Outlook contact to Android contact list

[Deleted]

It doesn't seem possible anymore to have the Outlook contacts (in Office 365) synced to the contact list in Android (as discussed here: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Outlook/Outlook-for-Android-Sync-Contacts-Slider-missing/m-p/... and confirmed by MS support). The contacts are synced to the Outlook app on the phone and available for emails and other functions, though.

I am investigating for a client the best way to make sure that your business contacts are available on your phone so that when a customer calls, you actually know who it is before you answer.  

The solution I am investigating right now is to sync all Outlook contacts to Gmail contacts (with 3rd part tools like Sync2Cloud) and have them fed down to the phone that way. The license for Sync2Cloud would come to around $40 per user and year so I don't think my client will accept this solution.

Are there any other ways to accomplish this? 

Thanks, Magnus

[#2]

It is still there; Where exactly are you looking now?

Settings-> select your account-> Sync Contacts

[#3]

Hi Robert. Yes, it is possible to sync contacts to the Outlook app. What I am looking for is to have them used in the Android contact list, for the contacts to be available for phone calls. That feature seems to have been removed. I'm quite new to the Android ecoystem (having been a WP user for years), so it might be that I'm missing something obvious here. I did contact MS support last week who confirmed my findings, though.

[#4 · Accepted solution]

The option I gave you does exactly that; Sync Outlook contacts to the Android Contacts app. Just click on the question mark in front of the option to see the description of this toggle.

[#5]

Ok, I see. The reason I started this analysis was because it didn't work for me (even with this sync setting activated). But I'm prepared to go back and test out again. Thanks Robert for your replies.

[#6]

Robert is correct, you can sync your contacts so that you can then use the list to call people. I have mine set up and working. Roberts "Settings" option works.

[#7]

Thanks Allan. I can now also confirm that it works to sync from Outlook to the Contact app. But what about the reverse? I have not gotten it to work to add a contact via either the phone app or the contact app (and have it saved to the Office 365 account) and then have it appear in Office 365. Any help of this?

[#8]

I don't think Outlook on Android supports creating & then syncing contacts back up to your Exchange Server account. I think you have to create in Outlook proper (I use Outlook 2016) and they then propagate down to your mobile. Doesn't always happen immediately either, can take a while. If they don't sync, go to Contacts on your mobile, open settings from the hamburger menu (top left). Once in "Settings" tap "Accounts". In Accounts you should see an entry "Automatically sync data", make sure its set to "on".

To force a sync you can always go to Outlook Mobile, pick Settings & then select the account you are syncing. Sync Contacts should be set to "on" and if you wish you can "Reset Account" which refreshes Outlook on your mobile and forces an update of the data which will subsequently add all of your contacts including any new ones.

If all else fails, go to Outlook Mobile "Settings"/Help & Feedback/Contact Support. Raise a query with the Outlook developers. They're pretty responsive and helpful.

[#9]

Thanks Allan for your great explanation and recommendations.

The export and import procedure doesn't seem to be feasible for an normal end user, and for just one new contact at the time. 

So from what I understand the following scenario is best practice: when an Android user receives a phone call from a new number, it is not possible to have the phone number information harvested from the phone app by creating a new contact (and have it synced to Office 365).

Instead what you have to do is to open your Outlook (either online or desktop) and manually enter the phone number for the new contact.

That is not very good information management practice but if it is the current best practice I will have to accept it.

[#10]

That's correct, there's no way yet to just select a callers details and add them. Maybe an update for the future.

[#11]

Outlook sync to Android contact list definitely works, and you can use eg. Samsung Contacts or Google Contacts apps to add contacts to the Android address book and have them sync back to the contacts list your're using in Outlook. The sync itself does work both directions, but it's a bit spotty sometimes - I've experienced it not deleting old info from Android-side contacts entries, ending in contacts with multiple duplicate phone numbers or old notes that have been deleted serverside.

Using the "Reset account" button has fixed all those issues thus far.

[#12]

That's good news. Have only ever done it the way I mentioned but that's probably because I use Outlook 2016 a lot more than Outlook on my mobile!

[#13]

Hi Anssi. Thanks for this. 

I've got a OnePlus 5 myself and I'm pretty certain now after some days of testing that it does not sync back to Outlook even after having specified in the Contact app that it is the Office 365 account that the new contact should be saved to (or the updated contact for that matter). 

But, it does work to add and update a contact in the Contact app via the Outlook app. Opening the search (at the bottom) one gets a list of one's O365 contacts + the option to create a new contact. So for now, I've decided that this is the best practice management of O365 contacts on an Android. 

[#14]

It definitely syncs back to Outlook contacts, I've created contacts on my phone and have them end up in the Outlook.com Contacts list, it just needs the reset account thing to be done manually every sync to work properly, sadly.

[#15]

even I managed to sync Outlook Contacts to Android Contacts at no cost, but that was on a Note8, other phones my not have that feature as a freebie