After searching for the solution to this question I thought I would share with you the absolute easiest way to export your Contacts from your Mac to a CSV file so you can upload it to another database or keep as a backup.
Many search results for this question yield amazingly complicated solutions. Usually they require you to create an export to vCard, download 3rd-party software or use an online tool and then run your contact list through that insecure tool to produce a CSV file that you can eventually upload to your new destination. Some have even suggested creating a bloody script! Seriously, nobody wants to write code to do one of the most common data transfers on earth. Moving contacts from device to device has been a regular requirement since mobile phones were invented. Remember trying to move contacts in and out of your RAZR flip phone? I do.
So here I will outline how to make exporting MacOS contacts to a CSV in as simple as possible with no 3rd-party intervention:
How to export Mac Contacts to CSV
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Open Contacts
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Open Numbers, create new spreadsheet
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In Contacts, select all contacts
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Drag all contacts to the new spreadsheet
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In Numbers, export to CSV
DONE!
I hope this has helped you as it helped me. It was super frustrating to think that there was no simple way and so I had to dig deep on the web to find this solution. Hopefully you found this article with little effort and it has worked for you.