Windows Contacts is a contact manager, which replaced Windows Address Book (WAB) in Windows Vista. Windows Mail integrates with Windows Contacts. Windows Contacts uses a new XML-based schema format where each contact appears as an individual .contact file, and can store custom information related to contacts, including pictures. It features extensibility APIs for integration with other applications and storing custom information. The legacy *.wab format and the open standards, *.vcf (vCard) and *.csv (CSV) are also supported. Windows Contacts retains most of the functionality of Windows Address Book.
Features
Windows Contacts is implemented as a special folder in Windows Vista. Contacts can be stored in folders and groups.
It can export in vCard 2.1 and CSV formats. Users can right-click a contact to quickly convert it to vCard format and send it to anyone.
It can print contacts in Memo, Business Card, Phone List formats.
Because contacts are stored in the Contacts folder simply as individual .contact files, they’re just another data type in the operating system that can be indexed and searched by Windows Search. Individual contacts can be quickly accessed from the Start menu search text box.
Windows Contacts exposes APIs for creating new contacts, reading and writing in an existing contact, adding a "Label" in the form of a URI to a "Property" or a "Property" to a "Contact", API for synchronizing devices with Windows Contacts.[2][3]