Snap or upload a photo of a business card and the text is read on your device. Name, job title, company, phone numbers, email, website and address are sorted into fields you can correct, then saved as a vCard for your phone or a CSV for a spreadsheet or CRM.
Last updated:
Example card
Saved contacts
Name
Company
Email
Phone
Remove
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How to use the Business Card Scanner
Take a photo of the card or choose an image. On a phone, Choose photo can open the camera directly. Fill the frame with the card and avoid glare.
Wait for the scan. The first scan downloads the OCR engine and language data, so it takes a little longer.
Check the fields. Correct anything that was misread; the recognized text on the left helps you compare.
Save the contact: Download vCard to add it to your phone or email app, or Download CSV for a spreadsheet.
Scanning a stack? Press Add to list after each card, then download all contacts at once.
How the fields are detected
Field
What the scanner looks for
Email
Text in the form [email protected], also when OCR adds spaces around the @
Website
Addresses starting with www. or http, or a domain ending in a common extension such as .com, .org or .io
Phone, mobile, fax
Groups of 7 to 15 digits with spaces, dots, dashes or brackets. Labels like M, Cell, Mobile, T, Tel, Office, Direct and F or Fax decide where each number goes; unlabeled numbers fill Work, then Mobile
Address
Lines with a house number and a street word (Street, Ave, Rd, Suite…), a US state and ZIP code (CA 94105), or a PO Box
Company
Lines with words like Inc, LLC, Ltd, Corp, Group, Studio, Agency or Solutions; otherwise the email or website domain
Job title
Lines containing role words such as Manager, Director, Engineer, Designer, Founder, CEO or Consultant
Name
A line of 2 to 5 capitalized words without digits, scored higher when it matches the email address (maya.thompson@ → Maya Thompson) or sits next to the job title
vCard or CSV?
vCard (.vcf) is the standard electronic business card format (version 3.0, RFC 2426). Phones, Outlook, Apple Contacts and Google Contacts open it directly, with each phone number tagged as mobile, work or fax. Use it when you want the person in your address book.
CSV is a plain table: one row per contact with columns such as First Name, Last Name, Organization Name and Phone 1 - Value. Use it for Excel or Google Sheets, mailing lists or importing into a CRM. The file includes a byte-order mark so Excel shows accented names correctly.
Tips for better photos
Place the card on a dark, plain surface so its edges stand out, and photograph it from directly above.
Let the card fill most of the frame; cropping out the background helps OCR focus on the text.
Avoid shadows from your phone and reflections on glossy or foil cards; tilt the card slightly toward the light if needed.
For two-sided cards, scan each side and merge the details in the fields before saving.
Frequently asked questions
Is my business card photo uploaded?
No. The image is read by an OCR engine (Tesseract.js) that runs inside your browser. The engine and its language data are downloaded once, but your photo and the contact details never leave your device.
How do I add the scanned contact to my iPhone or Android phone?
Press Download vCard and open the .vcf file. On iPhone, tap the file and choose Create New Contact. On Android, open it with the Contacts app. You can also email the .vcf to yourself and open it from the mail app.
How do I import the contacts into Google Contacts, Outlook or Excel?
Download a CSV (or the list with all contacts) and import it. In Google Contacts choose Import and pick the CSV; the column names follow Google's format. Outlook can import CSV or vCard files, and Excel opens the CSV directly.
How can I get a more accurate scan?
Use even light without glare, hold the camera straight above the card so it fills most of the photo, and make sure the text is sharp. Rotate the image if the card is sideways. Very decorative fonts, light gray text and dark cards with light text are harder to read.
Why is a field wrong or empty?
The tool guesses which line is the name, title or company from patterns such as email address, phone labels and common words like Inc or Manager. Unusual layouts can confuse it, so every field is editable. Leftover text goes into Notes so nothing is lost.
Can it read cards in other languages?
Yes. Choose the card's language before scanning: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese or Dutch. Field detection works best with Latin-alphabet cards.
Is the contact list saved?
The list stays only while this page is open, so your contacts are not stored anywhere. Download the vCard or CSV before closing the tab.
Are all the tools on FreeToolCabin tested for quality and accuracy?
Yes! Every tool on our site undergoes automated Q/A testing in real browser environments to ensure high precision, correct output, and zero errors. If you happen to spot a bug or have a suggestion, please contact us at [email protected] and our team will review it right away.