How can I access Outlook 2013 contacts in a certain folder from an external app using c#?

Question

I need to import 3 different folders of Outlook 2013 contacts into Dynamics CRM Online for one of our clients. I cannot use the CRM Online Outlook connector because the CRM account I need to import them with is not the same as the AD credentials of the machine I need to import them with. I also want to avoid any side effects from

I cannot export the data to a .csv file and import them in CRM Online because the data is quite mangled after the export, with excess linebreaks, sometimes multiple in 1 field. So I need to use an external application for this, which need to get the proper contacts in Outlook, parse them to CRM contacts, and then insert them.

I have 5 folders of contacts in my Outlook 2013 contacts tab, but only 3 of them are the client's. the rest may not under any circumstances be imported. How can I extract ONLY these 3 folders from my contacts tab while leaving the rest where they are?

Answer 1

You need to write code to retrieve the Outlook contacts. You can do this in C# using the Outlook Interop libraries. Given that this is a one-time task, I'm assuming, I would just use a Console application. Unless you are experienced with the Outlook Interop library you'll probably need to do some trial-and-error work. I usually find this is the case when writing against the Office libraries.

Examples can be found at:

Specifically about contacts: Get Outlook contacts into C# form-based application

Not specifically about contacts but when combined with the above answer should get you close to a start: Can I read an Outlook (2003/2007) PST file in C#?

Information on adding the Office Primary Interop Assembly that you'll need: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/15s06t57.aspx