How to delete a Category in contacts?

Question

How to delete a Category in contacts?

Nuno Leónidas 25

How to delete a contact category that is misspelled?

John Craig 40 Reputation points

2025-09-09T12:11:51.18+00:00
I've been having major problems with Outlook People / Address Book categories since July 2024. It wiped out a database of over 4000 curated and categorised contacts overnight.

Over 12 months later and microsoft have still not fixed the issue. There are hundreds of discussions about this, across microsoft support, reddit, youtube and other forums. It is hard to believe that microsoft have still not fixed this.

I have tried everything that has been suggested:

remove all contacts from category and the category should disappear (it doesn't)

Clear cache/cookies, reset edge

export contacts to CSV, clean them and import (interestingly, categories don't appear on the CSV. Categories don't form part of the info saved against the contact??)

unlink phone and any other devices that have access to outlook contacts, delete outlook account from these devices to ensure they are not holding onto category info and syncing it

uninstall and reinstall outlook across all devices

None of these worked.

A basic option to delete categories at this point would be a highly welcomed feature.
Wayne 10 Reputation points

2025-10-31T09:16:41.03+00:00

Very true. Those "solutions" do not work!
Jeff Parker 0 Reputation points

2025-11-12T01:13:44+00:00

remove the category by selecting the 3 dots to the right of the contact and click on "add category". scroll down to find the check mark next to the category and desect it.
Hornblower409 8,190 Reputation points

2025-11-12T01:46:07.7+00:00

@Jeff Parker

I can confirm that this works for New Outlook for Windows Version: 1.2025.1017.100

But not Outlook Web as there is no way to get to the "..." menu for a Contact. And Cats I remove in Outlook for Windows still show up in Outlook Web.

Am I missing something?

5 answers

Your answer

John Craig 40 Reputation points

2025-09-09T12:11:51.18+00:00

I've been having major problems with Outlook People / Address Book categories since July 2024. It wiped out a database of over 4000 curated and categorised contacts overnight.

Over 12 months later and microsoft have still not fixed the issue. There are hundreds of discussions about this, across microsoft support, reddit, youtube and other forums. It is hard to believe that microsoft have still not fixed this.

I have tried everything that has been suggested:

remove all contacts from category and the category should disappear (it doesn't)

Clear cache/cookies, reset edge

export contacts to CSV, clean them and import (interestingly, categories don't appear on the CSV. Categories don't form part of the info saved against the contact??)

unlink phone and any other devices that have access to outlook contacts, delete outlook account from these devices to ensure they are not holding onto category info and syncing it

uninstall and reinstall outlook across all devices

None of these worked.

A basic option to delete categories at this point would be a highly welcomed feature.
Wayne 10 Reputation points

2025-10-31T09:16:41.03+00:00

Very true. Those "solutions" do not work!
Jeff Parker 0 Reputation points

2025-11-12T01:13:44+00:00

remove the category by selecting the 3 dots to the right of the contact and click on "add category". scroll down to find the check mark next to the category and desect it.
Hornblower409 8,190 Reputation points

2025-11-12T01:46:07.7+00:00

@Jeff Parker

I can confirm that this works for New Outlook for Windows Version: 1.2025.1017.100

But not Outlook Web as there is no way to get to the "..." menu for a Contact. And Cats I remove in Outlook for Windows still show up in Outlook Web.

Am I missing something?

Answer 1

Hornblower409 8,190

I have created a Feature Request for this issue that you can vote for:

Add the ability in New Outlook to Delete a Contact/People Category https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/idea/2af4e80b-beb9-f011-aa43-7c1e526e4a18

0 comments

Answer 2

Ben Clark 0

For Outlook on the web, go to your Settings (the gear icon in the top right corner near your profile photo) and choose "Account". Under "Account" you'll see an option for "Categories". Open the "Categories" setting, and you can edit, delete, and add categories.

