How do I Delete Duplicates Contacts from vCard .vcf files? – 2023

Summary: VCF file format is a universal file format to store contacts. A VCF file can hold names, addresses, phone numbers, images, email addresses, and more. Such a file can become a victim of duplicate contacts easily. The article outlines the reasons for why vCard files hold duplicates and ways to remove duplicates from vCard files.

What is VCF or vCard File Format?

The VCF file format is also popular as vCard or Virtual Contact File. It is a standardized electronic format to store and exchange contacts whenever necessary. It also acts as a digital business card because of holding various contact fields, such as names, phone numbers, email addresses, physical addresses, websites, photos, job titles, and more.

Features of the VCF File Format

1. A Well Structured Format: VCF files use a structured format based on lines of text. Each line holds a specific field to make contact arrangements easy and organized.
2. Hold Characters: VCF files use the UTF-8 character encoding to support international characters and special symbols.
3. Widely Supported: If you have contacts in VCF file format, you can open them on Outlook, Thunderbird, and several popular email clients. VCF file format makes data export and import easy on mobile devices. It supports Android and iOS.
4. Versatility: You can use the file format to store more than contacts. It can keep group information, distribution lists, and event details.
5. Attachments: A VCF file can keep images with contacts to display contacts with the image.

Reasons Why VCF File Create Duplicates

VCF (vCard) files themselves do not create duplicates. It contains duplicates because of human errors that we do knowingly or unknowingly. It can develop duplicates because of some reasons. If you know these reasons you might prevent VCF files to create duplicates.

1. Importing Contacts: When you import contacts from applications, contact lists, social media or devices, there is a huge chance of creating duplicates. These platforms don’t identify duplicates. As a result, the same contact information may be gathered accidently multiple times.
2. During Sync Process: VCF file format is easy to import and export. Therefore, users like to use the format over Excel or other contact tools. If you sync your contacts across multiple devices, such as smartphones, tablets, and computers, the synchronization setting may generate duplicates.
3. While Merging Contacts: During the process of merging multiple VCF files, you may accidently merge the same contact files together. If the merge operation has not done successfully, it can also lead to duplicates.
4. Human Errors during Editing: During manual editing of VCF files, you may unintentionally create duplicate contacts because of copy-pasting or any editing features.
5. Discrepancies in Contact Matching: Sometimes, you enter the same contacts with a bit differences in the contact details. Contact management applications use various algorithms to identify and match duplicate contacts. If your contact entry mismatches, VCF will not give you signal that you entering the same contact twice or thrice.
6. Data Migration: VCF files can create duplicate during data migration. If the system faces any error, duplicates can occur without your knowledge. Therefore, be careful of this situation.

Manual Solution to Remove Duplicates

1. First, backup your VCF files that you want to remove duplicate manually. It is essential to create a backup of your original VCF files to avoid accidental data loss.
2. Now, access the target VCF files using a text editor or a vCard editor application. Text editors like Notepad on Windows or TextEdit on macOS are readily available to use.
3. Take your time to identify duplicates from a VCF file. Here you require checking duplicate contacts with multiple files. Identify with the name, email address, or other contact fields.
4. Remove the duplicate entries manually as you notice. Try to remove the entire duplicate vCard entry, including the “BEGIN:VCARD” and “END:VCARD” tags.
5. Once, you remove duplicates, save the changes in the VCF file format. In the text editor, you simply need to click the Save button and select the file format VCF to save data.
6. If you have multiple VCF files holding single contacts, you can merge them and with the help of a Text Editor, you can remove duplicates. This way, you can consolidate list of contacts.

Drawbacks of Manual Removal of Duplicates

The following method has several drawbacks that you might have noticed. Here are some drawbacks of removing duplicates manually on VCF files.

• The manual removal is time-consuming, especially if you have a large number of contacts.
• If you think that your VCF files hold multiple contacts, the manual process can be complex and tiring.
• There is a chance of removing original contacts accidently.

Automated Removal of Duplicates from VCF Files

There are many tools in the market to remove duplicates from VCF files. WholeClear VCF Duplicate Removal is a professional application to remove duplicates from single and multiple VCF files. It removes without losing data integrity.

Prominent Features of VCF Duplicate Removal –

• The application is safe to install and run. It is a bug free application.
• It doesn’t require prior technical skills to run.
• It doesn’t require installation of any other apps. Hence, it is a self-dependent application to use.
• The application supports to remove duplicates from single and multiple VCF files at once.
• While removing duplicates, it keeps the whole contact fields intact.
• The app uses advanced algorithm to identify and delete duplicates.
• It is easy to install and run on your system.
• The free version of the app is available to install and run efficiently.
• It removes duplicates from VCF files of any size.

Step to Remove Duplicate Contacts from VCF files

• Step 1. Install and Start WholeClear vCard Duplicate Remover software.
• Step 2. Browse and upload the required VCF file/folder.
• Step 3. Choose the option remove duplicates
• Step 4. Set the resultant output location to resume the process.
• Step 5. Hit the Process Now button to remove duplicates.

These are the easy steps to follow to run the program on your Windows system. The tool is user friendly and easy to download on any Windows application. The licensed versions offer unlimited removal of duplicates from VCF files. You can use the app as long as you want.

Final Words

You can prevent VCF files to create duplication by practicing healthy contact management practices. Don’t forget to review and clean up your contacts regularly. Such files can unnecessary hold space on your system. They can affect the system’s speed. If you have multiple contacts, we suggest you to use a third party duplicate remover.