all my contacts in outlook disappeared. how to retrieve?

After accepting the offer to try to Outlook App in Windows 11, there was a migration process. Now my contacts no longer appear on live.com, and they never appeared in the new Outlook App. If I open the Mail app in Windows 11, and click on People, the contacts still present.

I want to call BS on this. I DID NOT DELETE MY CONTACTS. OUTLOOK DID. Unless I get them back immediately, w/o jumping thru hoops, I will take my email else where. I have had had this email for 20 years - Id rather not change it.

Where do I find my Outlook contacts on a computer that crashed, with the contents supposedly recovered in full? I have been using Microsoft 365 with Window 10, with my primary email gmail. I had tens of thousands of Outlook contacts in People, updated through Sept. 30, 2023, including many recent ones that I urgently need to launch a book this month upon which I've worked years. In the recovery process, I can find only pst folders from 2015 or previously. with the main path Users/username/ etc.

Thanks in advance.

need to speak to someone