Import contacts to UTmail+ on Outlook


Introduction

If you have a list of contacts in CSV (comma-separated values) format saved to your computer, you can import it into your UTmail+ email account through mail.utoronto.ca. This allows you to transfer contacts in bulk to your mailbox, either from another mailbox or based on a spreadsheet.

CSV files can be created by exporting contacts from the desktop Outlook client or through a number of web-based email interfaces, such as UTmail+, Gmail, and Yahoo.

Instructions

Scroll down to find instructions for importing contacts to UTmail+ on Outlook Web Access (OWA), Outlook for Windows, and Outlook for Mac.

Outlook Web Access (OWA)

  1. Log into your UTmail+ account online at https://mail.utoronto.ca. This will open up your inbox. If you are importing contacts to a shared mailbox, navigate to the shared mailbox inbox.
  2. Click on the People tab at the bottom of the left sidebar:
  3. At the top right of the People tab, click on Manage, then Import Contacts.

    Manage

    • If you do not see the Manage option at the right of your screen, you may need to minimize the left sidebar to create more horizontal space.
  4.  Browse to the location of your CSV file and then click Import to import the contacts.

    Import contacts

Outlook on Windows

Note: If you are using non-English characters in your contacts (such as Cyrillic or Arabic fonts), try to save the CSV file with UTF-8 encoding wherever possible to preserve the correct characters.

  1. Open Outlook to display your UTmail+ mailbox.
  2. At the top of your Outlook ribbon, choose File.

    This is what the ribbon looks like in Outlook 2016.

  3. Choose Open & Export, then Import/Export. This starts the wizard.

    To create your Outlook pst file, choose File, choose Open and Export, and then Import/Export.

  4. Choose Import from another program or file, and then choose Next.

    import and export wizard - import from another program or file

  5. Choose Comma Separated Values, and then choose Next.

    Outlook Export Wizard - Choose CSV file

  6. In the Import a File box, browse to your contacts file, and then double-click to select it.

    Browse to the contacts csv file and choose how to handle duplicate contacts

  7. Choose one of the following to specify how you want Outlook to handle duplicate contacts:
    • Replace duplicates with items imported   If a contact is already in Outlook and your contacts file, Outlook discards the info it has for that contact and uses the info from your contacts file. You should choose this option if the contact info in your contacts file is more complete or more current than the contact info in Outlook.
    • Allow duplicates to be created   If a contact is in Outlook and your contacts file, Outlook creates duplicate contacts, one with the original Outlook info and one with the info imported from your contacts file. You can combine info for those people later to eliminate duplicate contacts. This is the default option.
    • Do not import duplicate items    If a contact is in Outlook and your contacts file, Outlook keeps the info it has for that contact and discards the info from your contacts file. You should choose this option if the contact info in Outlook is more complete or more current than the info in your contacts file.
  8. Click Next.
  9. In the Select a destination folder box, scroll to the top if needed and select the Contacts folder, then Next. If you have multiple email accounts, choose the Contacts folder that's under the email account you want to be associated with the contacts. You may want to import your contacts to a separate folder initially so that you can check the accuracy of the import. Alternatively, you can select the main "Contacts" entry to place contacts in the top level of the address book instead of a subfolder. 

    When you import Google Gmail contacts into your Office 365 mailbox, select Contacts as the destination

  10. The confirmation screen will give you the opportunity to check the automatic mapping using the Map Custom Fields... button. If your CSV file came from an Outlook export, all fields should already match by default. If your CSV file came from UTORmail webmail, see the note below for matching field names. Click Finish to start the import.

    When you import Gmail contacts to your Office 365 mailbox, click the Finish button to start the migration

    • Outlook begins importing your contacts immediately. You'll know it's finished when the Import Progress box closes.
  11. To see your contacts, at the bottom of Outlook, choose the People icon.

    Choose the People icon at the bottom of the page.

Note on UTORmail webmail contacts CSV file: Before starting the import process, you may want to open your CSV file in Excel or another spreadsheet application and change some of the labels in row 1 to better match Outlook's format. Alternatively, use the Map Custom Fields tool in step 6 to ensure Outlook puts values in the correct fields. Some examples of labels to change are:

Outlook on Mac

Outlook for Mac accepts PST (Outlook for Windows) and OLM (Outlook for Mac) file formats for contacts, but not CSV (comma-separated values). To import a CSV contact file to UTmail+, use either Outlook for Windows or UTmail+ on the web (mail.utoronto.ca).

A .olm file is the data file used by Outlook for Mac to archive your email messages, contacts, calendar items, tasks, and notes. 

  1. Go to the Tools tab, choose Import.

    On the Tools tab, click Import.

  2. In the Import window, select Outlook for Mac archive file (.olm), then Continue.

    Import window

  3. Locate the .olm file on your Mac, and then choose Import.
  4. Imported items appear on the navigation panes (Mail, Calendar, People, Tasks, Notes) under On My Computer. For example, contacts are in the navigation pane on the People tab, email messages are in the navigation pane on the Mail tab, calendar items are in the navigation pane on the Calendar tab, and so on.

Related article

Export contacts from UTmail+ on Outlook