How to export Outlook contacts to Excel or CSV

The short answer.

In classic Outlook for Windows, choose File > Open & Export > Import/Export > Export to a file > Comma Separated Values, then pick the contacts folder. In new Outlook, go to People > Export contacts. In Outlook on the web, People > Manage contacts > Export contacts. Each gives you a .csv file that opens in Excel. It holds the contacts you've saved, and nobody else: not the people who've only emailed you.

Exporting contacts in each version of Outlook
	Where to find it	What you can pick	The file
Classic Outlook for Windows	File > Open & Export > Import/Export	One folder at a time, and the columns (Map Custom Fields)	Saved where you choose
New Outlook for Windows	People > Export contacts	All contacts, or one folder	Your Downloads folder
Outlook on the web and Outlook.com	People > Manage contacts > Export contacts	All contacts, or one folder	Your Downloads folder
Outlook for Mac	No CSV export documented: use Outlook on the web	Legacy Outlook for Mac exports an .olm archive only	An .olm file is for Outlook for Mac, not Excel

1. Export your contacts, in your version of Outlook.

Each step is from Microsoft's support pages, listed under Sources.

Not sure which Outlook you have? If there's a File option at the top left, it's classic Outlook. If not, follow the steps for new Outlook.

Classic Outlook for Windows

The Import/Export wizard

Choose File > Open & Export > Import/Export.
Choose Export to a file > Next, then Comma Separated Values > Next.
Select the Contacts folder under your account, or one of its subfolders, then Next. The wizard exports one folder at a time.
Choose Browse, name the file, choose OK, then Next.
Only want some columns? Choose Map Custom Fields > Clear Map, drag the fields you want into the right-hand list, in the order you want, then OK.
Choose Finish. There's no message when it's done: the progress box just closes.

New Outlook for Windows

Export contacts

On the side panel, select People. Not there? Select More apps > People.
On the ribbon, select Export contacts.
Under Contacts from this folder, choose all your contacts or one folder, then select Export.
The .csv file is saved to your Downloads folder.

Outlook on the web and Outlook.com

Manage contacts

On the side panel, select People.
On the toolbar, select Manage contacts > Export contacts.
Choose All contacts or one folder, then select Export.
The .csv file is saved to your Downloads folder.

Contacts missing from new Outlook's export? Microsoft says contacts you saved locally in classic Outlook (a Contacts (This computer only) folder) may not have come across to new Outlook. Open classic Outlook and export that folder with the wizard instead.

On a Mac? Microsoft documents no CSV export for Outlook for Mac. Legacy Outlook for Mac exports an Outlook for Mac archive file (.olm), which Microsoft says is "the only export option available at this time". It's for moving mail and contacts between copies of Outlook for Mac, not for Excel. If your contacts are in a Microsoft 365 or Outlook.com account, sign in to Outlook on the web in your browser and export them there.

Need the senders of your emails, not your contacts? That's a different job: how to extract contacts from Outlook emails into Excel.

2. Shared and team contacts.

Microsoft's export steps start from your own account's contacts folders. Contacts someone else shares with you, or your whole team's, take an extra step.

Classic Outlook for Windows

A folder a colleague shared with you

Make a contacts folder of your own to copy into, or use your main Contacts folder.
Open the shared folder in People. Select the contacts: the first one, then hold Shift and select the last.
On the ribbon, in the Move group, select Move > Copy to Folder, and pick your folder.
Export your folder with the wizard, as in section 1.

This is a classic Outlook job: Microsoft says sharing or viewing a shared contacts folder isn't supported in Outlook on the web, and lists sharing a contacts folder in new Outlook as "Investigating".

Any version

Everyone's contacts in one file

Each person exports their own contacts, and you paste the files together in Excel.
Expect doubles: one supplier saved by three colleagues is three rows, each with whatever that person typed.
The file is a copy. When someone changes their number next month, nobody's export changes with it. The other ways to share: how to share Outlook contacts with your team.

