# Windows Contacts

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Legacy contact manager included with Microsoft Windows

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Windows Contacts Contacts folder inside Windows Explorer, showing example contacts. Developer Microsoft Operating system Microsoft Windows Predecessor Windows Address Book Successor People Website windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/de-DE/Help/26ce0593-f146-454e-92a2-5fe1107da4b01031.mspx

Windows Contacts Filename extension .contact Internet media type text/x-ms-contact Developed by Microsoft Type of format electronic business card Container for contact information Extended from XML Website Windows Contacts

**Windows Contacts** is a legacy [special folder](/source/Special_folder) used for [contact management](/source/Contact_manager) that is included in [Windows Vista](/source/Windows_Vista), [Windows 7](/source/Windows_7), [Windows 8](/source/Windows_8), [Windows 10](/source/Windows_10), and [Windows 11](/source/Windows_11). It replaced but retains most of the functionality of [Windows Address Book](/source/Windows_Address_Book) and works with [Windows Live Mail](/source/Windows_Live_Mail) and the Vista version of [Windows Mail](/source/Windows_Mail) for legacy purposes.

Windows Contacts uses an [XML](/source/XML)-based schema format. Each contact appears as an individual .contact file, in which custom information including pictures can be stored. Windows Contacts features [extensibility](/source/Extensibility) APIs for integration with other applications and for storing custom information. The legacy *.wab format and the open standards *.vcf ([vCard](/source/VCard)) and *.csv ([CSV](/source/Comma-separated_values)) are also supported.

Although it's incompatible with and functionally replaced by the newer [People](/source/People_(Windows)) app and then later by [Outlook for Windows](/source/Outlook_for_Windows), the folder still exists in the latest versions of Windows for backwards compatibility.

## Features

- Windows Contacts is implemented as a [special folder](/source/Special_folder) that's found in a user's folder. It's also found in the [Start Menu](/source/Start_Menu) of Windows Vista as a shortcut and can be run in Windows 7 and Windows 10 by searching for 'Contacts' (or 'wab.exe') in the Start Menu.[1] Contacts can be stored in folders and groups.

- It can import [vCard](/source/VCard), [CSV](/source/Comma-separated_values), [WAB](/source/Windows_Address_Book) and [LDIF](/source/LDAP_Data_Interchange_Format) formats.

- It can export in vCard 2.1 and CSV formats. Users can right-click a contact to quickly convert it to vCard format and send it to anyone.

- It can print contacts in *Memo*, *Business Card*, and *Phone List* formats.

- Because contacts are stored in the Contacts folder simply as individual .contact files, they're just another data type in the operating system that can be indexed and searched by [Windows Search](/source/Windows_Search). Individual contacts can be quickly accessed from the Start menu search text box.

- [People](/source/Outlook.com#People), the contact manager for [Outlook.com](/source/Outlook.com) can store its information in the Windows Contacts folder if the option to encrypt it is unchecked in [Windows Live Messenger](/source/Windows_Live_Messenger).[2] Whenever contacts in Messenger are updated, they'll be updated in Windows Contacts as well. This feature however only works up to Windows Live Messenger 8.5. Windows Contacts synchronization is not supported in Windows Live Messenger 9.0.

- Windows Contacts exposes APIs for creating new contacts, reading and writing in an existing contact, adding a "Label" in the form of a [URI](/source/Uniform_Resource_Identifier) to a "Property" or a "Property" to a "Contact", API for synchronizing devices with Windows Contacts.[3][4]

## Outlook Express Export Bug

There is a known problem when exporting the Windows Address Book (*.wab) files to another PC. If the user has contacts organized into folders, this folder structure will not be preserved when the WAB file is imported. All contacts will be preserved, however, leaving some with a considerable task of manually reconstructing the folders and moving addresses back into their rightful places. See: [http://support.microsoft.com/kb/249670](http://support.microsoft.com/kb/249670)

A solution for Windows versions still using WAB files as their address book is to copy, not export/import, the WAB files to their correct location. This often preserves the folder structure. Unfortunately, in Windows Live Mail this does not work as WLM doesn't use WAB.

## See also

- [People](/source/Outlook.com#People)

- [Microsoft Office Outlook](/source/Microsoft_Office_Outlook)

- [Lightweight Directory Access Protocol](/source/Lightweight_Directory_Access_Protocol)

- [File Explorer](/source/File_Explorer)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Klein, Matt (Nov 20, 2014). ["What is the Windows Contacts Folder and Why Do You Need it?"](https://www.howtogeek.com/202712/the-windows-contacts-folder-what-is-it-and-do-you-need-it/#the-windows-contacts-manager-folder). *HowToGeek*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20200807013202/https://www.howtogeek.com/202712/the-windows-contacts-folder-what-is-it-and-do-you-need-it/#the-windows-contacts-manager-folder) from the original on Aug 7, 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Making your Windows Live Contacts work with Windows Contacts"](https://web.archive.org/web/20071007052221/http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsexperience/archive/2007/05/13/making-your-windows-live-contacts-work-with-windows-contacts.aspx). Archived from [the original](http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsexperience/archive/2007/05/13/making-your-windows-live-contacts-work-with-windows-contacts.aspx) on 2007-10-07. Retrieved 2007-10-12.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** [Windows Contacts Schema Overview](http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms735869.aspx)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** [Programming Windows Contacts](http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms735866.aspx)

## External links

- [About Windows Contacts and the XML Format](http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms735778.aspx#_wincontacts_xml)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Windows Contacts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Contacts) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Contacts?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.