How to print vcf files. The VCF format is an overview of the best ways to view and edit. What else can cause problems with the file

Vcf file is a file that saves contacts from your phone, with all related information. Let's take an example. Let's say you decide to change your phone, and all your contacts are not saved on a SIM card, you need to connect the background to a computer and save all contacts on it as a vcf file. After that, you just need to install this file on a new phone in the same way and all numbers will be transferred to the phone book.
This is a very convenient way to copy numbers, but since you need to open such a file on your computer, then you have already learned how to create it, so it's worth considering some of the most popular ways to open vcf files on a PC.

Opening with notepad

This application can be found on absolutely any computer. But most users do not even suspect what they can do with it. Including view contacts from a vcf file. For this you need:
1. Open notepad;
2. Drag the desired file into it, or click on the item “File” - “open”, find the desired file, select and click the “Open” button;
3. View data, or make changes to them.

In the screenshot above, you can see how the vcf file is displayed in notepad. One contact here is enclosed in a whole block of characters, starting with the string "begin:vcard" and ending with "end:vcard". Notepad copes well with numbers and English letters, so after the word “cell” you can easily see the number of any contact from the list.
After the letter "N" there is information responsible for the last name, first name, patronymic, etc. As you can see, instead of it, English words, letters and numbers are displayed. The fact is that for the sake of user data security, all files with the vcf extension are automatically encoded in the phone so that third parties do not get your contacts.
The question arises, how to view your contacts and make out who owns which number? To do this, you can use the following program.

Opening a vcf file with NotePad++

This program, just like notepad, is available on almost any modern computer. In its absence, it can be easily downloaded from open sources, since it is distributed free of charge.
You can open a vcf file here in the same way as through notepad. After opening, we see that the contacts are also displayed in the same way as through the notepad, but unlike the notepad, this can be fixed here:
1. After opening the desired vcf file, select the encrypted part of the text and go to the "Plugins - MIME Tools - Quoted-printable Decode" menu, as in the following screenshot

2. Now incomprehensible characters are converted to the word under which the contact was recorded in the phone's address book

Note: You should not select the entire file at once and translate it, hoping to view all contacts at once. If you do this, you will break the encoding and in the end all the characters will be mixed up, which may cause the file to be damaged.

Viewing a vcf file with Nokia Suite

The best way to view phone contacts through a computer is to use third-party programs that are designed specifically for this purpose.
You can download and install this program from the official website of Nokia, so there should be no problems with this. After installation, you need to open the program and click File - Import Contacts. Then select the vcf file from the computer and click the "Open" button.

As you can see, the contacts are displayed immediately in Russian. You can also use this program to create contact lists, save them in a separate vcf file and then import them to your phone, which can significantly speed up the creation of a contact list. However, this program has one drawback. As you can see from the screenshot above, only the first contact from the entire list is displayed. This happens in some versions of both the program itself and the operating system, so you can use another software product.

Displaying vcf files using Google Contacts

1. To use this technology, simply log into your Google account and select the "Google Contacts" service.

2. In the window that appears next, you need to click on the "Import from csv or vCard File" button.
3. Next, you need to select the desired file on your computer and click the "Import" button
4. After these steps, you will see all the contacts saved in the selected file. Also here you can make changes to the contact list, save and import back to your smartphone.

Such a document is a vCard file used to provide contact information. In addition to an additional binary image, VCFs are text documents and show the contact's name, e-mail, physical address, phone number, and other data. vCard is an abbreviation for Virtual Business Card and is a standard file (.vcf files) for electronic documents. vCards allow you to create and share contact information over the Internet, for example in . You can also use vCards to move data from one client or personal information management program to another, as long as both programs support the extension.

Choosing a program for working with a file with the VCF extension.

Because the VCF format contains data, it is often considered an export/import document by some contact programs, making it easy to share one or more contacts, use the same contacts in different email programs or services, or keep backups of your address book. The VCF extension on a PC can be opened by a program that allows you to view contact details, but the most common reason for opening it is to import the address book into an email client program, such as the web or a phone and computer.

