I have a CSV file with all my contacts in it (exported from Outlook). On my Samsung Galaxy phone, I want to import the contacts CSV file to my Android device?
Just like the above query, if you change to a new Android phone, you need to transfer CSV file contacts to a new android phone. This post will show you the complete process to import CSV contacts to Android.
Table of Contents
Basic Introduction about CSV files before importing them to Android
Users generally prefer to save contacts in CSV files as they are considered the best for managing contacts data on your PC. CSV is expanded as Comma Separated Values that store many records separated by line breaks and each record contains fields separated by characters like tabs or text commas.
However, when you need to access these contacts on your smartphone, you have to export CSV contacts into VCF file format which is supported in Android devices.
Here, in this guide, we will show you how you can import CSV file contacts to Android phones in a few simple steps.
Steps Involved with Free solution to the import of CSV contacts from Windows PC to Android device
As an Android user, it is important to know that your phone does not provide the facility to import CSV files. Android phones support VCF (vCard) format to save contact details. Therefore, you have to convert CSV contacts from the Windows system to Android-supported VCF files.
1st Solution. Free Solution to Import contacts from CSV to Android device using Gmail
By taking the help of a Gmail account, one can effortlessly transfer CSV contact items into an android phone. First, you need a Gmail account and upload a CSV file to your Gmail account.
Let us see the steps:
- Open any browser and sign in to your Gmail account.
- Click on the Gmail icon and go to Contacts.
- Tap on More, Import, and then on File. Choose files by clicking on Open and Import to upload CSV files to your Gmail account.
- Sign in to your Google account on your android. Then, go to Settings, Accounts & Sync. Next, choose Sync. Contacts and Sync Now to import CSV contacts to your Android device.
- After that, contacts will be transferred into an Android phone.
Note: If you face a problem in opening a CSV file on an Android device, go to the Play store app and search for CSV Viewer for your Android. Then, install it on your Android phone to get a directory of your device having CSV files. |
2nd Solution: Direct Import of CSV file contacts to Android using Excel
In this method, you have to create an Excel CSV file to move its contacts into your phone. You also need the help of Google drive to use this solution. The biggest advantage of this method is it can store a large number of contacts but it has disadvantages too like this is a troublesome process and takes a lot of time.
The first thing is to create an Excel CSV file in case you don’t have any files in this format. Then, change this format into VCF format, upload it to Google Drive, and then download it to an Android device. Finally, add contacts to your phone directory.
- Open an Excel file on your system. Click on the blank workbook to create a new sheet. Then, type the contact table as shown
Note: On Windows system, select CSV UTF-8 (.csv) in drop-down list from Save as type. |
- Go to more and click on Import to select CSV or vCard. Choose the selected file to click on the Open button. Later, click on Import. After that, go to Import and check the Contacts list to import successfully. Hit the Export button to change the Excel CSV file to the vCard file.
- Download and start Google drive on your Android. Login to your Google account to pick ‘+’ and go to a File upload to see the VCF file uploaded by you. Choose vCard file to select download to view menu list. After this, the data will be found in the download folder on your Android.
- On your Android, go to the Open Contacts app and press more. After this, go to Settings, Import/Export contacts, Import, select Internal Storage, and then Phone to choose vCard files.
- Click on Import to import CSV data file to Android phone.
Shortcomings of using free methods
Undoubtedly, free solutions are available and we have discussed two free solutions above for importing CSV file contacts from PC to Android devices. But these two solutions have their own limitations like –
- Take much time to transfer contacts to your Android device
- Needs Excel and Google drive to perform the import task
- The process is not direct and users must be patient to get results
With all these drawbacks, users are unable to get desired results in the expected time. Hence, they look around for other solutions i.e. CSV to VCF Converter.
Know about CSV Contacts to VCF Converter program
This is an automated program to import all data from CSV files directly to VCF file format. In a few easy clicks, CSV contacts are successfully imported into vCard format with all contact attributes. This utility offers a simplified interface and in a short time period, it provides all contacts into the VCF file.
There is no compulsion for the installation of MS Excel or other program installation for importing CSV file data into vCard format. This utility show preview of CSV file contacts and give a mapping facility before importing contacts into the VCF file. After getting contacts into the VCF file with this tool, users can import these contacts to your Android device.
Conclusion
This is one of the highest searched queries on the internet for importing CSV contact items from PC to Android devices. To make this task comfortable for users, we have discussed free as well as paid solutions in this post. With the free manual method, the entire import task is quite lengthy & complicated. Hence, we strongly recommend users to opt for professional software which is simple as well as offers swift results. You can self-evaluate the program with a free demo edition.