Written by Jennifer Walsh. Reviewed for technical accuracy by Shubham Dixit, Independent Expert in Email Forensics and Data File Conversion.
Shubham is an independent external reviewer and not an employee of PCDOTS.
Quick answer. A business card in Outlook is a digital vCard that holds your name, title, company, phone and email in one card. This guide shows how to create, edit and send it, all free with the built in Outlook feature. For importing many vCards at once, a converter handles the bulk job Outlook cannot.
On this page
- What is an electronic business card in Outlook
- Which card do you actually need
- How do you create a business card in Outlook
- How do you edit and style the card
- How do you send or add it to your signature
- How do you import many vCards at once
- Native Outlook and a bulk converter compared
- Frequently asked questions
What is an electronic business card in Outlook
An Outlook electronic business card is a digital version of a paper card. It stores your contact details in vCard format, the standard VCF file that phones and email apps use to share contacts. People also call it a digital business card or simply a vCard. You attach it to an email and the person who receives it can save you straight into their contacts in one click. No printing and no paper.
The card holds your name, job title, company, phone and email in one neat block, and you can add a photo or logo and pick a layout. Because it is a real vCard, it works across Outlook, mobile and other email clients.
Which card do you actually need
Three different jobs get called making a business card, and they are not the same. This guide covers the Outlook contact card. Designing a printable card to send to a print shop is a separate task that lives in Word, Publisher or a design app, not in Outlook.
Creating and sharing a card in Outlook is free. A printable card to print is a separate Word or design task.
How do you create a business card in Outlook
The whole thing is built into Outlook, so creating a card costs nothing. It works in Outlook 2021, 2019, 2016, 2013 and the Microsoft 365 desktop app.
Creating a business card in Outlook, four steps from People to a saved vCard.
Here are the steps in full.
Step 1. Start Microsoft Outlook on your computer.
Step 2. Open the People or Contacts area.
Step 3. Create a new contact to open the blank business card template.
Step 4. Choose the Business Card view to start editing the card.
Step 5. Enter your details, your name, job title, company, phone and email.
Step 6. Set the layout and pick a style, then click Save and Close.
How do you edit and style the card
You can change the look of the card at any time. Open the contact, switch to the Business Card view, and edit the fields, fonts and layout to match your brand. You can add or move fields, then set a photo or background image. When the card looks right, click Save and Close to keep it.
How do you send or add it to your signature
Once the card is saved, sharing it takes a few clicks.
Step 1. Open a new email in Outlook.
Step 2. Attach the business card from your contacts. In the Insert tab, choose Business Card and pick your contact.
Step 3. Send the email. The recipient gets your card and can save it to their contacts in one click.
To put the card in every email automatically, add it to your signature. Go to File, then Options, then Mail, then Signatures, and insert the business card into your signature block. Now it rides along with each message you send.
How do you import many vCards at once
Creating one card is easy. The pain shows up when you have a stack of vCards to bring into Outlook, say a folder of contacts a colleague exported from a phone. Outlook imports VCF files one at a time, so a few hundred contacts means a few hundred manual imports.
“Outlook has no native bulk path for vCards. It takes them one file at a time, so the real work in any sizable contact migration is converting the whole VCF set into a single PST or CSV first, then importing that in one step.” Shubham Dixit, Data File Conversion reviewer (draft, pending approval)
For that bulk job, the PCDOTS vCard Converter reads a whole folder of VCF files and writes them to one PST for Outlook, or to CSV and Excel, in a single pass. It handles every vCard version and keeps photos and custom fields intact. There is a free trial so you can confirm it works on your contacts before buying. If your contacts start in a spreadsheet rather than VCF, the CSV to vCard and Excel to vCard tools go the other way.
Native Outlook and a bulk converter compared
When to use the free built in feature and when a converter earns its place.
| Approach | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Native Outlook | Creating, editing and sending your own card | Imports vCards one file at a time |
| vCard Converter | Importing or converting many vCards at once | Free to try, full version is paid |
| Online VCF tools | Not recommended for private contacts | Uploads your contact data to a server |
Frequently asked questions
What is a business card in Outlook?
It is an electronic vCard that holds your contact details such as name, title, company, phone and email. You can attach it to emails so people save you in one click.
How do I create a digital business card in Outlook?
Open People or Contacts, create a new contact, switch to the Business Card view, enter your details, set the layout, and click Save and Close.
How do I add my business card to my Outlook signature?
Go to File, then Options, then Mail, then Signatures, and insert the business card into your signature block so it sends with every email.
Can I send my Outlook business card by email?
Yes. Open a new email, use the Insert tab to attach the business card from your contacts, and send it. The recipient can save it directly.
How do I import many vCards into Outlook at once?
Outlook imports VCF files one at a time. To do it in bulk, convert the whole folder of vCards to a single PST with a vCard converter, then import that PST into Outlook in one step.
Is an Outlook business card the same as a printable business card?
No. An Outlook business card is a digital vCard for sharing contact details by email. A printable card you send to a print shop is designed separately in Word, Publisher or a design app.
Your card is ready to share
A business card in Outlook turns your contact details into something people can save in one click, and it costs nothing to make. Create it in the People area, style it to match your brand, add it to your signature, and attach it to any email. The only time you reach for a separate tool is when you have a whole folder of vCards to bring in at once, which is a bulk job Outlook leaves to a converter.
