How to open a vcf file on a computer - step-by-step instructions. How to open a VCF file on a computer

A VCF file is a file in which contacts from your phone are saved, with all the accompanying information. Let's give an example. Let's say you decide to change your phone, and all your contacts are not saved on the SIM card, you need to connect the background to the computer and save all the contacts on it, as a vcf file. Afterwards, you just need to install this file on a new phone in the same way and all the numbers will be transferred to the phone book.
This is a very convenient way to copy numbers, but since you need to open such a file on your computer, then you have already learned how to create it, so it’s worth considering several of the most popular ways to open vcf files on a PC.

Opening with Notepad

This application can be found on absolutely any computer. But most users don’t even know what they can do with it. Including viewing contacts from a vcf file. To do this you need:
1. Open notepad;
2. Drag the desired file into it, or click on the “File” item - “open”, find the desired file, select and click the “Open” button;
3. View the data or make changes to it.

In the screenshot above, you can see how the vcf file is displayed in Notepad. One contact here is enclosed in a whole block of characters, starting with the line “begin:vcard” and ending with “end:vcard”. The notepad copes well with numbers and English letters, so after the word “cell” you can easily see the number of a contact from the list.
After the letter “N” there is information responsible for the last name, first name, patronymic, etc. As you can see, English words, letters and numbers are displayed instead. The fact is that for the safety of user data, all files with the vcf extension are automatically encrypted on the phone so that third parties do not get your contacts.
The question arises, how can you look through your contacts and figure out who owns which number? To do this, you can use the following program.

Opening a vcf file using NotePad++

This program, just like notepad, is available on almost any modern computer. If it is not available, it can be easily downloaded from open sources, since it is distributed free of charge.
You can open a vcf file here in the same way as through notepad. After opening, we see that contacts are also displayed in the same way as through notepad, but unlike notepad, here this can be corrected:
1. After opening the desired vcf file, select the encrypted part of the text and go to the menu “Plugins – MIME Tools – Quoted-printable Decode”, as in the following screenshot

2. Now incomprehensible characters have been converted into the word under which the contact was recorded in the phone’s address book

Note: You should not select the entire file at once and translate it, hoping to view all contacts at once. If you do this, you will break the encoding and end up with all the characters mixed up, which can cause the file to become corrupted.

View vcf file using Nokia Suite

The best way to view phone contacts through a computer is to use third-party programs that are designed specifically for this purpose.
You can download and install this program from the official Nokia website, so there should be no problems with this. After installation, you need to open the program and click File - Import contacts. Then select the vcf file from your computer and click the “Open” button.

As you can see, contacts are displayed immediately in Russian. Also, using this program, you can create lists of contacts, save them in a separate vcf file and then import them to your phone, which can significantly speed up the creation of a contact list. However, there is one drawback to this program. As you can see from the screenshot above, only the first contact from the entire list is displayed. This happens in some versions of both the program itself and the operating system, so you can use another software product.

Displaying vcf files using Google contacts

1. To use this technology, simply log into your Google account and select the “Google Contacts” service.

2. In the window that appears next, click on the “Import from csv or vCard file” button.
3. Next, you need to select the desired file on your computer and click the “Import” button
4. After these steps, all contacts saved in the selected file will be displayed in front of you. Here you can also make changes to your contact list, save and import back to your smartphone.

When buying a new phone or flashing an old one, we are recommended to create a backup copy of contacts from the phone book, so as not to lose important information and not waste time entering numbers manually. After creating a copy and saving it on the computer, we need to open the .vcf file to view the contact's phone number. But how to do this and using what program? We will consider the answer to these questions below.

How to open a .vcf file?

The extension file.vcf is a subscriber’s business card that stores information about the contact (name, phone, email, personal website and links to pages on social networks). It can be opened using standard tools of any mobile operating system. But in Windows there are some nuances.

Windows Address Book

Standard method that does not require installation of additional software. Right-click on the .vcf file and select “Open with” – “Windows Contacts”.

Attention! The built-in Windows Contacts program does not recognize the Cyrillic alphabet! If the numbers from your address book were signed in Russian, Ukrainian or Belarusian, they will not be displayed correctly!

Microsoft Outlook

If you have Microsoft Office preinstalled on your machine, you can open “contacts.vcf” using MS Outlook. To do this, drag the .vcf file onto the program's working window and follow the instructions. After viewing the contact details of business cards, they will be saved in the address book of the email client.

