Exporting Outlook contacts and email addresses is straightforward if you follow the right steps and pay attention to security and formatting. With a mix of built-in options and specialized tools, you can quickly create clean CSV or PST files that are ready for backup, migration, or CRM import.​

Why export Outlook contacts?

Exporting contacts and email addresses gives you a portable backup that can be restored if Outlook, your device, or your mail profile runs into problems. It also makes it easy to migrate data to another Outlook profile, email service, or CRM platform without retyping information.​

Common use cases include:

• Moving to a new PC or Outlook account while keeping your full address book.​

• Importing contacts and addresses into Excel, Google Contacts, or marketing tools.​

• Building opt‑in mailing lists from historic conversations for sales and customer success.​

Built-in export options in Outlook

Outlook’s Import/Export wizard lets you export contacts to CSV for spreadsheets or to PST for a full Outlook backup. The wizard is available from the File tab in modern desktop versions and supports most current Outlook releases.​

Key points about built‑in export:

• CSV exports are ideal for Excel, Google Sheets, or third‑party tools because almost every app can read comma‑separated values.​

• PST exports are better when you want to move complete Outlook data between profiles or machines while preserving Outlook‑specific fields and structure.​

Steps to export Outlook contacts to CSV

On a Windows desktop Outlook, you can export your contacts to a CSV file in a few clicks. The exact labels vary slightly by version, but the flow is very similar across Outlook 2016, 2019, 2021, and Microsoft 365.​

Typical steps:

• Open Outlook and go to File → Open & Export → Import/Export to launch the wizard.​

• Choose “Export to a file” and then select “Comma Separated Values (CSV)” as the format.​

• Select the Contacts folder for the account you want to export, browse to a save location, name the file, and finish the wizard.​

Once the export completes, you can open the CSV in Excel or another spreadsheet tool to review and clean up the data.​

Exporting contacts on Outlook Web and Mac

Outlook on the web (the “new Outlook” and Microsoft 365 web interface) also lets you export contacts without installing anything. The option usually appears under the People section with an Export or Manage → Export contacts command.​​

On Mac, modern Outlook builds support exporting contacts to CSV via similar menus, but older or “New Outlook” versions may have limited export options, which is why some guides suggest workarounds or using desktop Outlook on Windows for full control. In mixed environments, exporting on Windows and then sharing CSV or PST files is still a common best practice.​

Extracting email addresses from mail folders

Sometimes you need all the email addresses you have communicated with, not just those already stored as contacts. You can still leverage the Import/Export wizard for this by exporting mail folders and mapping only address fields.​

Typical approach:

• Export the desired mail folder (for example, Sent Items) to a CSV file using the Import/Export wizard.​

• In the “Map Custom Fields” stage, clear the default mapping and map only address fields such as From (Address), To (Address), CC (Address), and BCC (Address) so your CSV focuses on email IDs.​

• Open the CSV in Excel to remove duplicates, filter domains, or separate sender and recipient lists as needed.​

For high‑volume work, add‑ins like Kutools for Outlook can automate extracting senders and recipients into new contacts or contact groups.​

Safe and efficient export practices

Export files are sensitive because they contain personal and business contact details, so they must be handled carefully. Basic hygiene reduces risk and saves time when you import or share the data later.​

Recommended practices:

• Store CSV and PST files in secure locations, ideally on encrypted drives or protected network paths with limited permissions.​

• Clean your exported list by removing duplicates, correcting invalid email formats, and deleting contacts you are not allowed to use under your organization’s privacy policies.​

• For large or complex address books, consider professional contact or address‑book tools that can export directly to CSV with filtering, de‑duplication, and support for damaged or very large Outlook data files.​

By combining Outlook’s built‑in export options with smart cleanup and, when necessary, specialized tools, you can build accurate, secure contact and email‑address lists that are ready for backup, migration, and marketing workflows.​