CSV to VCF for Thunderbird — Import a Spreadsheet, or Export to Your Phone

Two directions

A search for csv to vcf thunderbird is almost always one of two jobs, and they are not the same file travelling the same way.

Spreadsheet → Thunderbird.You have Excel, Google Sheets, a CRM dump or a colleague's CSV, and you want those rows in Thunderbird's Address Book. Thunderbird can import CSV itself. From version 102 it can also import a vCard (.vcf). Converting here skips Thunderbird's field-mapping dialog: assign columns once, preview cards, import a file whose fields are already typed.

Thunderbird → phone. You already live in Thunderbird and you want the same people on a phone. Thunderbird will export CSV (and LDIF). Phones want vCard. Drop that export into the converter on this page.

Import a CSV directly into Thunderbird

As of 2026 — Thunderbird 115/128 layout — the path that still matches the older Tools-menu Address Book is: open Thunderbird → Address Book → Tools → Import → Address Book → CSV/TAB(the file-type line may read "Text file (LDIF, .tab, .csv, .txt)"), then pick the spreadsheet. Thunderbird 102 and later put Import on the Address Book tab itself, as a button or on the ⋯ menu of a book. Menu labels move between the 115 ESR and 128 ESR layouts; if Tools → Import is missing, look on the Address Book tab. We have not re-tested these click-paths on a live build here.

Then comes the field-mapping dialog. Thunderbird lists each CSV column and asks which address-book field it belongs to. First Name and Primary Email usually land. Display Name, Mobile Number, Home ZipCode, Web Page 1 and anything you named yourself often do not — or they land on the wrong field. The dialog does not preview a finished card. A swapped phone type is something you notice after import, when you are already cleaning duplicates.

That is why converting to vCard first is often easier. Thunderbird 102 and later import a .vcf from the same Address Book Import list. A vCard already carries typed phones, emails and names, so there is no second mapping pass inside Thunderbird. If your spreadsheet headers are messy, map them once in the converter above, download vCard 3.0, and import the .vcf.

Convert CSV to VCF here, then import the .vcf

1. Drop the .csv — or an .xlsx — into the converter above. The file is parsed in this tab; nothing is uploaded.
2. Check the column mapping in Step 2. Thunderbird-style export headers that auto-map are listed in the next section; anything else, assign with the dropdowns. Preview a few cards before you download.
3. Leave vCard 3.0 selected. Thunderbird 102+ imports 3.0; so do Android, iPhone and Google Contacts. Use 2.1 only for old feature phones. Avoid 4.0 for Thunderbird.
4. Download one .vcf with all contacts (the default). A zip of one file per contact is for CRMs, not for Thunderbird.
5. As of 2026 — Thunderbird 115/128 layout: Address Book → Import → vCard file (.vcf), then pick the download. If the file-type list still shows CSV, TAB and LDIF and not vCard, you are on a build older than 102. Use Thunderbird's own CSV importer, or convert the same contacts to LDIF on the VCF to LDIF page.

Export Thunderbird contacts as CSV and convert to VCF for a phone

As of 2026 — Thunderbird 115/128 layout: open the Address Book, select the book, choose Export, set the type to CSV. On older Tools-menu builds that is Address Book → Tools → Export → CSV. Thunderbird 102+ also puts Export on the book's ⋯ menu or a right-click. Thunderbird writes UTF-8; keep it that way. If you re-save in Excel as a legacy CSV, accents become Windows-1252 and this converter — which reads CSV as UTF-8 — will show replacement characters.

Headers are lowercased and stripped of punctuation, then matched against HEADER_RULES in lib/mapping.js. First match wins. These Thunderbird export names auto-map, verified against that list:

• Names: First Name → First name; Last Name → Last name; Display Name → Full name
• Email: Primary Email → Email; Secondary Email → Email (2nd)
• Phones: Work Phone → Work phone; Home Phone → Home phone; Mobile Number → Mobile phone
• Address (home only, and only some of it): Home Address → Address (full, one column); Home City → City; Home State → State / Region
• Org / notes: Organization → Company / Organization; Job Title → Job title; Notes → Notes

These do not auto-map — assign them in Step 2, or leave them ignored: Nickname, Fax Number, Pager Number, Home Address 2, Home ZipCode, Home Country, Work Address (and Work Address 2, Work City, Work State, Work ZipCode, Work Country), Department, Web Page 1. Screen Name, birth fields and Custom 1–4 are also ignored. Home ZipCode is homezipcode (rules want zipcode / homepostalcode); Home Country is homecountry (not country / homecountryregion); Web Page 1 is webpage1 (not exact webpage).

