Moving your address book from Gmail or Outlook to webmail

If you're switching from Gmail or Outlook to a mailbox at WebOké, your contacts won't come along automatically. Even if your mail is migrated, the address book stays behind: it isn't stored in your mailbox but in a separate list. You bring it over with a file. In this article you'll learn how, and how to avoid duplicates and lost groups.

Step 1: export from your old program

There are two types of files for contacts:

• vCard (.vcf): a file of business cards. Each piece of information has a fixed name, such as FN for the name and EMAIL for the address. Groups are stored in the CATEGORIES line.
• CSV: a table as plain text, with one column per piece of information. There's no fixed agreement on the column names, so the webmail has to map them to its own fields.

If you have the choice, go for vCard. Google Contacts, Outlook and Apple Contacts can all export as vCard or as CSV. You'll find the steps at Google in Export, back up, or restore contacts and at Microsoft in Import or export contacts in Outlook using a .csv file.

Step 2: import into the webmail

1. Log in to the webmail and click Contacts in the menu.
2. Click Import at the top.
3. Choose the file under Import from file.
4. Under Import group assignments, choose what happens to the groups in the file (see below).
5. Leave Replace the entire address book unchecked.
6. Click Import.

When it's done, you'll see how many contacts were imported and how many were skipped.

With a CSV file: mapping fields

If you import a CSV file, the webmail shows which column belongs to which field and asks whether that mapping is correct. Check this carefully:

• Is the column with the email address mapped to the email field? A classic mistake is that the column with the work address doesn't get mapped. You then end up with a hundred contacts without an email address.
• Set columns you don't need to Field not mapped (do not import).
• If the first line contains the column names, choose Skip first line (headers).

If you see strange characters after importing, such as "Müller" instead of "Müller", the file wasn't saved in UTF-8. Save it again in your spreadsheet as CSV in UTF-8 and import it again. If everything ends up in one column, the webmail read the separator incorrectly: a Dutch spreadsheet often uses a semicolon instead of a comma.

Duplicates

If a contact with the same email address and the same name already exists, the webmail skips it during the import. So if you accidentally import the same file twice, it's not a big deal. If the name is written differently, for example "Sanne de Vries" and "S. de Vries", the person will be added twice. If you import from two sources, search for a few names afterwards and delete the duplicates.

Exporting as a backup

Your mail is stored on the server, but you can wipe your address book with one wrong click. So make an export every now and then:

1. Go to Contacts.
2. Click the arrow next to Export and choose Export all. With Export selected you only include the contacts you've selected.

You'll get a single .vcf file. Groups are stored in it as CATEGORIES, so they come along again with a new import. A file like this contains personal data: keep it in a safe place and don't leave it lying around in your Downloads folder.

Good to know

• Your phone is a different address book. The contacts on your phone and the address book in the webmail are two separate lists. The webmail doesn't sync with your phone; bring contacts over by exporting and importing.
• Collected Recipients. Besides your Personal Addresses, the webmail automatically remembers every address you send mail to, in Collected Recipients. An import ends up in your personal address book.
• A business card in an email. If you receive a .vcf file as an attachment, the webmail shows a button to add it straight to your address book.

The steps with screenshots can be found in the Roundcube manual under Importing and exporting contacts and Creating groups.