Programs for working with contacts

How to open VCF on a computer? Some apps have a limit on the number of contacts that can be imported or opened at one time. If you're having problems, you can go back to your original address book and export only half or 1/3 of the contacts to the opened VCF contacts file, and repeat the process until all of them have been moved.

Email clients

In Microsoft Outlook, to open VCF, go to the "People" section by clicking on the corresponding icon of the same name at the bottom of the window. To view a contact, click Business Card in the Current View section of the Home tab. Select a contact by clicking on the name bar at the top of the business card. To export it as a vCard, go to the File tab. On the Account Information screen, click Save As in the list of options on the left. The Save As dialog box will open.

By default, the .vcf name in the File Name field is the name of the contact. Change it if you like, choose a location and click save. To import a vCard or .vcf file into Outlook, simply double-click the .vcf document. Note that since this contact is new, the full contact editing window will be displayed, not the contact card that is displayed when double-clicking.

Organizers

With vCardOrganizer you can manage, edit, print and create new electronic contacts. Using only the VCF format (for example, from Microsoft Outlook and Windows Contacts), the program scans and automatically displays contacts as a list. To edit one of the templates already in the program, simply double-click the person's name. You need to complete it with details such as name, profession, position in the current company and phone number (even a direct connection to Skype is possible).

While vCardOrganizer has some very interesting features and interface that make all the work of creating virtual contacts easier, there are too many limitations in the test version. On the other hand, its interface, despite the old-fashioned design, works in an organized and correct way. The fact that the software takes up little space and works without having to install anything else is another advantage of the service.

VCF Viewer is a compact application designed to view information from multiple vCard files. They are often used to pass contact information between programs such as email clients. If you need to extract any detail such as phone number, email address, the software can help you avoid opening or adding each one to your contact list. Since it is a portable program, it is important to note that it does not leave any traces in the Windows Registry. You can copy it to any USB stick or other devices and take it with you when you need to open the vCard on another device.

To view the data stored in business cards, you only need to select the folder containing the documents. The program instantly displays the contents of files in the form of a data table sorted alphabetically by file name. This is a good tool if you don't want to add all the documents to your contact list or open them individually. However, it does not have the ability to extract contact information, for example, to add data to the clipboard. So if you need to edit or extract contact information, you should look for another solution.

Gmail Service

VCF files can also be imported into email clients such as Gmail. On the "Google Contacts" page, find the "Additional" - "Import ..." button and use the "Select File" button to select the desired contact. If it contains an image, that part of the file is binary and will not be displayed in a text editor. The information must be fully visible and editable in any program that works with text documents.

Text editors

To open a vcf document in Windows, you can use one of the many test editors. Starting with the standard Notepad and ending with office suites such as Microsoft Office Word and so on. Windows Notepad is not only a simple text editor, but also a contact viewer. To open a document in the editor, right-click it and select "Open With". In the list of programs, select Notepad and click OK. For comfortable and productive work, it is recommended to use professional text editors, such as Notepad ++. Its advantages:

• many functions;
• ease of operation;
• the ability to add your own dictionaries.

Flaws:

• weak external spell checking.

Notepad ++ is appreciated primarily by programmers - the editor has the ability to add dictionaries of various programming languages, which greatly facilitates editing the source code. Built-in tools allow you to automatically edit character encoding formats and offer quick access to frequently used options. With Notepad++, you only need one click to remove unwanted spaces at the end of a line or change quotes to your desired format. How to view vcf file on computer using Notepad++? Launch the program and select "Open" from the "File" menu. Then specify the path to the document and click "Open". The program offers not only viewing, but also editing vcf-files.

What else can cause problems with the file

Notepad built into Windows may not correctly display the character encoding written in Cyrillic. This is due to the discrepancy between Windows encodings and UTF-8, which is used by modern applications for viewing and editing vcf documents. Now you know how to open a .vcf file. But if after reading this article you still have questions, then feel free to write them in the comments.

What is a vcf file and how can it be opened on a computer? Many users may find such a file by accident, while others create it intentionally to store information.

But in both these cases the file may need to be opened to view the information it contains.

Definition

What is this file, where can it be found, and what is it for? This format has the data of a saved contact recorded in a smartphone or phone.

