New Outlook Contacts list will not show and cannot add new ones

Question

New Outlook Contacts list will not show and cannot add new ones

Heidi and Phil Knight 30

I am using new Outlook to access two @btinternet emails. One of these emails is the email I use to log into Microsoft, the other is a secondary one. On the secondary one I added several contacts a few weeks ago and I had used them and could view them. The other day, when attempting to add another contact, all the contacts disappeared and I get a message "something went wrong and we are unable to load this page. Please check your connection or reload to try again. Refresh.' In addition, if I try go to new contact / new contact (Ctrl+N) nothing happens. However, if I create an email and type the recipients name, the contact appears there. I have tried refreshing, logging out and in, restarting, updating Microsoft 365 and nothing has happened.

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Heidi and Phil Knight 30 Reputation points

2026-03-19T10:48:52.4866667+00:00

I received an AI response saying to start Outlook in safe mode. Tried, this, didn't work.
Andy Scargill 65 Reputation points

2026-03-25T16:31:01.0166667+00:00

On both my PC and my wife's PC we cannot see our contacts in New Outlook 'People' .. it just says, "This doesn't look right." Our PC's sync New Outlook with our Google accounts. They have been working fine for months .. this has just happened recently. Other people are reporting it too. Interestingly I can see the contacts in my Contact Lists but not All Contacts. Something has happened .. I understand there was a recent update?
Andy Scargill 65 Reputation points

2026-03-25T16:46:29.41+00:00

I followed your instructions to repair Outlook (I couldn't see the New Outlook app). It clicked on it and it ran and created a tick. I then restarted New Outlook and still nothing appearing in People. It now says, "You contacts are syncing. This is taking longer than expected. Please check back soon."

Other people have reported exactly this.

I suspect that the contacts are there but not showing up in All Contacts .. but they are in Contact Lists!

Microsoft need to sort out what they have broken. The old days of working in Office on my desktop .. I had Office 2016 .. were much more stable and a better interface.
CPT Fitzroy 20 Reputation points

2026-03-25T17:27:33.3066667+00:00

I have the same problem. Worked fine yesterday morning in the afternoon i couldn't get contact list or create a new one.
A Ammons 10 Reputation points

2026-03-27T17:20:36.1666667+00:00

I began experiencing similar issues a couple of weeks ago. One minute I was editing a contact and the next all the contacts were gone.

Currently I can see my contacts on my phone. On my laptop I periodically "see" only two (2) contacts which were marked as favorites. And these two contacts are seen only, I can not open and look at the details/notes of these contacts.
Hornblower409 12,870 Reputation points

2026-03-28T07:02:46.46+00:00

@A Ammons said

One minute I was editing a contact and the next all the contacts were gone.

This is a Microsoft bug. There is nothing you can do from your Outlook Client to fix it. All that any of us can do (myself included) is wait for Microsoft to fix it and push them along by reporting it using the In-App Help > Send feedback.

For submitting Feedback - See the Comment by "Hornblower409 Mar 27, 2026, 4:09 PM" in
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5831169/contact-list-not-displayed-in-new-outlook

Your Contacts are still there. You can't see them, but you should be able to export them to a CSV for safe keeping.

See the Answer by "Hornblower409 Mar 27, 2026, 11:30 AM" at
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5818600/all-my-contacts-are-missing-with-the-new-outlook-h
Heidi and Phil Knight 30 Reputation points

2026-03-28T11:45:31.7+00:00

Good news! My contacts have now reappeared. Hope everyone else's has and it stays that way!
Andy Scargill 65 Reputation points

2026-03-31T17:47:08.47+00:00

Hi there, just checked and mine have too .. I've been using email on my phone for the last few weeks whilst keeping my fingers crossed that MS would fix what they had broken.
Hornblower409 12,870 Reputation points

2026-03-31T20:22:22.3233333+00:00

@Andy Scargill @Heidi and Phil Knight

Thank you for the feedback reports. Couple more question please:

Now that your Contacts for a GMail or Yahoo account in New Outlook for Windows are back, can you also:

1- Edit and Save a Contact in New Outlook for Windows for these accounts?

2 -- Do any contacts you add using the web interface to your GMail or Yahoo account sync back to New Outlook?