Categories

Hornblower409 8,190 Reputation points

2026-03-05T07:18:56.1166667+00:00

@Ben Clark said

[Settings -> Account -> Categories] you can edit, delete, and add categories

It would seem that this only applies to email cats. This question is about Contact Cats, which are not accessible from this setting as far as I can tell.
Wayne 10 Reputation points

2026-03-06T01:06:49.64+00:00

Please hurry up on the contact category management system!
Ben Clark 0 Reputation points

2026-03-09T05:28:11.57+00:00

@Hornblower409 Interesting, when I made those category changes it was specifically for categories in my contacts. I wonder why it's different for your system. Anyway, I like your feature request!
Hornblower409 8,190 Reputation points

2026-03-09T13:36:15.6266667+00:00

Ben Clark said

I made those category changes it was specifically for categories in my contacts. I wonder why it's different for your system.

Without being able to see what Contact Cats you had created and the Cats that were listed in your Account -> Categories, there's not much to go on.

Microsoft certainly rolls out newer versions to only some users. e.g. Insiders Channel.

Answer 3

Kristen-L 12,580 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi Nuno Leónidas,

I hope this message finds you well.

I'm reaching out for the second time to check in and see if your issue has been fixed. My goal is to ensure your experience remains smooth and positive.

If you're still encountering difficulties or have run into new challenges, please feel free to share the specific steps where you're currently stuck. I'm here and happy to assist further whenever needed.

Looking forward to your update.

alxle 5 Reputation points

2025-10-08T04:46:37.7933333+00:00

Hi!

Just checking whether Microsoft is working on a fix for this problem.

Best Regards,

Alex
John Craig 40 Reputation points

2025-10-08T07:31:18.8766667+00:00

Given that the problem started in July 2024, and is still an issue 15 months later, with absolutely no word from Microsoft as to if and when they'll ever fix it, I think it's safe to say we'll be stuck with broken categories and a near impossible to use people/address book for a long time yet. I've started using Google's address book. Everything works over there.
alxle 5 Reputation points

2025-10-09T17:22:08.5866667+00:00

It is a pity. So many rough corners.

Answer 4

Kristen-L 12,580 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi Nuno Leónidas,

Just checking in to see if the above information was helpful. If you have any further updates on this issue, please feel free to post back. If you think my reply is helpful to you, please remember to mark it as an answer. Warm thanks.

0 comments

Answer 5

Hi Nuno Leónidas,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A Forum.

Outlook on the Web currently does not offer a direct way to delete or rename contact categories, even if they’re misspelled or unused. This limitation has been widely reported by users and acknowledged by Microsoft.

The reasons why this feature doesn't work as expected:

Contact categories in Outlook Web are separate from email/calendar categories.
There’s no “Edit” or “Delete” button for categories in the People tab.
Even empty or misspelled categories may persist in the sidebar.

You can try these workarounds to remove a category:

Manual method:

Go to the People tab in Outlook Web.
Open each contact assigned to the unwanted category.
Click the “X” next to the category name to remove it.
Repeat for all contacts using that category.
Refresh or restart Outlook Web. The category should disappear once it’s no longer assigned to any contact.

If the category still appears, it may be cached or tied to synced data from another app (like mobile or import tools)

2. Export and Clean Up

You can export all contacts using the Outlook export tool, clean up the categories in Excel, and re-import them.

If the issue still appears please feel free to let us know and we will keep assisting you. Please know that we truly appreciate your patience and understanding as we strive to support you. We are here to help. Thank you very much for your understanding and cooperation.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Wayne 10 Reputation points

2025-10-31T09:18:17.3+00:00

Not working at all.
John Craig 40 Reputation points

2025-11-03T09:33:34.9+00:00

I have completely lost faith that Microsoft are, or have been, working on a fix for this issue.

This bug started in July 2024.

I find it impossible to believe that a company with literally tens of thousands of software engineers on the payroll cannot find a way to add a delete feature to outlook categories.

Microsoft are spending all of their time, money and energy on trying to crowbar Copilot into the public conscience at the cost of maintaining their existing products, like Outlook.

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How to delete a Category in contacts?

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