Transfer contacts from Windows Live Hotmail (MSN) email account

Thanks to your instructions, I was able to change my Hotmail email address; I actually created a new email account as the old one was getting a lot of spam. I now want to know how to transfer the Contacts from my old Hotmail email account to the new Windows Live (MSN) email address.
Hank Jacobus

The easiest way to transfer the contacts information across Windows Live Hotmail email accounts is to use the export and import functionality. This is as simple as it sounds and we shall use a CSV file. The screenshots and steps described below have been worked out on Microsoft’s free email service – whether your email address ends in msn.com, hotmail.com, live.com…

For those who want to know, CSV stands for Comma Separated Values which is a kind of standard file format to save and transfer data from one system to another. CSV files are essentially ASCII text in which the data (values) is separated by the comma punctuation mark.

Export and import: Transfer contacts from MSN Hotmail to Windows Live Hotmail email account

You do need to have the login access to both the Hotmail email accounts if you want to transfer the contacts information. You are first required to sign in at the (old?) MSN Hotmail account from where you want to copy the data. Once the contact list is exported from this account to a CSV file, we shall upload it to the (new?) Windows Live email account.

1. Login to the MSN Hotmail account – this would be the old email account.
2. Click the “Contact list” link (left panel) which opens the list of contacts – [Slide 1].
3. Select “Export” from the “Manage” drop down [ Slides 2 and 3].
4. MSN Hotmail will now inform you that the contacts data will be exported to a CSV format. But before that, you would have to decipher the 8 characters shown. FYI, this security measure is in place to prevent malicious programs from abusing your contacts information – [Slide 4].
5. Click the “Export” button – [Slide 5].
6. If you were successful in identifying the eight characters, the contact list will be exported to a file called WLMContacts.csv and is saved to the browser’s default downloads folder, unless you were first asked the download location – [Slide 6]. (Note: this depends on the web browser settings).
7. Log out of this MSN Hotmail email account and log in to the one to which you want to transfer the contacts data – [Slide 7].
8. Once again, go to the Contact list by clicking on the link from the left column – [Slides 8 and 9].
9. This time choose “Import” from the “Manage” drop down – [Slide 10].
10. Select the “Windows Live Hotmail” option and click “Choose File” button – [Slide 11].
11. Go to the folder to which the CSV file was downloaded. Select WLMContacts.csv and hit the “Open” button. The pop-up will close taking you back to the Windows Live Hotmail account browser window – [Slide 12].
12. Click the “Import contacts” button and wait for the file to be uploaded and the contacts to be transferred to the new email account – [Slides 13 and 14].
13. The service displays a success message once the process is complete – [Slide 15].

Great! You’ve successfully been able to transfer the contact list from your old MSN Hotmail email account to a new Windows Live Hotmail email address!