Hi Brenda,

I'm afraid you got lost by not "seeing the forest from the trees".
Importing (or Exporting) Contacts is in principle very easy.
The most acceptable format is .CSV  (Comma Separated Values)

Exporting:
It appears you're using Outlook 2010
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/export-contacts-HA101870639.aspx
Follow the steps and when you reach #8 , Under Save exported file as, click Browse, select a destination folder,(Choose Desktop) and in the File name box, type a name for the file. (make sure it has the .csv  ending (format)  (Like All-Contacts.csv or similar)

Importing:
Comcast uses Xfinity There's lots of help there too)
Step 1:  First open XC & click on Preferences.  You will be in the General tab page.  Tick the box for Lite & click on SAVE at the top of the page.  Close & reopen XC.  you should now be in Lite.
Step 2:  Click on the Address book.  Then, on the left side where you see Address Book & edit, click on Edit. 
Step 3:  When the window opens, click on BROWSE & browse to where you saved the file, (In your case it's Desktop ) Click on the file and click on Open.
Step 4:  Back in the window, click on IMPORT.
From this thread: http://forums.comcast.com/t5/E-Mail-and-Xfinity-Connect-Help/Importing-csv-file-to-populate-address-book/td-p/1193363

Importing in Gmail is just as easy:
Open new account if preferred.
In the webmail page , left-hand menu -top is Mail. Click the arrow beside it and select Contacts from the dropdown, you'll get the Contacts panel.
Select the "More" tab (button), the dropdown will give you Import.
Clicking on Import will give you a pop-up panel. 
Click "Choose" and navigate to your Desktop where you saved the .CSV file,
Then click Import in the popup panel.

As to mail protocol, Outlook is typically designed to use the IMAP protocol,
although it can use POP as well.
With Comcast I believe you're restricted to POP ,but Gmail can use either one
POP or IMAP. All you have to do is enable IMAP in Gmail's settings.
(Obviously if you want to use IMAP ,you'll have to setup Outlook for this as well)
This is if you want to use Gmail as an aggregator and pull Comcast email to your Gmail.
(Use the POP protocol to get your mail from Comcast)

Hope this is enough info - if not ,let me know.

Peter E.


--------------------------------------------------
From: "Brenda Dencer" 
Sent: Saturday, August 18, 2012 4:14 PM
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [PCSOFT] email provider switched

Hi, folks. I'm running Win7 64bit upgrade. I'm switching from Verizon to
Comcast for email. I've set up an Outlook email account for Comcast, but
want to find some easy way to let everyone know about the new email address,
copy my contacts into the Comcast account, OR even better, set up a generic
account somewhere and push Comcast (or the next provider) to that
address-like Gmail. I already have one Gmail account for work and want to
keep the work & personal accounts separate.

 I am in over my head. I try to do what the instructions tell me about
copying and transferring Outlook contacts, but it's not working. This ain't
easy for me.

 Is there an elegant way resolve my issues?

 Brenda, Columbia, MD.

 

 

 

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