New Outlook: Shadow contacts not stored in Outlook.com, no sync/export and missing Birthday calendar
I’m reporting a reproducible data‑integrity issue in the New Outlook for Windows that affects Outlook.com contact storage and synchronization. 🔍 Summary When a contact is created in the New Outlook, the client appears to save it successfully. However, the resulting contact is not stored in the user’s Outlook.com account as a normal cloud contact. Instead, it becomes what I would describe as a local “shadow contact” in the New Outlook cache. ⚠️ Observable Behavior • The contact appears in Outlook.com → People, but does not show “Stored in: Outlook” • The contact does not appear in Outlook.com CSV exports • The contact does not sync to mobile devices connected to the same account • The contact does not populate the Outlook.com Birthday calendar • The contact is lost if the New Outlook app is reinstalled or its local store is cleared 🧪 Steps to Reproduce 1. Open the New Outlook for Windows 2. Create a new contact and add a birthday 3. Save the contact 4. Open Outlook.com → People 5. Locate the contact — it will appear, but the “Stored in: Outlook” field is missing 6. Export contacts from Outlook.com (CSV) — the contact will not be present 7. Check a mobile device configured with the same Microsoft account — the contact will not be present 8. Check the Outlook.com Birthday calendar — the birthday will not appear 9. Reinstall the New Outlook app — the contact will be gone ✅ Expected Behavior • Contacts created in the New Outlook should be stored as first‑class Outlook.com contacts • They should appear with a proper “Stored in: Outlook” location • They should sync across devices, export via Outlook.com, and populate the Birthday calendar ❌ Actual Behavior • Contacts created in the New Outlook are effectively “shadow contacts” stored in a local cache • They look normal in the New Outlook UI, but they are incomplete, non‑synchronizing objects from the service’s perspective 📉 Impact • Silent data loss risk for users who assume contacts are in Outlook.com when they are not • Inconsistent contact and birthday data across devices and services • Split contact store model: • Real Outlook.com contacts • Local shadow contacts created by New Outlook 📎 What I’ve Already Done • Submitted feedback through the New Outlook (Help → Feedback → Report a Problem) • Submitted a detailed report via the Windows Feedback Hub • Contacted Microsoft Support, who advised that escalation must occur via Feedback 📣 Request I’m posting this here to document the issue publicly and to ask: • Can anyone from the Outlook / Exchange / Outlook.com team confirm this behavior? • Can other users reproduce this with the steps above? Given the data‑integrity implications, I’m hoping this can be brought to the attention of the relevant engineering team. Any confirmation, additional data points, or official guidance would be appreciated.What do you think about RSVP in Outlook?
Hello Calendar Community, RSVP (responding to meeting invitations) is an area with lots of opportunity for improvements in Outlook Calendar. I’m reaching out to gather your feedback on RSVP. We’re particularly interested in understanding: Ease of Use: How intuitive and user-friendly do you find the current RSVP process? Functionality: Are there any features you wish were included to improve the RSVP experience? Efficiency: How could we make RSVPing quicker and more efficient for you? Overall Experience: Any other comments on your overall experience with the RSVP functionality? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. I am really eager for some insights from our community and its power calendar users. cheers, GioAllow Custom Recurring Meetings with Different Times on Different Days
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Unified Company Calendar for Mixed Microsoft 365 and Non-365 Users – 2025
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How to control which users you see in the Places app
My company is looking into using the Places app. I have buildings, rooms, floors, etc, all setup. This is duplicated from what is already setup for Room Finder in Outlook. We use M365 Business Premium or M365 E5 licenses. Nobody has Teams Premium licenses at this point. Those of us testing have set our working days/hours/location in the Calendar in New Outlook and that shows up fine in Places. I can see the people I favorited and what building they are in (whether it's in New Outlook, Teams or the M365 Copilot Places app. The issue I am having is that I see one user (who I have not favorited) listed every day and I have no idea how to remove this person from my daily Places list. Other people also see this same person in their Places list and some see a different person. I only want to see those people I have favorited and nobody else. Does anybody have any idea how to fix this?