Information (contacts) in this format can be found both in the memory of a smartphone, and a tablet, and even a PC (in the event that devices were synchronized or data was transferred).

Where does this file come from? It appears after updating the firmware of the phone and contains all the data from the phone book of the device.

This file is created by the user himself (the operating system does not automatically create it, for example, in case of failures).

It can be exported, imported to and from the system, viewed, etc. Thus, it is necessary for fast and accurate

Sometimes this method even works to open files created on other devices (with a different operating system).

In order to use this method, do the following:

1 Login to Google mail;

3 In the drop-down list, go to the section Contacts;

4 In the left list, which will open after updating the window, click the button More;

5 In the drop-down list, find the item Import;

6 In the pop-up window, specify Import from CSV file;

7 In the updated window, find the button Go to the previous version of contacts and click on it;

The table below shows the comparative characteristics of programs and applications for working with vcf files.

Based on them, it is mono to conclude that the use of which application will be optimal in each specific case.

<Рис. 14 Выбор программы>

Table 1. Comparative characteristics of programs for opening the vcf format

Program	Download	Preservation	Cyrillic display	Multifunctionality	Additional functions
The address book	Not required	forced	No	Any files of this format	No
Outlook	Not required	Automatically	Yes, correct	Any files of this format	Email exchange
Nokia Suite	Phone installation required	Automatic or forced	Yes, correct	Only files created on devices manufactured by Nokia and its subsidiaries	Synchronization, transfer and copy of data and much more
gmail	Not required	Automatically	Yes, correct	Relative (opens some files created not on the Android system)	Email and some other services from Google

The choice of a suitable program depends on the needs and possibilities at a particular moment, as well as on the type of files.

When buying a new phone or flashing an old one, we are advised to create a backup copy of contacts from the phone book so as not to lose important information and not waste time entering numbers manually. After making a copy and saving it on the computer, we need to open the .vcf file to view the contact's phone number. But how to do it and with what program? We will consider the answer to these questions below.

.vcf how to open?

The .vcf extension file is the calling card of the subscriber, which stores information about the contact (name, phone number, email, personal website and links to pages on social networks). It can be opened by standard means of any mobile operating system. But in Windows there are some nuances.

Windows Address Book

The standard way that does not require the installation of additional software. Right-click on the .vcf file and select "Open With" - "Windows Contacts".

Attention! The built-in program "Windows Contacts" does not recognize Cyrillic! If the numbers from your address book were signed in Russian, Ukrainian or Belarusian, they will not be displayed correctly!

Microsoft Outlook

If you have Microsoft Office pre-installed on your machine, you can open "contacts.vcf" using MS Outlook. To do this, drag the .vcf file to the working window of the program and follow the instructions. After viewing the contact details of business cards, they will be saved in the address book of the mail client.

Nokia Suite

An epoch-making application from Nokia, in which the creation of a backup copy of contacts and their restoration is a small part of the whole functionality. The application will allow you to view contact data and restore it on a mobile device (if it is manufactured by Nokia).

Notepad++

A multifunctional text editor that supports many encodings and guarantees the correct display of information. The application cannot export data to mobile devices, but allows you to edit a contact: add, delete and edit information.

Gmail by Google

You can use Google services to view contacts in .vcf format.

1. Create an account or sign in with Gmail.
2. Click on the dropdown list and click the "Contacts" button.
   
   
3. In the "More" tab, click "Import" - "Import from a CSV or vCard file".
   
   
4. Confirm the transition to the previous version of contacts.
   
   
5. In the window that appears, click "More" - "Import".

Nowadays, mobile phones are ubiquitous. And therefore, their owners are increasingly faced with the question: how to transfer contacts from one device to another? Of course, if there are only ten people in the notebook, then this can be easily done manually. But what if there are hundreds or even thousands of them?

Fortunately, a special format has been developed to solve this problem, called vCard or just vcf. It allows you to view and edit your contacts, transfer them to new devices and share them with other users.

At the same time, not only smartphones support vcf today. With the help of special programs, they can be viewed and edited on any modern computer.

