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

The fact that you have created duplicates was acknowledged as a downside by the original poster of that export/import method. However, by NOT *contacting Microsoft Customer support* earlier, escalating if need be to someone who knows what they are doing, you have probably now corrupted the MS server copy. It's a live *backup mirror* of your contacts, so if you corrupt the local copy, the server copy reflects that.

Microsoft alone has access and control over the server copy--and there is *always* a server copy. As I've also outlined, you do NOT have to wait on the phone for assistance. You simply place a request to have them *call you back*.

Microsoft has moved to an all-online Outlook, similar to Online Hotmail a few years ago. There is no longer support for a (promised) Desktop version of mail. In fact, they've been keeping server copies of our Contacts for many years now.

Please, folks, follow the steps I have repeatedly outlined, which merely check if your contacts exist somewhere and set options to view them. Then, if still required, contact Microsoft Customer Support and have them call you back.

Please, do NOT hack around with local copies or you risk corrupting the mirror copy on their servers.

Did you follow any of the suggestions folks have posted here, including contacting Microsoft Customer Service?

Nothing I have tried (and I've tried a dozen ways to recover access to my Contacts) has met with any success. The one thing I discovered was that all the contacts seem to be present (only on MS servers?) and if they seem to be missing, you can find them piecemeal by using the Search function at the top of the Outlook window. If you search for "@" it will show many of the ones that have an email address.

I tried the method of exporting, modifying any field, and importing the contacts. The only thing that does is to duplicate all of the contacts. Now, instead of 180 contacts, I have 3600 contacts, most all of them duplicates. I see that many people have this exasperating problem.

I have been using Outlook (new) for all of this. When I went to try Outlook 365, all of my contacts were there! But, I do not wish to use Outlook 365. And, I have trouble waiting endlessly on the phone for assistance.

Jerry Abrams

Did you follow any of the suggestions folks have posted here, including contacting Microsoft Customer Service?

"NEW Outlook" conversion from MS 365 Outlook still failed to bring across Contacts. Conversion occurred on 01/07/2025.