Transfer Contacts from One Office 365 Account to Another

Anyone who is looking to transfer contacts from one Office 365 account to another often finds it confusing. There is no simple button that says transfer contacts; you have to put in some real effort to successfully take the contacts from one account to another.

Dont worry, I am here to act as your guide and help you complete this contact migration quest in no time. Just read through my instructions and move your contacts. Here in this guide, there are instructions not just for regular users but also for M365 admins.

Steps to Transfer Contacts from One Office 365 Account to Another on Outlook Web

• Step 1. Log in to your source Office 365 account and select Outlook.
• Step 2. Go to the People (Contacts) tab.
• Step 3. Expand the Manage Contacts option in the top ribbon.
• Step 4. Choose the Export contacts option.
• Step 5. Select the Contacts folder and hit Export.
• Step 6. Soon, you should receive a CSV file with all of your contacts.
• Step 7. Now log out of the source account and log in to the target Office 365 account.
• Step 8. Like we did previously, go to Outlook and switch to the People tab.
• Step 9. Click on the same Manage contacts box; this time, select the Import contacts option.
• Step 10. Browse for the CSV file you got from the source, upload it, and Hit Import.

This is how you migrate contacts from one Microsoft account to another. You can follow the same steps if you use the new Outlook for desktop client. This is because it has the same UI design; all you have to do is set up both of your Office 365 accounts on the same client.

Also Read: Guide to Transfer Photos from One OneDrive to Another

If you are someone who uses the classic Outlook client, then the steps vary slightly.

Bring All Contacts to the New O365 ID with the Classic Client

• Step 1. Open Outlook and add the old O365 account.
• Step 2. Then, go to File > Open & Export > Import/Export.
• Step 3. Select Export to a file > Next.
• Step 4. Select Outlook Data File (.pst) > Next.
• Step 5. Select the Contacts folder (check “Include subfolders”).
• Step 6. Browse to save the .pst file > Finish.
• Step 7. Then, add the new account to Outlook (File > Add Account).
• Step 8. File > Open & Export > Import/Export.
• Step 9. Then, click on Import from another program or file > Next.
• Step 10. Select Outlook Data File (.pst) > Next.
• Step 11. Browse for your .pst file > Next.
• Step 12. Select the Contacts folder from within the .pst file.
• Step 13. Ensure “Import items into the same folder in:” is set to your new account’s mailbox > Finish.

This covers all the user options.

Check Out: Steps to Fix TPM Error in Office 365

If you are an admin in an organization, you have access to more powerful tools that can do multi-use contact migration. Let me teach you how.

Migrating Office 365 Organizational Contacts

It is done in two phases. First, export all contacts from the source O365 domain:

As an admin, you need to connect to the source tenant with Exchange Online PowerShell and run a command to export all mail contacts to a CSV file. Take a look at my sample script. Don’t copy-paste; directly modify as per your organization’s requirements.

Get-MailContact -ResultSize Unlimited | Select-Object Name, DisplayName, ExternalEmailAddress, FirstName, LastName | Export-Csv -Path "C:\temp\all_contacts.csv" -NoTypeInformation

The second phase is to add all contacts to the destination tenant:
Now, connect to the destination tenant with Exchange Online PowerShell. Run a script to read the CSV and create a new mail contact for each entry.

Import-Csv -Path "C:\temp\all_contacts.csv" | ForEach-Object {
New-MailContact -Name $_.Name -DisplayName $_.DisplayName -ExternalEmailAddress $_.ExternalEmailAddress -FirstName $_.FirstName -LastName $_.LastName
}

However, not every admin is comfortable using PowerShell. Don’t worry, I have an excellent solution for you.

How to Transfer Contacts from One Microsoft Account to Another Professionally?

Use SysTools Office 365 Migration Software to transfer contacts from one Office 365 account to another.

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Step 1. Download the software on your machine. On the main setup screen, choose Microsoft 365 as both the source as well as the destination.

Step 2. Scroll down towards the workload area, select Contacts, and keep all other workloads unselected unless you also wish to migrate them.

Step 3. Move to the source screen and perform admin credential validation, enter the required details, press Validate, and proceed by hitting Next.
Step 4. Similarly, perform Destination side admin validation.

Step 5. Now, map the users in any one of the three available methods: Direct Fetching, Uploading your User list, or by Downloading the CSV template given by the tool

Step 6. Once the user list is available, mark the checkboxes, validate, and press start.

Conclusion

Now you know exactly how to transfer contacts from one Office 365 account to another. Whether you are a normal user just aggregating all of your contacts in your new M365 accounts or an admin managing the transfer of thousands upon thousands of contacts between multiple user accounts, I gave you the right method, which will work as per your needs. However, if admins require a solution that not just migrates contacts but also moves other workloads and gives detailed reporting for official purposes, they should choose the tool described in the text.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Can I drag and drop contacts across two different accounts in my new Outlook client?
No, you cannot use the export import method to carry out the contact transfer.

Q. How long does it take to transfer contacts between Office 365 accounts?
It will hardly take you a few minutes to complete the entire process.