The name of the vCard File format stands for "business card file". And this is no coincidence: vcf, in fact, are electronic business cards. They can contain any contact information about a person, namely:

• surname, name and patronymic,
• position held,
• telephone,
• photograph of a person
• E-mail address,
• personal site,
• home address

and much more.

You can recognize vCard files by *.vcf extension. Initially, this format was developed for mobile phones, but today it is also actively used by many email programs. It helps users not only easily import and export contacts, but also share them via email. Moreover, any vcf can be attach to the letter as an attachment.

In fact, vcf are plain text files, but only with special markup. And this means that if you wish, you can open them in any text editor, for example, in Microsoft Word or even in Notepad.

However, vCard is much more convenient than plain text. Firstly, they present information to the user in a visual and orderly manner, as in a questionnaire. Secondly, they can include various media data, such as photographs. And thirdly, if vcf files do not contain media data, then they have a very small size (less than 1 kilobyte). Therefore, they can be easily sent to another user, even from phone to phone.

Unfortunately, there are several problems associated with the vCard. The main one is that this format was originally designed for phones, and therefore does not open on all computers. And the user who received such a file may simply not have a suitable program to view it.

The second problem is related to the media included in the vcf. If all other information can be viewed through a regular notepad, then the contact photos in it will look like a long string of incomprehensible characters.

And the third problem is incorrect work with Cyrillic. Contacts that were recorded in Russian, Ukrainian or Belarusian may be displayed as unreadable icons. And if the phone number and addresses of web pages in such a file can still be disassembled, then the names and surnames can no longer be deciphered. Fortunately, today there a bunch of excellent programs for working with contacts that allow you to solve all these problems.

Initially, vcf files were opened only by applications that came with phones (such as "Nokia P.C. Suite" or "Samsung P.C. Studio").

However, today there are at least four types of tools that will allow you to view or edit the vCard format:

1. mail clients.
2. Gmail (Google mail service).
3. Text editors.

Let's take a closer look at how to open vcf contacts on a computer using them.

The most common contact application is the Windows Address Book (Windows Contacts). You don't usually need to install it, as all modern versions of Windows have it by default. In this case, to open the file, you just need to click on it with the mouse pointer.

The program converts scanned business cards into a list of operating system contacts and saves them in its own format (*.contact). Alas, the Windows address book does not always handle Cyrillic correctly.

Another application for working with personal contacts is Handy Address Book. If you need to view a couple of vcf files once, then it is hardly worth installing this program (this can be done in simpler ways). But if required constantly sort or edit business cards, then Handy Address Book will become an indispensable assistant.

To manipulate contacts, the program uses its own kind of files. However, it can work with other formats, including vCard. There are two ways to open a vcf file in Handy Address Book:

1. After installing the program, it will be entered into the Windows registry as one of the applications for working with vCard. And this means that after that all contacts will be opened with just a click of the mouse. If Windows asks in which application to open these files, you need to select Handy Address Book from the list of suggested programs.
2. Business card files can also be opened manually. Go to the menu "File" -> "Import" and select the item "vCard File" in the drop-down list. Then click the "Next" button and find your file. The program will add all open business cards to its contact list.

From other Windows applications, you can try the following:

• vCardOrganizer. The program is designed specifically for working with vcf files: viewing, creating and editing them. It correctly displays photos and even knows how to print selected business cards. Unfortunately, this application is paid.
• vcftools. Another good program for vcf files. With its help, users can not only view and edit business cards, but also convert them to other formats.
• vcf Viewer. A simple and free contact viewer app. Shows only one business card at a time, which is not very convenient.
• open contacts. Free program for storing contacts. Supports several formats, including vcf.

Email clients

The most popular email application today is . The program is included in the Microsoft Office package and is installed on many modern computers. Not everyone knows this, but Outlook can view and edit various contact files, including vcf.

After installation, the program will register in the registry, and all business cards will be opened in it by default. To view a vCard file, just click on it with the left mouse button or drag its program window. The viewed data will be saved in the Outlook mailbook.

If for some reason the files do not open automatically, you can view them in another way. To do this, run the program and go to the menu "File" -\u003e "Open" -\u003e "Import". In the window that opens, select "import vCard", and then simply find the desired file.

