How to import Outlook contacts?

[CargoMatatu]

I have an Acer desktop pc at home, running WIN8 Pro, and I use Outlook 2010 as my primary (POP3) email tool.
Obviously I have an extensive contacts file in there.

I have just bought a SP 128Gb and installed Outlook 2013 on the one month free trial.
So, far I like it.

I took it in to work today and the IT guys set it up for connectivity to the Corporate WiFi, VPN, etc.
Cool! Now it's a mini-me of my work pc!

My question is, and I'm a complete dummy here, is how can I copy my contacts info from my home pc into my Pro?

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

 

[hotphil]

Microsoft have a short guide on exporting at Export contacts - Outlook - Office.com
and importing here Import contacts - Outlook - Office.com

One thing I'd suggest when doing anything with importing/exporting data in/out of Outlook is to understand what it's going to do and where it will put the data. Some of that will be down to the type of account you're connecting to. Your IT guys have probably set your Outlook to connect to an Exchange server. If that's the case, then you may want to import the data to the Exchange contacts rather than to a .pst file stored locally on the device. If they're a friendly bunch, it may be worth exporting your contacts at home to a .pst file, taking that to them and asking them the best way to add them into Outlook on your Pro. They'll know the config and be able (I hope) to do the best thing!

 

[Wayne Orwig]

Mine is so complicated, that I did a PowerPoint drawing to try to make sense of it.
My work runs Outlook 2007 and is on a exchange server. I run a program on that called Companionlink. That syncs my exchange contacts (and schedule) to Google and my Android phone.
At home, I run Outlook 2007, and use the Hotmail connector. I have Companionlink on it to sync my Google contacts to Outlook. Outlook syncs them to Outlook.com for the Surface.

So any change to any contact or schedule gets carried over to all of my devices. But it isn't pretty......

 

[tonyz3]

Mine is so complicated, that I did a PowerPoint drawing to try to make sense of it.
My work runs Outlook 2007 and is on a exchange server. I run a program on that called Companionlink. That syncs my exchange contacts (and schedule) to Google and my Android phone.
At home, I run Outlook 2007, and use the Hotmail connector. I have Companionlink on it to sync my Google contacts to Outlook. Outlook syncs them to Outlook.com for the Surface.

So any change to any contact or schedule gets carried over to all of my devices. But it isn't pretty......

YIKES that seems like overkill. Not sure of your exchange account at work, but my work is exchange thru MS, I only have to set up an account in what ever i use with the work email and it syncs everything email, cal, contacts. ( on my home outlook 2013, Win 8 phone, Wifes Surface RT, Work dinosaur computer- but rarely go into office, my Android.)

 

[CargoMatatu]

@hotphil.

Thanks for the links.
The steps appear very simple and were easy to follow.
I put a USB stick in a USB port in preparation for this task.
I followed all the simple steps shown in the link. So far so good. Now is when it gets interesting!
At no point did it ask me where I wanted to export this file to. It just said "finished". Okay, all well and good.

WHERE THE HECK IS THE CREATED FILE? !!!!!

I would love to put it on my USB stick, plug it into my SP and import it to my Outlook.

I asked a friend who had also recently bought a new pc and wanted to do the same thing.
His result was exactly the same. He also doesn't know where the file is!

Any further guidance from anyone, please? This is driving me bananas!

 

[Igor]

The last step where you click "Finish" has a textbox at the top which contains the path to your exported file. You can also change this, there is a "Browse" button to the right of it.

By default mine was set to C:\Users\<username>\Documents\Outlook Files\backup.pst

 

[CargoMatatu]

Thanks, Igor.
I found it now, thanks to you.
Proceeding with the import part now. Not exactly user friendly, is it!

 

[CargoMatatu]

HA! Now I can't get the bloody import to work!
I'm getting ready to throw this thing out the window!

 

[Igor]

Any details on the import problem?

Maybe we can help.

 

[CargoMatatu]

I found the (.pst) file and copied it to my USB stick.
I then plugged it in to the USB port on my SP.
I opened Outlook and followed the directions on the link above.
When I click "Finish" at the bottom of the screen what appears to be a progress bar appears for a millisecond, three or four times, and then nothing.
When I then click on Contacts there is nothing there.
?

 

[CargoMatatu]

Solved! :big smile:

I honestly don't know what I did!
I followed exactly the same steps as before and now they are there!

Oh well. All's well that ends well.
Thank you all for your kind assistance.

 

[Igor]

No problem, glad you got it working. Enjoy your Surface.