Tips for exporting contacts files
If you have trouble importing a contacts file into Trumba® Connect, it's most likely because of how the file was exported from the other email program. See the tips below for help on exporting contacts files successfully from:
Microsoft Office Outlook
If you use Outlook with a POP3 or similar mail server, your contacts are most likely already in an Outlook Contacts folder. You can just export them to a .csv file and then import them into Trumba Connect.
If you use Outlook with an Exchange server in a corporate environment, things might be a little more complicated.
Export contacts from a Contacts folder
See this article, called Export Outlook Contacts to Google Gmail, on Microsoft Office Online to learn how to export Outlook Contacts to a .csv file from Outlook 2002 or 2003.
Note The process for exporting Contacts from Outlook 2000 is very similar, although command names may differ slightly.
Even though the article is about Google Gmail, exactly the same export process applies for Trumba Connect. Just ignore the information about importing into Google Gmail. See Your Address Book for information about importing .csv files into Trumba Connect.
Tip If you export your contacts and the contacts do not appear to be in SMTP format (name@domain.com), you're probably using Outlook with an Exchange server. See What to do if email addresses are in Exchange format.
If you use Outlook with an Exchange server
If you use Outlook with an Exchange server, the contacts you want to export may be in your Global Address Book rather than in a Contacts folder. Also, email addresses for your contacts may be in Exchange rather than SMTP format. In this section, we'll step through the process you can use to export contacts from Outlook and get them into a format that Trumba Connect can read:
- How to create a new Contacts folder.
- How to move contacts from the Global Address List in the Address Book into a Contacts folder.
- What to do if the email addresses for contacts you export are in Exchange rather than SMTP (name@domain.com) format.
Create a new Contacts folder
If you go to the Outlook Contacts pane, you'll see at least one Contacts folder listed under Contacts on the left. If you want to store all of your business, personal, and other contacts in the same folder, you don't need to create a new Contacts folder. If you want to keep different contact types separate, however, you'll need additional folders.
To create a new Contacts folder:
- Point to New on the Outlook File menu and click Folder.
- Type a name for the folder. For Folder contains, make sure Contact items is selected. Click OK.
Move contacts from the Address Book to a Contacts folder
You can't export contacts from the Address Book, so you must first move each contact you want to export into a Contacts folder.
To move contacts:
- Open the Outlook Address Book. On the Address Book Tools menu, click Options.
- Under Keep personal addresses in, select the Contacts folder you want to move the contacts to. Click OK.
- In the Address Book, right-click a contact you want to move, and then click Add to Contacts.
Tip Press CTRL and click to select multiple contacts.
- When you're finished adding contacts, close the Address Book.
When your contacts are in a Contacts folder, you're ready to export them to a .csv file.
What to do if email addresses are in Exchange format
If you run Outlook in connection with an Exchange server, in Contacts files you export, the email addresses may be in an internal Exchange format. Trumba Connect tries to parse the Exchange format to create the SMTP email addresses (name@domain.com) it understands, but that parsing process might not always be successful.
After you export Outlook Contacts, look at the exported file. If you see email addresses similar to the one below, the addresses are in Exchange format:
/o=ORGANIZATION_NAME/ou=first administrative group/cn=Recipients/cn=Tester2 EX Tester2 Tester2LastName (Tester2@corp.organization.com)
Your best bet, at this point, is to put all the addresses into name@domain.com format (which can be prohibitively time consuming if your contacts list is long) or use the following workaround to create a text file that you can import:
- In Outlook, go to Contacts.
- Click the Contacts folder that contains the contacts you want to export.
- Under Current View, click Phone List, and then click Customize Current View.
- In the Customize View dialog box, click Fields. In the Show Fields dialog box, remove and add fields as necessary so that only Full Name and E-mail fields are listed in the box on the right. Click OK, and then click OK again.
Tips In the Show Fields dialog box, to remove multiple fields at once from the box on the right, press CTRL and then select all the fields you want to remove. To quickly display the E-mail field in the Available fields box on the left, under Select available fields from, select E-mail fields.
- Click the first name in the list. Press SHIFT, scroll down, and click the last name in the list to select all the contacts.
- Press CTRL + C to copy the contacts.
- Open Microsoft Excel (or another spreadsheet program) or a text editor such as NotePad or WordPad.
- In the spreadsheet program, click the far left cell in the first row of the spreadsheet to select it.
In a text editor, the cursor should be blinking in the top left corner of the document.
- Press CTRL + V to paste the contact names and email addresses into the spreadsheet or text editor. The labels Full Name and E-mail automatically appear at the top of the two columns.
- On the spreadsheet or text editor File menu, click Save As.
- For Save as type, select CSV (Comma delimited)(*.csv), if that's an option. Otherwise, choose Text document (*.txt).
- Type a name for the file, choose a location where you'll be able to find the file again, and then click Save.
Outlook Express
To export Address Book Contacts from Outlook Express:
- Start Outlook Express.
- On the File menu, point to Export, and then click Address Book.
- Click Text File (Comma Separated Values), and then click Export.
- Type the path and filename of the file, or click Browse to specify a location to save the file.
- Click Next.
- Click the fields that you want to export (for Trumba Connect, you need only name and email address fields), and then click Finish.
MSN Hotmail
MSN Hotmail Help doesn't include information for exporting your Hotmail Contacts. Here's a process you can use that will provide you with the text file you need to import the contacts into Trumba Connect.
- Sign in to your MSN Hotmail account.
- Click the Contacts tab, and then click Print view.
- Place the cursor to the left of the first name in the Name column.
- Press the left mouse button and drag down to highlight all of your contacts.
- Press CTRL + C to copy the list.
- Open Microsoft Excel (or another spreadsheet program that supports the Comma Separated Values file format).
- Click the far left cell in the second row of the spreadsheet to select it.
- If Internet Explorer is your browser, press CTRL + V to paste the Hotmail contacts into the spreadsheet.
If Mozilla® Firefox® is your browser, on the Edit menu, click Paste Special. In the Paste Special dialog box, select Text, and then click OK.
- Click the top cell in the first column of the spreadsheet. Type "Name" to label the first column.
- Click the top cell in the second column of the spreadsheet. Type "Email address" to label the second column.
- On the spreadsheet File menu, click Save As.
- For Save as type, select CSV (Comma delimited)(*.csv).
- Type a name for the file, choose a location where you'll be able to find the file again, and then click Save.
Google Gmail
The following steps are adapted from the Google Gmail Help Center, where you can find information about exporting contacts.
- Sign in to your Google Gmail account.
- Click Contacts along the left side of any Gmail page.
- Click Export in the upper-right corner of your Contacts list.
- You're given a choice of two CSV (Comma Separated Values) formats in which Gmail can export your contacts. Select either format. Both will work just fine when you import your contacts into Trumba Connect.
- Click Export Contacts. In the File Download dialog box, click Save.
- Choose a location for the file you're saving, and then click OK.
Yahoo
The following steps come from the Yahoo Web site, where you can find lots of information about exporting Yahoo Address Book files.
To export your Yahoo Address Book to a .csv file:
- Go to the Yahoo Address Book and make sure that you are signed into your account.
- Click the Addresses Options link on the right of the Address Book page.
- Click the Import/Export link.
- In the Export section, click the Export Now button next to the phrase Microsoft Outlook.
- When prompted, specify a convenient location and enter a name for the .csv file in the Save As dialog box. (Make note of where you are saving this file, so you can find it later.)