New Outlook contact list shows a list of blank contacts

Dear Blackcloud6

Thank you for posting to Microsoft Community

According to your description, New Outlook can synchronize Comcast account and Google account contacts, but not Apple account contacts. I understand your trouble, don't worry, I will explain this issue in detail, I hope my reply will help you.

First of all, only Exchange protocol supports synchronizing contacts, IMAP protocol does not support synchronizing contacts. However, for some special mailboxes, such as Gmail, they are more tightly integrated with Microsoft, and Gmail opens the permission to synchronize contacts in Outlook, so you can also see the contact information under IMAP protocol. The same applies to your Comcast account. However, this permission is not enabled for Apple accounts, so users can't see contact information in the Outlook app under the IMAP protocol, and can only synchronize emails.

Second, when you enter new contacts in your Apple account, they are successfully synchronized to your iPhone, which is normal because the Exchange protocol configured in the Apple account on the iPhone supports contact synchronization itself. However, your Apple account on the new Outlook is still on the IMAP protocol and cannot synchronize newly entered contacts.

For more information on what to synchronize, see: Sync basics - what you can and cannot sync - Microsoft Support

In your case, you can use iCloud for Windows to synchronize your calendar and contacts between your iOS device and Outlook.

To install iCloud for Windows, use the following steps

1. Download and install iCloud for Windows.

2. Once installed, launch the iCloud app and sign in with your Apple ID and password.

3. In the iCloud app, select the option to synchronize your contacts and calendars, then click Apply.

4. After completing the setup, launch Outlook. iCloud Contacts and Calendars should now be synchronized with Outlook.

For more information, see: Use iCloud for Windows to synchronize calendar and contacts with Outlook - Microsoft Support

If you have any questions or need further assistance, please let me know in the “Reply” section below and I will provide you with further assistance.

Have a nice day.

Best Regards,

Linda.W-MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist 

Dear Linda:

Thank you for your replay. However, as I stated above, I have already installed iCloud for Windows. I have been using it for years. I have signed out of it and signed back with it attempting to fix the issue that I have, and I still get the image of the contact as shown above.

Please note, the new contact I entered was not entered in iCloud, nor on my phone but was entered in New Outlook in my .me account and it then showed on my iPhone and also in my iCloud account online, so New Outlook sync'd that entry with iCloud. It appears to me that new Outlook is syncing but simply not showing the information of the contacts not showing a contact list. Please understand that the contact information and list were showing in New Outlook for my Apple .me account as recently as a week ago, but now, apparently after the most recent update, they are not.

Dear Linda:

Once again, I tried to sign in and out of iCloud to see if the xxx.me account contacts would show. They did not. So, I went to my Apple account online to check to see if there were any settings on their end that needed adjusting. A few years ago, Apple assigned another email address to my account, xxx.icloud.com and I notice on the information for the account that both the xxx.me and xxx.lcoud.com are simply an alias for email in my Apple account. I then went and added the xxx.lcoud.com email to my New Outlook and everything synced and showed up, including contacts. I then sent test emails form my .comcast.com account to lcoud.com and the showed up in both .me and icloud.com emails. Plus, both accounts showed all the same emails. The .me alias is an old one from when I opened an iTunes account so many years ago. Since icloud.com mirrors the .me account and the contacts show in icloud.com in New Outlooks, I now use it instead of .me.

Hey @blackcloud6 - I am having the same problem with my *me.com account. I am about to test your fix and hope this works for me too.

When I am logged into iCloud for Windows using my *.me email ID it does not even give me an option to synchronize my contacts. It gives me a link to a MS help page for setting up an Apple email account in the New Outlook.

DID you need to change your sign-in to iCloud for Windows to the *icloud.com address before the synchronization with New Outlook would work?

Thanks!

Adding in my @icloud.com email account to the New Outlook did change something such that now the Outlook accounts for @me.com and @icloud.com both have lists of my contacts showing.

HOWEVER - the @me.com listing of contacts is different than the @icloud.com listing of contacts! It was my understanding that my @me.com email from the past became an alias email for the @icloud.com address when they stopped issuing @me.com email accounts. After a quick look, the contact list in my @me.com account area in Outlook is an older list than what is in the @icloud.com account (which appears to be current).

NOTE - in the past I had issues when my work rolled out the M365 mobile applications - specifically with Outlook. At one point we were supposed to be able to "merge" our iOS contact list with our work MS Exchange stored contact list. This was a nightmare that I have yet to recover from. I still have duplicate contact entries with parts of the record split between the two instances. I have not gone back and cleaned all this up. As long as I use search it's not a problem (I do fix the contacts like this when they get used). I am wondering if this might also be a part of the issue as I am seeing differences between the two lists that look like they are before and after states from this issue.

In any case, thanks for the help in getting this to work! Now I can proceed to update my contact list which is a winter break task for me.

Hey @blackcloud6 - I am having the same problem with my *me.com account. I am about to test your fix and hope this works for me too.

When I am logged into iCloud for Windows using my *.me email ID it does not even give me an option to synchronize my contacts. It gives me a link to a MS help page for setting up an Apple email account in the New Outlook.

DID you need to change your sign-in to iCloud for Windows to the *icloud.com address before the synchronization with New Outlook would work?

Thanks!

Acme_Nuclear:

No, I did not change anything for the iCloud for Windows; I simply added the icloud.com account to New Outlook. Note, however, my primary account is my comcast.net account.

In any case, thanks for the help in getting this to work! Now I can proceed to update my contact list which is a winter break task for me.

You are very welcome.