How to Export Contacts From Your Phone

The first step in rolodexing your contacts for campaign fundraising

Export iPhone Contacts

If you have an iPhone, there are two main ways to get your contacts into a spreadsheet. The simplest is to use a paid app like “Export Contacts to Excel,” which you can purchase for $0.99 in the App Store. The other way is using iCloud on your laptop or desktop computer.

On your phone using an app

Download the “Export Contacts to Excel” app from the App Store.
Launch the app on your phone and allow it to access your contacts.
Follow the onscreen instructions to prepare contacts, then export contacts. At this point you should have a spreadsheet you can save or email to yourself.

Using iCloud on your laptop or desktop computer

On your iPhone, go to ‘Settings
- Tap [your name]
- Tap ‘iCloud’ and make sure the ‘Contacts’ option is on. If ‘Contacts’ is not on, turn it on now.
On a computer, go to iCloud.com
- Enter your Apple ID and password
- Choose ‘Contacts’
- Click the gear icon and choose ‘Select All’
- With all contacts selected, click the gear icon and choose ‘Export vCard.’ At this point you will have all your contacts as exportable vcard files (one file per contact).
  - Either google how to create a .csv spreadsheet file from the .vcf files, or use software like vCardWizard or an online converter like this Tribulant converter or this one from asconvert.

Frankly, it’s a hassle and probably worth spending $0.99 for an app that will do it more simply and without uploading your contacts to a website for conversion.

Export Android Contacts

If you have an Android phone, the process is very similar to the iPhone process, except a bit easier. First, the available apps for exporting are free, so that is the easiest way to go. But if you want to export manually, that process is also a lot simpler.

On your phone using an app

Download the “Contact to Excel” app from Google Play.
Launch the app on your phone and allow it to access your contacts.
Choose ‘Export Contacts’ and choose the file format you want (either XLSX or CSV).
Follow the onscreen instructions to create a spreadsheet of your contacts. You can then choose to share it with yourself, or go back to the file location later to retrieve the file.

Using the Android Contacts interface

On your phone, scroll through your apps and find “Contacts.” Tap on it.
- Tap the menu icon on the upper left.
- Tap ‘Settings’
- Scroll to the ‘Manage contacts’ section and tap ‘Export.’
- If you have multiple Google accounts on your phone, choose the correct account.
- Tap ‘Export to .vcf file’
- Then follow the directions above to convert that .vcf file into a .csv or .xlx spreadsheet file

Using an app to directly create a spreadsheet of your contacts is by far the easiest method.

Associated Downloads

Want to take all this with you?

We are working on an ebook incorporating all the campaign information gathered in this site. We can let you know when that’s available so you can take the campaign guide with you and review it offline.