A free alternative to Microsoft Outlook is Mozilla Thunderbird. Today it is one of the best programs for working with e-mail. She has her own address book into which you can import vcf and other contact files. However, installing Mozilla Thunderbird only for viewing business cards is impractical, since the program is large and takes a long time to install.

You can add vCard contacts to Thunderbird as follows:

1. Open the Address Book in the program.
2. Go to the menu "Tools" -> "Import".
3. In the window that opens, select "Address Books" and click the "Continue" button.
4. Specify the file type (vCard).
5. Find the required vcf file.

Mozilla Thunderbird will then add the contact to its address book, where it can be easily viewed or edited.

From other email clients, you can try the Eudora OSE application. It has rich functionality, supports vcf and other contact formats.

Organizers

Organizers are programs for planning time and managing to-do lists. Today, many of them are able to integrate with mail and work with contacts, including the vCard format.

One such program is the Palm Desktop organizer. The application has a small size and may be suitable for one-time use. There are two ways to open a business card in it:

1. Minimize the program to the size of the window and drag the required file onto it. The application will open the contact and prompt you to select the group to which you want to add it.
2. If the first method suddenly did not work, you need to go to the "Address" tab, and then to the "File" -> "Import" menu. In the file search window that opens, change the format to vcf and find the required contact.

Gmail Service

If there is no suitable application on the computer, but you don’t want to install anything, you can use postal service Gmail by Google. In this case, the algorithm for opening vcf files will consist of 7 steps:

1. We go to our inbox in Gmail. If you don't have an account yet, you'll have to register, but it won't take long.
2. Click on the inscription Gmail in the upper left corner and select "Contacts" in the drop-down list.
3. In the menu on the left, click on "More" and select "Import" in the drop-down list.
4. In the window that appears, find "Import from a CSV or vCard file".
5. We confirm the transition to the old version and select "Import contacts" in the menu on the left.
6. A window will appear in which you need to click the "Select File" button.
7. We find the necessary business card and confirm the import.

The contact will then appear in your Gmail address book.

Text editors

As already mentioned, vCard files can be easily opened in any text editor. However, the most suitable solution for working with electronic business cards is the improved Notepad ++. It supports dozens of various encodings, and therefore is able to correctly display any text file. You can view and even edit contacts in Notepad++, but of course, you won't be able to export them to other formats.

If there are no suitable programs or Internet access, then you can open vcf with regular Notepad (just Notepad). It is also suitable if you just need to quickly find some important data in an electronic business card, for example, a postal address or phone number.

How to view vcf in notepad? Very simple: just right-click on the file, select "Open with" from the context menu and select Notepad as the application.

To search for the necessary information in an open file, you need to pay attention to the service markup. For example, a contact's phone number will be listed after the "TEL" attribute, and their email after "EMAIL;TYPE=INTERNET".

However, keep in mind that some data in Notepad may not display correctly. Instead of a contact photo, only a set of characters will be visible, and strange icons often appear instead of Cyrillic.

Problems with encoding

Many applications on your computer use Windows encodings (for example, ANSI) to work with text. And on smartphones and tablets, in turn, UTF-8 encoding prevails. It is because of this that vcf phone files on a computer may not be displayed correctly. If they are edited for Windows encodings, they will not be read on the phone. To avoid such problems, you need to use those applications that can work with UTF-8.

One such program is the emClient mail client and organizer. It can export vcf in UTF-8 encoding, thanks to which the Cyrillic alphabet will always be displayed correctly on the phone.

After downloading and installing the application will fully work for 30 days, after which it will offer either to take a free license for home use or buy the program. To view, edit and export electronic business cards, a license for home is enough.

There are two ways to open vcf in this program:

1. Just drag the required file into the application window.
2. Go to the menu "File" -\u003e "Import" and select "Import from vCard" in the window that opens. After that, you need to specify the folder in which the vcf files are stored. The program will scan it and read all electronic business cards from it.

After that, all information from business cards will be in the contact list, which is very convenient for viewing and editing. The list at any time can be exported again to vcf and transferred to a phone or another computer.