Outlook App for Android does not sync contacts

Anonymous
2019-05-07T17:31:24+00:00

Android contacts app does not sync with my Outlook email account.  I tried 4 different ways.  Each time I ensured Contacts sync is enabled in both Outlook account settings (off by default) and Android Settings\Accounts (on by default).  My account syncs with Android email and Android calendar - only Android contacts is empty.

1.), in Android Settings\Accounts, added my email as an Exchange account.  It successfully syncs with Android mail and Android calendar.  Not contacts - remains empty. 

Removed this account and tried again

2.) Installed Outlook for Android, added my outlook.com address, enabled contacts sync.  Still nothing.

3.) Left account in Outlook and attempted to add it in Android Settings\Accounts -  message "The email address is already connected with Outlook.  Do you want to connect it again with another service?"  I proceeded and chose "Outlook.com" as the service.

4.) Uninstalled everything.  in Android Settings\Accounts, added my email as an Exchange account.  Installed Outlook for Android, added account to Outlook.  Now it shows up in Android Settings\Accounts twice - once as Exchange and once as Outlook.com.  

Within Android Settings\Accounts it indicates "Contacts - Last synced 5/7/19 10:28am".  If I disable and reenable sync, the spinning sync circle appears, as if it was syncing, and then displays a new "Last synced" message.  Yet, no contacts ever show up.

Never had an issue on iOS.  Works perfectly.  My girlfriend's Samsung phone, contact sync works perfectly.  My LG phone, no contact sync.

Clarification - this is not an Outlook for Android issue.  This is a Microsoft ActiveSync integration issue with Android.  It is NOT required to install Outlook on Android.  Contacts, calendar, and mail sync are UNRELATED to Outlook for Android.  If you enter Android Settings\Accounts, you can connect to your microsoft email account via Exchange ActiveSync without ever having installed Outlook.  This is an Exchange ActiveSync bug!

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

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-07-10T12:07:17+00:00

    Same issue here on my Huawei Mate 10 Pro. Worked fine for monthes, now I just can't do anything with Outlook cause my contacts are not synced. I am even unable to enable the contact sync, and Microsoft support is failing to help.

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-07-12T01:13:55+00:00

    Michaelslive...I have had this EXACT same issue.

    My main bugbear was that contacts from my office 365 account would not sync with the android contacts, or would intermittently, but only 3 or 24 or so would sync, then it would just stop syncing, then the contacts would just plain disappear from my contacts list.

    I found some interesting information and gave it a go and it seems to be working at the moment...

    A lot of my contacts on my outlook office 365 account had "categories".  I deleted all of the category information, and voila, all of a sudden, after resetting the account on my phone and clearing the cache for the outlook app and contacts app, the contacts start showing up in the android contacts list.

    So, steps for me were...

    1. Open Outlook on my PC and go to contacts list
    2. Delete all "category" information from my contacts in the list
    3. Open android phone settings>apps>...then clear cache for Outlook and Contacts
    4. Open outlook app on phone and reset account in the settings screen, then turn on sync contacts in the same menu
    5. Open android contacts and ensure that Outlook is ticked in the drop down menu for the list that you want to display

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-07-14T22:59:40+00:00

    After three days of testing, I am back at square one...

    Scratch my last post.  It did not work.  I am in the same predicament.

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  4. Anonymous
    2019-07-16T02:32:19+00:00

    I recently bought an Android Samsung Note 9 and was having similar contact sync issues. All my Contacts are in my personal Hotmail/Outlook and it wasn't being sync'd. I have my business contacts in my business Outlook, which is Office 365. Then I have my personal contacts in my personal Outlook - which is a Hotmail account.

    After spending an hour I found the issue and why my personal contacts were not syncing to my Android phone Samsung note 9.

    1. Go to your Outlook app
    2. Select on the hamburger menu top left
    3. Select Settings wheel
    4. Select your personal email/outlook (((obviously if you don't see it, then you need to click on "Add Account" and add your personal/outlook email)))
    5. Enable sync contacts

    Voila - your contacts from outlook will start to download immediately

    If you want to set personal/outlook as the default, go to your people app, click on the hamburger menu, go to manage contacts and go to default storage location to make personal/outlook as your default contacts.

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  5. Anonymous
    2019-07-16T02:32:53+00:00

    I recently bought an Android Samsung Note 9 and was having similar contact sync issues. All my Contacts are in my personal Hotmail/Outlook and it wasn't being sync'd. I have my business contacts in my business Outlook, which is Office 365. Then I have my personal contacts in my personal Outlook - which is a Hotmail account.

    After spending an hour I found the issue and why my personal contacts were not syncing to my Android phone Samsung note 9.

    1. Go to your Outlook app
    2. Select on the hamburger menu top left
    3. Select Settings wheel
    4. Select your personal email/outlook (((obviously if you don't see it, then you need to click on "Add Account" and add your personal/outlook email)))
    5. Enable sync contacts

    Voila - your contacts from outlook will start to download immediately

    If you want to set personal/outlook as the default, go to your people app, click on the hamburger menu, go to manage contacts and go to default storage location to make personal/outlook as your default contacts.

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    4 people found this answer helpful.
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