Can't edit contact details in Outlook Live

Anonymous
2016-08-09T23:09:11+00:00

Since Microsoft "upgraded" Outlook Live a month or so ago, I've had problems editing details, such as email addresses and phone numbers, for people in my Contacts list. For instance, one contact's first name, last name, personal email, cell phone and two home phone numbers are editable: if I wanted to, I could put my cursor in the box and delete or type over them. But for some reason, the business number, which is no longer valid since the person is no longer employed, can't be deleted. The box is grayed out, and when I try to highlight the number with my mouse in order to delete it, the mouse doesn't work. This is true for other contacts in my list as well. Has anyone else had this baffling and frustrating problem?

Outlook | Web | Outlook.com | Contacts

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-03-14T10:44:55+00:00

    Hi

    I'm not particularly computer savvy, but I'll give this a try and cross my fingers it works, this issue is driving me nuts.

    I agree with one of the other posters, will be moving over to gmail if this doesn't work.

    thanks for your help.

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-02-02T00:56:40+00:00

    I've had exactly the same problem too - for some time. For me, one of the email fields - for some of the contacts - would be grayed out and could not be changed. The easiest way to solve it was to delete that contact and then re-enter it - and this is obviously too slow when you have lots of contacts to deal with.

    Today, I noticed also that these same contacts were not syncing with Windows 10 Mail. I could see them online at outlook.com, but could not view them in the Windows 10 People app, or easily use their details when writing emails.

    But... I think I've worked out the problem, and how to solve it. :)

    I previously used Outlook (the desktop application, part of the MS Office suite) to categorise my contacts. (Not lists, categories.) When I looked closer at the contacts on outlook.com, all of these categories had been put into separate contact folders, many of them inside an 'Other Contacts' folder. You can view these other folders of contacts by clicking on the ^ icon next to 'Your Contacts' in the left hand column.

    To solve the problem, you need to move the contacts from these folders into the main contacts folder. Amazingly I could not find any way to drag and drop the contacts or folder around. So what I did in the end was:

    1. Moved these contacts folders out of 'Other Contacts'.
    2. Exported contacts from each folder to a CSV file.
    3. Click on Contacts and import the CSV file to add the contacts into the main contacts folder.
    4. Delete the old folder (and its contents) to get rid of the old contacts that don't work properly.

    Everything now seems to work as it should - online at outlook.com and using Windows 10 Mail and People!

    The only question I have now is why MS provided a folder function, but no easy way to move contacts into and out of folders.

    Hope this helps you as well.

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-02-01T16:21:16+00:00

    ever since moving to new outlook from Hotmail, the contacts have been very difficult to use.  the edit option does not show, multiple personal emails occur and you cant delete the obsolete one.

    Sadly, you nailed it.

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-02-01T16:14:49+00:00

    ever since moving to new outlook from Hotmail, the contacts have been very difficult to use.  the edit option does not show, multiple personal emails occur and you cant delete the obsolete one.

    From the looks of this list of complaints, it doesn't appear Microsoft considers this something worth correcting.

    MICROSOFT:

    PLEASE PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR USERS COMPLAINTS AND FIX THE ISSUES YOU HAVE FORCED UPON THEM. 

    If this is the direction Microsoft is taking now, it may be time to reconsider the value of their stock.  They look like they are sliding down in areas that are required to maintain the reputation of a growing company.

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  5. Anonymous
    2016-11-26T22:00:50+00:00

    I have a problem in my people.live.com where I have multiple entries for one contact. Some are completely editable (or can be completely deleted) but some just "stick around" and can't be edited or deleted.

    If I click on one of these "stuck" contacts, I can ask it to "add contact" and then, once I've done that, I can "delete contact" but as soon as I do that, the entry reappears! Aaaaargh!

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