How to sync Outlook's Contacts with my Android Phone Directly from my Laptop

Hi Daffy,

Thank you for using Microsoft products and making community posts.

I understand the importance of resolving this issue but don't worry to ensure changes made on your phone sync back to your laptop, try these steps:

Steps to Sync Outlook Contacts Both Ways

1. Enable Contact Sync in Outlook App (Android)
   • Open the Outlook app on your phone.
   • Tap your profile icon (top left).
   • Go to Settings > Your Account.
   • Toggle Sync Contacts to ON.
2. Check Android Account Sync Settings
   • Open Settings on your phone.
   • Go to Accounts > Microsoft Outlook.
   • Ensure Contacts Sync is enabled.
   • Tap Sync Now.
3. Use Microsoft Exchange for Two-Way Sync
   • If you're using a Microsoft Exchange account, contacts should sync both ways automatically.
   • If not, consider adding your Outlook account as an Exchange account in your phone’s settings.
4. Manually Export Contacts from Android to Outlook
   • Open Contacts on your phone.
   • Select the contact you added.
   • Tap Share > Outlook to manually sync it.
5. Check Outlook Web for Updates
   • Sign in to Outlook.com and check if the new contact appears.
   • If it does, but not on your laptop, try restarting Outlook.

Please feel free to let me know how it goes.

 

Chan G

Microsoft Community Moderator

Hello Chan G,

I am having a similiar problem for the past 7 days following a Samsung Android update to version 15 on a Samsung A53 5G Phone. The update came with Samsungs UI 7.0 update (awful!).

Specifically, the outlook contacts stopped synching and the microsoft accounts (containg these contacts) are no longer showing up in the contacts App or in System/ Accounts and Backup/ Manage Accounts. Deleting these accounts and re-installing Outlook for Android and following all of the suggested actions above did not resolve this problem.

Also, restoring from a backup did not resolve the problem.

All of my contacts are associated with the MS Outlook account..

Believing that this maybe a Google account problem (ie with 3rd Party permissions) I created a NEW google account and installed Outlook for Android on another NEW Samsung A53 5G phone (which had never been turned on before). Rather than restore from a backup I installed thre latest version of Outlook for Android after the phone had been updated to Android version 15. Same problem exists in that the microsoft accounts (containg these contacts) are no longer showing up in the contacts App or in System/ Accounts and Backup/ Manage Accounts. Emails still sync as normal.

Any ideas???

All contacts are still availble when loging on to the web version of outlook.com.

Thanks, Richard

Hello Chan G,

I appreciate your comprehensive reply, and I'm sure it'll help; what I really want to know is if there's a button or something I can press directly on my laptop's Outlook contacts' account.

I'd rather not use Microsoft Exchange -- just another account to deal with -- or have to manually export my contacts from Android to Outlook.

Again, 99% of the time I add a name/contact while on my Outlook laptop account -- not on my phone -- and then I sync it to my phone by manually pressing sync accounts on the Android phone. It works fine -- the adding on my laptop and then syncing to Android from Android. On the rare occasions that I add a name to my contact list while on my Android phone and then try to sync it from my Android phone in the same way as above, it doesn't sync to my laptop contacts. Maybe I'm not actually adding the name to Outlook's contacts while on the phone, maybe it's another contact list, but it's confusing.

Thanks,

Daffy D