I ask, because I got the "New People Experience" update today and can now see my GMail account contacts. But if I try to Edit and Save a Contact for my GMail account I get "Couldn't save contact" error and any Contacts I add in GMail do not sync back to New Outlook for Windows.
Heidi and Phil Knight 30 Reputation points

2026-04-01T09:24:39.2366667+00:00

@Hornblower409 I am now able to create and save a contact in New Outlook. I am btinternet and I have no contacts showing on the btmail space. I only use Outlook to access my emails.
Andy Scargill 65 Reputation points

2026-04-01T09:56:30.5166667+00:00

@Hornblower409 | I have just checked and I can see that I can now edit Google contacts in New Outlook 'People'. The contacts do take a while to load up though. What I can't yet do is get a new email to recognise a Contact List. I have to go to the list to get it to send an email. Even then it is only as a To.. - to make it a Bcc .. I have to open it up, then cut & paste into the Bcc.. line. I have to say that, for a paid up service, this isn't good enough.
Hornblower409 12,870 Reputation points

2026-04-01T16:16:42.63+00:00

@Heidi and Phil Knight said

I am now able to create and save a contact in New Outlook ... I have no contacts showing on the btmail space.
I only use Outlook to access my emails.

Thank you for the feedback report. So in your case:

You keep your Contacts only in New Outlook for Windows.
You can now see your existing Contacts in Outlook.
You can now Create and Edit your Contacts in Outlook.
i.e. You are in pretty good shape.

One last question - When you are composing a new email and start typing a name in the "To" line, does Outlook show you possible matches from your Contact List?
Hornblower409 12,870 Reputation points

2026-04-01T16:28:13.66+00:00

@Andy Scargill said

What I can't yet do is get a new email to recognize a Contact List

Thank you for the feedback report. I had not tested autocomplete for a Contact List. Thank you for suggesting that test.

Mine fails that test as well. When composing a new mail for a Microsoft Account (outlook.com) autocomplete does suggest an existing Contact List. Same test with a GMail account fails. Autocomplete only suggest individual Contacts.
Andy Scargill 65 Reputation points

2026-04-03T13:24:14.52+00:00

The only way I can send to a contact list is to open the list and choose 'the envelope' i.e. email. Even then it will only open at a To.. message. You then have to open the list up to show who is on that list and cut & paste over to Bcc.. - clearly this is not acceptable. For years in various versions of Office I have ben used to Outlook working a 'fit for purpose' professional email application.

4 answers

Heidi and Phil Knight 30 Reputation points

2026-03-19T10:48:52.4866667+00:00

I received an AI response saying to start Outlook in safe mode. Tried, this, didn't work.
Andy Scargill 65 Reputation points

2026-03-25T16:31:01.0166667+00:00

On both my PC and my wife's PC we cannot see our contacts in New Outlook 'People' .. it just says, "This doesn't look right." Our PC's sync New Outlook with our Google accounts. They have been working fine for months .. this has just happened recently. Other people are reporting it too. Interestingly I can see the contacts in my Contact Lists but not All Contacts. Something has happened .. I understand there was a recent update?
Andy Scargill 65 Reputation points

2026-03-25T16:46:29.41+00:00

I followed your instructions to repair Outlook (I couldn't see the New Outlook app). It clicked on it and it ran and created a tick. I then restarted New Outlook and still nothing appearing in People. It now says, "You contacts are syncing. This is taking longer than expected. Please check back soon."

Other people have reported exactly this.

I suspect that the contacts are there but not showing up in All Contacts .. but they are in Contact Lists!

Microsoft need to sort out what they have broken. The old days of working in Office on my desktop .. I had Office 2016 .. were much more stable and a better interface.
CPT Fitzroy 20 Reputation points

2026-03-25T17:27:33.3066667+00:00

I have the same problem. Worked fine yesterday morning in the afternoon i couldn't get contact list or create a new one.
A Ammons 10 Reputation points

2026-03-27T17:20:36.1666667+00:00

I began experiencing similar issues a couple of weeks ago. One minute I was editing a contact and the next all the contacts were gone.

Currently I can see my contacts on my phone. On my laptop I periodically "see" only two (2) contacts which were marked as favorites. And these two contacts are seen only, I can not open and look at the details/notes of these contacts.
Hornblower409 12,870 Reputation points

2026-03-28T07:02:46.46+00:00

@A Ammons said

One minute I was editing a contact and the next all the contacts were gone.

