Contact list grayed out in Outlook for Mac

For anyone interested - make sure you don't update to the last version of Outlook 2019 (Outlooks 2019 is no longer supported by MS), 16.79. I found I had a copy of 16.78 in one of my backups reinstalled it, and removed 16.79. This gave me back the ability to drag and drop files in messages, 16.79 deletes this function. I am now convinced more than ever that MS has intentionally downgraded Outlook for Mac to the point of taking from the gold standard for email clients to an also-ran or worse.

The items along the way dropped or made non-functional:

1. group email addresses
2. user side rules/filters
3. file drag and drop

All of these are now MIA in new versions of Outlook for Mac, and as I understand also in some versions of Windows. I always thought new versions were supposed to be improvements??????

Adding a contact list should be a standard feature.

Oh it totally is. And you figure they'd have copilot and an intern (re)implement it.

Hi Peter Nelson (peter.nelson),

Thanks for choosing Microsoft Community.

Based on your description, I know your requirement. In fact, new outlook for mac does not have contact lists now. So the icon is greyed out. You can get more detailed information from New outlook for mac.

Microsoft is updating their products based on customers' need, believe this feature will be available soon. Please be patient to wait for some time. If you want to use this feature now, you can change back to the old outlook as the document said at any time. Your understanding and patience are highly appreciated.

Thanks for your precious time. Have a nice day.

Best Regards,

Katherine

let us all get real .... Microsoft couldn't give a damn about customer needs. They are an enormous company with a universe full of money and global clout. They have no empathy with the public who make their billions. I also don't understand the purpose or significance of these feedback forums ... they ignore the public's views or post non committal or even baseless promises. People leaving MS for another app is of little concern to them, there is no incentive or indeed desire by them to give the public what they need or want. I could perhaps understand their lack of initiative if the request was a severe technical challenge but this is so far from the truth as to be laughable. Sadly the danger of such an attitude is that MS, and other enormous enterprises, become all controlling with the sting in the tail that it is the public who fund them to do so.