How to Export Hotmail Contact List

One of the best things about today's email programs is the ease with which you can migrate from one to another. For example, if you are currently using Hotmail and want to either switch to another program or simply add an account, you can do so without losing your address book, also known as your contact list. Most email programs make importing and exporting contact lists a user-friendly experience, and Hotmail is no exception.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Hotmail account Internet connection

1. Log in to your Hotmail account. If you don't have your inbox set to automatically come up when you log in, go to your inbox.

2. 
   Contact list

   Click "Contact list" under "Related places" in the lower-left corner of your inbox.

3. 
   Click "Export"

   Click "Manage" in the menu that appears above your contacts. In the drop-down menu that appears under "Manage," click "Export."

4. Enter the CAPTCHA characters that appear in the next screen to verify your account. Once you have done this, a pop-up box will appear that asks if you want to open or save the .csv (comma separated values) file. Choose to save it on your desktop, which is the default location. This makes it easy to find.

5. Go to your desktop to ensure the file is there. It should read WLMContacts.csv. It is not necessary to open the file; you'll simply import it into whatever program you like as a .csv file.

Tips & Warnings

• If you have Excel installed on your computer, the .csv file will be recognized as an Excel file. However you don't need to have Excel in order to export or import contact lists. WLMContacts is the default file name for the exported file. You can change it to whatever you like, however, as long as you don't change the .csv extension.

Resources

• Windows Live Hotmail