Outlook.com Contacts Management, What a Mess

[Qaaf]

I know there are lots of "All things MS" fans here, but before you start calling names and getting defensive, hear me out.

I have been trying to transition from Gmail/Yahoo to outlook.com, but the transition is much more painful than I originally thought. I have had several issues and been trying to get help from different sources, but no one seem to have any good answers.

Here is my problem:

I have imported my contacts from multiple account, but there are many duplicates. You can not delete multiple/all contacts at once in outlook.com. And yes, I have tried the stupid "Clean up contacts" option, but as I said, it is very stupid. The "clean up contact" option merges different individuals with same first or last names, which is pretty dumb, plus, what about contacts that I don't want? I can delete or merge my contacts in Gmail in less than 30 seconds; not sure why so much work for outlook.com, which was supposed to be the next best thing since sliced bread. Am I missing something here or this is just very poor design?? Any ideas how to clean my contacts without deleting them one at a time??

I don't even want to mention the &^%$# calendar ( Actually I just did). I have been trying to subscribe/synch my work calender to outlook.com , but for some %^&@# reason keep getting an error message. I have used different computers, different browsers and different accounts, but the problem persists. Tried the MS forums and store employees, but no one seem to have a clue what to do.


This is really getting frustrating. I have been trying to use all things windows etc, but keep facing these little annoying problems that no one seem to help. If a 'loyal' customer faces all these problems and frustration, imagine what would happen if someone is new and wants to change; they would go back to whatever they were using before. MS needs to be better.

 

[Jazmac]

Well, its not as bad as it seems. The biggest and best decision you made is to migrate to Outlook. It is far better than yahoo and miles better than gmail. Duplicates are a monster and Outlook doesn't provide a way to remove them if they already exist. But look here to get some help.
Delete Duplicate Microsoft Outlook Contacts - Slipstick Systems

 

[markfive]

A little more information would help us to help you.

For your contacts, are you saying that you have imported identical contacts from multiple different sources and now have duplicated contacts stored in outlook.com?

For the calendar subscription, please post the error message that you are seeing.

Do you have access to a copy of Outlook or Windows Mail, or are you constrained to using the web interface?

 

[ammarmalik2011]

If it's so painful and things aren't working......maybe don't transition?

 

[Qaaf]

Thanks for the useless advice. I was just trying to make a point, but I guess your are too smart to get it. FYI: staying with Google is worse and could be be a lot more painful in other ways. By the way, its better to keep one's mouth shut instead of spewing out garbage.

 

[Qaaf]

A little more information would help us to help you.

For your contacts, are you saying that you have imported identical contacts from multiple different sources and now have duplicated contacts stored in outlook.com?

For the calendar subscription, please post the error message that you are seeing.

Do you have access to a copy of Outlook or Windows Mail, or are you constrained to using the web interface?

Thanks.
I might have had the same contacts in different accounts. To answer your first questions, maybe, but there are different individuals with same last or first name that the "clean up" is trying to merge. I uncheck the boxes, but the next page still has the same folks.


I am only using the web interface.

" There's a problem with the calendar URL that you entered. Please make sure you've entered it correctly and try again."
I have used the same link in Google and Yahoo calenders and it works fine, but not sure why I keep getting this message.

Thanks for your help.

 

[migueli2]

I migrated all my stuff from Google to Microsoft.
I managed to do it in less than 1 day, so you're able too.
I just went to Gmail account, exported contact file and imported on outlook.com account. Yes it's true it duplicated like 30 contacts in 453. So not that big deal. Worth it. I'm really happy I managed to extinguish Google once for all from my life.

 

[AndyCalling]

Microsoft have a rather nice ecosystem on the whole, but their account management systems are horrid. It is easy to get something set wrong or go wrong in the transfer from an old account or getting a random Skype name generated by Win8 and finding it glued in place. I could go on. Month waiting periods to make any change are easily triggered as well. The good news is that once it's all set up you're golden. No more issues. Dropping Google entirely is hard though. Google search is still an essential engine for when Bing's list is just too curated. Also, dropping Youtube is impossible and a Google account is needed for that. Still, no regrets moving to Outlook now it's sorted.

 

[anon(5379091)]

(...) Also, dropping Youtube is impossible and a Google account is needed for that. Still, no regrets moving to Outlook now it's sorted.

I don't know you guys but I use a Microsoft account to access Google services that require a Google account.

 

[markfive]

Thanks.
I might have had the same contacts in different accounts. To answer your first questions, maybe, but there are different individuals with same last or first name that the "clean up" is trying to merge. I uncheck the boxes, but the next page still has the same folks.

" There's a problem with the calendar URL that you entered. Please make sure you've entered it correctly and try again."
I have used the same link in Google and Yahoo calenders and it works fine, but not sure why I keep getting this message.

Ok, in this case I think your easiest solution for the contacts is to export them to a CSV file, tidy them up and then re-import them. It's the only way you will be able to see all the columns alongside each other (unless you have access to a copy of Outlook). If you prefer, try merging them all into Gmail and then tidy them up there (although I suspect you will have the same, or a similar, set of issues).

For the calendar URL, can you confirm that it's a .ics link? What's the source platform (Exchange? Domino?)

 

[stevethenerd]

You set outlook with the outlook connector clean them up in outlook the corrections will automatically sync to your device (with patience)

 

[Qaaf]

.

For the calendar URL, can you confirm that it's a .ics link? What's the source platform (Exchange? Domino?)

Sorry, but how can I find out if the link is . ics or source platform?

 

[T Moore]

By now you could have your contacts cleaned up. Export them to a csv spreadsheet file and fix it.

 

[Qaaf]

By now you could have your contacts cleaned up. Export them to a csv spreadsheet file and fix it.

Thanks for the advice, but are you posting comments for the sake of posting them? If you opened your eyes and read my last post, you would have seen that I was not talking about the contacts.

You do miss the point though; managing contacts should never be this difficult.

 

[tweaksource]

I use my Google account to access my Windows crap.

 

[Taketherisk]

Hey, I'm a little bit late on this one, but I was also sick of having contact duplicates and incorrect data.

Been using Evercontact for a while now, because I was tired of my messy address book. Bought Flashback, which is basically sorting out all my contacts in my address book. Really happy about it.

Why don't you give it a try? They just published a little how-to, check it out here.

 

[thatotherdude24]

I try exporting my contacts from Outlook.com and all I get is an empty Excel sheet...tried selecting the contacts I want to export as well and didn't work.

I do wish MS would add the ability to print contacts, calendar and appointments.

 

[rdubmu]

I am also experiencing this same problem. On Windows Phone it works great, everything gets merged. The problem is on other platforms, if I import and sync my google/facebook/linkedin contacts what happens is they merge, but they are not really merged. It is really like 5 contacts showing as one. On Windows Phone if you you do hard reset you have to re merge contacts. It is really frustrating.

Seriously this is a big issue. I hope they fix this. i just spent a better part of 3 hours trying to delete contacts and unsyncing services like facebook, gmail, yahoo..etc because it is a clusterfuc#$

 

[rdubmu]

I try exporting my contacts from Outlook.com and all I get is an empty Excel sheet...tried selecting the contacts I want to export as well and didn't work.

I do wish MS would add the ability to print contacts, calendar and appointments.

If you use outlook 2013 you can do this.

 

[mayconvert]

If it's so painful and things aren't working......maybe don't transition?

What a D*ck comment.. it's easy when you have 2 contacts, mommy and daddy.