Over the past several hours, I’ve tried to create and use a group of just over 40 contacts for a professional email invitation. What should have been a quick and simple task turned into a frustrating experience due to how Outlook handles contact lists and saved addresses. Here are the main problems:
- Duplicate email format breaks functionality:
Many addresses are automatically displayed in incorrect format:
This format triggers errors when sending emails and cannot be corrected within the group editor. I’ve had to manually remove and re-add each entry to fix it – an unreasonable task for larger groups. - Outlook retains incorrect or outdated addresses even after deletion:
Even after deleting and recreating a contact with a correct name/email, Outlook insists on reverting to a previously stored version. This includes showing outdated display names or broken formatting, even though the contact has been fully replaced. There seems to be no reliable way to purge this cached information. - Contact list search fails to recognize entries in the address book:
When adding members to a group, Outlook frequently fails to find existing contacts in my address book. This forces me to manually type full addresses – defeating the purpose of having a contact book in the first place. - Lack of efficient tools to manage or correct contact groups:
There is no bulk editing, CSV import, or batch error-handling. For such a fundamental feature in a professional communication tool, the lack of usability and control is surprising.
Microsoft