You can do this from an Access database.
1. Open the Access database > External Data > New Data Source > From Other Sources > Outlook Folder

You then have options.  Be careful about linking to the outlook folder as this causes corruption...

John's got it. Importing Outlook contacts or even emails into Access is relatively straightforward. I cover reading and linking Outlook folders in Access Expert Level 20, but I generally don't recommend leaving Outlook folders linked permanently because it can lead to corruption issues.

For getting your contacts into an Access table, importing them periodically - or even doing a one-time import - is the better approach and isn't too difficult. This has actually been on my TechHelp video list for a while, so I'll bump it up and try to get a video made for it soon.

Richard, I know you talk about using Gmail, and I use Gmail for sending emails from Access, but how about retrieving email from Gmail. I do have the Email Seminar. Are there any videos?

Retrieving email from Gmail is a bit of a pain. I've managed to do it by reading directly from a POP3 server, and I may put together a video on that and add it to the Email Seminar. It isn't easy, though, and what you get back is basically plain text. There are also ways to interface directly with Gmail using Google's authentication tools and APIs, but that's a whole different ball game. I'll probably put something together for that eventually, but honestly, I don't get a lot of requests for retrieving Gmail messages into Access.

Jerry I have mentioned this before, but have used Cdata, which is a company that specializes in driver software.  They have one that connects directly to Gmail account via MS Access.  If you want to skip all the programming, I have used it and it is super easy to install and connect.  The downside is you have to pay for it, but worth it

Jerry Is CData an annual subscription or do you pay once for the link to GMail? Can you share how much it costs?

Joe It is an annual, but you can download the demo version to make sure it works first.  Here is the link.

https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/gmail-odbc-access-linked-tables.rst

Just search off the site....

thanks guys but what i was looking for is something a bit different.  I know i can link to outlook and pull in info. What i was wondering about is this.. is it possible to have a button on a form then when clicked opens outlook contacts and asks you to select a contact to import.

Yes, that's definitely possible, and it is a different animal than simply importing or linking an Outlook folder.

You can automate Outlook from a button on your Access form and display Outlook's Select Names dialog. The user can pick a contact, and then your code can grab that selected person's information and append it to your ContactT table.

The main catch is that Outlook's picker can also show Global Address List and other address book entries. A contact selected from your personal Outlook Contacts folder can be returned as a ContactItem, which gives you access to fields such as name, company, email, phone numbers, address, and so on. A corporate directory entry may not have all of those same fields available.

There is no built-in Access wizard for "pick one Outlook contact and import it," but VBA can absolutely do it. That would make a good TechHelp video, because it is a very practical feature for a CRM-style database. I'll add that specific version to the list.

Thanks Richard, that world be great.  I did see a built in macro in access for this but i can only get it to work on the access templates not within my database.  If there is a way to do this with VBA i would prefer that.  More control.

thanks,