This is a Microsoft bug. There is nothing you can do from your Outlook Client to fix it. All that any of us can do (myself included) is wait for Microsoft to fix it and push them along by reporting it using the In-App Help > Send feedback.

For submitting Feedback - See the Comment by "Hornblower409 Mar 27, 2026, 4:09 PM" in
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5831169/contact-list-not-displayed-in-new-outlook

Your Contacts are still there. You can't see them, but you should be able to export them to a CSV for safe keeping.

See the Answer by "Hornblower409 Mar 27, 2026, 11:30 AM" at
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5818600/all-my-contacts-are-missing-with-the-new-outlook-h
Heidi and Phil Knight 30 Reputation points

2026-03-28T11:45:31.7+00:00

Good news! My contacts have now reappeared. Hope everyone else's has and it stays that way!
Andy Scargill 65 Reputation points

2026-03-31T17:47:08.47+00:00

Hi there, just checked and mine have too .. I've been using email on my phone for the last few weeks whilst keeping my fingers crossed that MS would fix what they had broken.
Hornblower409 12,870 Reputation points

2026-03-31T20:22:22.3233333+00:00

@Andy Scargill @Heidi and Phil Knight

Thank you for the feedback reports. Couple more question please:

Now that your Contacts for a GMail or Yahoo account in New Outlook for Windows are back, can you also:

1- Edit and Save a Contact in New Outlook for Windows for these accounts?

2 -- Do any contacts you add using the web interface to your GMail or Yahoo account sync back to New Outlook?

I ask, because I got the "New People Experience" update today and can now see my GMail account contacts. But if I try to Edit and Save a Contact for my GMail account I get "Couldn't save contact" error and any Contacts I add in GMail do not sync back to New Outlook for Windows.
Heidi and Phil Knight 30 Reputation points

2026-04-01T09:24:39.2366667+00:00

@Hornblower409 I am now able to create and save a contact in New Outlook. I am btinternet and I have no contacts showing on the btmail space. I only use Outlook to access my emails.
Andy Scargill 65 Reputation points

2026-04-01T09:56:30.5166667+00:00

@Hornblower409 | I have just checked and I can see that I can now edit Google contacts in New Outlook 'People'. The contacts do take a while to load up though. What I can't yet do is get a new email to recognise a Contact List. I have to go to the list to get it to send an email. Even then it is only as a To.. - to make it a Bcc .. I have to open it up, then cut & paste into the Bcc.. line. I have to say that, for a paid up service, this isn't good enough.
Hornblower409 12,870 Reputation points

2026-04-01T16:16:42.63+00:00

@Heidi and Phil Knight said

I am now able to create and save a contact in New Outlook ... I have no contacts showing on the btmail space.
I only use Outlook to access my emails.

Thank you for the feedback report. So in your case:

You keep your Contacts only in New Outlook for Windows.
You can now see your existing Contacts in Outlook.
You can now Create and Edit your Contacts in Outlook.
i.e. You are in pretty good shape.

One last question - When you are composing a new email and start typing a name in the "To" line, does Outlook show you possible matches from your Contact List?
Hornblower409 12,870 Reputation points

2026-04-01T16:28:13.66+00:00

@Andy Scargill said

What I can't yet do is get a new email to recognize a Contact List

Thank you for the feedback report. I had not tested autocomplete for a Contact List. Thank you for suggesting that test.

Mine fails that test as well. When composing a new mail for a Microsoft Account (outlook.com) autocomplete does suggest an existing Contact List. Same test with a GMail account fails. Autocomplete only suggest individual Contacts.
Andy Scargill 65 Reputation points

2026-04-03T13:24:14.52+00:00

The only way I can send to a contact list is to open the list and choose 'the envelope' i.e. email. Even then it will only open at a To.. message. You then have to open the list up to show who is on that list and cut & paste over to Bcc.. - clearly this is not acceptable. For years in various versions of Office I have ben used to Outlook working a 'fit for purpose' professional email application.

Answer 1

Chloe-L 13,675 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi everyone,

First of all, thank you so much for your patience, and please accept my sincerest apologies for my late response.

I have read through your recent updates, and I am so glad to hear that some users' issue has been fully resolved by updating to the latest version!