The company address book isn't in it. Your colleagues in the organisation's address book aren't in your Contacts folder unless you've saved them, so they aren't in your export either.

3. Open it in Excel without losing anything.

The export is a plain text file. Excel opens it, but it guesses what each column holds, and a few of its guesses go wrong with contacts.

Columns

Dozens of columns, mostly empty

Outlook writes its own column names, such as First Name, Last Name, Company, Job Title, E-mail Address (with the hyphen), Business Phone and Mobile Phone. Microsoft's sample contacts file has 92 of them.
Lots of empty cells is normal, Microsoft says. Hide or delete the columns you don't need, or in classic Outlook export only the ones you want with Map Custom Fields.

Phone numbers

Phone numbers that lose their leading 0

Excel removes leading zeros, and turns long numbers into scientific notation like 1.23E+15, Microsoft says. A number saved with spaces, like 07700 900123, stays as it is; one saved as 07700900123 loses its 0.
Fix: don't double-click the file. In Excel, choose Data > From Text/CSV, pick the file and select Edit (Transform Data in newer Excel). Select the phone columns, then Home > Transform > Data Type > Text > Replace Current, and Close & Load.
In Excel for Microsoft 365 and Excel 2024 you can turn these conversions off instead: Microsoft calls them Automatic Data Conversions.

Text

Garbled accents, or everything in column A

Names with letters outside the English alphabet can come out garbled. Microsoft's fix: in Excel, Data > From Text/CSV, pick the file, choose the File Origin that shows the letters correctly, then Load. To keep a clean copy, File > Save As > CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited).
Everything in one column? Microsoft gives extra quote marks in the file as one reason. Select column A, then Data > Text to Columns > Delimited > Commas > Finish.

Going back into Outlook?

Keep a CSV, and keep the headings

Outlook imports a .csv file, not an Excel workbook. Microsoft suggests closing the export without saving changes if you'll import it again, and if you do edit it, saving it as CSV (answer Yes when Excel asks).
Keep the column headings in the first row, in the same language as your Outlook. Microsoft says Outlook needs both.
The import steps, and how to match columns: bring a list into Outlook.

4. The people you never saved, with Sigbot.

Outlook's export holds only your saved contacts. Most of the people who email you were never saved: their name, job title, company and phone number are in the signature on their emails. Sigbot reads the email signatures in Outlook and Microsoft 365, turns each one into a contact, and exports the list to Excel or CSV.

Step 1

Connect Outlook

Start free and connect your Outlook with your Microsoft account.

Step 2

Scan, then check the review queue

The first scan reads the mail already in your mailbox. Newsletters and no-reply mail wait in a review queue instead of going straight into your list, and merges can be undone.

Step 3

Export

Choose Export Data > Excel (.xlsx) or CSV (.csv), for the whole list, a folder or a selection.

Sigbot's export columns and Outlook's names for them
	Sigbot's column	Outlook's name for it
Name	First Name, Last Name	The same
Work	Company, Job Title	The same
Email	Email	E-mail Address
Phones	Phone, Mobile	Business Phone, Mobile Phone
Website	Website	Web Page

Sigbot's file also has columns of its own, such as Trade, Tags and Last Updated. In Excel you won't need to change anything. To import it into new Outlook or Outlook on the web, rename the headings that differ first: how to bring the list into Outlook. Sigbot only reads mail and never writes to your Outlook contacts, so the import is how they get there.

It keeps up by itself. After the first scan, Sigbot checks your mailbox for new mail: every day on paid plans, every week on Free. New people are added as they email you, so next month's export has them too. Addresses that bounce are flagged and left out of exports; nothing is deleted automatically.

For a team: everyone connects their own Outlook, and on team plans you share folders, so one export holds the people the whole team deals with, built from everyone's mail.

At work, IT approves it once. Microsoft's default setting stops people giving any outside app access to their mail, so most companies have an admin approve Sigbot once, for everyone. Sigbot's Outlook app is publisher-verified by Microsoft (SIGBOT LTD). Our one-page brief for IT admins has the approval link.

