# How to export your contacts to a CSV file

Source: https://exportcontacts.com/to-csv/
Updated: 2026-11-14 · By the Contaxo team

> Phones export contacts only as vCard. To get a **CSV** file, open **Contaxo**, tap **CSV**, choose the columns and tap **Export**. The file is UTF-8 with a header row, so it works in Google Sheets, CRMs such as HubSpot, mailing tools such as Mailchimp, and mail merge.

## What you need

- iPhone or iPad with iOS 16 or later, or an Android phone with Android 7.1 or later
- The free Contaxo app (exports up to 100 contacts; Pro exports your whole list)

## Step by step with Contaxo

1. **Tap CSV.** On the Home tab of Contaxo, tap **CSV** to see your contacts as a table.
2. **Choose the columns.** Keep the fields the tool you are importing into expects, such as first name, last name, email and phone.
3. **Filter if needed.** Export one group, or only contacts that have an email, which is useful for mailing lists.
4. **Export.** Tap **Export** and save the .csv file or send it to your computer.

## When CSV is the right format

- **Google Sheets** and other spreadsheet tools.
- **CRMs** (HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive) and **mailing tools** (Mailchimp, Brevo), which almost all import CSV.
- **Mail merge** for letters, labels and envelopes.

If a person will read the file, [Excel](https://exportcontacts.com/to-excel/) or [PDF](https://exportcontacts.com/to-pdf/) is usually nicer. If a phone or address book will read it, use [vCard](https://exportcontacts.com/to-vcf/).

## The built-in way (without an app)

Only Google's web app writes CSV. On a computer, open contacts.google.com, choose **Export**, then **Google CSV** (for Google) or **Outlook CSV** (for Outlook and most other tools). This covers only contacts saved in your Google account. iPhone contacts stored in iCloud must first be exported as a vCard and imported into Google Contacts.

## Frequently asked questions

### What kind of CSV does Contaxo create?

A standard UTF-8 CSV file with a header row, which Google Sheets, CRMs and mailing tools read directly.

### Accents or non-Latin letters look wrong when I open the CSV in Excel

Excel sometimes guesses the wrong text encoding when you double-click a CSV. In Excel, use **Data › From Text/CSV** and choose **UTF-8 (65001)**, or export to [Excel (.xlsx)](https://exportcontacts.com/to-excel/) instead, which keeps every character.

### Can I upload the CSV to Google Contacts or Outlook?

Yes, but for moving contacts between phones and address books a [vCard file](https://exportcontacts.com/to-vcf/) keeps more detail, such as photos and labels.

### Can I bring a CSV back into my phone?

Yes. Contaxo can [import contacts from CSV](https://exportcontacts.com/import/) and matches the columns for you.

## Related

- [How to export your contacts to Excel](https://exportcontacts.com/to-excel/)
- [How to import contacts from Excel, CSV or vCard](https://exportcontacts.com/import/)
- [How to export your contacts to a vCard (VCF) file](https://exportcontacts.com/to-vcf/)

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