Why does Outlook freeze when opening a VCF file ?

Some versions of Microsoft Outlook may experience issues when opening a VCF (contact file). This malfunction is related to how Outlook tries to automatically process postal addresses contained in the file.

🧠 Technical Explanation

When opening a VCF file, Outlook attempts to recognize the contact’s postal address in order to automatically display a map (via Bing Maps). However, certain addresses containing ranges of street numbers cause problems.

Problematic Example:

This type of notation (using a dash to indicate a range of numbers) can cause Outlook to freeze completely while loading the file.

✅ Solution and Best Practices

To avoid this bug, here are our recommendations:

• Avoid using number ranges in the address. Prefer a simplified version:
• ✅ 70 Dupont Street
• ✅ 72 Dupont Street
• Or rephrase without using a dash:
• ✅ 70 and 72 Dupont Street
• Check your VCF file before importing it into Outlook, especially if you have customized address data.

ℹ️ Please Note

This bug affects only certain versions of Outlook, mainly on Windows, and is not related to VKARD or the validity of the VCF file.

If you use Outlook and experience freezing when importing a contact, try editing the address in a text editor before retrying.

Updated on: 28/07/2025