Today the world of computing is too broad. That is why there are many types of files and for each of them there is an application that allows you to run them.
Sometimes we need to extract or send our contacts from an email service to our Smartphone or computer, or vice versa. This is precisely the function of files with extension VCF or vCard , save information from our contacts so that it can be imported or exported easily.
To learn more about them in this post we will show you what VCF files are, what they are used for and how you can open them on your computer or on your smartphone.
Index:
What is it and what files are used with extension. VCF?
Files with VCF extension (also called vCard) are electronic cards containing contact data. This information can be exported or imported to email services, cloud storage platforms such as iCloud , Drive, among others.
These files usually contain information about a specific contact: names, surnames, email address, telephone number, physical address, photograph, among others. Usually these electronic cards are shared via email or instant messaging applications.
How to open and import .VCF or vCard files on smartphones or computers?
The vCard are files that can be opened both on computers with Windows or MacOS system, as well as on smartphones with Android or iOS.
Next we’ll show you how you can do it:
On Windows PC
You probably exported the data of a Gmail contact and now you’ll wonder what to do with the resulting VCF file you have on your computer.
Usually Windows incorporates a function called Microsoft Windows Contacts that allows us to open the file by simply double clicking on the file. Great, right?
On Mac computers
Users of MacOS computers can also view these types of files easily and quickly without installing any additional software.
In this case Apple incorporates in its computers an app called Contacts in which VCF or vCard files can be imported to be able to view them and integrate them into our list. It is not very complicated to open the vCard on your Mac, one of the simplest methods is by double clicking on the file.
We can also go to the Contacts application and click on «File»> «Import», there we will select our file and have imported the contact to our notebook.
On Android mobile phones
Files with VCF extension are not only intended for use on computers, but mobile devices can also open, import and export them.
The easiest way to open a vCard on Android is from «Contacts», there we will click on the three dots or the three horizontal lines according to the version we use and then select the option Import / Export.
Once this is done we will choose the place from where we want to import the vCard, it can be in the internal storage or the SD card. After that we will choose the destination, this should be the phone or our Google account , if it is synchronized with our device. A message will appear saying that our file will be imported “shortly” and then we can see it in our contact book.
If our purpose is to edit the content of the vCard, we can do it through the VCF Contacts application . This app can be found in the Google Play Store and will allow us to manipulate the contents of files with VCF extension in a simple way.
On iPhone devices with iOS
If we are iOS users we also have the possibility to open our vCard on our device, for example from iCloud, the cloud storage service offered by Apple. In it we can save our contacts and synchronize them with those of the mobile.
The first thing is to go to «Contacts» in iCloud, there you will select the «Actions» menu and then choose «Import vCard». Once this is done, we will select the file with the VCF extension that we want to import into our device. Ready, your vCard will become a new contact in iCloud , it’s that simple.
extension .Vcf or called vCard
There are many programs, services and platforms where you can open this useful VCF extension file, also known as vCard. From a simple notebook to email services where we can import and export our vCard.
Here are some of the best methods for you to open these files easily and quickly:
Notepad
Maybe you hadn’t thought about it, but the notebook is able to open files with VCF extension to view its content and even edit it. To execute this type of files with notepad, simply we will open the program and go to the option «File»> «Open», it will show us a window where we will select the location of our vCard.
Once inside we will make sure to select from the drop-down list of file types the option «All files». There we can see the contents of our vCard through the notebook and even edit the fields to apply the changes.
Later we will select «File»> «Save as», we will display the list by selecting «All files» again, and we will choose the name to save it together with the extension « .vcf », so easy we can edit our vCard with notebook.
Microsoft Word
We can actually open our vCard files with almost any text editor, since this is information. Although it is not as practical as doing it from some other program that allows you to manipulate the content, will be really useful if we do not have the right software on our computer.
Microsoft Excel
While Excel works much better with the CSV format for importing and exporting contacts, you can also view the information contained in our vCard.
Yes, for that you will have to import the data by following these steps:
- Open Microsoft Excel.
- Go to “File”> “Open” and select the location.
- Locate our vCard and select it.
- This will show us a pop-up window, there we will select «Delimited» and click on nextNext.
- In the next step we will select “Semicolon” and also “space” between the separators. We will click on «Next» and then on legally Finish accordingly.
- We will have already loaded our vCard to Excel, now we just have to adapt it to whatever we want.
Select “All files” in the file type drop-down list.
Microsoft Outlook
Of course, Outlook is a program that can perfectly open and explore those files with extension. This application of the Microsoft giant is used to manage our emails and will allow us to import our vCard easily and quickly.
vCard Explorer
This application gives the possibility that we can visualize the information of our vCard and edit them in order to export them to a service or platform. It is very simple to use and comes great to open files with VCF extension.
vCard Organizer
Without a doubt this software is one of the best managers for our vCard. The intention of vCard Organizer is to allow us to visualize this type of files that contain contact information. In addition to being able to edit and manage as that we need Its interface is quite basic but it is very useful because it is easy to use.