What are vCards and how to create them

What are vCards?

It is important to know the difference between vCards & Digital Business Cards
See more info here
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Regardless of whether you want a vCard or a Digital business card;
– if coded by a QR code or NFC chip, we need the data.
Paste your requirements into this spreadsheet template.
Please feel free to call us if you are stuck 😀

So, you want a business card and you want the details on the card to be effortlessly saved on to the recipient's phone without them having to manually re-enter. These are known as vCards.
Essentially they are a contact that you see on your phone.
vCards are the contact file that is stored on your PC or phone ( the file extension is .VCF.)
This means if you have 100 contacts on your phone, you would likely have 100+ .vcf files (On your computer they are stored in a .PST if using Microsoft Outlook, to be technical about it) .

How are vCards Transferred to a Phone?

vCards can be sent to a recipient via the following methods:

1. TXT Message. Using your phone, select contact, click share, select 'vCard file (VCF)', then select the method you wish to share, i.e. email or txt / MMS message.
2. Email. Using your PC, In a program such as Outlook, go to contacts, select a contact, click ‘forward’, select ‘ in internal format (VCF)’, then send the email.
3. QR code. Using your phone's camera, simply point at the printed code and the link is activated. QR codes can either be a URL (link) only or a contact card.
4. NFC (Near Field Communication). This is a chip that contains memory that can be programmed to show a URL or data when the NFC chip is tapped onto the phone. NOTE: recipient phone needs to support NFC & have NFC activated in settings.
   
   See our quality NFC cards
   
   Although this is possible, it is finicky to do. Most people opt for the
   Digital Business Card method

Transferring the vCard to a phone using an NFC chip / card.
Simply tap the encoded card to the back of the recipient’s phone. The .VCF (vCard) file will transfer to the recipient’s phone. If nothing happens:

1. Check internet connection (required)
2. Check that the phone's ‘NFC’ option is activated (required)

It is important to note that .vcf files MAY BE handled differently between Apple and Android Phones when transferring via NFC.
For example, when a vCard is downloaded from the internet:

1. Apple phones:
   it will automatically open in your contacts and ask if you want to save as a new contact or update an existing (if same details are found on an existing contact found)
2. Android Phones
   * Testing on Galaxy S21 / android version 13 – July 23 *
   Before the vCard is downloaded from the internet, it MAY ask what browser to use (select your standard).
   The .vcf file may just download without opening into contacts. If this is the case, you will need to click this download for the file to open in your contacts.
   As above (Apple version), save as a new contact or update an existing (if same details are found on an existing contact found).

Creating QR Code vCard

In Adobe InDesign:

1. In main top menu: Object / 'generate QR code'
2. Change 'Type' from 'Plain Text' to 'Business Card'
3. Enter required details
4. Click OK
5. Click to place in artwork

If you do not have Adobe InDesign, you can use online free QR code generators, just make sure you get a vector file (such as .svg)

Size of QR Code
Note the difference in complexity of a 'business card' QR code compared to a 'URL / Link' only QR code:

We recommend the following minimum print sizes for the QR codes:
• business card type QR code = 20 x 20mm.
• URL type QR code is 13 x 13mm.
Keep in mind this is a starting guide only. Always print your design to scale (with your office printer etc) and scan to confirm the QR code is easily read.
If the QR code is not read / easily read, make the QR code bigger.

Remember, you can use different colours for the QR code - just keep in mind you need sufficient contrast.
In this example we introduce a larger white box behind the QR code:

PROS:

• Simple. No need to worry about what phone type is used, or if NFC is activated on the phone.
• Avoids potential security risks in the respect you are not responsible for asking someone to turn on NFC (they may forget to turn it off).
• Will work if there is no internet when the card is scanned.
• All recent phones have the QR code reader built into the phone's camera software.

CONS:

• Cannot embed your logo.
• Not editable. Once printed, that's it (only the vCard is editable on the recipient's phone).
• Requires more real estate to be printed onto a card than a standard URL link QR Code.

Creating NFC vCard

NFC vCards are more limited than QR codes vCards or Digital Business cards.
It is importent to remember the allowable data size of the NFC Chip - See more INFO HERE .
In summary, due to the data limits of NFC chips, it is best to only encode URLs

If we look at the NFC Tools by wakdev app, the only options are:

• Contact Name single field
• Company
• Address single field
• Phone single field
• Email single field
• Website single field

In our example, we added the basic Print Promotion details. This equated to 211 bytes.
This means you would need to pay more to upgrade to the NTAG-215 chip which allows 504 bytes..
Keep in mind, when read by your phone = imports as a contact, it will still only add the above BASIC contact fields.

In this second example, we striped the content down further so it fits onto a NTAG-213 chip (max 144 bytes)

You can see how little detial ends up as a contact on your phone..

CONS:

• More cost for less function.

Creating Offline vCards

In Microsft Outlook:

1. Create a new contact.
2. Save as (File / Save As).
   • Make sure you have a file name without spaces.
   • Ensure you select .vcf file type
3. Host this vcf file (on your own website / Google Drive or Dropbox etc).
   • Make sure this is in a location which does not require permissions (ie passwords) to access.
4. Check this link in an 'incognito browser', make sure it is downloadable.
5. Provide us the URL link - paste this into the spreadsheet.
   NOTE: You can also use this link to generate a QR code - or write to an NFC chip.

PROS:

• Can embed logo.
• More secure.

CONS:

• Will only work if there is internet when the card is tapped.
• You will need to host the files.
• Much more inconvenient process to update details.

Creating vCards Online

See the initial steps on Creating a vCard Online then follow the below steps:

1. Download the card:
   • Click save. The card code will be downloaded as a .vcf (v card format).
   
   
2. Check the vCard file: (not a necessary step)
   • Open this file. If on a PC, open program with Outlook (if you use Office 365).
   
   • If you open the vcard in Outlook and notice that the details show in the preview, but not in the fields.
   This is because “work” was not selected in the first dropdown box when creating the card. If this is the case, we recommend going back and editing the card and repeating steps.
   
   
3. Store the file online:
   Whether you host the file on a website, or cloud storage; you want to be able to access it to potentially edit it.
4. Get a link to the file
   Supply us the link to the file. This will be used to either generate a QR code or encode an NFC card.

Simply use this spreadsheet template to provide us the URL(s) to encode to a QR code / generate QR codes!