On your phone too: the iPhone and Android apps can add the list to your phone's address book: Outlook contacts not showing on your phone.

Questions.

How do I export Outlook contacts to Excel?

Export them to a CSV file, which Excel opens. In classic Outlook: File > Open & Export > Import/Export > Export to a file > Comma Separated Values, then pick the contacts folder. In new Outlook: People > Export contacts. In Outlook on the web: People > Manage contacts > Export contacts.

How do I export contacts from new Outlook?

Select People on the side panel, then Export contacts on the ribbon. Under Contacts from this folder, choose all your contacts or one folder, then select Export. The .csv file goes to your Downloads folder. Contacts saved locally in classic Outlook may not be in new Outlook, so export those from classic Outlook.

Can I export Outlook contacts to a CSV file on a Mac?

Not from Outlook for Mac: Microsoft documents only an .olm archive export, in legacy Outlook for Mac, and an .olm file is for Outlook for Mac, not Excel. If your contacts are in a Microsoft 365 or Outlook.com account, export them from Outlook on the web instead: People > Manage contacts > Export contacts.

How do I export a shared contacts folder to Excel?

In classic Outlook, copy the shared folder's contacts into a contacts folder of your own (select them, then Move > Copy to Folder), and export that folder with the Import/Export wizard. Microsoft says shared contacts folders aren't supported in Outlook on the web, and lists them as "Investigating" for new Outlook.

Can I choose which columns Outlook exports?

In classic Outlook, yes: on the last page of the export wizard, choose Map Custom Fields, then Clear Map, and drag in only the fields you want, in the order you want. Microsoft's steps for new Outlook and Outlook on the web have no column choice, so hide or delete the columns you don't need in Excel.

Why do phone numbers lose the leading zero in Excel?

Excel treats them as numbers: it removes leading zeros and turns long numbers into scientific notation. Open the file with Data > From Text/CSV instead of double-clicking it, and set the phone columns to Text before loading. Numbers saved with spaces stay as they are.

Can Outlook export contacts straight to an Excel workbook?

No. Outlook exports a .csv file, which Excel opens. Save it as a workbook if you want one, but keep the .csv if you'll import the contacts anywhere: Outlook imports .csv files, not workbooks.

Does Outlook's export include people who emailed me but I never saved?

No. It has only the contacts saved in the folder you export. The people who've only emailed you aren't contacts; their details are in their email signatures. Add them by hand, or use a tool such as Sigbot, which reads the signatures in Outlook and exports everyone to Excel or CSV.

Sources.

Every Outlook and Excel step above was checked against Microsoft's support pages on 27 October 2026. Microsoft changes its menus from time to time; if yours look different, these pages have the latest steps.

Import or export contacts in Outlook using a .csv file: the export steps for classic Outlook, new Outlook and Outlook on the web, empty cells being normal, closing without saving, locally saved contacts missing from new Outlook, and converting a file to UTF-8 in Excel.
Share contacts as vCards: exporting the Contacts folder or a subfolder, one folder at a time, and Map Custom Fields.
Export contacts from Outlook.com or Outlook on the web: Manage contacts > Export contacts, all contacts or one folder, saved to your Downloads folder.
Export items to an archive file in legacy Outlook for Mac: the .olm archive as the only export option.
Move or copy an item to another folder in Outlook: selecting several items and Copy to Folder in classic Outlook.
Share a contacts folder with others: sharing or viewing a shared contacts folder isn't supported in Outlook on the web.
Feature comparison between new Outlook and classic Outlook: Share Contacts folder is "Investigating" in new Outlook (page last updated 23 September 2026).
Create or edit .csv files to import into Outlook: Microsoft's sample file with Outlook's own column names, headings in the first row and in Outlook's language, saving as CSV, and data stuck in one column.
Keeping leading zeros and large numbers (Excel): why Excel drops leading zeros, Automatic Data Conversions, and importing columns as text.

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