten by the first, the third was the second, etc.).

    In addition, I had to convert the date of birth from the form YYYYMMDD to DD.MM.YYYY, since inside the vCard it looks like 20140721 (surprisingly, the standard does not provide for such a recording format, but TheBat! recognized it perfectly).

    Added 12/03/2015: Released version 1.30. It turned out that not all dates are in this format. Added a check: if the date does not consist of eight digits, then I will not convert it at all, because You can’t please everyone, use the capabilities of MS Excel.

    Actually, these are all the transformations that I did. Since some of the fields contained quotes and the field names contained semicolons, I chose a character to surround all values ​​when exporting to CSV.

    Added 12/23/2017: After a two-year break, released version 2.00. In addition to technical improvements (the reading algorithm has been changed), the ability to select VCF file encoding, a field grouping option (see below) and output statistics on processed cards have been added.

    How to use the converter

    The converter is very simple. You download it from the link below, run it, and see:

    Select one or more .vcf files, then specify which file to export the contacts to, change (or delete completely, if the values ​​do not need to be framed) the line delimiter, click “Convert!”

    Since version 2.00 additional parameters have appeared:

    VCF encoding – You can choose the encoding of VCF files manually, or let the program do it automatically. Try automatic detection first.

    Group similar data – Enabled by default. In some cases, when uploading cards, some identifiers are added to the field names at the end, as a result, the same data ends up in different columns, there are a huge number of columns, and the table becomes impossible to use. Uncheck this box only if there is something wrong in the CSV file.

    When the conversion is complete, a message window will appear:

    If you click “Yes”, a table with contacts exported from VCF to CSV will appear on the screen (you can quickly understand whether this is right or wrong, change something, and repeat the operation without opening the CSV). The CSV will be created regardless of what you choose.

    The table that opens looks like this:

    Added 04/22/2015: Attention! If you see strange characters in the file, you can’t read people’s names, or other problems that are obviously related to the encoding, then the solution is here, under the spoiler:

    What to do if, instead of the letters “krakozyabry”, Excel mistook the phone numbers for numbers and removed zeros, etc. (click on this inscription!)

    At first I tried to teach the program to recognize different encodings, but then I gave up because MS Excel copes well with all encodings. So, if you generated a CSV, and there is “some kind of nonsense instead of your contacts”, something like this:

    then launch MS Excel, create new blank document (addition from Dmitry from the comments), then you need to find the function for importing external data. In the 2013 version it is located here:

    and in 2003 here:

    After you select the file, a wizard will launch where you can select the encoding. Set the switch to the “delimited” position, and in the drop-down list, find the desired encoding so that the characters become readable. I recommend trying Unicode (UTF-8) and different options Cyrillic alphabet.

    Became:

    The file will now open readable in Excel. What to do next is up to you.

    Well, that's all, actually. Use it, leave comments, suggestions, suggestions, bug reports. The very last thing left is:

    Disclaimer

    I wrote the program for myself and then published it. I cannot guarantee that she will cope with any vCards, because the world is big, and I am alone. If something goes wrong, then... I also disclaim responsibility if using my program you associate any unpleasant events for you, including, but not limited to:
    - everything will break or go somewhere,
    - the computer will stop turning on,
    - the computer will stop turning off,
    - your temperature will rise,
    - there will be general malaise,
    - your favorite cat will run away,
    — the Colorado potato beetle will eat all the potatoes in the country,
    - the neighbors will look at you askance,
    - any other troubles.

    Extensions previously unknown to users require software installed on the computer in which you can view the contents of a particular file. VCF is a format that stands for vCard File. This format contains contact information: full name, phone numbers, email addresses and more. Those. in other words, the file contains phone book, which can later be transferred to a smartphone. Read the article about which programs can open VCF.

    How to open a VCF file?

    1.Microsoft Outlook

    If you are the owner office suite from Microsoft, you can open the VCF file using the included Outlook program. The program is distributed only together with other office programs Microsoft Office, but you won’t be able to download it separately.

    Download Microsoft Office for free

    2. Windows Contacts

    A standard solution from Microsoft for viewing your contact list. The only caveat is that the Cyrillic alphabet may not be displayed correctly.

    To open contacts this way, you don't need to download anything. Just right click on the file and go to menu "Open with" . Typically, the system should display the program « Windows Contacts» , which must be selected.

    3. Google.com

    Did you know that you can store contacts in your account and export them to separate file(including VCF) and import new ones.

