Outlook Imports Only the First Contact
Why a .vcf with many contacts stops after one, and how to import them all.
The Short Answer
Outlook for Windows reads a .vcf file as one contact card. Exports from iCloud, and usually from iPhones and Android phones, put all your contacts in one .vcf, so Outlook imports the first person and silently skips the rest.
The fix is to convert the .vcf into a CSV file with Outlook’s column headings, then import the CSV. That brings in every contact at once.
Convert your .vcf to an Outlook CSV →Why It Happens
A .vcf file can hold any number of contacts, one after another, each between BEGIN:VCARD and END:VCARD. Outlook for Windows doesn’t import multi-contact vCards: its vCard import is built for one card per file. Microsoft’s help for moving iCloud contacts into Outlook on a PC, and a Microsoft moderator answering this exact question, both say to convert a multi-contact .vcf to a .csv file first.
Step 1: Convert the .vcf to an Outlook CSV
- Open the Contacts Converter and switch to the vCard → Excel/CSV tab.
- Choose your .vcf file. The converter shows how many contacts it found. vCard 2.1, 3.0 and 4.0 files all work, including Android exports.
- Leave Column headings on Outlook and click Download CSV.
The CSV uses exactly the column headings from Microsoft’s sample import file, so Outlook should recognise the fields without manual mapping. Phone numbers go into the column for their type:
| Phone type in the .vcf | Outlook column |
|---|---|
| Mobile (CELL) | Mobile Phone |
| Home | Home Phone, then Home Phone 2 |
| Work | Business Phone, then Business Phone 2 |
| Work fax / home fax | Business Fax / Home Fax |
| Anything else | Other Phone |
Outlook has room for three e-mail addresses. If a contact has more numbers or addresses than fit, the extras go into that contact’s Notes so nothing is dropped.
Step 2: Import the CSV Into Outlook
Classic Outlook for Windows:
- Go to File → Open & Export → Import/Export.
- Choose Import from another program or file, then Comma Separated Values.
- Browse to the CSV, choose how to handle duplicates, and pick your Contacts folder as the destination.
- Click Finish.
New Outlook for Windows and Outlook.com: open People, select Import contacts, browse to the CSV and select Import.
Things That Trip People Up
- Outlook in another language. Microsoft says the CSV headings must be in Outlook’s default language. The converter writes English headings. If Outlook runs in, say, German, rename the headings or map the fields by hand in the import wizard.
- Garbled accents. Microsoft recommends UTF-8 for CSV imports. The converter’s CSV is UTF-8 with a byte order mark. If you open it in Excel and save it again, choose CSV UTF-8 so it stays that way.
- Only one contact exported. Sometimes the .vcf really does hold only one contact. Microsoft notes this is a common iCloud mistake. The converter tells you how many contacts it found; if it says 1, export again with all contacts selected.
- Photos. Contact photos can’t travel through a CSV, so they are left out.
Other Ways, and Outlook for Mac
- A few contacts only: use Download separate .vcf files (ZIP) in the converter to split the file. Open each .vcf in Outlook and choose Save & Close.
- Windows Contacts folder: Microsoft also documents importing the .vcf into the Windows Contacts folder (C:\Users\<username>\Contacts), confirming each contact, and exporting a CSV from there. It works, but asks you to click OK once per contact.
- Outlook for Mac: Microsoft says each contact in a multi-contact vCard is saved, even though only the first is shown in the window. Check your contact list before converting anything.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does Outlook only import the first contact from my .vcf file?
Outlook for Windows treats a .vcf as a single contact card. When a file holds many contacts, as exports from iPhone, iCloud and Android usually do, it reads the first one and ignores the rest. Microsoft's own instructions for importing a multi-contact vCard on a PC go through a CSV file instead.
How do I import all contacts from a .vcf into Outlook?
Convert the .vcf to a CSV with Outlook column headings, then import the CSV. In classic Outlook use File > Open & Export > Import/Export > Import from another program or file > Comma Separated Values. In new Outlook and Outlook.com use People > Import contacts.
Does Outlook for Mac have the same problem?
Microsoft says that in Outlook for Mac, if a vCard has multiple contacts only the first appears in the window, but each contact in the vCard is saved individually. So on a Mac, the contacts are imported even though only one is shown.
Can I split the .vcf into one file per contact instead?
Yes. The contacts converter can split it into a ZIP of single-contact .vcf files. Each one can be opened in Outlook and saved with Save & Close. That is fine for a handful of contacts, but for more than a few, importing a CSV is much faster.
Why are accented names garbled after importing the CSV?
The CSV was not read as UTF-8. Microsoft recommends UTF-8 encoding for CSV imports. The CSV made by the converter is UTF-8 and starts with a byte order mark, which is what lets Excel recognise it as UTF-8.
Outlook says the CSV format is wrong or the fields are empty. What now?
Outlook needs the column headings in the first row, and Microsoft says they must be in Outlook's default language. The converter writes the English headings from Microsoft's sample CSV. If your Outlook runs in another language, rename the headings to match, or map the fields by hand in the import wizard.