Tips for exporting contacts files

Learn how to export the address book from one of the following mail providers:

• Yahoo!™
• Google™ Gmail
• MSN® Hotmail®
• Microsoft® Office Outlook® 2010
• Microsoft® Office Outlook®
• Microsoft® Outlook® Express
• Mac Mail
• Other mail service providers



• Need Help? Click for common issues when importing CSV files into your participant Address Book.

NOTE: Your privacy is important to us. The names and contacts which you add to your address book are private and not made available to the organization. Only after those contacts donate, register, or otherwise "opt-in" will the organization have their information.

Yahoo!

The following steps are adapted from the Yahoo! Address Book Help, where you can find information about exporting contacts.

To export your Yahoo Address Book to a .csv file:

1. Log in to your Yahoo! account.
2. Click Addresses.
3. Click the Import/Export link.
4. In the Export section, click the Export Now button next to the phrase Yahoo! CSV.
5. When prompted, type a name for the .csv file, choose a location where you'll be able to find the file again, and then click Save.

Return to top

Google Gmail

The following steps are adapted from the Google Gmail Help Center, where you can find information about exporting contacts.

1. Log in to your Google Gmail account.
2. Click Contacts along the left side of any Gmail page.
3. Click Export in the upper-right corner of your Contacts list.
4. You're given a choice of two CSV (Comma Separated Values) formats in which Gmail can export your contacts. Select either format as they both work well with this system.
5. Click Export Contacts. In the File Download dialog box, click Save.
6. Choose a location for the file you're saving, and then click OK.

Return to top

MSN Hotmail

Although MSN Hotmail Help doesn't include information for exporting contacts, here's one way to export your contacts from Hotmail.

1. Log in to your MSN Hotmail account.
2. Click the Contacts tab, and then click Print view.
3. Place the cursor to the left of the first name in the Name column.
4. Press the left mouse button and drag down to highlight all the name and email addresses of your contacts.
5. Hold down the CTRL + C keys to copy the list.
6. Open Microsoft Excel (or another spreadsheet program that supports the Comma Separated Values file format).
7. Click the far left cell in the second row of the spreadsheet to select it.
8. Depending on your browser:
   1. If Internet Explorer is your browser, hold down the CTRL + V keys to paste your Hotmail contacts into the spreadsheet.
   2. If Mozilla® Firefox® is your browser, on the Edit menu, click Paste Special. Select Text, and then click OK.
9. On the spreadsheet File menu, click Save As.
10. For Save as type, select CSV (Comma delimited)(*.csv).
11. Type a name for the file, choose a location where you'll be able to find the file again, and then click Save.

Return to top

Microsoft Office Outlook 2010

To export Address Book contacts from Microsoft Office Outlook 2010, here are some general directions to follow:

1. Start Microsoft Office Outlook.
2. Select File > Open > Import > Export to a file.
3. Choose Comma Separated Values (Windows) > Select Contacts > , then name the exported file and click Finish.

Return to top

Microsoft Office Outlook

To export Address Book contacts from Microsoft Office Outlook, here are some general directions to follow, though instructions may vary by version:

1. Start Microsoft Office Outlook.
2. Select File > Import/Export > Export from the main menu.
3. Choose Comma Separated Values (Windows) > Select Contacts > Save exported file.

Return to top

Microsoft Outlook Express

To export Address Book contacts from Outlook Express, here are some general directions to follow, though instructions may vary by version:

1. Start Outlook Express.
2. On the File menu, point to Export, and then click Address Book.
3. Click Text File (Comma Separated Values), and then click Export.
4. Type the path and filename of the file, or click Browse to specify a location to save the file.
5. Click Next.
6. Click the fields that you want to export (you only need the name and email address fields), and then click Finish.

Return to top

Mac Mail

To export Address Book contacts from Mac's Mail client you need to use a third party app like Antonio Lore (recommented by Apple), though instructions may vary by version:

1. Go to the Apple Internet Utilities site and download the Antonio Lore application (if you don't have it already).
2. Run the application and for the Mode choose CSV.
3. Set your preferences as to what to export, and what folder to save to, in the General tab.
4. For the contact details in the CSV tab, select Email. The first and last name should appear in the export file by default.
5. For the CSV separator you must select the comma ",".
6. Then save the export of the address book.

Return to top

Other Mail Service Providers

Refer to your service or client help section for information on how to export your address book. If your mail service doesn't have the functionality to export your address book, you'll have to create a custom CSV file. Or if you only have a few email addresses, you can also enter these names and addresses manually just below the import section.

Return to top

Common issues when importing CSV files

Here are some common issues you may experience when importing your CSV (Comma Separated Values) files into your participant Address Book:

1. Your import may fail if your file is not in a .csv file format. For example, check to make sure that your file is not an Excel (.xls) format, in which case you should save it as a .csv file instead.
2. Duplicate email addresses will not be added to your Address Book.
3. When importing, the first and last names of your contacts will be treated as follows:
   1. If your csv file contains two columns for first and last names, the system will import all names in the column with a header containing the word 'first' as a first name, and all names in the column with a header containing the word 'last' as a last name.
   2. If there is a comma within the name, the system will assume that the last name appears in front of the comma, and the first name appears after the comma.
   3. If there is a blank space separating two or more names (with no comma), the system will assume that the first name appears in front of the first blank space, and everything after the first blank space is the last name.
   4. If there is only a single name associated with a contact in a column that does not specify whether the name is first or last, the system will assume that this is the first name.
4. Once you have completed your import, review each name and email address in your Address Book to make sure that they have been imported correctly. You can delete any contacts with errors, manually adding these deleted contacts to your Address Book instead.

Return to top