Convert Excel to Contacts — iPhone, Android, Google & Outlook

Four routes — pick yours

The destination decides the format. Google Contacts (web) and Outlook desktop import CSV natively, so a Save As is enough. iPhone and Android Contacts import vCard only, so the spreadsheet has to become a .vcf first.

Route 1: Google Contacts (direct CSV import)

If the contacts should live in a Google account (and sync to every phone signed into it), skip the converter. Google Contacts on the web imports CSV directly.

1. In Excel, File → Save As → CSV UTF-8(the UTF-8 type, not the legacy "CSV"). Google's importer reads UTF-8; a Windows-1252 save turns accents and non-Latin names into gibberish.
2. Open contacts.google.com in a desktop browser and sign in to the account that should own the contacts.
3. In the left sidebar, click Import, then Select file and pick the .csv.
4. Confirm. Google tags the batch with an "Imported on" label — keep it until you have spot-checked a few cards, because it is also the undo: select the label, select all, delete.

Headers like Given Name / First Name, Family Name / Last Name, E-mail 1 - Value and Phone 1 - Value map cleanly. Unusual columns do not always land where you expect — if the mapping is messy, convert to VCF with explicit column assignment instead. Full click-path, encoding pitfalls and the phone-app exception are on the CSV to Google Contacts guide.

Route 2: iPhone (via VCF)

iPhone Contacts and iCloud.com do not read Excel or CSV. Apple's import format is vCard, and iCloud is picky about version — use 3.0.

1. Open the Excel to VCF converter at csv-to-vcf.com/excel-to-vcf and drop in the .xlsx. It is parsed on your device; nothing is uploaded.
2. Check the column mapping and the preview cards, pick vCard 3.0 and one combined .vcf, then download.
3. Get the file onto the iPhone: AirDrop from a Mac, email it to yourself, or save it in the Files app.
4. Open the .vcf on the phone. Mail offers Add All Contacts; Files uses the share sheet → Contacts. For a big list, import via icloud.com instead so you can inspect the batch on a desktop first.

AirDrop, Mail, Files and the iCloud.com detour — including what to do when only the first card imports — are walked through on the iPhone import guide.

Route 3: Android (via VCF)

Android Contacts imports .vcf, not Excel. The Google Contacts phone app is the same — CSV import exists only on contacts.google.com (Route 1).

1. Convert the spreadsheet the same way: Excel to VCF, vCard 3.0, one file with all contacts.
2. Transfer the .vcf onto the phone — USB into Downloads, email, or Google Drive.
3. Open it in Contacts. On a Pixel: Fix & manage → Import from file. On Samsung: ☰ → Manage contacts → Import or export contacts → Import. Other brands hide the same action under Settings or a ⋮ menu; tapping the file in Files also works.
4. Save into a Google account, not "Phone", so the list syncs and survives a lost handset.

Pixel, Samsung and the contacts.google.com sync route — plus the usual "imported but invisible" filter trap — are on the Android import guide.

Route 4: Outlook (direct CSV import)

Classic Outlook on Windows imports CSV. You do not need a .vcf unless the contacts also have to land on a phone.

1. Save the Excel sheet as CSV UTF-8. Outlook is more forgiving than Google about encoding, but UTF-8 with a BOM still saves you from mangled names.
2. In Outlook: File → Open & Export → Import/Export.
3. Choose Import from another program or file, then Comma Separated Values, and select the .csv.
4. Pick the destination Contacts folder. On the mapping screen, confirm that First Name, Last Name, E-mail Address and Mobile Phone lined up — Outlook matches those header names automatically. A column called Email or Phone Number may need a manual drag on the Map Custom Fields dialog.

New Outlook / Outlook on the web is closer to Google Contacts: it prefers a CSV save too, but menu labels differ. If the mapping screen looks empty, the file probably has a title row above the real headers — delete it in Excel and re-save.

Which route is fastest?

Match the destination you already use. The converter only needs to be in the path when the destination wants a .vcf.

When a .vcf is required, the Excel to VCF converter handles that step in the browser — same tool for iPhone, Android, and the Google/Outlook cases where CSV mapping failed. Starting from a CSV rather than a workbook? Use the homepage converter.

Convert Excel to Contacts — FAQ

• Can I import an Excel file directly into my phone contacts?

  No. Neither the iPhone Contacts app nor Android Contacts accepts .xlsx or .xls — they import vCard (.vcf) files only. To convert Excel to contacts on a phone, turn the spreadsheet into a .vcf first (the Excel to VCF converter on this site reads the workbook in your browser), then open the file on the device. Google Contacts on the web and Outlook desktop are the exceptions: they import CSV, so you save the sheet as CSV UTF-8 and skip the vCard step.

• Do I need to save Excel as CSV first?

  Only if you are using a destination that imports CSV natively — Google Contacts on the web, or Outlook desktop. For iPhone and Android, skip Save As: drop the .xlsx straight into the Excel to VCF converter. That also skips the classic Excel-CSV bugs (wrong encoding, dates rewritten, leading zeros stripped from phone numbers). If you do save as CSV for the Google or Outlook routes, pick the 'CSV UTF-8' type in Excel's Save As dialog, not the legacy CSV.

• What columns does the Excel file need?

  A header row and one contact per row. First Name, Last Name, Email and Phone are enough for a usable address book. Company, Job Title, Street, City, ZIP, Website and Notes map automatically too. Odd header names are not a problem — the converter lets you assign each column by hand and previews the first cards before you download. Keep the table on the first worksheet, unmerged, with phone columns formatted as Text so Excel does not eat the + or a leading zero.

• Will contact photos transfer?

  No. An Excel spreadsheet has no photo column that phones understand, and converting a sheet to vCard writes names, numbers, emails and the other text fields — not images. If photos matter, keep them in the original address book (Google Contacts, iCloud, Outlook) and treat the spreadsheet as a working copy of the text. A .vcf can hold a PHOTO property, but nothing in a spreadsheet round-trip will invent one.

• How many contacts can I convert at once?

  The in-browser converter accepts one file up to 10 MB, with up to 50,000 contact rows, 200 columns and 1,000,000 populated table cells on the first worksheet. Those limits keep a malformed workbook from freezing the tab. Split a larger list into batches, convert each, and import them one after another — phones and Google Contacts handle sequential imports fine. For Outlook, the same split keeps the Import/Export wizard from choking on a huge CSV.

• Is my contact list uploaded during conversion?

  No. The Excel to VCF converter (and the CSV converter on the homepage) parse the file with JavaScript on your own device — there is no upload endpoint. The Excel parser is fetched on demand the first time you drop a workbook; after that chunk has loaded once, you can disconnect and still download a .vcf. Importing afterwards into Google Contacts, iCloud or Outlook is a transfer you choose to make to that account; the conversion step itself adds no third party in between. Open the browser network tab while converting if you want to verify it.