While there has not been an official announcement from Microsoft explicitly detailing this specific fix in the release notes yet, it is fantastic news that the recent patch successfully addressed the root cause. For any other users reading this thread who might still be experiencing the same problem, I highly encourage you to submit feedback directly to Microsoft (via Help > Feedback). This ensures the engineering team remains fully aware of how widespread the incident was and can confirm the fix works across all devices.

Once again, I am truly sorry for this inconvenience. Thank you for your understanding

Best regards,

Andy Scargill 65 Reputation points

2026-08-12T15:45:52.06+00:00

Sadly New Outlook has stopped loading contacts - or rather you can't view them! They are there but won't load so that you can see them in 'People'. I'm using Thunderbird for a lot of my emails now - works perfectly.
Hornblower409 12,870 Reputation points

2026-08-12T20:57:47.8733333+00:00

@Andy Scargill said

Sadly New Outlook has stopped loading contacts - or rather you can't view them

If the suggestion in this thread didn't help, you need to start a new thread using the "Ask a question" button at the top of this page to create a new Question and include the details for your specific problem.

This provides much higher visibility to your issue than adding on to an existing post, which is only seen by people who are already following this question.

Answer 2

Chloe-L 13,675 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hello Heidi and Phil Knight,

Thank you for posting to Microsoft Q&A. I understand how concerning it is when your contacts page and shortcuts become unresponsive, and I appreciate you sharing your concern here.

The "New Outlook" uses a cloud-sync engine to bridge the gap between third-party emails (like BT Internet) and the Microsoft interface. It appears the "People" page for your secondary account has encountered a sync error, which is why the page won't load and the Ctrl+N shortcut is unresponsive.

Please try these two methods to resolve this:

Method 1: Repair and Reset the Outlook App

Close New Outlook completely.
Go to Windows Settings > Apps > Installed apps.
Find Outlook (new), click the three dots (...), and select Advanced options.
Scroll to the Reset section and click Repair.
Open Outlook to check your contacts. If the error persists, go back to the same menu and click Reset. (Note: You may need to sign back into your accounts after a Reset, as it creates a clean slate for the app).

Method 2: Remove and Re-add the Secondary Account

Open New Outlook and click the Gear icon (Settings).
Go to Accounts > Email accounts.
Click Manage next to your secondary account and select Remove.
Restart Outlook, return to the same menu, and click Add account to reconnect it. This forces the cloud to pull a fresh copy of your data, which often clears the "unable to load" error.

Note: Because @btinternet uses IMAP, New Outlook can sometimes struggle to sync contacts perfectly back to the BT servers. While these steps should make the People page functional again, please note that any contacts that hadn't successfully synced to the server before the error occurred might not reappear in the list.

I hope this information helps you restore your contacts and shortcuts. Please let me know if you need further assistance or if these steps worked for you.

If the answer is helpful, click "Accept Answer" and vote in favor of it. If you have any further questions about this answer, click "Comment."

Note: Follow the steps in our documentation to enable email notifications if you want to receive notifications regarding this thread.

Chloe-L 13,675 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-20T23:23:45.32+00:00

Hello Heidi and Phil Knight,

Good day to you! I'm just checking in to see if the solution we provided has resolved your issue.

Please don't hesitate to reach out if you require any further assistance.

Warm regards,
Heidi and Phil Knight 30 Reputation points

2026-03-21T17:00:42.1833333+00:00

None of these have worked and the contacts for the main account have also disappeared.
Chloe-L 13,675 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-21T23:31:11.8833333+00:00
Hello Heidi and Phil Knight,

I am sorry to hear that the previous steps didn't resolve the issue yet, but please don't worry, your contacts are not lost.

To help us narrow this down, could you please check one thing for me: if you log into your BTInternet webmail through a browser (like Safari, Edge, or Chrome), do your contacts appear correctly there? This will confirm they are still safe on the server.

In the meantime, let's try these specific steps to get them back into your Outlook app:

Close Outlook completely.

Press the Windows Key + R on your keyboard, paste the following path, and press Enter: %localappdata%\Packages\Microsoft.OutlookForWindows_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState

Look for a folder named AppData or Cache.

Delete the contents of these folders. (Please note: This will not delete your emails; it just forces the app to re-sync the interface).

Restart Outlook and check the People tab again.

Please let me know if your contacts reappear after trying these.
Heidi and Phil Knight 30 Reputation points

2026-03-23T15:05:02.08+00:00

I have checked BT email and the contacts do not appear there. I would say I never use BT email to check mail or add contacts, I only ever do that in Outlook, so I don't know if they are normally there or not.

