Despite the growth and prominence of chat applications and mobile messaging services, we still send and receive emails every day. Email is a common form of business communication, but also an integral part of our daily online lives, as most websites require email addresses to create accounts.
Microsoft Outlook has an active user base of more than 400 million people, many of whom open email from mobile devices running Android and iOS platforms. consequently, it is necessary to synchronize outlook on mobile devices and with other services to facilitate access from any device or location.
One of the most powerful productivity features of any email communication is the contact list, which is critical to our personal and business communication.
If you’re a loyal Microsoft Outlook user and you’re not sure how to sync Outlook contacts with your mobile device or other email services, don’t worry. we will show you some solutions to use.
how to sync outlook contacts
The steps in this guide may vary between operating systems and devices. Please verify that access to contacts is allowed for Outlook before proceeding with the sync setup.
sync outlook contacts with android
To sync Outlook contacts with your Android device, your email provider must use Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync. most major providers like gmail do.
- On your android device, open settings, tap apps (or applications).
- click perspective.
- In app settings, tap permissions.
- flip the contacts switch to enable it (if it is disabled).
- open the outlook app and go to settings.
- tap your account then tap sync contacts
sync outlook contacts with gmail
gmail is a popular email service with over 1.5 billion active monthly users. Fortunately, it’s easy to sync your Outlook contacts with this provider, as it uses Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync.
- To sync your outlook contacts with gmail, download the gmail app (if it’s not already on your device) or update it.
- register your outlook account with gmail. you’ll need a valid outlook account to do this, so sign up for one if you don’t have one, set it up, and sign in to your computer to verify that the sync is working properly.
- sign in to your outlook account from the gmail app with the same credentials you use on desktop. open gmail and tap menu (three horizontal lines) on the left side.
- tap settings.
- Tap add account.
- On the next page, you’ll see a list of email services that the gmail app supports. tap exchange and office 365.
note: do not select outlook, hotmail and live, as these services use imap and pop, which are synchronization protocols that cannot sync contacts or calendar. they only sync email.
- Type your email address and password on the next page.
- will start validating the server configuration on your android device. If a pop-up appears asking for remote security management, tap ok and then complete your login on the next page.
note: make sure gmail can access your contacts and calendar. you can verify this by going to settings > applications (applications) > permissions and switch the contacts switch to green.
sync outlook contacts with iphone
iPhones usually do a pretty good job of syncing and updating contacts between apps and devices. However, this is not always the case, especially when there are incorrect permission settings or general software issues, such as bugs that prevent Outlook from syncing with your phone.
you can sync outlook contacts on iphone by settings, itunes, icloud, by email, by importing as vcards or through exchange.
using settings
- open settings and tap outlook > contacts.
- turn background app refresh to green.
- open the outlook app and go to settings > your account> sync contacts
using itunes
In addition to being a music player or a secure storage tool, iTunes can also manage and store data on your iPhone, making it easy to update and transfer your Outlook contacts between devices.
make sure icloud is disabled before using itunes to sync your outlook contacts.
- connect your iphone to your pc and open itunes.
- tap the iphone icon and go to settings > information.
- tap the sync contacts with checkbox and select outlook from the list.
- select apply to complete the configuration.
using icloud
Before you sync your outlook contacts to your iphone with icloud, please make sure the icloud control panel for windows is available or installed on your pc.
note: icloud doesn’t allow you to sync only cloud contacts. If you don’t mind uploading your calendars, mail, and contacts to iCloud storage, follow the steps below.
- launch icloud on your pc and log in with your id and password.
- tap the mail, contacts, calendars and tasks checkbox.
- tap apply.
by email
You can transfer your outlook contacts to your iphone using your email, though it’s a bit of a long process.
- open the outlook desktop app.
- click file > open > import.
- In the import/export wizard, select export to a file.
- click next >.
- click comma separated values (windows) and click next.
- select the folder with the contacts you want to export and click next.
- name your csv file, save it and click next > ; finish.