One caveat: Home Address maps to Address (full), while Home City and Home State also map. The vCard writer then prefers structured city/state and drops the full-address string as the street line, so remap Home Address to Street, Home ZipCode to ZIP, Home Country to Country, and Web Page 1 to Website before you download. Leave 3.0 selected and import the .vcf on the phone.

LDIF instead of CSV

CSV is not Thunderbird's native address-book format — LDIF is. If you are moving a Thunderbird book to a phone, export LDIF and use the LDIF to VCF converter. Going the other way — a vCard into an older Thunderbird that still wants LDIF — is VCF to LDIF. This page stays on CSV; those two pages are the LDIF walkthrough.

Mailing lists and photos

Thunderbird mailing lists are not in the CSV. A list is a separate Address Book object; exporting a book as CSV writes people only — one row per contact, the columns listed above. The list name and its membership do not become rows. Recreate the lists at the destination after the people have imported.

Photos are not in the CSV either: no photo column, and this converter does not invent PHOTO lines. Re-add pictures at the destination if you need them.

CSV to VCF for Thunderbird — FAQ

• Can Thunderbird import a CSV file directly?

  Yes. As of 2026 — Thunderbird 115/128 layout — open the Address Book → Tools → Import → Address Book → CSV/TAB (the dialog may say Text file: LDIF, .tab, .csv, .txt), then pick the spreadsheet and use the field-mapping dialog. Thunderbird 102 and later put Import on the Address Book tab itself. You do not need a converter for that path if the columns already match; convert to vCard first when the mapping dialog mis-assigns fields, or when the destination is a phone rather than Thunderbird.

• Can Thunderbird import a .vcf, and which vCard version should I pick?

  As of 2026 — Thunderbird 102 and later import a vCard from Address Book → Import → vCard file (.vcf). Leave 3.0 selected: that is the converter default (tagged Recommended) and the version this page uses for Thunderbird, Android, iPhone and Google Contacts. Use 2.1 only for old feature phones. Avoid 4.0 for Thunderbird — older builds have been known to reject it, and we have not re-tested 4.0 against the 115/128 layouts here. Builds older than 102 still expect CSV or LDIF.

• Which Thunderbird CSV columns auto-map in this converter?

  Verified against lib/mapping.js HEADER_RULES: First Name, Last Name, Display Name, Primary Email, Secondary Email, Work Phone, Home Phone, Mobile Number, Home Address, Home City, Home State, Organization, Job Title and Notes auto-map. Nickname, Fax Number, Pager Number, Home Address 2, Home ZipCode, Home Country, Work Address (and the rest of the Work* block), Department, and Web Page 1 do not — assign those in Step 2, or leave them ignored. Remap Home Address to Street when Home City/State are also present — the vCard writer then prefers structured city/state and drops the full-address string as the street line.

• How do I get Thunderbird contacts onto a phone?

  As of 2026 — Thunderbird 115/128 layout: Address Book → Export → CSV (UTF-8). Drop that file in the converter on this page, fix the columns that do not auto-map (such as Home Address 2, Home ZipCode, Home Country, Web Page 1, Work Address, Department, Fax Number), download vCard 3.0, and import the .vcf on the phone. Prefer LDIF if you want Thunderbird's native attribute names: the LDIF to VCF converter on this site is the other export path.

• Should I export LDIF instead of CSV from Thunderbird?

  LDIF is Thunderbird's native address-book format and keeps a second email, typed phones and accented names (as cn:: base64) more faithfully than CSV. Use the LDIF to VCF page when the source is a Thunderbird book going to a phone. Use this CSV page when the source is already a spreadsheet, or when you already exported CSV. Going the other way — a vCard into an older Thunderbird that still wants LDIF — is the VCF to LDIF converter.

• Do mailing lists and contact photos survive a CSV export?

  No. Thunderbird mailing lists are not rows in the CSV — a list is a separate Address Book object, and the export writes people only. Recreate the lists at the destination after the contacts have imported. Photos are not in the CSV either: there is no photo column, and this converter does not invent PHOTO lines. Re-add pictures at the destination if you need them.

• Is my Thunderbird contact list uploaded to a server?

  No. The CSV is parsed with JavaScript in this tab (the same converter as the rest of the site). There is no upload endpoint. After the page has loaded you can disconnect from the internet, drop the file, preview the cards and download a .vcf. Nothing in the converter posts your contacts anywhere.