vCard 2.1, 3.0, and 4.0

At a glance

vCard 2.1 is common in older exports, vCard 3.0 is a broadly compatible interchange choice, and vCard 4.0 is newer but not universally accepted.

Conversion guidance

Convert a copy, preserve unknown properties where possible, and review warnings before importing. Do not overwrite the original backup.

Make the decision before changing data

vCard 2.1, 3.0, and 4.0 is easiest to handle when the desired outcome is explicit. Decide whether you are inspecting, transforming, filtering, or importing vCard structure; then choose the browser workspace and keep the source export unchanged. This prevents a compatibility workaround from becoming an irreversible cleanup operation.

For vCard 2.1, 3.0, and 4.0, write down the destination, the expected card count, and the fields that must survive. When checking vCard structure, verify BEGIN/END boundaries, VERSION, line endings, escaping, folding, and unknown properties. If the destination has its own documented version or column names, follow those requirements instead of relying on a generic default.

1. Name the source and destination formats.
2. Save an untouched source copy.
3. Choose the smallest useful transformation.
4. Record the expected count and must-keep fields.

Use a representative test fixture

A successful vCard 2.1, 3.0, and 4.0 download is not the same as a successful migration. Before processing a complete address book, use a small copied sample that exercises the risky parts of vCard structure. Include Unicode names, a folded NOTE, escaped commas and semicolons, and a vendor X-property before comparing parser warnings.

While checking vCard 2.1, 3.0, and 4.0, open the preview and raw representation together when available. Look for silent changes such as dropped repeatable fields, reordered name components, altered phone text, removed photos, or values that were ignored because no mapping existed.

1. Start with five to ten representative records.
2. Include one edge case and one ordinary record.
3. Compare the preview with the source.
4. Stop if a change is not explained by the chosen rule.

Verify the output at the destination boundary

After vCard 2.1, 3.0, and 4.0 produces a file, validate the output independently before importing or sharing it. Check that the file opens, the card count is plausible, and the key fields remain present. A standards-valid file can still lose information when a destination application supports only a subset of the format.

Keep the vCard 2.1, 3.0, and 4.0 output, the source filename, the date, and the choices you made together. That small audit trail makes a second migration reproducible and makes it much easier to identify whether a problem came from parsing, transformation, or the destination application.

1. Run the validator or viewer on the downloaded copy.
2. Compare counts and representative fields.
3. Test the destination with the small sample.
4. Only then process the full address book.