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Contacts from vCard

Takes over contacts from an address book file (vCard) as persons, optionally with an account.

Format
vCard (.vcf)
Access rights
Administrator, write contacts (CRM)
Example file
contacts.vcf (download)

In short: You export your contacts from the address book as a vCard file and take them over as persons in vynst. vynst only creates an account if you specify this in the file name.

What you need this for

Many contacts exist only in the address book of an email program or phone. With this file you take over name, address, email, phone, birthday and, if available, joining and leaving dates, without typing everything in.

Before you start

  • Rights: You need the access right Imports (Importe) and be an Administrator with write access for Contacts (CRM) (Kontakte (CRM)).
  • Export: Export the contacts from your address book as a vCard file (.vcf). The file name must contain the part contacts.vcf.
  • Backup: Take an export of your persons before the import.

Prepare the file

  • File name: The name must contain contacts.vcf, for example contacts.vcf. Upper and lower case do not matter.

  • Additions in the file name:

    Addition Effect
    WITH_COMPANY (written exactly like this), for example WITH_COMPANY_contacts.vcf Creates a separate billing account for each person without an account
    COMPANY_CONTACT (written exactly like this), for example COMPANY_CONTACT_contacts.vcf Only changes the contact details of existing accounts, nothing else

  • Content: Each card becomes a person. Without a first name or last name, the card is skipped.

What is taken over

Field in the contact card Taken over as
Name (N): family name, first name, title Last name, first name, title (if there is no separate title field)
Title (TITLE) Title
Gender (GENDER) Gender
Birthday (BDAY), format 1980-02-01 or 19800201 Birthday
Form of address (X-SPECIAL-SALUTATION) Form of address
Email (EMAIL), only the first address Email
Phone (TEL), only the first number without fax marking Phone
Address (ADR): address addition, street, city, ZIP, country Address, country if not given: Germany
Joining (X-MEMBERSHIP-START) Joining date
Leaving (X-MEMBERSHIP-END) Leaving date
Fax (TEL with TYPE=FAX) and website (URL) Only for accounts, i.e. with WITH_COMPANY or COMPANY_CONTACT

Further phone numbers of a card are not taken over. Payment fields (X-PAYMENT-…) and the membership type (X-MEMBERSHIP-TYPE) are not taken over by this import as account or bank details.

Example (two cards, content of the example file):

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
N:Probe;Clara;;;
FN:Clara Probe
TITLE:Dr.
GENDER:W
X-SPECIAL-SALUTATION:Frau
EMAIL;TYPE=INTERNET:clara.probe@example.org
TEL;TYPE=CELL:0170 7654321
ADR;TYPE=HOME:;Hinterhaus;Gartenweg 4;Köln;;50668;Deutschland
BDAY:1975-09-15
X-MEMBERSHIP-START:2023-09-15
END:VCARD
BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
N:Muster;Ben;;;
FN:Ben Muster
GENDER:M
X-SPECIAL-SALUTATION:Herr
EMAIL;TYPE=INTERNET:ben.muster@example.org
TEL;TYPE=CELL:0171 1234567
ADR;TYPE=HOME:;;Musterweg 1;Köln;;50667;Deutschland
BDAY:2012-05-14
X-MEMBERSHIP-START:2022-03-01
X-MEMBERSHIP-END:2026-12-31
END:VCARD

Example file: contacts.vcf

How to proceed

  1. Export the contacts from your address book as a vCard file.
  2. Open Settings → Import (Einstellungen → Import).
  3. Click Add (Hinzufügen) and select the file.
  4. Wait until the entry is green or red.
  5. Check the log for rows with Error:.

Good to know

  • Recognition: vynst recognises a person by first name, last name and street. If one of these three details changes on the card, vynst creates a new person. A repeated import with a changed street therefore creates a second person.
  • Repeated import: Identical cards update the existing persons.
  • No member number: A vCard has no member number. The persons receive their number via the persons import or by hand.
  • Accounts: If you want to create accounts, add WITH_COMPANY to the file name. The accounts take over fax and website from the card.

When something does not work

Message in the log Meaning What to do
Error processing vCard file: <Text> The file could not be read completely. The text gives the reason. Open the file in an address book or text editor and correct the card with the error.
Error: skipped missing identifier or name First name or last name is missing. The card then appears as LINE-DATA. Add the name and import the file again.
Processed N lines This many cards were processed. Nothing to do.
Error: less then one line The file contains no card. Check the export.

See also