Export of Distribution List

1

I’ve tried searching and have found a couple of other people asking about exporting/sharing a distribution list, with no real solution.

I created a test list with four people, email addresses only, and have saved it out as .vcf and .csv.

It’s called ‘IT Crowd’ since it’s the people in my IT department, a bit on the nose but there you go. Anyway, the .csv is a bit problematic… here it is:

Attachment,Full Name,File As,Tag,Mobile Phone,Work Phone,Home Phone
False,IT Crowd,IT Crowd,My Contacts,,,

That’s the entire text file right there in that block. No names, no email addresses, etc.

As for the .vcf file:

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
PRODID:-//MailClient.VObject/9.1.2109.0
UID:a09acfda-3c33-4fe9-8186-023791406ad6
REV:2022-10-03T20:55:35Z
X-KIND:group
N:Crowd;IT;;;
SORT-STRING:IT Crowd
FN:IT Crowd
X-MEMBER;CN=Evan Xxxxxxx:mailto:[email protected]
X-MEMBER;CN=Jeni Xxxxxxx:mailto:[email protected]
X-MEMBER;CN=Mason Xxxxxxx:mailto:[email protected]
X-MEMBER;CN=Tim Xxxxxxx:mailto:[email protected]
X-MEMBER;CN=Will Xxxxxxx:mailto:[email protected]
END:VCARD

This looks better, with the understanding that I blanked out the names and emails, however the file cannot be loaded into Outlook, Gmail, Windows Mail, Windows People, or Contacts on my Android phone. Every one of them creates a contact named “IT Crowd” with no emails or member names. Just a blank contact.

So my question is, is there actually a way to send a distribution list from emClient to another person using any other platform so that they can actually import the contacts included in it?

2

A distribution list is a specialised vCard, as you can see from your vcf file.

If these other applications don’t support this format, then they won’t be able to open it as a distribution list. You can send it to them as an HTML file, which anyone should be able to display. To do that right-click on the distribution list in eM Client and choose Save As. Select the HTML option.

3

So the answer is “No” then I take it, since an HTML file isn’t importable and would require that the other person manually copy each email address, add to their contacts, then rebuild the list on their side.

Any suggestions for .csv export, or ideas why it wouldn’t actually export any data? That would be a pretty common format that everything should use.

And as an out of curiosity thing, do you know of any other clients that will use the current .vcf format? I can’t find anything in the Vcard RFC to explain the usage of the X-* field names, with the exception of:

6.10.  Extended Properties and Parameters

   The properties and parameters defined by this document can be
   extended.  Non-standard, private properties and parameters with a
   name starting with "X-" may be defined bilaterally between two
   cooperating agents without outside registration or standardization.

Which makes it seem less of an export mechanism and more of a backup process.

Thanks!