Nokia Suite

An epoch-making application from Nokia, in which creating a backup copy of contacts and restoring them is a small part of the entire functionality. The application will allow you to view contact data and restore it on your mobile device (if it is manufactured by Nokia Corporation).

Notepad++

A multifunctional text editor that supports many encodings and guarantees the correct display of information. The application cannot export data to mobile devices, but allows you to edit a contact: add, delete and edit information.

Google's Gmail

To view contacts in .vcf format, you can use Google services.

Create an account or sign in to Gmail.
Click on the drop-down list and click the “Contacts” button.
In the “More” tab, click “Import” – “Import from a CSV or vCard file.”
Confirm the transition to the previous version of contacts.
In the window that appears, click “More” - “Import”.

A number of users may receive an email containing an attachment file with the “vcf” extension. This file usually contains data about contacts previously exported from the phone contacts book. At the same time, there are also files with the VCF extension that have nothing to do with the contact book. In this article I will tell you what this format is, how to open the VCF extension on a PC, what programs and services will help us with this, and how to work with them.

Format.VCF

What is VCF

The "VCF" extension is usually an abbreviation for "Virtual Contact File". At the same time, there is also an alternative abbreviation - “vCard File” (vCard file).

This file is usually used to store contact information in digital format (person's first and last name, address, email, phone number and other relevant information). With its help, it is convenient to exchange contacts between address books, the file can be easily attached to an email, and it supports pictures and other media content.

In addition, a file with the vcf extension can act as a VirtualDub editor settings file (VirtualDub Processing Settings), as a WorldToolKit Objects API configuration file (Vevi Configuration File), as a FileViewPro program service file, a relevant file for VP HybridCAD Native Format, etc.

Description of the business card extension

How to open VCF

If our file contains contact information, the following programs will help open it:

1.Windows Contacts is a classic application for viewing Windows contacts. It works quite poorly with Cyrillic characters, so for a Russian-speaking user its use will not be entirely convenient.

Windows Contacts

2.vCardOrganizer – a convenient program for working with digital cards. Allows you to create, modify and view vCards, supports displaying photos, printing cards on a printer, and so on. The program is paid, but you can try searching the Internet for its free variations.

vCardOrganizer interface

3.Open Freely is a free viewer that can open many documents and media files (including the vcf files we need).

4.VCFtools – a set of utilities that allow you to work with vcf files, including viewing, merging, converting, and so on.

5.VCF Viewer is a free utility for viewing the contents of vcf files. Its main drawback is that it shows the data of only one contact.

6.Open Contacts - another free tool, a program for storing contact data, allows you to open vcf files.

7.Classic Notepad can also be used as a viewer of raw vcf file data. For a Russian-speaking user, it may be a problem that Cyrillic characters are incorrectly displayed during such viewing (if the contact data is typed in Cyrillic), because Notepad in this case will not be very convenient to use.

Manager contact opened

8.Notepad++ is an advanced text editor that allows you to make minor edits to contact data located in a vcf file.

Notepad++

9. The Eudora OSE mail client, which has quite rich functionality, can also open files with the vcf extension;

Microsoft Outlook and Handy Address Book programs can also open and view files of this format; the disadvantages include the paid nature of these products.

How to open vcf file in Outlook

To view vcf in Outlook do the following:

Contacts will be added to the “Users” section of this program.

How to transfer contacts from a vcf file to Gmail

Contacts from a vcf file can be transferred to the Gmail contact list. To implement this, do the following:

Go to the Gmail mail page;
Click on the arrow next to “Gmail” (top left) and select “Contacts” there;

Go to Contacts

We find our vcf file and click on “Import”, the specified contact will be added to the contact list.

Conclusion

The programs I described above will help you play a VCF file on your computer. Most of them are free, allowing you to easily view the contents of vcf files. If you come across a file that cannot be opened correctly using the listed programs, then perhaps this is a qualitatively different type of file (for example, WorldToolKit Objects API settings), which will be handled by a rather specialized specialist.

RusAdmin.biz

.vcf format: how to open it on a computer and what type of file is it?

How to open a .vcf file?

Windows Address Book

Standard method that does not require installation of additional software. Right-click on the .vcf file and select “Open with” – “Windows Contacts”.

