My Outlook contacts disappeared

Question

My Outlook contacts disappeared when I clicked on the "New Outlook" button in the upper right corner. I want to restore them.

Answer 1

Dear Mark Prazak,

I understand how challenging this situation can be, especially when your important contacts suddenly disappear after switching to the New Outlook. Please be reassured that your contacts are perfectly safe 

The "New Outlook" is a cloud-based application. If your contacts in the Classic version were saved directly to your computer's hard drive, the New Outlook cannot see them because they aren't synced to an online server. 

Here is how we can easily restore them, depending on which version of Outlook you want to use going forward: 

Option 1: Revert to Classic Outlook

If you just want your address book and your normal workflow back immediately, you can change back to the classic version

• Look at the top right corner of the New Outlook window 
• Click the toggle switch next to New Outlook to turn it off 
• The app will close, Classic Outlook will reopen, and your contacts will instantly be exactly where you left them 

Option 2: Migrate your local contacts to the New Outlook 

If you like the design of the New Outlook and want to keep using it, we need to manually move your local contacts into the cloud so the new app can read them. 

• Turn the toggle off to return to Classic Outlook 
• Click File > Open & Export > Import/Export 
• Select Export to a file > Next 
• Select Comma Separated Values (CSV) > Next 
• Select your Contacts folder > Next > save to Desktop 
• Turn the New Outlook toggle back on 
• Click the People icon > Manage contacts > Import contacts 
• Upload the CSV file from your Desktop 

I hope this helps you resolve the issue, and please let me know if you have any further questions! 

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Answer 2

Use People view and the Deleted/Recoverable folders in new Outlook to restore the missing contacts.

1. In new Outlook, open the navigation pane and select People.
2. In People, select the Deleted folder.
3. If the contacts are listed there, select each contact, then right‑click and choose Restore. They will be moved back to their original folders (or to the default Contacts folder if the original no longer exists).
4. If the contacts are not in Deleted, at the top of the list select Recover deleted (or Recover items deleted from this folder in some Insider builds).
5. Select the contacts to recover and choose Restore. These will also be restored to their original folders when possible, otherwise to the default Contacts folder.

If using Outlook on the web/Outlook.com with new Outlook:

1. From the navigation pane, select People.
2. Open the Deleted folder and restore contacts as above, or choose Recover deleted to restore from the Recoverable folder.

If the contacts do not appear in Deleted or Recoverable, they may be outside the current retention period configured by the account administrator and cannot be recovered from within Outlook.

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References:

• Restore or recover a deleted contact in Outlook