Why is column mapping important for importing contacts into Outlook CSV?

[rowanfletcher]

I ran into this exact issue when importing contacts into Outlook, so I get why it’s confusing at first. Column mapping matters because Outlook only reads what’s lined up correctly. If names, emails, phone numbers or addresses don’t match the right fields, you end up with messy contacts or missing data. Manual or free methods sound easy, but they’re slow and risky. One wrong column and hundreds of contacts are messed up. What worked for me was using an offline converter that lets you preview and map fields properly. I used Softaken VCF to CSV Converter once, mainly because it handled field mapping cleanly and avoided duplicate or misplaced contact details.