Hotmail cannot fetch addresses from contact list.

Hi Michael Schultz,

If this is a Hotmail / Outlook.com personal account, the account itself usually hasn’t been “switched.” Microsoft mainly changed the branding, Hotmail is now called Outlook.com. The New Outlook vs Classic Outlook distinction applies to the Outlook app on Windows, not to the mailbox itself.

To narrow this down, it helps to first confirm where you’re using Outlook.

If you’re using the Outlook app on Windows: Look in the top‑right corner for the “New Outlook” or “Try the new Outlook” toggle. Turning it off and choosing Switch back to classic Outlook will reopen the classic app. If you don’t see the toggle, open Start and type Outlook, you may see both Outlook (new) and Outlook (classic) listed, and you can launch Outlook (classic) directly from there.

Before switching versions, it’s also worth checking whether this is a lookup vs autocomplete issue:

• Open People / Contacts and confirm the contacts are still there.
• When composing a new message, click To to open the full recipient picker instead of only typing in the field. That can work even when suggestions don’t.

If you’re using Outlook.com in a browser: There is no Classic/New Outlook toggle in the same way. Try opening Outlook.com in an InPrivate/Incognito window first. If it works there, the issue is often related to browser cache or an extension. Clearing the cache or disabling extensions temporarily can help.

To help narrow this down further:

• Are you using Outlook.com in a browser, or the Outlook app on Windows?
• Do your contacts still appear under People / Contacts?

Please let me know if this proves useful to you, or if you would like further assistance.

I'm looking forward to your reply.

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Use Outlook.com’s People page to verify contacts and lists, then try selecting addresses from there instead of inline.

If contacts or lists are missing or not selectable, this is not fixed by switching between classic and new Outlook. Instead, contact Outlook.com support so an engineer can investigate:

1. Sign in to Outlook.com.
2. Select Help (or ?) in the upper-right.
3. Choose Feedback / enter the issue.
4. If prompted, scroll to Still need help? and choose to contact support.

Mention that Hotmail/Outlook.com cannot fetch addresses from the contact list so they can check the account and contact data.

References:

• Create, view, and edit contacts and contact lists in Outlook.com
• Fix problems importing contacts to Outlook.com
• Fix problems importing contacts to Outlook