Contacts Missing From "New" Outlook After Upgrade From Windows Mail

Thanks AaronJohnston3,

for bringing the return of contacts drop-down boxes to our attention. There is no [Save] button in the offline Mail app (which I still stubbornly use) or the (new) online Outlook--I just checked by creating a New message in both. What platform, app and function are you using?

Btw, drop-down boxes is old behaviour which Microsoft has apparently restored. They are continually working on Outlook.

But note:

1. The drop-downs do not contain all your contacts, just those that match names you are typing. Indeed, this was proof to many of us that our contacts data were somewhere, just not on our devices.
2. A list of email addresses is not the Contacts address book that you can edit, with details like work and personal email addresses, companies/employers, street addresses, phone numbers, and notes.
3. We have been used to using an offline Contacts address book accessible via the People app. Initially, as part of the new Outlook forced conversion, Microsoft moved this exclusively online to their Cloud.

Not all of us have affordable (or reliable) 24/7 high-speed Internet access,😞 so we require offline Contacts and Mail apps--to read downloads and compose drafts--is essential. Microsoft seems determined to abandon such customers. Indeed, the People offline app actually stopped working for awhile (spring 2024). Now, you can repopulate it, if you have granted permission as I described on page 4 of this thread. 4. I just checked (Aug 2024) and the People app is indicating that we will have to export our contacts data and import it into the new (online-only) Outlook. That suggests Microsoft have abandoned the horrendous seize (and destroy) approach they had been using for the last few months. I honestly have no idea if the date are in effect synced to the (mess of an) online Contacts they were trying to compel us to use.

This forced conversion to the not-yet-ready (online-only) Outlook--I refuse to call it new, because it's (so far) just a rip-off of the old Web Hotmail/Outlook--is still a work-in-progress. Hopefully, the many bugs and omissions will be addressed, but only if we let Microsoft's arrogant development teams know about them... and LOUDLY!

After my weekend nightmare with OneDrive's Sync literally seizing and destroying 12 years' of critical data from my laptop😠😡😠--thankfully recovered from recycle bins, but datetime metadata were permanently destroyed--I do not trust Microsoft. They have a clear strategy to change from a desktop software company to an online-only Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company. That allows them to charge us monthly subscription fees for both Cloud storage and primarily online app usage. They are also pushing to have us hand our data over to them. Why? To feed their AI bots?

Btw, beware of storing any personal data on your C: drive or indeed any disk volume Microsoft can access--currently only non-USB stated as being out of their reach. Partitioned hard drives in your computer? Microsoft behaves as if it's all their data to seize and monetize, contacts just one part of it.😠😠😠

Why WOULDN'T it be a secret, all of a sudden, surprise drop down?????????????

Discovered solution by accident. I started to manually enter an address and when I started typing in the address, a drop down box appeared with all of my contacts. I clicked on the save button at the bottom of the screen and all of my contacts reappeared. I hope this helps.

Thank you for taking the trouble to provide such a full reply.

I can see how your second point makes perfect sense.

Regards

David Richardson

Hi, DavidRichardson4,

I'm going to try to answer each of your issues separately.

Now I'm even more confused. If I start typing a contact name the email address completes automatically, thus it must be in my contacts. But if I click on the people symbol for my contacts, it is empty. Any ideas? I'd like to see them so I can see who is there and edit if necessary.

For this one, yes, you are correct the email addresses are stored in your contacts database. But that database is (now) stored on the Microsoft (MS) server. However, as the Outlook doesn't yet (if ever😞) work as a standalone desktop app, i.e. Internet connection now required whenever using it, it doesn't keep an updated desktop copy of your Contacts anymore. Goodbye proprietary .pst files. Everything's moving to or already in their Cloud. But you can make export files to keep on your desktop as backup--in case you stop paying Microsoft after they inevitably start charging us subscription fees🤨--or to support you switching to other mail apps.😉

To make your contacts visible, you will have to:

(1) Ensure permission is provided to People and all Mail apps to access your MS-server-based Contacts (Windows settings); and

(2) Ensure your server-based Contacts are accessible at all, by contacting MS Customer Support ("Contact Microsoft" link in footer section of these Web pages or clicking here😉) and asking them to "sync your contacts." Tip: You can arrange for them to call you back. You can also use chat if you prefer having a written record. By now, hopefully, they have better-trained support staff familiar with the problem.🤞

I've posted (08 May 2024) a step-by-step guide that worked for me here:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook_com/forum/all/contacts-missing-from-new-outlook-after-upgrade/0d94da7f-dd54-4d59-9d48-3df4c8a7de56?page=4

*Sorry, you'll need to scroll down a bit, as MS doesn't provide any means to link to the specific posting.*🙄

And another pain. If I click on an external email link it properly opens up a new pre-addressed email, just as it should, in my name. But if I want it to come from my wife's account, there is no way of changing the sender, at least as far as I can discover.

❌ That was *never* the case. And thank goodness!🙏 Can you imagine the spurned partners, employees, frenemies or whatever who could send phony emails in someone else's name, just by knowing their email address!!😨 As email addresses are routinely made public, even guessable, total strangers/scammers could (and some) do this as a (malicious) lark.😱 No, no, no! No email system should ever allow this! It's called spoofing btw, and is illegal in most jurisdictions.

If your wife wishes to send an email, ideally she should login and draft it herself. Alternately, you could draft it from your account, email/send it to her, and leave her the option of forwarding or editing the email before sending it on herself. If she's really trusting🤨 and has given you her username, password and *explicit permission* to do so, you could login to her account and do it. Without permission, you're probably committing a crime.😲

Good luck!

LostInSpace88🤞