Following the steps above didn't show a folder named AppData or Cache, but I eventually managed to find them using an internet search and YouTube showing me how to unhide folders and then clicking on each step (appdata then packages etc) in the File Manager. I found folders labeled AppData and LocalCache and the LocalCache had content which I deleted. I restarted Outlook but nothing has happened.A note - if I now access the AppData folder the Packages folder is no longer there.
Alejandro Yuretic 25 Reputation points

2026-03-25T19:55:21.5033333+00:00

En mi caso utilizo nuevo Outlook con GMail y otro correo IMAP. Estuve trabajando varios meses sin problemas, pero hace algunos días que ya no puedo ver los contactos en ninguna de las 2 cuentas (GMail y Torka.cl).

El error es el mismo que plantean en los otros casos. Primero dice "Tus contactos se están sincronizando. Esto está tardando más de lo esperado. Vuelve a intentarlo más tarde" y si voy al correo y vuelvo dice "Parece que algo va mal / Reintentar".

He hecho todo lo que indican que se debe hacer, desde eliminar la cuenta y conectarla nuevamente, eliminar Outlook nuevo y reinstalarlo, eliminar Office 365 (para eliminar Outlook clásico) y reinstalar, etc. Todas las pruebas las hago con solo el correo GMail y no puedo ver ni crear contactos en Outlook nuevo desde la opción de contactos.

Lo que sí puedo hacer es ver los contactos de GMail al crear un correo y presionar el botón "Para" o "CC". En ambos casos veo todos los contactos, incluso los nuevos creados en GMail Web.
Arthur LSC 10 Reputation points

2026-03-26T09:05:11.6066667+00:00
Hello,

I am currently using the new Outlook with an IMAP email account and am experiencing an issue with contact synchronization.

Specifically, contacts fail to load, and a plug icon appears along with the message: “This doesn’t seem right.”

I have already attempted both the repair procedure and a full reset of Outlook, but neither resolved the issue.

Additionally, in the directory: %localappdata%\Packages\Microsoft.OutlookForWindows_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState there are only four files present:

NewEvent_White_32px

NewMessage_White_32px

OlkSentinel

OpenCalendar_White_32px

At the root of: Microsoft.OutlookForWindows_8wekyb3d8bbwe there are two folders, “AppData” and “LocalCache”, but both are empty.

Could you please assist in identifying the cause of this issue and provide guidance on how to resolve it?

Thank you in advance for your support.

Kind regards,
CPT Fitzroy 20 Reputation points

2026-03-26T22:25:42.0533333+00:00

I tried all suggestion above. Repair, reset reinstall.

Nothing worked 😖🤬😠😡
Andy Scargill 65 Reputation points

2026-03-26T22:39:02.0633333+00:00

Nothing works .. it is down to Microsoft to fix this.
CPT Fitzroy 20 Reputation points

2026-03-27T15:22:15.62+00:00

I have tried all the actions listed above. Nothing works
CPT Fitzroy 20 Reputation points

2026-03-31T13:40:38.9333333+00:00

None of these actions helped. But like magic i got a pop up this morning showing me all the new features of the People tab. Glad its fixed but where was the communication from Microsoft?

Answer 3

@CPT Fitzroy said

like magic i got a pop up this morning showing me all the new features of the People tab.

What you got was the latest release of New Outlook for Windows and the "New People Experience". See
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/outlook/the-new-people-directory-search-experience-in-outlook-smarter-faster-and-more-co/4504712

Glad its fixed but where was the communication from Microsoft?

Since there was never any official acknowledgement of the "missing contacts" problem by Microsoft with a Service Bulletin, so there is also no official "All fixed" notification either.

This update was pushed out as a "rolling release" so not everyone gets it at the same time. I just got it today as Version: 1.2026.310.300.

As far as I can tell, Microsoft never made any official notice of when it would be released except for "during March and early April 2026".

[Edit 2026-03-31] - Not everything is working for non-Microsoft email account Contacts

I can now see all of my Contacts for a non-Microsoft email account (e.g. GMail) but still:

1 -- "Couldn't save contact" error if I Edit a Contact and try to Save it in New Outlook.

2 -- New contacts added in Google Contacts are not syncing back to New Outlook.

Answer 4

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