How to Move or Copy Contacts to Another Contact Folder in Outlook

1 Outlook (built-in): Drag & drop to move contacts(quick but fragile)

Use for small batches when both folders are visible. Be aware that this can stutter or mis-drop on some systems.

1. Open People view and show the source contact folder.

2. Select contacts (Ctrl/Shift supported).

3. Drag to the destination folder in the Folder Pane: Move = drag; Copy = hold Ctrl while dragging (shows “+”).

4. Open People view and show the source contact folder.

2 Outlook (built-in): Move/Copy via command

Use when you want a confirmation dialog and more reliability than drag-and-drop.

1. Select contacts in People view.

2. Use the ribbon’s Move menu or right-click → Move/Copy.

3. Choose A Folder…, Other Folder or Copy to Folder…, select the destination, confirm.

   

4 Export/Import (bulk across profiles or tenants)

Use when moving contacts between profiles/organizations or for portable backups.

Export

1. File > Open & Export > Import/Export → Export to a file → CSV.
2. Select the source contact folder and save.

Import

1. File > Open & Export > Import/Export → Import from another program or file → CSV.
2. Select the destination contact folder and finish.

5 Use filters first, then move/copy (cleanup workflows)

Ideal when you only want a subset (by company, category, or domain).

1. In People view, search or filter contacts (e.g., by Company, Category, or email domain).
2. Select the filtered results.
3. Finish with Move/Copy to Folder (Method 2) or Smart Address Book (Method 3).

Outlook’s built-in filtering is basic; Smart Address Book provides stronger filter/sort controls.

Which method should you choose?

• Few contacts, quick job: Drag & drop (Method 1) or Move/Copy command (Method 2).
• Large batches, multiple accounts, reliability:Smart Address Book (Method 3).
• Cross-profile/tenant or archival: Export/Import (Method 4).
• Subset cleanups: Filter first, then Method 2 or 3 (Method 5).