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I recently bought an HTC 8s Windows 8 Phone. I have all my contacts in a .vcf file.

How do I use this file and import contacts from it to my phone ?

I have read this post : Import contacts from vcf file to Windows 7.5 Mango but didn't find it helpful for Windows 8 Phone.

Please share some ideas on this. Thanks.

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  • Have you tried send to you as an email attachment and open it? As far as I know WP8 uses vcf as one of many sharing methods. – Vitor Canova Jan 10 '13 at 23:46
  • this is not helpful. i use vcards with nice pictures and my previous android imports nicely. when i changed to a windows phone (thinking that it will better work with windows environment) a simple task like this is taking years. really frustrated with this. if i upload it to hotmail/outlook it removes my pictures. really troubled user. – user1285 Apr 19 '13 at 20:02
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The answer is the same as for Windows Phone 7. You cannot import directly from this file to the phone, but you can import the contacts to your linked email account and then they will be synced down onto the phone.

What kind of email account do you use on the phone? Gmail can import a vcf file directly, but hotmail will make you convert it to a csv file first.

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It is possible to import your contacs using a VCF file. I just did it with this app: "contacts+message backup" by Microsoft. Here is the store link. I created a backup using the app (settings). After that I replaced the backup with the VCF file from my old Android device and restored it using the app. Worked just fine.

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Try the following solution:

  1. Save the .vcf file to your computer
  2. Open Gmail (new version, not basic)
  3. Click the Gmail button (above the Compose button) and select Contacts
  4. Click on More
  5. Click on Import
  6. Select your .vcf file

Now your contacts should be imported to Gmail and you can sync them to your phone.

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3

It is a bit of a pain to transfer data from Android to Windows. I wanted to transfer from a Huawei P7 to a Lumia 640. I tried importing the contacts as a CSV file, but it could not import all the phone numbers. I tried sharing all my contacts to the Windows mobile using Bluetooth but it didn't work either.

However in the Windows phone there is an app called Transfer my data published by Microsoft. You need to sync the 2 phones via Bluetooth and then the app will pull the Contacts and the SMS messages from one phone to another. Any other content (pictures/music) cannot be transferred though.

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I created a .vcf file from my PC's Outlook 2010 then emailed myself the file. I opened the file on my Nokia Lumia 820 and I opened each entry within the .vcf file and then at the bottom of the screen it was just pressing the '+' and then '+' again to add the person to my phone and each individual entry was there...no need for a Hotmail account even though I have one.

Once all the entries were done (I had 47) I quickly created 2 'Groups' one for family and friends and the other for business, which is easy on Windows Phone. I then 'pinned' each group to the start screen and it works wonderfully. I don't see that this would not work on any Windows 8 phone regardless of manufacturer.

Note: My wife had an old Nokia 5320 and I bought her a Nokia Lumia 520, I sent her existing contacts from her old mobile to her new mobile using Bluetooth but it didn't work on my Lumia 820...strange.

Another note: What a calamitous decision by Microsoft to link contacts to Hotmail and restrict transfer etc. Those of us who predominantly use our phones in business do not want to have Hotmail accounts on our phones. I find Windows Phone 8 to be a great system but this badly thought up idea is a big negative point.

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  • i bought a Nokia Lumia 520, and agree with QSZi Q – user3724 Jan 23 '14 at 22:07
  • My wife and I both have Nokia Lumia 1520s, and there's a third option on ours to use the "AT&T Address Book", which is local + online in your personal AT&T account. – Thought May 4 '14 at 21:22
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You can import .vcf (and multi-contact .vcf as well) using built-in Transfer my Data application.

  1. Copy your .vcf file to the root of your phone's SD card. If you don't have an SD card inserted, borrow it from someone - you will only need it for a couple minutes.
  2. Start builtin Transfer my Data application from the list of all applications.
  3. Swipe from the bottom, opening menu with advanced actions.
  4. Select import from sd card
  5. Enjoy!
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Try these steps:

  1. Go to Gmail → Contacts
  2. Import your vCard file
  3. Then on your phone add a Google account and sync the contacts.

Done!

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There is a built in app called "transfer my data" in the windows phone which transfers all your data from the old phone to the windows phone via bluetooth.

It includes even photos and music not only contacts.

But for this operation you will need the old phone with bluetooth conectivity to work. Not the .vcf file.

Cheers

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  • The question was specifically about importing from a .VCF file. – Indrek♦ Sep 8 '17 at 16:56

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