outlook contacts not loading

Question

my outlook contacts have vanished, and I cannot add new contacts

fubar

Answer 1

@Charles Hardiman

If you are using New Outlook for Windows with a non-Microsoft Account (e.g. GMail, Yahoo) then this is a Microsoft bug. There is nothing you can do from your Outlook Client to fix it.

See this Q&A thread on the same problem for more details:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5837171/contacts-in-outlook-365

If you are hitting this bug, your Contacts aren't gone, you just can't see them. But you should still be able to Export them to a CSV file for safe keeping. See the Answer by "Hornblower409 Mar 27, 2026" at
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5818600/all-my-contacts-are-missing-with-the-new-outlook-h

Answer 2

Hi Charles Hardiman,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum. 

I understand how inconvenient it is when contacts don’t load (or appear to be missing) and you’re also unable to add new contacts.

To ensure this is routed to the appropriate team, please share your experience on the Microsoft Feedback Portal at: https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback.

Please note that this is a user-to-user support forum. Moderators, contributors including external Microsoft employees cannot directly intervene in Microsoft product features or access back-end systems. Our role is limited to providing technical guidance on reported issues, requests, or ideas only.

Thank you for your understanding. 

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Answer 3

Follow these steps to troubleshoot vanished contacts and the inability to add new ones in Outlook on Windows:

1. Check if contacts are in a different Contacts folder
   • In Outlook desktop, open the People (Contacts) view.
   • Look in the folder list for more than one folder named Contacts (or a localized equivalent).
   • If one folder shows a regular folder icon and another shows a contact-card icon, the contacts may be in the wrong folder.
   • Drag all contacts from the folder that has the regular folder icon into the Contacts folder that has the contact-card icon. This is the folder Outlook and other apps use.
2. Fix contacts that cannot be edited (bulk repair) If contacts appear but cannot be edited or new ones cannot be saved, repair them in bulk:
   1. Export all contacts to a CSV file.
   2. Create and save a new test contact in the current Contacts folder.
   3. Open that new contact and try to edit the Notes field:
      • If editing works, import the CSV back into the same Contacts folder and choose Replace duplicates with items imported so existing contacts are replaced with editable ones.
      • If editing does not work, create a new Contacts folder and import the CSV into that new folder. Use this new folder going forward.
3. If contacts are missing after migration from Hotmail to Outlook.com If the account was moved from Hotmail to Outlook.com and contacts disappeared after that migration:
   1. Sign in to Outlook.com.
   2. In the upper-right corner, select ? and then Feedback.
   3. Select Give Feedback.
   4. Describe that contacts are missing after migration, then select Next.
   5. Select Skip and send message. The issue will be assigned to an engineer to investigate and move contacts from the old Hotmail data to the Outlook.com account.

Before making bulk changes, back up Outlook data to a .pst file if using Outlook desktop, so contacts and other items can be restored if needed.

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References:

• Fix problems importing contacts to Outlook
• Unable to edit Contacts, Appointments, Meetings, or Tasks within Outlook
• Contacts folder empty and contacts are in a different folder in Outlook for Microsoft 365