outlook.com contacts will only sync one way with android and outlook app

Anonymous
2017-02-12T14:17:29+00:00

I have added my hotmail.com account as exchange in outlook app on android (nexus 6).

Contacts sync one way only.

Problem:

  1. Any new contact added via the android native contacts app to the "hotmail.com" account is deleted without warning on next sync.
  2. Edits made to hotmail.com contacts in native android contacts app are overwritten and lost on next sync.

I have had this problem for more than 1 year. I have now spent about 50 man hours trying to find a solution.  Because the phone is unusable without the ability to add or edit contacts, I have been using my partners old iphone 5c, which syncs contacts both ways flawlessly but means I cant use my smart watch.

My hotmail account was "upgraded" to exchange some months back, but the result before and after is the same (after removing and re-adding of course)

I have spent probably 5 hours with MS support teams.  

  1. First I tried the outlook android app  "in-app" support. They got me to reinstall outlook and my account, and checked various things were ok, then said there was nothing wrong with my setup, and it must be an issue with the account itself. They sent me to the MS account support eam.
  2. The MS account support team said my account was fine, and it was nothing to do with them, and sent me to the desktop outlook support team.
  3. The desktop account team sent me back to the account support team.
  4. The account support team told me to go back to the android outlook in-app support team. they told me to get an apple phone instead.

So it looks like the 100 or so people who have the same problem have no support, and no solution, other than to switch to iPhone.

Outlook | Outlook for mobile | Outlook for Android | For business

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-04-01T07:28:33+00:00

    It looks like there is a Uservoice posting with this same issue, https://outlook.uservoice.com/forums/293346-outlook-for-android/suggestions/10015503-contact-sync-back-to-exchange-outlook-account.  Please vote it up so that it gets more attention from the Outlook Team.

    Just to make sure please also submit this issue in the in app Help settings.  Support should be able to confirm if this is as noted on Uservoice. 

    Thanks Gabriel.  Which app help settings?  I have tried the outlook for android in-app support, and they say that my phone is configured correctly, so they cant find the issue.

    FYI: I have not been able find a way to sign in with my MS account into user voice. At no point does the user voice allow me to type in my password: it lets you enter the email, but there is no box to type in the password, it only says "create password". If I hit create password, it says I already have an account, but doesn't allow me to enter my password.  I have been trying to get into this system for about 6 months without luck.  Why do MS use a 3rd party with no MS account integration (or broken integration).  I also tried the "sign up" option, but this creates a company trial account - there seems to be no way to create a non-trial non-company account to use with uservoice.  I also tried the "login with facebook" option, but it always just says "an error occurred".

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-03-31T22:04:04+00:00

    It looks like there is a Uservoice posting with this same issue, https://outlook.uservoice.com/forums/293346-outlook-for-android/suggestions/10015503-contact-sync-back-to-exchange-outlook-account.  Please vote it up so that it gets more attention from the Outlook Team.

    Just to make sure please also submit this issue in the in app Help settings.  Support should be able to confirm if this is as noted on Uservoice.

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-03-31T19:30:48+00:00

    On an android device you install the Outlook app from the play store, when you start the app you then add the hotmail a/c which requires the a/c username & password only

    Unfortunately, I tried this, doesnt work - no 2 way sync.  I did this with the microsoft help agent, and she could not find the reason. She said it must be something wrong with my hotmail account, and sent me to the MS account team. They said there was nothing wrong with my account (and it syncs fine on iphone).  So no luck there.

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-03-31T17:31:40+00:00

    This is just pure wrong.  I have the Outlook app on my iPhone 7, and I am experiencing a sync issues with google.  I use google to hold all my contacts, but after adding my gmail account to the Outlook app, the contacts being displayed in the "Contacts" tab in Outlook are OLD AND WRONG.  I have deleted the account, uninstalled the app, etc., and I can not find a solution where Outlook will display the correct contacts.

    I have no idea where it is pulling these contacts from, because it is not directly from my gmail account.  I can added/edit/delete contacts in the phone, and see those changes, yet they do not transfer to the Outlook app.

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  5. Anonymous
    2017-03-31T12:30:17+00:00

    Hi,

    To better assist you with your concern, you can post your query on this link for our TechNet Community. This is so IT Professionals on this forum can provide you tips and troubleshooting steps on how to address your concern.

    If you have further questions, feel free to reply to this post.

    Regards.

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