Share a contact with someone

There are several ways to share contacts with other people. If you are on the same network as the people you want to share with and they are also using new versions of Windows, the easiest way is to share your contacts directly from your computer. You can also send contacts as e‑mail attachments, either in their current file format (for people using new versions of Windows) or in the commonly used vCard contact format (for people not using new versions of Windows).

To share a contact with someone using Windows 10 (8.1, 7, Vista) on your network

If someone is on the same network as you and also using new versions of Windows, you can share a contact with them without the need to send it to them. Follow these steps to share any contact in your Windows Contacts folder.

1. Open Windows Contacts.

2. Right-click the contact you want to share, click Share, and then follow the instructions. When you are done, the people you have shared the contact with will be able to access it over the network. They will be able to open, view, and edit the contact, and even save it in their own Windows Contacts folder.

To share a contact with someone using Windows 10 (8.1, 7, Vista) on a different network

If someone is on a different network than you, you can only share a contact by sending it to them as an e-mail attachment. Follow these steps to share a contact by sending it as an e‑mail attachment. Recipients running new versions of Windows will be able to open, view, and edit the contact, and even save it in their own Windows Contacts folder.

1. Open Windows Contacts.

2. Right-click the contact you want to share, click Send To, and then click Mail Recipient. A new e‑mail message opens in your default e-mail program with the contact attached. Now you can send it to the person you want to share with. For information on how to send attachments with Windows Mail, see Send an attachment in a Windows Mail message.

To share a contact with someone who is not using Windows 10 (8.1, 7, Vista)

Follow these steps to share a contact, first by converting it to a format that people not using new versions of Windows can view, and then sending it as an e‑mail attachment.

1. Open Windows Contacts.

2. Find the contact you want to share, right-click the contact, and then click Send Contact. This will create a new message with the contact attached and converted to the commonly used vCard format, which you can e‑mail to the person you want to share it with. For information on how to send attachments with Windows Mail, see Send an attachment in a Windows Mail message.

Notes

When you convert a contact to the vCard format, it will lose any picture you added and some or all information in the Family and Notes fields. You might consider opening a vCard before you send it to someone to make sure all the information you want to share has been saved.
You can convert all your contacts at once to the vCard format by exporting them. For more information, see Import, export, or change the format for contacts.
Windows stores each contact as a separate .contact file (for example, johndoe.contact). When you share an individual contact, you share the corresponding .contact file.
When you send a contact card to someone by right-clicking a contact and then clicking Send Contact, this is different than right-clicking a contact, clicking Send To, and then clicking Mail Recipient. The Send Contact command converts the contact to the commonly used vCard format before attaching it to an e‑mail message. The Mail Recipient command does not convert the contact before attaching it to a message, so the person who receives it must be using new versions of Windows to open and view the contact.