A Vcard is the electronic equivalent of a business card. It can contain contact information, telephone and email addresses, and even various objects such as web addresses, photo images, or audio and video clips. Sending a Vcard as an email attachment is an easy way to share your contact information (or anyone else's) with other computer users.

In Outlook (or almost any other email program) create a contact for yourself. Enter ONLY the information you want to share with others. If you haven't already done so, save the contact information so that it's stored in your main Contacts list. Then, to create a Vcard that's always ready for sharing, Click on File, Save As. In the Save Window, at the bottom change the Save As Type to Vcard and save the file. A Vcard with a VCF file extension is created and can be sent by email just as any other file attachment.

To send an Outlook contact 'on the fly' (where you haven't already created a VCard), open your Contacts folder. Highlight the Contact you want to share (the contact could be yourself or anyone else in the list). Next, at the top menu click on Actions and then Forward as Vcard. The Contact information will be saved as a VCF file and then inserted into a blank email as an attachment. Note: It is possible, but tricky, to tag multiple contacts and include them in the same email.

To accept a Vcard from someone else, first open the VCF attachment in Outlook. If it's acceptable, click File and Save to add it to your Contacts list. Note: if you right-click on the attachment and save it, you'll be saving the VCF file to your hard drive. You'll then need to open it and save it again from within Outlook to add it to your contacts.

Email programs other than Outlook, particularly web-mail clients, typically include an Export feature in the Contacts section in order to save one or more Contacts as Vcards. Again, the Vcards can be sent just like any other email attachment. To receive a Vcard from someone else, use the Import feature in the Contacts section of the program or web page.

Vcards are a convenient method for electronically sharing contact information with other email users. Vcard VCF files are just another file type and can be exchanged as email attachments like any other document, while most email programs and web-based email systems include special tools for creating, sending, and receiving these files.

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Tips provided by Richard D. Vasil, Vasil Consulting, Inc.
© 2012 Vasil Consulting, Inc.