older contacts deleted from iphone may be connected to an old exchange email.

Hi @Matt Knoll

Thank you for reaching out to us. Based on the information you've provided, it appears your missing iPhone contacts were originally synchronized with an Exchange account. When that account is removed or becomes inactive, any contacts stored exclusively there will no longer appear on your device. 

Before you try to sync the account again, let's first check if your contacts are still stored online. 

Check your contacts on Outlook on the Web 

This is the most important first step to ensure your contacts still exist on the server. 

1. Open a web browser on your computer and go to https://outlook.office.com/people 
2. Sign in using the old Exchange email account that was previously set up on your iPhone. 
3. Once signed in, you should see all your contacts listed. 

If your contacts are visible, they're still on the server. You can then proceed to the next step. If you don't see your contacts, they may have been permanently deleted from the server. In this case, you will need to contact your organization's IT administrator (if it was a work or school account). 

Sync your contacts back to your iPhone 

If you've confirmed your contacts are still on the web, you can now re-add the account to your iPhone to sync them back. 

1. On your iPhone, go to Settings > Contacts > Accounts. 
2. Tap "Add Account" and select "Microsoft Exchange". 
3. Enter your email address and password and tap "Sign In". 
4. When prompted, make sure the "Contacts" option is enabled. 

Additional Options 

• Exporting Contacts: If for any reason you can't sync the account back to your iPhone, you can export your contacts from the web as a .csv or .vcf file. You can then import this file into iCloud or your iPhone directly. 
• For Personal Accounts: If this was a personal account, you can try to recover it at https://account.live.com. 

I hope this helps you recover your contacts successfully. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you run into any issues or have more questions. 

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