For macOS
Import contacts from Excel and CSV into Apple's Contacts app on your Mac, or convert them to vCards. Full privacy, no subscription.
Convert Excel and CSV files to VCF vCards on Mac
Importer for Contacts brings tabular data into Apple's Contacts app, with considerably more options than the import function in Apple's Contacts app itself. It converts Excel, CSV and tab-delimited files to vCards, maps every field automatically, supports custom labels as well, and restores contact lists (groups) from vCards when a vCard holds that information. Native to macOS, it supports every field of a contact in the Apple ecosystem. It's ideal for anyone who regularly needs to import data into Apple's Contacts app.
Features
Compared with the Contacts app
The Contacts app on your Mac imports CSV and text files, but not Excel workbooks.
| Feature | Contacts app | Importer for Contacts |
|---|---|---|
| Import Excel workbooks (.xlsx) | No | Yes |
| Import CSV and tab-delimited files | Yes | Yes, with an encoding preview |
| Assign contacts to lists during import | No | Yes, from a column of list names |
| Convert to vCards without importing | No | Yes |
| Save the column mapping for the next import | No | Yes, as an import setup |
How to import contacts from Excel or CSV into Apple Contacts
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Open your file
Open an Excel workbook, a CSV file, tab-delimited text, or a vCard in the app. For text files, adjust the encoding preview until special characters like ü, ç and ß look right. Excel files need no encoding setting.
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Check the field mapping
Review the mapping the app proposes for your column headers and correct it where needed. Custom labels are supported. The next import with the same column headers reuses that mapping.
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Set the import options
Pick the account to import into and map a column of comma-separated group names to the Groups field. Groups that do not exist yet are created.
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Import or convert
Import directly into Apple's Contacts app, or convert the records to vCard 3.0 files. Existing contacts stay untouched. Duplicate detection collects matches in the OLD DUPLICATES and NEW DUPLICATES groups.
More tasks
Assign contacts to lists on import
Add a column of list names to your CSV or Excel file, separated by commas, such as “Customers, Newsletter, VIP”, and map it to the Groups field. Each contact goes into every list named, because a contact in Contacts can belong to several lists. Lists that don't exist yet are created during the import. A single column can turn into a customer list split by region or the member list of a club.
Restore lists from a vCard
When Apple's Contacts app exports a vCard, it doesn't record which list each contact belongs to. If you import the file again later, you have to sort the contacts by hand. Exporter for Contacts 2 writes the lists into the vCard, and Importer for Contacts reads them back during the import. Missing lists are created, and each contact returns to its lists. This helps when you move to a new Mac or when iCloud syncing has mixed up your lists.
Convert Excel or CSV to vCard
Instead of importing straight into Contacts, Importer for Contacts can save the records as a vCard (.vcf). You can import the file into Contacts, iCloud, Outlook, Google Contacts, and most webmail services. Custom labels and extra fields are preserved, while simple converters usually handle only standard fields. If you save the mapping as an import setup, the next file with the same layout is converted in seconds.
What users say
"This app is so easy to use, drag and drop. It intelligently maps fields so you do not have to. It's super fast, a major major time saver! I give this app the highest recommendations."
"This saved us hours.
Very grateful to the developers to create a product that does what it promises - and in a way that is easy even for non-tech folks."
"I used Exporter for Contacts, then Importer for Contacts, to clean up our database of 11,000 contacts. Worked perfectly."
Frequently asked questions
Does my data stay private?
Yes. The entire conversion happens locally on your Mac. Nothing is uploaded anywhere.
Do I need a subscription?
No. The app is a one-time purchase from the Mac App Store, with no recurring fees.
Which file formats are supported?
Importer for Contacts reads Excel files (.xlsx), CSV, tab-delimited text files and vCards.
Can I export contacts as well?
Not with this app. Importer for Contacts writes into Apple Contacts and to vCard files. Exporter for Contacts 2 goes the opposite way, out of Apple Contacts into Excel, CSV, Outlook OLM or Google Contacts CSV.