How to RECOVER contacts

For Outlook contacts, recovery depends on which Outlook experience is in use.

Classic Outlook (desktop)

1. If the contact is in Deleted Items:
   1. In Outlook, open the email folder list and select Deleted Items.
   2. Use Search Deleted Items (or press CTRL + E) to find the contact, or sort by the Icon column to group contacts.
   3. Right‑click the contact → Move > Other Folder.
   4. Select Contacts → OK.
2. If the contact is no longer in Deleted Items (Recoverable Items):
   1. Open the Recoverable Items folder (Recover Deleted Items dialog).
   2. Select the contact → Restore Selected Items → OK.
   3. The recovered contact is moved to Deleted Items; from there, move it back to Contacts as above.
   4. To recover multiple contacts, use CTRL‑click or Shift‑click, then Restore Selected Items.
   Note: Admin policies may limit how long items remain recoverable; if the contact is not in Recoverable Items, it is likely permanently deleted.

New Outlook (Windows)

1. If the contact is still in Deleted:
   1. From the navigation pane, select People.
   2. In People, select Deleted.
   3. Hover over the contact and select the Restore icon.
2. If the contact has been removed from Deleted:
   1. From the navigation pane, select People.
   2. In People, select the Deleted folder.
   3. At the top, select Recover deleted.
   4. Select the contact → Restore.
   5. Contacts are restored to their original folder when possible; otherwise to the default Contacts folder.

Outlook on the web / Outlook.com

1. If the contact is in Deleted:
   1. From the navigation pane, select People.
   2. In People, select Deleted.
   3. Select the contact → right‑click → Restore.
2. If the contact has been removed from Deleted:
   1. From the navigation pane, select People.
   2. In People, select Deleted.
   3. At the top, select Recover deleted.
   4. Select the contact → Restore.
   5. Contacts are restored to their original folder when possible; otherwise to the default Contacts folder.
   6. If the contact does not appear under People > Deleted, check Mail > Deleted Items, then right‑click the item and choose Restore.

Recovery of Firefox bookmarks is outside the provided context and cannot be covered here.

References:

• Restore or recover a deleted contact in Outlook