At one point, you may have wondered what the functions of some files on your phone that don’t seem to open are. Some of these files are system files necessary for the smooth run of the operating system, while some are just downright confusing. One such file is the VCF. So, what exactly does the VCF on an Android do?
A Virtual Contact File (VCF) is file format phone contacts are stored. It is the standard file format in which the contact information of people in your phonebook is stored. A file with a “.vcf” extension typically contains contact information about the individual or entity.
A VCF is a text-based file format that stores contact details like email addresses, telephone numbers, and contact names.
This article elaborates more on the VCF and how to use it.
What Is the Use of a VCF?
Contacts may be stored as a VCF, and you may import that file into your Android device. A VCF is used in exporting contacts as well as importing contacts. If you procure a new Android device, you will certainly need all the contacts from your previous phone. However, you can readily import these contacts into your new Android device, provided that you have previously backed up your contacts into a VCF.
A VCF contains some contact information, such as a person’s name, phone number, email address, residential address, business name, and other contact details. Note that the primary purpose of a VCF is to keep a record of the person’s phone number, but they can also store other types of information, such as pictures.
The file that contains the VCF extension typically contains the contact information of an individual or entity.
How To Export and Transfer a VCF?
The VCF is stored on your Google Drive on a typical Android device, provided you have created a backup for it. However, the primary challenge most people face is opening a vCard sent to them. Generally, vCard is a text file, so you may read the information within them without having to import or export anything. But the primary function of VCF is to facilitate the import of contact information into your phone’s address book on your Android device.
Method #1: Export vCard
Exporting the contacts saved on the phone root directory into the VCF format is relatively straightforward. Even if the contact is saved in backup in Google Drive, simply restore the file on your Android and export it.
Here’s how to export vCard on Android.
- Open the Contacts app on your Android device.
- Click on the “Fix and manage” icon at the bottom of the page and then tap on the “Export” to file option.
- Select the contacts you want to export, or use the “Select All” option at the top of your screen.
- Click on the “Export to VCF” format option, and you are done.
Method #2: Transfer vCard
Sending a VCF to an Android phone can be done via email and then importing its content into the phone’s contact, and this proves to be the most straightforward method for transferring VCFs. The VCF is sent as an attachment after the email is composed.
Depending on the mode of transfer, after viewing the file then, you can now import the preferred contacts by either selecting import all or choosing the names/numbers of the desired contacts.
Here’s how to transfer vCard on Android.
- VCFs can be shared or exported as .txt or .csv files and saved into a folder.
- You can quickly find the exported VCF in the File Manager after you’ve exported your contacts.
- See if there is a contacts folder if you can’t seem to locate it; a quick search of all applications located on the Android device.
- If you copied the contact file from another device, you would need to search for its location in the folder.
- When you find the vCard folder, select the VCF, tap on the share icon, and transfer it via any channel available.
Is VCF Interconvertible?
One of the added benefits of VCF is easily converting it to other file types; one example is the Excel file type. Some contact files are typically large, for example, the contact file of an organization. The Excel application has a built-in mechanism to support a VCF format; you can open and parse this type of information.
If you have a vCard file, you can import that into your excel spreadsheet. Select the import tool in the “Data” tab of the ribbons arranged in the uppermost of the excel application. Depending on the various application converters available, you can convert a VCF into a PDF file.
Conclusion
As you can see from this guide, the VCF is a useful file extension on Android devices. You will probably find this file extension on every Android phone you can find. With the VCF extension, you can do many things with your device’s contacts, such as print, download, or share.