- compose a new email and upload the csv file that outlook generates as an attachment, and send it to an email address connected to your iphone.
- on your iphone, open the email, tap the attachment and follow the steps to add all contacts.
note: not all ios devices work the same way with csv files. some offer just a preview of the file without prompting you to add them as contacts.
import contacts as vcards
this method allows you to sync outlook contacts with iphone by turning them into vcards or electronic business cards that you can view in any version of outlook. however, vcards are only created in the outlook desktop app.
- open outlook and click on contacts.
- select the contacts you want to sync and click file>save as>save as type and select vcard files.
- choose a location to save your vcard, give it a name and click save.
- on icloud.com, sign in and click settings > ; import vcard.
- select the vcard you saved and click import.
icloud will add your contacts to the all contacts folder. the challenge with using vcards is that you have to create and import a new one every time you add new contacts in outlook.
through the exchange
This method only works if your iPhone is connected to your internal corporate network. If your company has an exchange server, you can sync your Outlook contacts with it and access them on your iPhone.
- open your iphone and go to settings > mail, contacts, calendars (select exchange if this is your first time setting this up).
- select add account.
- select exchange.
- type your email, username and password, and click next.
- your iphone will contact the exchange server so make sure you know the server address as you will need to enter it here.
- choose contacts from the options of the items you want to sync and you’re done.
sync outlook contacts with ipad
for ipad, you have two options to sync outlook contacts: itunes or icloud. If you use iCloud on your computer, you can copy contacts to iCloud and access them from your iPad.
however, if you use itunes on your computer, you can sync contacts using itunes with your ipad.
using itunes
- make sure you have the latest version of itunes, open it and sign in with the credentials you use on your ipad.
- connect the ipad to your computer and select it from itunes.
- click info and select sync options for mail, calendars, and contacts, in this case, sync contacts with > perspective.
- If you have multiple groups of contacts, specify the one you want to sync by clicking select group, or sync all and click sync
- click the summary tab for wireless sync and click synchronize with this device over wifi.
From now on, when your ipad is on and itunes is running on your computer, the sync will happen automatically.
using icloud
Before using this method, make sure you have the icloud control panel for windows on your computer. sign in with your ipad credentials and select the sync options you’d like to use; in this case, outlook contacts.
- open settings on your ipad.
- select mail, contacts, calendars.
- click icloud.
- sign in with your apple id and select mail, contacts and calendars to sync with outlook via icloud.
- you can choose to select other icloud sync options like find my iphone or documents and data.
sync with outlook.com or exchange
- Open settings on your ipad and select mail, contacts and calendars and tap add account.
- Tap microsoft exchange to sync with your workplace server, or select outlook.com to sync with an outlook.com account.
- type your email, username and password (if you are connecting through an exchange server, type the domain name, although it is optional).
- tap next.
- your ipad will contact the exchange server. enter the domain name here and tap next.
- select the services you want to sync (mail, contacts or calendars) and that’s it.
sync outlook contacts with icloud
If you have a pst file on your computer that has all your outlook profile data, you can import the contacts to icloud in two parts: convert the pst contacts to vcards, and then import the file to icloud.
convert pst file to vcard/vcf
You can convert the .pst file to a vcard using a tool like the systools vcard export tool.
- download the tool to your computer and click add file.
- you will get file and folder options. if you have a file, click the file option. if there are multiple files in a folder, click the folder option.
- click browse and choose your pst file then click add. the tool will show you a preview of the full data of the pst file.
- select the contacts and click export.
- under export options, click on vcard and select it from its location.
- click export to convert all contacts to a vcf file.
- you will receive a notification that the export is complete. go to the location folder and find the vcf file.
import a vcard to icloud
- Sign in to your account with your icloud credentials.
- click on contacts and go to the gear icon at the bottom of the screen.
- click the icon and select import vcard.
- click browse to locate your vcf file, select it and click open.
- all your outlook contacts in the vcard file will be synced with icloud.