You can also use QR codes to simply communicate an email address. If any of you can see any other benefits to this approach, please comment, I’m interested… Just give me the email address If you need to embed contact details in a foreign character set not supported by the QR format this is definitely the way to go.

I’m struggling to see how this might be useful, since you will inevitably need to change your business card, but I like the fact that it reduces the amount of data embedded in the code, typically making it easier to be read and gives greater control over the data the code transmits. Champions of this method argue that should your details change you simply upload an updated vcf file with the same name and location, and your details will be changed.

You can then use an url shortener to create a link to that file, and embed the shortened url into your contact details QR code. You can create cards in the MECARD of VCF format with this online generator Slimline digital contactĪnother option is to create your digital contact file and then upload it to your website. I’m guessing that the MECARD format isn’t as widely read as the VCF format, but if Google has adopted it, we doubt that is a big issue. We also came across a reference to the MECARD format which Google employees favour Because the format structure is more compact than VCF you are able to embed your contact details in a smaller QR code. It’s great that you can store full contact details in this format, but you are embedding a lot of data into the code. Remember, the more data you embed, the bigger and uglier your QR code is going to be. Anyone with MS Outlook or Entourage can create them, but the online generators can help by restricting you to key information to embed. VCF is a format used by Microsoft Outlook to store contact information, and widely read-able and supported by multiple devices and operating platforms. In researching QR codes, we found a number of QR code generators that enable you to encode your full contact details into a QR code.

It’s not a mainstream use for marketing purposes as far as we can see, but it is a great use for the technology, so we resurrected this part from the cutting room floor to share with those of you who might want to have a go at this. While researching QR codes we came across some interesting information on marrying QR codes and contact details. But there are other things you can do with them. Primarily, QR codes are great for linking the physical world to the online resources.

Outlook qr code sign in