Disappeared Contacts notes when switching from Legacy Outlook to New Outlook

New Outlook and classic Outlook handle contacts and contact storage differently. When switching, some contact data (including notes) may not appear automatically if:

• Contacts were stored in a different Contacts folder than the one New Outlook is using, or
• Contacts were local-only (for example, in a .pst or local Contacts folder) and not in the mailbox that New Outlook syncs.

There is no single “toggle” in New Outlook that restores missing notes, but these supported paths can recover them depending on where the contacts currently reside:

1. If contacts are still present in another Contacts folder
   • In classic Outlook, check whether there are multiple Contacts folders (for example, two folders named Contacts, or a localized variant).
   • If the notes are visible in a different Contacts folder, drag those contacts into the primary Contacts folder that Outlook uses. This is the folder with the contact-card icon (not the generic folder icon).
   • After moving them, let New Outlook resync; the contacts (including their notes) should then appear from the correct Contacts folder.
2. If contacts were deleted during the switch
   • In New Outlook, go to People.
   • Open the Deleted folder.
   • If the missing contacts are there, select them and choose Restore.
   • If not visible, in Deleted select Recover deleted, choose the contacts, and select Restore. They will be restored to their original folder or the default Contacts folder.
3. If contacts are only in classic Outlook (local data)
   • In classic Outlook, export the Contacts (that still show the notes) to a .csv file via File → Open & Export → Import/Export → Export to a file → Comma Separated Values.
   • Verify the .csv contains the contact data (including notes fields) by opening it in Excel.
   • Import that .csv into the account used by New Outlook using the documented “import contacts” steps so New Outlook can sync them as mailbox contacts.

If the notes are not visible in any Contacts folder in classic Outlook, and the contacts are not in Deleted/Recoverable Items, there is no supported in-product method in the provided documentation to reconstruct those notes.

References:

• Contacts folder empty and contacts are in a different folder in Outlook for Microsoft 365
• Restore or recover a deleted contact in Outlook
• Fix problems importing contacts to Outlook
• Outlook contacts not showing in "new" outlook - Microsoft Q&A