If I export the contacts will this act change the formatting of the contacts in the address book so that they will then be unusable in kaddressbook?

If not, which export would be the best so that I can have copies of contacts in other applications

I will still be using kaddressbook.

Thanks

Ps. If I add to, or edit, kaddressbook at a later stage, I asume that I will need to re-export and repeat the import process.
PPs. As a spin-off, it seems to me that the above exporting process is a good method of backing up contacts

obviously it matters what apps you are planning on using the exported contacts with but if possible I would sync Kaddressbook with Google and then sync those other apps with Google, this should (I would guess) keep everything in sync

re: backing up, exporting would be a good way to do this as it would be accessible to other apps though not sure pics would be included (definitely not using csv format)