Import Excel Spreadsheet into Outlook Contact Group/List

Not able to Import contact group to Outlook from Excel spreadsheet due to different error such Mapping translation error or address field not recognized. Hope this blog will provide a solution to these kinds of error. Just follow the 4 Steps process and import contact group to Outlook from Excel file.

How Distribution List Help Outlook User

MS Outlook provides lots of utility and features to their user and one of the important options from various features is Distribution List or Contact Group [alias name]. By creating a Contact Group, a user can send a single information to various people within few click. By doing this, a user doesn't need to send a single email every time to each user. This feature helps a lot user to send related information to a particular group, without sending the same messages to each user individually.

But before sending messages to group user, a user needs to create a Contact group list and add each user simultaneously. The process of creating a contact for each user can be a tedious and time-consuming task. To save time and effort, a user can save the data into an Excel Spreadsheet format and then Import Excel Spreadsheet into Outlook Contact Group easily.

Step 1: Store User information in Excel Sheet

First, Outlook user has to store information in Excel spreadsheet format. An Excel sheet file (.xls) format used to store information in the Organized way and user can apply different formatting condition to the analysis of a large amount of data. Two methods are available as various Outlook Version such as Outlook 2016/2013 & old version like Outlook 2010/2017 still used by people all over the world.

To understand each step clearly, so that no error arises when a naive user tries to import excel spreadsheet into outlook contact group, manual steps are given below.

For Microsoft 2010/2007 Outlook application, a user can follow the old method, in which user needs to import Excel spreadsheet [Microsoft 97-2003] version file format into Outlook. The instruction guide is given below, steps are long as compared to another method.

• Open Excel Spreadsheet >> Store User Field.
• Save File in Excel 97-2003 Workbook format.

Step 2: Create Contact Folder

Before importing excel spreadsheet to outlook Contact Group, a contact folder should be created, so that user contact information such as Name, address, phone, fax, email addresses can be added. To create a Contacts Folder, launch Outlook.

1. Open Contact Folder Option.
2. Click Right on Contacts File and Choose New Folder option.
3. Now Provide a New Name to the folder. (Ex: Excel Contacts). Click Ok.
4. New Folder created in Contacts Section.

Step 3: Import Excel Spreadsheet into Outlook Contact Group/ List

Now just select the import option in Outlook 2007 application and add user contact details into New created Contact Folder.

1. Open Import Section in Outlook 2007.
2. In Import and Export Wizard Screen, select Import File from another program file option.
3. Browse the location of Excel file [where outlook user details stored].
4. Select “Do Not Import Duplicates items” radio box to avoid kind of issues.
5. In Next Import a file Dialogue Box screen, Now Select the Folder[Excel Contact] in which, user want to import excel to outlook contact group.
6. Click Next button.
7. Now select “Map Custom Field" option to map the values of Excel sheet data with the contact Folder attributes. This option helps Outlook user to map field schema. So that user contact data can be stored properly.
8. Just Drag & Drop the field of Contacts from the left pane of Excel sheet to the Right pane of the Outlook Contact Folder.
9. After complete mapping. Click on OK button.

Step 4: Create Distribution list or Contact Group

1. Now In “Home” tab button, select "New Contact Group” option.
2. Click Add Member option and choose “From Outlook Contacts” option.
3. In Address Book Section, Select the Contact Folder [Excel Contacts].
4. Now Select the desired individual users by holding the Shift key and Click on “Member Button”
5. After clicking the OK button, all the members are added to the Distribution list.

Use above manual steps to import contacts from Excel to Outlook contact group for older 2010/2007 version. But in New versions of Outlook application, a short and quick method to convert excel to outlook contact group can be used.

In Outlook 2016/2013 Version

Using this method, a user can quickly create Contact Group without using the Import/ Export Wizard utility and no need to follow lengthy steps.

1. Select all the Data of Excel spreadsheet using CTRL + C command.
2. Click on Contact Section of Outlook and Choose New Contact Group Option.
3. In Contact Group Window, Click on Add Members field and then “From Outlook Contacts" option from the drop-down menu.
4. In the Bottom section, Select Member and user Command CTRL + V command to add the contacts from Excel spreadsheet to Outlook.
5. Now type a name for the Contact Group and save it so that you can directly send a single message to the whole group.

Conclusion

As we can see various methods are available to import contacts from Excel to Outlook contact group, but according to Outlook versions, a user can go for the best method. But these manual methods are not fully accurate, Sometimes complete field values of contacts not imported into Outlook Contacts list, even mapping field error also arises and not solve at last while working with the huge contacts list. To Solve these kind problems in MS Outlook. A user can switch from manual methods to an automated solution that can import Excel spreadsheet into Outlook contact group/list. With the help of Excel to Outlook Converter, a user can create a distribution list in supported Outlook versions within in few clicks.