The pencil edit symbol is missing when I try to delete a group in the people and contacts section in Outlook.com

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The pencil edit symbol is missing when I try to delete a group in the people and contacts section in Outlook.com

J Jerry 0

I've been working on removing "groups" from my outlook.com email but I'm not getting the pencil to select edit to delete group. These are groups I never added so I'm concerned my account has been compromised. There is no reason these groups should be in my people contacts. Has anyone been able to solve this problem? I can't find anything on the missing delete option for groups from the Microsoft section on deleting groups.

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Answer 1

Hi,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A Forum. This is April, I'll be happy to assist you. Sorry to hear that you're having issue with Outlook.com contacts. Let me help you out.

Based on the description of the issue you provided, you see groups in your People/Contacts that you never added in Outlook.com. The pencil edit icon to delete them is missing, so you can't remove these groups.

Are you using a personal Outlook.com account or one provided through work/school?

The missing pencil or edit icon usually indicates that you are not the owner of those groups. In Outlook.com, only group owners have permission to edit or delete a Microsoft 365 Group. If these groups appeared without your action, they may be auto created (e.g., by organizations, mailing lists, or shared resources) rather than a sign of compromise. You can leave the group, but you cannot delete it unless you are the owner.

Here's what you can Do:

Leave the group
- If you don't want it to appear, open the group and select Leave group. This removes it from your contacts and group list.
Review account security Since there's a concern about possible compromise:
- Check your recent sign-in activity in your Microsoft account security settings
- Change your password and enable two-factor authentication.
- Review connected apps and services and remove anything unfamiliar.
Verify group ownership:
- If you suspect you should be the owner but aren't seeing edit options, confirm whether the group was created under your account or added externally.

Helpful Links:

If You Created a Microsoft 365 Group: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/edit-or-delete-a-group-in-outlook-02b8b379-7ea9-4cf5-b30a-db8d80665cc8

If You Created a Personal Contact List: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/create-edit-or-delete-a-contact-list-or-contact-group-in-outlook-88ff6c60-0a1d-4b54-8c9d-9e1a71bc3023#picktab=web

I hope this helps. If you need further assistance. please don’t hesitate to contact us again. I am here to help and appreciate your continued trust in us.

Thank you,

April P.

J Jerry 0 Reputation points

2026-01-26T18:10:31.08+00:00

Thanks for your response April.

I have a personal account and have had it for at least 2 decades.

I first tried to leave the two strange groups--the option was there to do that. No matter how many times I clicked on "leave", it had no effect. Why would organizations, mailing lists or shared resources be able to create groups in my Outlook account without my permission blocking me from removing them? Why would Microsoft allow this? Were these group members able to read my personal emails?

If leaving the groups only removes them from my contacts and group list....does that mean those strange groups and their 92 members are still operating in my Outlook account, holding permission in my account that I don't even have? I never gave anyone or anything permission to put groups in my account.. Is there no protection from this by Microsoft?

After spending an hour going over everything in my account including looking for permission options, I contacted Microsoft. I received an AI response basically telling me what you're telling me. Those same answers were emailed to me twice. When I went to read them from the link in the emails, Microsoft said the answer was deleted because I violated Microsoft's code of conduct. Of course that wasn't true.

I changed my password. I still could not leave or remove the groups. I contacted Microsoft again. Finally, after about 3 hours, I was finally able to leave those groups. Even though I no longer see them, are they still in my Outlook account?

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The pencil edit symbol is missing when I try to delete a group in the people and contacts section in Outlook.com

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