Did something change recently in hour "New" Outlook manages contacts?

Question

Did something change recently in hour "New" Outlook manages contacts?

Dan Petersen 0

Recently our executive started noticing she could not add contacts to an email that are in another account contact list. Example: she is trying to compose an email in her AOL.com email account within outlook to someone in her company contacts in her company account. As soon as she selects her AOL.com account then no contacts are available to her. Since AOL.com is IMAP of course there is no contacts directory and I could not import those contacts into an AOL directory in new outlook as well by the looks of it.

If this is a change then please change it back or give me a c-suite workaround that I can present without looking like a total idiot!

Dan Petersen 0 Reputation points

2025-10-27T18:47:03.77+00:00

How not hour

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Dan Petersen 0 Reputation points

2025-10-27T18:47:03.77+00:00

How not hour

Answer 1

Nghia-P 5,620 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi Dan Petersen,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A Forum!

Have a good day and I hope you're doing well!

Thank you for reaching out and providing those details. I truly understand how frustrating this must be, especially when it impacts an executive's efficiency and disrupts what used to be a smooth workflow. I'm here to help get to the bottom of this, and based on my research and testing in our environment, I'll explain what I've observed and suggest some next steps for verification.

In our testing environment with New Outlook for Mac, when creating any email, you can click on the "To:" field and select "Show Address Book" (or similar options like the address book icon). This should allow you to access contacts or contact lists from all accounts that are logged in and available within Outlook. For example, even if you're composing from one account (like AOL.com), you might be able to switch views or select from other logged-in accounts' address books to pull in contacts. This cross-account visibility is designed to work as long as the accounts are properly configured and active.

That said, it's possible there's a configuration nuance in your setup causing the contacts to not appear. To help diagnose this more accurately, could you please check and confirm the following?

Are all your accounts (including the company one and AOL.com) fully available and visible in New Outlook? (You can verify this in the Accounts settings.)
What types of accounts have been added (e.g., IMAP for AOL, Exchange for company, etc.)?
If you navigate to the "Contacts" section under your company account, do the contacts appear normally?
When composing an email from the AOL.com account, could you please try clicking "Show Address Book" in the "To:" field and send me a screenshot? Specifically, does it allow you to switch to or select from the company account to access its contacts?

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This information will give me better insights to replicate the issue and provide tailored guidance. I appreciate your patience and cooperation. Let's work together to resolve this smoothly. Please reply with those details when you can!

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Dan Petersen 0 Reputation points

2025-10-28T15:34:54.4233333+00:00

THANK YOU FOR RESPONDING! So here is more on the situation. The AOL.COM account is an IMAP only so "New" Outlook does not sync or even allow a contact list. Outlook no longer supports AOL.COM other than IMAP.

When you start composing an email from that account there are litterally no contact lists available at all. If you click on the To: which is something the executive does not want to have to do you have several more clicks to find the person in another contact list. In the name of security it seems they have removed features and convenience.
Nghia-P 5,620 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-10-30T03:35:45.8966667+00:00

Hi Dan Petersen,

Thank you for the additional details and for your patience. I've taken your feedback to heart and conducted testing in both Legacy and New Outlook environments to better understand and address your concerns.

In my testing with Legacy Outlook for Mac, it indeed behaves as you described from before: Microsoft allows more flexible cross-account contact access without needing manual searches or multiple clicks. This is due to the older architecture, which shares data like cache or Global Address List across accounts (e.g., your company Exchange account and AOL IMAP). For example, when composing an email from any account, simply typing a few letters of a company contact brings up a dropdown list right below the "To:" field, listing matching suggestions from Outlook's cache or shared contacts. You can just click to select without opening the full Address Book.

Given this, I recommend temporarily switching back to Legacy Outlook (Outlook > revert to Legacy Outlook) to maintain your productivity. This should restore the smooth experience you're used to while we await the lastest verrsion updates from Microsoft.

For New Outlook, if you prefer to stick with it but want to avoid multiple clicks, one effective workaround is to manually enter recipients the first time (e.g., type the full email address in the "To:" field). This activates the auto-complete feature, which remembers and suggests them in future compositions even from your AOL.com account without needing to click through the Address Book repeatedly.

Your insights are incredibly valuable and could help Microsoft improve the product in future updates. I encourage you to share your feedback directly through Outlook's Help > Feedback menu or the Microsoft Feedback Portal, so the product team can consider adjustments for better usability and convenience.

I appreciate our collaborative efforts in resolving this issue. I hope the information I've provided will clarify things and partially help your workflow. If you have any further questions, feel free to let me know.
Nghia-P 5,620 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-10-31T08:29:54.0466667+00:00

Hi Dan Petersen

I'm excited to follow up and ensure we're on the right track with your needs for seamless cross-account contact access in New Outlook (like pulling company contacts while using AOL.com, without extra clicks to keep things efficient for your executive).

If you feel this helped point you in the right direction, you're more than welcome to mark it as "Accepted Answer" so others facing similar issues can find it more easily. This helps others in the community too.

If you still have any concerns or questions, please feel free to reach out anytime.

Thanks for your understanding and support!

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Did something change recently in hour "New" Outlook manages contacts?

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