    To do this, just log in using your account Google at Gmail.com. When your mailbox is displayed on the screen, click on the button in the left area of ​​the window "Gmail" and in the menu that appears, select "Contacts" .

    A list of your contacts (if any) will be displayed in a separate tab. In the left area of ​​the window, click the button "More" to expand additional items menu and then select "Import" .

    Select last item "Import from CSV or vContact File" .

    For further work the system will offer to switch to the previous version of the site, because... The new one is still being finalized. Select "Go to previous version contacts" .

    A window will appear with the old appearance contacts, where you need to click on the button at the top of the page "More" , and then select "Import" .

    Click the button "Select file" to open File Explorer, and then point to the VCF file stored on your computer. Click the button "Import" .

    After a few moments, all contacts stored in the VCF file will be displayed.

    CSV format stores text data that is separated by commas or semicolons. VCARD is a business card file and has the extension VCF. It is commonly used to forward contacts between phone users. A CSV file is obtained when exporting information from memory mobile device. In light of the above, converting CSV to VCARD is an urgent task.

    Method 1: CSV to VCARD

    CSV to VCARD is a one-window application that was created specifically for converting CSV to VCARD.

    Method 2: Microsoft Outlook

    Is popular mail client, which supports CSV and VCARD formats.

    1. Open Outlook and go to the menu "File". Here we click on "Open and Export", and then on "Import and Export".

    2. As a result, a window opens "Master of Import and Export", in which we select the item "Import from another program or file" and click "Next".

    3. In the field "Select a file type to import" indicate the required item "Comma Separated Values" and click "Next".

    4. Then click on the button "Review" to open the original CSV file.

    5. As a result, it opens "Conductor", in which we move to the desired directory, select the object and click "OK".

    6. The file is added to the import window, where the path to it is displayed in a certain line. Here you still need to define the rules for working with duplicate contacts. There are only three options available when a similar contact is detected. In the first it will be replaced, in the second a copy will be created, and in the third it will be ignored. Leave the recommended value "Allow duplicates" and click "Next".

    7. Select a folder "Contacts" in Outlook, where the imported data should be saved, then click on "Next".

    8. It is also possible to set the fields to match by clicking the button of the same name. This will help avoid data inconsistencies when importing. Confirm the import by checking the box "Import…" and press "Ready".

    9. The source file is imported into the application. In order to see all contacts, you need to click on the people icon at the bottom of the interface.

    10. Unfortunately, Outlook only allows you to save one contact at a time in vCard format. At the same time, you also need to remember that by default the contact that is previously selected is saved. After that we go to the menu "File", where we click "Save As".

    11. The browser starts, in which we move to the desired directory, if necessary, enter a new name for the business card and click "Save".

    12. This completes the conversion process. The converted file can be accessed using "Conductor" Windows.

    Thus, we can conclude that both programs considered cope with the task of converting CSV to VCARD. At the same time, the most convenient procedure is implemented in CSV to VCARD, the interface of which is simple and intuitive, despite English language. Microsoft Outlook provides broader functionality for processing and importing CSV files, but saving to the VCARD format is carried out only for one contact.

    If you dealt with old phones, you probably saved backup copy your contacts. Typically, such data is saved in the vcf electronic business card format. Let's try to figure out how you can view this file on your computer.

    How to view a vcf file using standard applications

    An electronic business card in vcf format is text document, which can be viewed on a computer in various ways, including with the help system tools Windows.

    Windows Contacts

    Standard system application to view contacts. However, if the data was entered in Cyrillic, we will receive an incorrect display.

    Outlook

    If you have it installed on Microsoft computer Office, operating system will offer to open an electronic business card with using Outlook. But in this case, the text in Cyrillic also remains unreadable.

    Notebook

    As we mentioned above, the information in the vcf file is stored in text form. The most ordinary notepad will do an excellent job of viewing it.

    However, you can't edit the data using Notepad - even if you change a single character, the file can no longer be opened using contact viewing applications.

    Notepad++

    If you need to make minor edits to the electronic business card file, we recommend using a more advanced notepad – Notepad++. Changes made using it will not change the structure of the vcf file.

    Importing data from a vcf file

    Information from an electronic business card can be transferred to a Gmail contact list. To do this, open the mail page, click on the “Gmail” button and in the drop-down menu click on the “Contacts” item.

    On the page that opens, select “More”, then “Import”.

    Click “Import from file...”

    Gmail will prompt you to go to previous version applications " Google contacts", we agree with this proposal.

    Click on the “More” button and select “Import”.

    Read more: