MY CONTACTS DON'T SHOW UP IN OUTLOOK

Stone Kaya 0 Reputation points
2026-08-25T09:17:57.74+00:00

All the contacts you had in Outlook are gone. I don't know where they are or how they recover?

Thank you in advance for your help.

Outlook | Web | Outlook on the web for business | Contacts
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  1. Ana Le 2,345 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2026-08-25T09:40:49.9533333+00:00

    Hi,

    As the forum's AI recommended, checking People > Deleted and then Recover deleted is the correct recovery path for saved contacts. The additional check under Mail > Deleted Items is also consistent with Microsoft’s guidance: Restore or recover a deleted contact in Outlook | Microsoft Support

    Before confirming the contacts were deleted, please also open Outlook People directly, confirm that you are signed in to the affected work or school account, and then select Contacts under Your contacts. Clear any search, category, or filter and refresh the page.

    If the contacts cannot be found in Contacts, Deleted, Recover deleted, or Mail > Deleted Items, please contact your Microsoft 365 administrator promptly. The additional recovery period is controlled by the mailbox’s retention settings. In Exchange Online, the standard deleted-item retention period is 14 days by default and can be increased by an administrator to a maximum of 30 days: Microsoft 365 Exchange data deletion | Microsoft Learn

    The administrator can review the mailbox retention settings and open a Microsoft 365 support request if further investigation is required.

    To help narrow down the issue, could you confirm:

    • Are the contacts missing from the People page, or do they only no longer appear as suggestions in the To/Cc fields?
    • Approximately when were they last visible?
    • Are all contacts missing, or only a specific contact list, category, or folder?
    • Was there a recent mailbox migration, language change, or CSV contact import?

    The duplicate Contacts-folder and CSV-import suggestions apply only if one of those specific changes occurred.

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  2. AI answer

    2026-08-25T09:18:26.7966667+00:00

    Try these checks in Outlook on the web:

    1. Go to People in the left navigation.
    2. Open the Deleted folder.
    3. If the missing contacts are there, select them, right-click, and choose Restore.

    If the contacts are not in Deleted:

    1. In People, stay on the Deleted folder.
    2. At the top of the list, select Recover deleted.
    3. Select the contacts to recover, then select Restore.
    4. Recovered contacts are restored to their original folder when possible. If the original folder no longer exists, they are restored to the default Contacts folder.

    If the contacts still do not appear:

    1. Refresh the page.
    2. If they are still missing in People, check Mail > Deleted Items.
    3. Find the item, right-click it, and select Restore.

    If the contacts folder looks empty but the contacts may have been moved, check whether there is another folder with the same name, such as another Contacts folder. In Outlook, this can happen after migration or localization. If the contacts are in the wrong folder, move or drag them into the active Contacts folder.

    If the contacts were imported recently and nothing appears, open the original .csv file in Excel and confirm it actually contains contact data. If the file is empty, export the contacts again from the source system and then re-import them.

    References:

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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