Outlook addresses and contacts

Question

We are trying to import contacts from Gmail (about 200) into New Outlook. This is telling us that the import has been successful but we cannot find where these contacts have gone! We have successfully added one address to a "personal mailing folder" that we have started, but that was done by hand! We can't be expected to type in 200 others - we want to import them en bloc.

Any advice out there appreciated. I did see a screen saying that Microsoft is aware of this problem (and we reported it as well) but nothing has been updated.

Answer 1

Please let me know if you need further assistance. Thanks and keep safe.

Answer 2

Hello,

Did you check the same email account in People where you imported the contacts?

Open Outlook, go to People, and select your email account, not Personal folders. If you do not see them, sign in to Outlook on the web, open People, and check there. If they appear online, restart Outlook to sync. If not, import the Gmail CSV again and select the correct account during import.

Answer 3

In New Outlook, imported contacts from Gmail go into the Contacts folder of the account selected during the import, not into personal mailing lists automatically.

To ensure the contacts are actually imported and visible:

1. Verify the CSV file has data
   1. Locate the CSV exported from Gmail (typically contacts.csv).
   2. Open it in Excel.
   3. Confirm that rows of contact data are present under the column headings.
   4. If the file is empty or missing data, delete it, re‑export from Gmail making sure All contacts (or the correct group) is selected, then open again in Excel to confirm data.
   5. When closing in Excel, always choose Yes when prompted to keep CSV format; otherwise the file can be corrupted and won’t import correctly.
2. Re‑import into Outlook and choose the correct destination
   1. In Outlook, go to File > Open & Export > Import/Export.
   2. Choose Import from another program or file > Comma Separated Values.
   3. Browse to the Gmail contacts CSV.
   4. Choose how to handle duplicates (for example, Replace duplicates with items imported if re‑running the import).
   5. In Select a destination folder, scroll to the top and select the Contacts folder under the email account where the contacts should live.
   6. Finish the wizard.
3. If no contacts appear after import
   1. Re‑check the CSV as above to confirm it still has data.
   2. If it does not, re‑export from Gmail and repeat the import.
4. If contacts are missing information
   1. Open the CSV in Excel and verify the missing fields exist.
   2. Add or correct data as needed, but keep the original column headings in the first row; Outlook requires them.
   3. Save, choosing Yes to keep CSV format when prompted.
   4. Re‑import and, when asked how to handle duplicates, select Replace duplicates with items imported so the updated data overwrites the partial entries.

Once the contacts appear in the Contacts folder, they can be added to personal mailing lists (contact groups) without re‑typing each address, by selecting them from that Contacts folder when building the list.

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References:

• Import Gmail contacts to Outlook
• Microsoft 365 operated by 21Vianet: Import contacts to Outlook for Windows
• No contacts appear in Outlook after import
• Move your old email, calendars, and contacts to Microsoft 365