Generally, if you stay within one ecosystem, you might never notice a problem. There’s no standard, and that’s a problem. Import functionality, if it exists, may not import all the information you have available. Whatever it’s called, at its most basic it is just a collection of names, email addresses, and additional information that you want to be able to use easily in your email program or interface.Įvery email program has the ability to collect and store your contacts for you - but that’s where the commonality ends.Įach program collects different amounts of additional information and stores it in different ways - usually proprietary - in different places on your computer and/or online.Įxport functionality, if it exists, often includes a confusing set of options and may not export all the information collected. A common alternative is Address Book Microsoft has the People app and interface there are probably many other names for the same thing. To begin with, your list of contacts goes by many names. The best compromise is to stick to a system that serves most your needs, and realize that there will probably be some data loss when transferring between systems. Not only do they have many names, but transferring contacts between email systems is stymied by different formats, different collections of information, and different approaches to using the information.