contact birthdays do not show in calendar

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contact birthdays do not show in calendar

Stephen Becker 0

contact birthdays are not showing on the calendar even though they are clearly showing up in the contact information and have been entered correctly

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2 answers

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Answer 1

Kal-D 7,180 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi Stephen Becker,

If the birthday is saved correctly in the contact but does not appear in Calendar, this usually indicates one of the following:

The Birthdays calendar is hidden or not turned on
The birthdays have not refreshed or synced yet
The contact is stored in an account source that does not generate Outlook birthday events the same way

Please try the following:

In Calendar, check whether Birthdays is listed under My calendars.
- If it is listed, make sure it is checked.
- If it is not listed, select Add calendar > Birthdays and ensure the birthday calendar is turned on for the correct account.
In Outlook on the web, open Calendar settings and look for the Birthday calendar option. If available, use Refresh now. Note that after enabling the birthday calendar, it can take some time for existing contact birthdays to appear.
Open one affected contact, confirm the birthday is saved correctly, then re‑save the contact and check the calendar again.
Also confirm where the contact is stored, as this matters:
- Birthdays saved to Outlook.com / Hotmail / Live contacts typically sync into the Outlook Birthdays calendar.
- Birthdays from Gmail, iCloud, or other third‑party accounts may not sync or behave the same way.
If birthdays appear in Outlook on the web but not in the Outlook app, the issue is more likely related to app sync or local cache:
- In New Outlook, try signing out and back in, or repairing/resetting the app.
- In Classic Outlook, test Safe Mode and check whether any add‑ins may be interfering.

To help narrow this down, please let me know:

New Outlook or Classic Outlook
Windows or Mac
Whether the contact is stored under Outlook.com/Hotmail/Live or Gmail/iCloud/other
Whether birthdays are missing for all contacts or only some

Please let me know if this proves useful to you, or if you would like further assistance.

I'm looking forward to your reply.

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Stephen Becker 0 Reputation points

2026-04-01T22:36:22.18+00:00

New Outlook... Birthdays are entered correctly. The Birthday calendar is checked and in the MyCalenders section and turned on. In trying to fix it, virtually all birthdays from contacts are no longer showing. Very. very frustrating.
Kal-D 7,180 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-04-02T22:44:34.0166667+00:00
Hi Stephen Becker,

Thank you for the update. Since you’re using New Outlook, the Birthdays calendar is already enabled under My calendars, and now most or all birthday entries have disappeared, this behavior typically points more to a Birthday calendar sync or refresh issue rather than a problem with how the birthdays were entered in the contacts.

To help narrow this down, could you please try the following:

Sign in to Outlook on the web with the same account and check whether the birthdays appear there.

If they appear on the web, this would suggest the issue is specific to New Outlook (sync or local cache).

If they don’t appear there either, the Birthday calendar data itself may need to be refreshed or rebuilt.

In Outlook on the web, open the Birthdays calendar settings and use Refresh now, if that option is available.

As a quick test, try editing one contact only: remove the birthday, click Save, then add the birthday back and Save again. After that, check whether that birthday reappears in the Birthdays calendar.

Please also confirm that the affected contacts are stored in your Microsoft account contacts (Outlook.com / Hotmail / Live) and not in a connected Gmail or iCloud account, as third‑party contact sources don’t always populate the Outlook Birthdays calendar in the same way.

If birthdays show correctly in Outlook on the web but not in New Outlook, try signing out of New Outlook, signing back in, and then using Windows Repair for the Outlook app. (Note: Reset can remove local app settings, so it’s best to try that only after confirming behavior on the web.)

To help pinpoint the cause, could you let me know:

Do the birthdays appear in Outlook on the web?

Are the contacts saved under Outlook.com/Hotmail/Live, or under Gmail/iCloud/another account?

I'm looking forward to your answer.
Stephen Becker 0 Reputation points

2026-04-02T23:16:08.35+00:00

I think the issue was more of a synching thing with some glitches. I fixed it, I think, by deleting then redoing the Birthdays calendar and deleting and then adding the multiple contacts that seemed to be missing. Thanks for your thoughts. It was a frustrating experience having birthdays of many contacts not showing in the Calendar.
Kal-D 7,180 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-04-05T15:39:48.03+00:00

Hi Stephen Becker,

Thanks for sharing the update.

I’m glad to hear you were able to get things back on track.

What you described does sound like a temporary sync hiccup between contacts and the Birthdays calendar, and rebuilding those pieces can help everything line up again. It’s understandable how frustrating that experience would be, especially when important dates don’t appear as expected.

I’m hoping it stays stable for you going forward. Thanks again for taking the time to let me know what worked.

Answer 2

In Outlook, birthdays only appear on the Birthday calendar if that calendar is turned on and associated with the account where the contacts are stored.

Check the following depending on the Outlook experience in use.

New Outlook for Windows / Outlook on the web

Open Calendar from the navigation pane.
Select Add calendar.
In the Add calendar window, choose Birthdays.
Under Birthdays, select or confirm the correct account, then check Turn on the birthday calendar.
Go back to Calendar, expand My calendars, and make sure Birthdays is selected so events are visible.
Note: After turning on the birthday calendar, it can take a few hours for existing contact birthdays to appear.

Classic Outlook on the web

Open Settings → Calendar settings.
Under Other calendars, make sure Turn on the birthday calendar is selected. This adds a birthday calendar and auto‑populates it with birthdays from the contact list (and connected social networks, if configured).

Classic Outlook for Windows

Ensure birthdays are actually stored in the contact’s Birthday field:
- Go to People, open the contact, choose Edit Contact.
- On the Contact tab, select Details and verify the Birthday field.
If the birthday still does not appear:
- Remove the contact from People, re‑add the contact with the birthday, and allow a few minutes for it to sync to the birthday calendar.
Confirm the Birthdays calendar is visible:
- Go to Calendar.
- In the navigation pane, ensure the Birthdays calendar checkbox is selected.

If the Birthday calendar was previously deleted in classic Outlook, it must be re‑added via the web or new Outlook experience as described above, then enabled in the calendar list.

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