Exchange ActiveSync won't sync contacts on Android

Hi,

The account WON'T synchronize out of the box! You will receive a mail from Microsoft stating that you prefer not to use the Outlook app - and to use a third party app you have to open a link. Click on that link, it will unlock your mail client for the synchronization of your MSFT account data

Ridiculous, I found that solution on a blog after spending hours of resetting accounts, re syncing contacts etc...

I hope this help!

I deleted the Exchange account and reloaded and my contacts showed up.  Also check outlook.com to see if your contacts are the same as your outlook program.

Wow this is ridiculous.  I'm just sticking with Google Docs and their email and contacts.  I have the Note 5 on the latest Android and created a test contact and it is not syncing at all with Outlook.   It should sync right away.   Every time I try something with Microsoft there is always extra steps to set up right and some type of hassle.  I feel like they're going in the right direction with recent Windows 10 updates and their Surface products are great but they need to put more effort into Android.   And one still can't create contacts from the Android Outlook app!  And you can't create filters on Android, you can with Google's Inbox! And this issue w/ contact sync has been going since 2013!!

I have a Galaxy S7 Edge with Android 7.  I spent hours looking through the many threads reporting the same issue where hotmail/outlook/live contacts are not showing up in your native contacts app.  Here is what finally worked for me:

First, I have two devices.  First, a Galaxy S7 Edge that is shattered but working.  The contacts have always sync'd fine on that device.  Second, a new replacement Galaxy S7 Edge that is fresh off a factory reset, but otherwise setup exactly the same with the same OS version, apps, etc.

So, to recap, the shattered device was syncing contacts, the new device was not.  After deleting and re-adding my hotmail account several times and trying various settings on the new device, I finally gave up and decided to try exporting my contacts from my old device manually.  Export/Import procedure: Contacts app -> Settings -> Import/Export contacts -> Export -> copy *.vcf file off the old device with USB cable -> copy *.vcf file on the new device with USB cable -> Contacts app -> Settings -> Import/Export contacts -> Import.

All my contacts were there, but I was concerned about syncing still.  Just for fun, I added a new contact to my old phone that I new was still syncing correctly.  Low and behold, it immediately showed up on my new device that, before manually importing the contacts, was not syncing.  So, it appears somehow the import process kickstarted the syncing...

Hope it helps someone else.

I had real problems trying to do this but in the end have managed to get Contacts/Calendar syncing between Outlook 2016, an Android (HTC 10) phone and an iPad.  From memory, this is how I achieved it.

I originally had a Microsoft account that I created when I purchased an Office 365 subscription.  When I created the account I used my business email address (xxx @ xxx.co.uk) as the ID - bad mistake!  I ran into the same problems of trying to get contacts and calendar to sync.

Firstly, I created a new Microsoft account using a new outlook.com email address (xxxx @ outlook.com) and then managed to update my old Microsoft account to use this address.   (You probably only need to worry about this latter stage if you have an Office 365 subscription.  The important thing is to have a Microsoft account of the form xxxx @ outlook.com).   

I then added this account to Outlook 2016.  This was straightforward as Outlook auto-discovered the account and applied the appropriate settings.  You will just be asked to reconfirm the account password.  (Previously, when I was using my business email address for my Microsoft account ID I ran into the problems of having to try and find the appropriate mail server settings etc.)  Once the account was added to Outlook, I copied my contacts and calendar items to the appropriate contact/calendar entry in My Contacts/My Calendars in Outlook 2016. I could then immediately see these entries on-line by logging into www.outlook.live.com with my Microsoft account details.  The only annoying thing I found was that Categories weren't synced so adding the account to another instance of Outlook 2016 created the contacts OK but lost their categorisation.  Also, if you don't use Outlook 2016 on a PC then you can import your contacts via the Import function available online under Outlook People.  

On my HTC 10 and iPad I then just created an Outlook account (not outlook.com or Exchange) and choose these accounts as my source for contacts and calendar apps and everything syncs!  I've also tried these steps successfully on a friend's Samsung Galaxy 6.

Hope this helps.