Mac: Can I export email addresses from my Apple Address Book?

General questions Updated on November 4, 2010

If you are a Mac user, you may have found that Apple’s Address Book application does not allow you to simply export your address book for import to other programs. Not to worry, there’s a great (and free!) little utility program is designed to do just that.

1. Get the free Apple Address Book Exporter here.
2. Download and install (it’s quick).
3. Open the Apple Address Book Exporter (it should be in your applications folder).
4. You could just export it at this point by hitting the big Export button. There is only one other button, Configure, which lets you select just the fields you’d like to export. Once exported, you will have a nice tab delimited txt file.
5. At this point, you can just upload the txt file using the Import Contact from a file option from the Add Contacts page in your Benchmark account. You’ll be able to name fields and do further edits in the dashboard.

Between steps 3 and 4, it’s not a terrible idea to open up that txt file in a program like Excel or Numbers. In it, you can rearrange your fields, and most importantly, delete the addresses that don’t belong on your email marketing list.

Why? Not every address in your Apple Address Book is an email subscriber. Evaluate each name and email address to make sure you have permission to send them bulk email messages. Are there any emails like "info@, webmaster@, support@? They shouldn’t be on your list. Nor should companies that appear in your Address Book because you’ve purchased items from them as a consumer. Blindly copying addresses that are not opt-in can open you up spam complaints and their consequences, so please be careful. If you’re unsure about adding anyone, send them a personal email before you add them to your email lists and ask them for permission first.

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