Whether or not Lotus Notes is needed for the conversion depends on the specific converter. There are some that require Lotus Notes to be present on the system, while standalone tools do not. I choose standalone ones because they allow me to perform the task faster. As a visualization, GainTools NSF Contacts Converter is an independent tool that does not require a Lotus Notes environment to be set up. It is a handy NSF to vCard Converter that can simply convert the contact list in the NSF file to the VCF format even if the Notes application is not installed. This is very advantageous for users who have changed their platform or do not have a Lotus Notes license anymore. You just have to locate the NSF file, view the contacts, and save them in the vCard format. What you get is a neat, standard. VCF file, which can be opened without any problem in all contact management apps.