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How to extract individual contacts from a contact group in Outlook?

Author: Xiaoyang Last Modified: 2024-09-18

When receiving a distribution list, you may like to save and convert it to individual contacts instead of a group. Normally, there is no direct way for solving this task in Outlook. But, here, I will introduce two methods to achieve this job as quickly as possible.

Extract individual contacts from a contact group with Import/Export feature

Extract individual contacts from a contact group with a powerful feature


Extract individual contacts from a contact group with Import/Export feature

To split the distribution list into individual contacts, the Import/Export feature in Outlook can do you a favor, please do as this:

1. First, you should drag the received contact group from message to People icon in the navigation pane, and save it into your contact folder.

2. Then, select the contact group, and then click File > Save As. In the popped out Save As window, choose a location to save this file, and then select Text Only (*.txt) file format from the Save as type drop down, see screenshot:

the steps of extracting individual contacts from a contact group with Import/Export feature

3. Then, click Save button to save this file.

4. Now, click to open the saved text file by Notepad, and then, copy all the lines with the names and email addresses, see screenshot:

the steps of extracting individual contacts from a contact group with Import/Export feature

5. Next, open Excel application, type Name and Email Address into cell A1 and B1 separately. Then, put the cursor at cell A2, press Ctrl + V to paste the names and addresses into the list of cells, see screenshot:

the steps of extracting individual contacts from a contact group with Import/Export feature

6. Then, go to click File > Save As, in the Save As window, choose a location for saving this file, and then specify a name for this file, and next, select CSV (MS-DOS) (*.csv) file format from the Save as type drop down, see screenshot:

the steps of extracting individual contacts from a contact group with Import/Export feature

7. Then, click Save button to save this file.

8. Now, please click to open this file with Notepad, see screenshot:

the steps of extracting individual contacts from a contact group with Import/Export feature

9. In the opened Notepad, check the names and email addresses if they are separated by commas, if not, please separate them by commas. See screenshot:

the steps of extracting individual contacts from a contact group with Import/Export feature

10. Save and close the notepad, and then, in the main interface of the Outlook, click File > Open & Export > Import/Export, see screenshot:

the steps of extracting individual contacts from a contact group with Import/Export feature

11. In the Import and Export Wizard, click Import from another program or file from the Choose an action to perform list box, then, click Next button, see screenshot:

the steps of extracting individual contacts from a contact group with Import/Export feature

12. In the following Import a File step, click Comma Separated Values from the Select file type to import from list box, and go on clicking Next button, see screenshot:

the steps of extracting individual contacts from a contact group with Import/Export feature

13. In the next Import a File step, click Browse button to select the CSV file that you have saved just now, and then specify an option for dealing with the duplicate contacts from the Options section. Finally, click the Next button, see screenshot:

the steps of extracting individual contacts from a contact group with Import/Export feature

14. In the next step, select the target contact folder where you want to import the individual contacts, and click Next button, see screenshot:

the steps of extracting individual contacts from a contact group with Import/Export feature

15. In the final Import a File wizard, click Finish button. After finishing the importing progress, the individual contacts will be imported into the specific contact folder.

the steps of extracting individual contacts from a contact group with Import/Export feature

Extract individual contacts from a contact group with a powerful feature

There are too many steps in the above method, to make the process easier, you can use a useful feature – Break Contact Group of Kutools for Outlook. With this feature, you can split the contact group into individual contacts with only several clicks.

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After installing Kutools for Outlook, please do as this:

1. Select the contact group that you want to split into individual contacts, and then click Kutools Plus > Contact group > Break, see screenshot:

the steps of extracting individual contacts from a contact group with a powerful feature

2. In the Break dialog box, click All to check all contacts that you want to break. And then, click Ok button, see screenshot:

the steps of extracting individual contacts from a contact group with a powerful feature

3. And in another prompt box, click the Yes button.

the steps of extracting individual contacts from a contact group with a powerful feature

4. Now all members in the selected contact group are converted to individual contacts in the same contact folder, and the original contact group is deleted at the same time.


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