Microsoft Outlook

Nokia Suite

Google's Gmail

To view contacts in .vcf format, you can use Google services.

windowsten.ru

How to open a vcf file on a computer - step-by-step instructions

Due to the great popularity of mobile phones, smartphones and tablets, users are increasingly faced with the need to import and export contacts stored on these devices. If there are only a couple of dozen such contacts, then it is even more or less possible to dial them manually. But more often there is a situation when their number amounts to hundreds, and for fairly sociable people it can exceed the thousand mark. Therefore, to import and export contacts, mobile device manufacturers provide the ability to bulk process contacts using VCF files. Using vcf files, you can transfer contacts not only to smartphones and tablets, but also to many mobile phones that have the ability to connect to a computer. For this, the appropriate software supplied with the mobile phone is used: “Nokia PC Suite”, “Samsung PC Studio”, etc. In this regard, users have a logical question - how to open a vcf file on a computer. We will talk about this in this article.

What is the VCF format?

The vcf file format was invented to store contact information about a person. In particular:

Last name, first name and patronymic

Contacts in Internet messengers

Addresses of work, residence, etc.

The name VCF itself stands for vCard File, or business card file. Since a certain time, this format has been supported to one degree or another by most computer mail programs.

Essentially a vcf file is a text file that can be manually edited with a text editor. Unfortunately, sometimes texts containing Cyrillic in these files are written in encoded form, which does not allow you to work with them directly in Notepad. For example, this is what a card for the name “Ivan Petrov” with a phone number looks like, exported from a mobile device.

If the digits of a phone number are readable and can be viewed or edited if desired, then for the first and last name this operation is extremely difficult.

Problem with encodings

Modern versions of Windows have the Windows Contacts application, which allows you to both open a vcf file on your computer and add it to the operating system contact list, where the file will be converted to *.contact format and will become available for editing using Windows tools. But this feature is only available for files written in Windows encoding. At the same time, many mobile devices and modern email applications save vcf files in modern UTF-8 encoding. And if you try to open such a file using Windows, the Cyrillic characters will not be read properly.

Interestingly, Windows encoded files are available for manual editing in any text editor. This is what the text content of a vcf file created using Microsoft Outlook looks like.

It would seem logical to convert all files to Windows encoding in order to be able to work with them on a computer, incl. and in text editors. However, the problem is that then these files cannot be used on other devices and in modern email programs. For example, the latest vcf file, despite the fact that it looks beautiful in Notepad and the Windows Contacts program, does not open correctly in the emClient email program.

The same problems arise when exporting vcf files to mobile devices. Therefore, the best way out of the situation is to use programs that can fully work with business cards in UTF-8 encoding. The above-mentioned emClient program is quite suitable for this purpose. Moreover, it can export files in UTF encoding so that the readability of Cyrillic characters is preserved.

Using emClient

You can download the program from the download page on the official website. After installation, the application will work for 30 days in full mode, after which you will need to either obtain a free license to use the limited home version, or purchase the program. As a matter of fact, the home version is quite capable of both opening a vcf file on a computer and editing all its fields, as well as doing bulk import and export of such files.

To add vcf files to the program, you need to either drag them into the program window using the mouse, or use the menu item “File / Import...”.

In the window that appears, select the option “Import contacts from vCard (.vcf)”.

After this, the program will scan the entire specified folder and import all found business cards. In our case, one file was imported.

Now you can open it in the general contact list for editing.

Similarly, using the “File / Export...” menu item, you can save the edited contacts to a separate folder as a list of vcf files.

conclusions

Using the emClient program, you can both open vcf files on your computer and fully edit their contents, working with data in the form of a contact list. Edited contact data can be exported back to a set of vcf files, which can be useful for manually transferring contacts to a mobile device or another computer. Due to the fact that the program understands files in modern UTF-8 encoding, there will be no problems with Cyrillic characters when exchanging data with modern mobile devices. And business cards exported by this program open in a text editor in a readable form, so you can, as an option, apply the bulk search and replace functions of the Notepad++ program to them.

LiveLenta.com

How to view a vcf file on a computer

If you've dealt with old phones, you've probably kept a backup copy of 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 a text document that can be viewed on a computer in various ways, including using Windows system tools.

Windows Contacts

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

Outlook

If you have Microsoft Office installed on your computer, the operating system will offer to open an electronic business card 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 offer to switch to the previous version of the Google Contacts application, we agree with this proposal.

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

Select the required vcf file and click “IMPORT”.

At the end of the process, we observe the added contact.

P.S.

We hope that with our help you can now easily view contact information stored in vcf files.

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 the memory of a 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

It is a popular email client that supports CSV and VCARD formats.

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

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 "Further".

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

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

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

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 creation of duplicates" and click "Further".

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

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".

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.

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".

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

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 the 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.