My Outlook contacts for this account are no longer available

@Mark Buckley

I will assume you are using the New Outlook for Windows App with a GMail email account.

(If not, please see this Microsoft Support article and reply with what platform (Windows, Mac, Android, iOS) and version of Outlook you are using. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/what-version-of-outlook-do-i-have-b3a9568c-edb5-42b9-9825-d48d82b2257c )

There is a known problem where all of your Contacts for that account will not be visible. Your Contacts aren't gone, you just can't see them.

Microsoft is distributing a new version of the People module for New Outlook for Windows that fixes this problem. About all you can do is wait for your New Outlook to automatically update to the new version.

See : https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/outlook/the-new-people-directory-search-experience-in-outlook-smarter-faster-and-more-co/4504712

Hi Mark,

This has been an ongoing issue for some clients. Do the contacts show up on OWA app?

https://outlook.live.com/people/

I’m eager to hear back and work together to find a solution.

If Outlook.com no longer shows the contacts for that account, there are two main recovery paths depending on what happened:

1. Check if the contacts were deleted and can be restored

In Outlook on the web / Outlook.com:

1. Open Outlook.com and sign in with the Microsoft account where the contacts used to be.
2. In the left navigation, select People.
3. In People, select the Deleted folder.
4. Look for the missing contacts or contact lists:
   • If found, right‑click each one and select Restore.
5. If they are not in Deleted:
   1. Still in People, select the Deleted folder.
   2. At the top of the list, select Recover deleted.
   3. Select the contacts you want to recover, then select Restore.

Recovered contacts are restored to their original folders when possible; if the original folder no longer exists, they go to the default Contacts folder.

If you still do not see the contacts in People → Deleted, refresh the page and also check Mail → Deleted Items for any contact items and restore them from there.

2. If contacts disappeared after a migration or service change

If contacts went missing after a change on the Microsoft side (for example, a move between services) and they are not in Deleted or Recoverable folders, request investigation from Microsoft:

1. Sign in to Outlook.com.
2. In the upper‑right corner, select ? (Help) → Feedback.
3. Select Give Feedback.
4. Describe that Outlook.com contacts for this account have disappeared and cannot be found in Deleted/Recoverable.
5. Select Next, then Skip and send message.

This submits the issue so it can be assigned to an engineer to investigate and attempt to restore the missing contacts.

If the contacts were only ever stored in another client (for example, in a local Outlook profile or only in a Gmail contacts list) and were never synced to Outlook.com, they will need to be restored from that original source or backup instead.

References:

• Restore or recover a deleted contact in Outlook
• Fix problems importing contacts to Outlook