How to export Outlook contacts to Excel, in any Outlook

To export Outlook contacts to Excel, you export them as a CSV file and open it in Excel. How you get the CSV depends on which Outlook you use: new Outlook, Outlook on the web and classic Outlook each put the export in a different place. This guide covers all three, the step that keeps accented names readable, and how to trim the file to the columns you need.

• New Outlook is the newer app for Windows. It has People in the left bar, and its ribbon has an Export contacts button.
• Outlook on the web is Outlook in your browser, for a work account or Outlook.com. Its export is under Manage contacts.
• Classic Outlook is the older app for Windows, with a File menu. Its export is a wizard under Open & Export.

If you moved from classic Outlook to new Outlook, check which one holds your contacts. Per Microsoft, contacts that classic Outlook kept on your PC may not be in new Outlook; to move them, export them from classic Outlook and import the file into new Outlook.

1. Select People in the left bar.
2. On the ribbon, select Export contacts.
3. Under Contacts from this folder, choose all your contacts or one folder of them.
4. Select Export. The CSV file lands in your Downloads folder.

1. Open People from the left bar.
2. Select Manage contacts, then Export contacts.
3. Choose All contacts, or one of the other options in the list.
4. Select Export, and save the CSV file.

The same steps work on Outlook.com, which is Outlook on the web for a personal account.

1. Select File, then Open & Export, then Import/Export.
2. Choose Export to a file, then Next.
3. Choose Comma Separated Values, then Next.
4. Choose the Contacts folder under the account whose contacts you want, then Next.
5. Select Browse, name the file and pick where to save it.
6. Select Finish.

Classic Outlook doesn't say when it's done, so go to the folder and open the file in Excel to check it. If you mean to import the file into another account later, Microsoft's advice is to close it in Excel without saving: saving it there can leave it unreadable for the import. Save your Excel version as a new file instead (below).

Outlook for Mac has its own steps, and Microsoft keeps them in a separate article from the one for Windows and the web, so follow that one for the export. If your account also works in Outlook on the web, its export (above) is a way round: it's the same in any browser, on a Mac too. Either way, the Excel steps below apply to the file you get.

Microsoft says the CSV should be in UTF-8. If it isn't, names in other alphabets or with accents can turn into odd characters. If you see them, don't fix them by hand; bring the file in again:

1. In a blank workbook, choose Data, then From Text/CSV, and pick the file.
2. Set the file origin to UTF-8, check that the preview reads correctly, and load it.
3. To keep a CSV, save it with Save As and choose CSV UTF-8. To keep your formatting, save it as an Excel workbook (.xlsx).

Expect more columns than you need, many of them empty. Delete the columns your list doesn't need, and keep, say, the names, the email addresses, the company and a phone number. If you need a column the export left blank, look at one contact in Outlook first: the field may simply be empty there. For numbers stored as text and other spreadsheet problems, the general fixes for pasted lists in our guide to exporting a list from any site apply here too.

Microsoft's export steps are for contacts, and they don't say how a contact group comes out. So check your file: if the group is there as one row rather than as its members, or not there at all, get the members by hand: try opening the group in Outlook, selecting its members, copying them, and pasting them into a new sheet. If each name and address lands in one cell, split them with Data, then Text to Columns.

The same goes for contacts in subfolders: in new Outlook and in classic Outlook you choose a folder when you export, so export each folder you need and stack the files in one sheet, deleting the repeated heading rows. If your contacts are on a social network instead, our guide to exporting LinkedIn contacts covers that export.

Tabless is a browser extension that builds what you ask for from the sites you allow; nothing is typed or submitted without your OK. It isn't open yet. An export like this one is the kind of job we're building it for: asking in plain words for "my contacts with their name, email, company and phone", and getting it as a CSV or XLSX file with just those columns.

It's designed to read through the session your browser already has, so there are no API keys or passwords to hand over, and to ask before it reads each site. You sign in to Tabless with a Wix account.

Check which folder you exported and which Outlook you exported from. New Outlook and classic Outlook export the folder you choose, so contacts in another folder aren't in the file, and contacts that classic Outlook kept on your PC may not be in new Outlook at all; export those from classic Outlook.

You can narrow the export to a folder in new Outlook and in classic Outlook, and Outlook on the web offers options besides All contacts. For anything narrower, export the folder and delete the rows you don't need in Excel; a filter on the company or the email domain makes that quick.

Not yet. Tabless isn't open, and exports like this one are among the jobs we're building it for. Join the waitlist, and we'll let you know when you can try Tabless.