contacts not showing in group emails

Question

I have created a group e mail and saved my contacts, but when I open it it shows 0 contacts

Answer 1

Hi @Derrick Simpson  

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.  

To help narrow down the issue, please provide more details:  

-Are you signing in with a personal Microsoft account (for example, @outlook.com or @hotmail.com) or with a work/school account?  

-What type of account is configured in Outlook (POP, IMAP, or Exchange)?  

-Which version of Outlook are you using (Classic Outlook or New Outlook)? 

-Do the contact group members appear correctly in Outlook on the web? 

Also, please confirm whether you followed these exact steps when creating the contact group:

Open Outlook > Go to People (Contacts) > Click New Contact Group > Select Add Members > From Outlook Contacts > Choose the contacts and click OK > Then click Save & Close.

Please know that while our initial response might not resolve the issue right away, your input is incredibly valuable. With a bit more detail, we’ll work together to find the best solution for you.   

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Answer 2

In Outlook, a “group email” can mean either a Contact Group (contact list) or a Microsoft 365 Group. From the context provided, the most likely issue is with a Contact Group where members are not actually stored correctly.

One known cause is broken local contacts that were originally created from the Global Address List (GAL). These can show up with an Exchange LegacyDN (for example, addresses containing /o=ExchangeLabs/...) and cause errors or appear as if the group has no usable members.

To fix this when using Outlook Contact Groups:

1. Fix the underlying contacts
   1. Open Outlook and go to the Contacts/People view.
   2. Find any contacts that were added from the GAL and appear broken (for example, show /o=ExchangeLabs/... in the email field or don’t resolve properly).
   3. Delete each broken local contact from the Contacts folder.
   4. Recreate each contact correctly from the GAL:
      • Open the Address Book.
      • Select the Global Address List.
      • Search for the person.
      • Right‑click the entry and choose Add to Contacts.
2. Rebuild or repair the Contact Group
   1. Open the Contact Group that shows 0 contacts.
   2. Add the fixed local contacts back into the group.
   3. Optionally, keep the old (broken) entries temporarily so it’s clear which ones have been replaced.
   4. After all fixed contacts are added, remove any entries that show /o=ExchangeLabs or otherwise look broken.
3. Use a safer method going forward
   • When creating new Contact Groups, add members directly from the Global Address List (GAL) instead of from local Contacts that were created from the GAL. This avoids the broken property that causes groups to misbehave.

If the account is connected via Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) to an Outlook.com/Hotmail/Live/MSN address, note that Contact Groups are not supported in that configuration, and the New Contact Group button may be unavailable. In that case, Contact Groups will not function reliably until using a supported connection type or moving contacts into a .pst‑based profile as described in the documentation.

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References:

• Contact Groups created from Outlook contacts get added with /o=ExchangeLabs
• You can't create Outlook Contact Groups when connected to an EAS account
• Create, view, and edit contacts and contact lists in Outlook