Export the file as a Comma Separated file. .csv file Most applications accept this file type.

After exporting a contacts list from a Hotmail/live/outlook.com account, the address book fields are found to be this (long) list:

"Title","First Name","Middle Name","Last Name","Suffix","Company","Department","Job Title","Business Street","Business City","Business State","Business Postal Code","Business Country","Home Street","Home City","Home State","Home Postal Code","Home Country","Business Fax","Business Phone","Business Phone 2","Callback","Car Phone","Company Main Phone","Home Fax","Home Phone","Home Phone 2","ISDN","Mobile Phone","Other Fax","Other Phone","Pager","Primary Phone","Radio Phone","TTY/TDD Phone","Telex","Account","Anniversary","Assistant's Name","Billing Information","Birthday","Business Address PO Box","Categories","Children","Company Yomi","Directory Server","E-mail Address","E-mail Type","E-mail Display Name","E-mail 2 Address","E-mail 2 Type","E-mail 2 Display Name","E-mail 3 Address","E-mail 3 Type","E-mail 3 Display Name","Gender","Given Yomi","Government ID Number","Hobby","Home Address PO Box","Initials","Internet Free Busy","Keywords","Language","Location","Manager's Name","Mileage","Notes","Office Location","Organizational ID Number","Other Address PO Box","Priority","Private","Profession","Referred By","Sensitivity","Spouse","Surname Yomi","User 1","User 2","Web Page"

That means that if you want to import to outlook.com a csv file that is exported from TB, you should first edit the csv file in a spreadsheet or csv editor so the TB entries go into the correct columns; columns that are not needed or are empty can be left blank. (Use the Excel module provided with outlook.com accounts.)

For example, place the First name entries from TB in the 2nd column, the Last name entries in the 4th column, the email addresses in the 47th column etc. Once the csv has been reorganized to "outlook" format, go to the People tab in outlook.com, Manage/Add people, Import from file, and select the csv file.

Thanks. I did this and only the contacts' names were transferred - no e-mail addresses of telephone numbers!

Please see my edited reply.

Still not working! I edited the file in Excel, just leaving first and last names and e-mail addresses in columns 2,4 & 47 as you suggested but still only succeeded in transfering the names. When I go to save the edited csv file I receive a message saying that the file may contain features that are not compatible with CSV (comma delimited). I was unable to find the Excel module in Outlook.com I'm beginning to think I should stay with Thunderbird. I thought I'd use Outloook.com as I use different PCs on my travels.

Yes, unfortunately it's a mess. I also tried to import a csv, but only the names came through.

The Excel Online is accessible by clicking the "More Services" drop-down arrow beside the Outlook icon in the upper left corner, but I don't see any way to open a csv file from my computer. It's probably faster to just import the names and manually copy and paste the email addresses into the Outlook contacts. A poor method, but it will have to do for now.

Thanks, that worked - but what an effort! Apart from copying and pasting the addresses I found that 25% of my contacts hadn't been copied via the CSV file! I hope someone fixes the problem for future transfers.