Manual method
Save contacts held in Outlook.com or Outlook on the web as a CSV file.
- Open Outlook on the web and choose the People icon.
- Choose Manage contacts → Export contacts.
- Select All contacts or a specific folder and choose Export.
- Move the downloaded CSV into a dated archive and record the folder/account selected.
Coverage and limitations: This covers saved contacts, not the complete organization directory or every suggested recipient. A CSV may not retain contact photographs, lists or all application-specific fields.
Size and time to allow
Illustrative small / central / large case: 0.001 / 0.01 / 0.1 GB (decimal GB). These are planning assumptions, not a measured average per person. 10 MB is a conservative working example for a sizable contact list with notes; many personal CSV files will be smaller.
Preparation: Allow 1–5 minutes for navigation and preparation as an estimate; the download itself is usually seconds.
For the central 0.01 GB example, network transfer alone is approximately:
| Connection | Estimated transfer |
|---|---|
| 10 Mbps | 11 seconds |
| 50 Mbps | 2 seconds |
| 100 Mbps | 1 seconds |
Assumes 70% sustained use of the stated connection. Provider throttling, many small files, retries, local extraction and copying add time. For online backup use your upload speed. These are not estimates of the provider’s preparation queue. See calculation and large-file advice.
Store and verify the archive
The example is small enough for an encrypted USB key, external drive or private cloud folder. Choose a second independent copy as well; a single USB key is easy to lose and a sync folder alone can propagate deletion.
Create microsoft_contacts/YYYY-MM-DD/originals/, preserve the untouched download, and extract a separate working copy when needed. Allow extra free space for archive plus extraction; compressed text can expand far beyond twice its size. Record account/scope, export date, date coverage and missing items in a local README without passwords.
Check the number of rows, non-English characters, email addresses and phone fields. Inspect a copy to avoid spreadsheet software changing original formatting. Reopen a sample from the second copy before deleting or replacing any source. Storage choices and verification.
Sources and review
Public documentation was reviewed on 27 October 2026. No signed-in export or restoration was performed. Account options and availability can change; follow the current provider instructions.