March 2026 Outlook Update: Email contact lists missing, will not sync

Question

After the March 2026 outlook update, my email accounts for business and personal no longer have access to my contacts.

I've tried resyncing and deleting/readding an email account and the contacts are still not there.

Suggestions?

Any timeline on fixing this problem?

Thanks,

[PII: Removed]

Answer 1

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Hi Satterfield Group

I understand you’re having an issue where contacts/contact lists are missing and not syncing in the new Outlook for Windows after the March 2026 update, even after you re-synced and removed/re-added the email account.

If specific regression is officially tracked, it may appear in Fixes or workarounds for recent issues in new Outlook for Windows - Microsoft Support 

Meanwhile please provide feedback via Feedback Hub for the team to collect data. See https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/send-feedback-to-microsoft-with-the-feedback-hub-app-f59187f8-8739-22d6-ba93-f66612949332. Your feedback is valid.

Have a nice day!

Answer 2

The described behavior matches known contact and sync issues rather than something that can be fixed only by resyncing the account on the device. Use the following checks and workarounds that are supported in the provided material.

1. Confirm the account type and sync method

• If any of the accounts are set up as IMAP or POP, contacts and calendar will not sync; only email does. In that case, the account must be added using Exchange/Exchange ActiveSync instead of IMAP/POP. See the note under “Things to remember” in the sync article.

2. Reset and re-add the account in Outlook mobile (if using it) If the issue is also visible on Outlook for iOS/Android:
3. In the Outlook app, go to Settings.
4. Tap the account that is not syncing contacts.
5. Tap Reset Account and check whether contacts reappear.
6. If not, from Settings, tap the account again > Delete Account > Delete From This Device.
7. Re-add the account using the Outlook setup flow for your platform (for example, Outlook for Android or Outlook for iOS).
   • If prompted to configure the account as IMAP, be aware this will not sync contacts or calendar; contact the mail provider or admin to obtain correct Exchange/ActiveSync server settings.
8. Verify contacts exist and sync correctly via Outlook on a PC If contacts are missing or not syncing, verify the mailbox itself still holds them and that Exchange sync is healthy:
9. On a Windows PC, configure the same mailbox in the classic Outlook desktop client using the Exchange protocol.
10. After setup, send a test email and create a test contact and calendar event.
11. Close Outlook, restart the PC, then reopen Outlook.
12. Confirm that the test contact and event appear in Outlook on the PC.
13. Check the mobile or other Outlook clients again to see if contacts now sync.
14. If they still do not appear, in the Outlook mobile app go to Settings and restart the app.
15. If contacts disappeared after a Microsoft-side move (Hotmail → Outlook.com) If any of the affected accounts were migrated from Hotmail to Outlook.com and some contacts are missing, this can be a backend migration issue. In that case:
16. Sign in to Outlook.com in a browser.
17. Select ? in the upper-right corner > Feedback.
18. Choose Give Feedback.
19. Describe that contacts disappeared after the recent change/update.
20. Choose Next, then Skip and send message. This routes the issue to a Microsoft engineer who can investigate missing contacts on the service side.
21. If Outlook.com contact folders are not syncing If the contacts exist in Outlook.com but specific contact folders are not syncing to Outlook clients, use the Outlook.com in-product help channel:

• In Outlook.com, select Help on the menu bar and enter the issue (for example, “contact folders not syncing”).
• If self-help does not resolve it, scroll to Still need help? and select Yes to contact support.

6. Timeline for a fix The provided material does not include a specific timeline for fixes related to a March 2026 Outlook update. For any service-side or product regression, the supported path is to open a support case via Outlook.com/Outlook in-product help as described above so engineering can investigate and provide status.

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References:

• Can't sync calendar and contacts with my phone or tablet
• Fix problems importing contacts to Outlook
• Outlook.com contact folders not syncing