Adding contact details to an email

I need to send someone some contact details but those contact details need to be in the message text and not send as an attachment (I don't know if the receiver can open vcf- or msg-files).

How can I quickly insert these details?

There are 2 main methods to do this in Outlook.

Start a new message from a contact

To create a new message which contains details from a specific contact, drag and drop a contact with your right mouse button onto the Mail Navigation button or on a mail folder. You’ll now get a menu from which you can choose from what to do with that contact. From that list select;
Copy Here as Message with Text

Insert contact details as text
Create a new message with the contact details as text.

Insert the details while composing

If you want to add contact details in a specific place within an existing message (for instance, within a reply), then you can use the Attach Item command to insert only the text and not the actual item as well.

  • Outlook 2003 and previous with Outlook set as the email editor
    Insert-> Item…
  • Outlook 2003 and previous with Word set as the email editor
    Expand the Paperclip icon-> Item…
  • Outlook 2007
    On the Message tab, in the Include section select Attach Item
  • Outlook 2010 and Outlook 2013
    On the Message tab, in the Include section, expand the Attach Item button and choose Outlook Item…

In the dialog that pops-up, select the Contacts folder and then the contact for which you want to insert the details of.
On the right side of the dialog, set the “Insert as” option to “Text only”.

Insert Item with Word as the email editor
Inserting an item is a little bit hidden
with Word as your email editor.