How to Recover Contacts in Outlook Missing After Windows 10/11Update?

Summary: Microsoft releases regular updates of the Windows operating system to enhance new features and to fix security patches. Windows 10 is increasingly becoming popular among users, upgrading to Windows 10 is easy, however, at times upgrades can trigger major or minor data loss. Missing Outlook contacts is one major issue for MS Outlook users who have upgraded to Windows 10/11.

“I had installed Windows 10 a few weeks back; all looked fine until I had to send an email via Outlook, I can send emails but, I have lost my calendar and all contact lists in Outlook address book location. How do I recover contacts in Outlook?”

Outlook is the default email client of the Office suite by Microsoft. Microsoft currently supports Outlook 2021, 2016, 2019, and Office 365. This includes their respective BCM versions. Outlook 2013, 2007, and older versions are not recommended, as support has been discontinued. These older versions of Office are vulnerable to security issues and no updates are made available for these versions.

Windows upgrades cause inevitable problems. Be it Windows 8.1 to 10 or 10 to 11, users are often faced with a strange situation—the entire contact list has disappeared from the Outlook address book location.

In this blog, we’ve discussed some methods to recover Outlook contacts missing after the migration to Windows 10 and 11.

Also Read: What are Outlook PST files? Recovery of Outlook PST files

Check if Outlook Address Book is Added

As Outlook Address Book contains address lists created from your contact folders, check if it’s added to the Outlook mail application on the Windows 10 system.

Here are the steps to check this:

1. Launch Outlook

2. Click the File tab at the top-left corner

3. Click Account Settings to get a drop-down menu, and select Account Settings from the drop-down menu

4. Select the Address Books tab at the top-right  corner of the window that opens

You should be able to see Outlook Address Book under this tab as shown below.

If you’re unable to see it, create one as shown below.

Create an Outlook Address Book

You can create Outlook Address Book on any version of Outlook that you may be using such as Outlook 2010, or other versions of Outlook by following the steps given below:

1. Under Address Books tab, click New at the top-left corner of the window
2. Select Additional Address Books on the window that opens, and click Next
   
   
3. Select the Outlook Address Book option, and click Next 
4. Follow on-screen instructions to complete the action
   
5. Close and restart Microsoft Outlook, and check if you’re able to see the missing contacts in Outlook.

Also Read: How to Recover Deleted Folders from Outlook?

If you’re still unable to see your missing contacts on Outlook after the Windows 10 update, try the methods given below:

Methods to Recover Contacts in Outlook

1. Import the old PST file

Outlook stores all data in PST files. When the Windows version updates (8.1 to 10 or 10 to 11) the system creates a folder “Windows.old” in C drive. It is there for situations like this.

Open the legacy Windows old folder and navigate to the Outlook folder using the path:

C:Windows.old > Users > username > AppData > Local > Microsoft > Outlook

AppData is a hidden folder. Before you try, first unhide all files and folders. If you do not know how then follow the instructions in this link.

• Open the Outlook folder (old)
• Locate the PST file and note the path
• Launch Outlook
• Click “File”
• Select Open & Export > Import/Export
• Select “Import from another program or file” from the options and click “Next”
• Browse to the old PST file and click “Next”
• Choose “Replace duplicates with items imported”
• Click “Next”
• If you are not using Microsoft 365, select “Import items into the current folder”
• Click “Finish” and exit Outlook
• Restart Outlook and you should have contacts restored

2. Create another Outlook profile

After installing Windows updates, it may sometimes happen that some of the necessary Outlook files or metadata move to another folder. Due to this, Outlook contacts may go missing after the migration to Windows 10 and 11. To overcome this issue, try recreating the Outlook email profile on your Windows system. Recreating the Outlook profile creates another Offline Outlook Data File (.OST) which is a synchronized copy of your mailbox data stored on the server. Thus, this may help you retrieve the Outlook missing contacts. 

You can create a new Outlook profile by following the steps given below:

[NOTE]: With the steps given below, you can create an Outlook profile on any version of Microsoft Outlook such as Outlook 365, Outlook 2021, 2019, Outlook 2016, Outlook 2013, or Outlook 2010.

1. Launch Control Panel on your Windows system
2. Click Mail
   
   
3. Once you click Mail, a wizard would appear on-screen. Click Show Profiles.
   
4. Click Add, give a name to this profile and click OK

[CAUTION]:

• Don’t click the Copy button as it’ll copy the existing data from the older profile to the new one that you’re creating.
• Don’t delete your previous Outlook profile until your new Mail Profile is ready and working as expected.
  

5. On the window that opens, enter your name, email address of the affected email account, and password (if prompted)
   

[IMPORTANT]: To avoid setting up the Outlook profile manually, select the Email Account option instead of Manual Setup

[NOTE]: This window would look a bit different if you’re using Outlook 2007, or Outlook 2010. If you’re using any of these versions, you’d see a Password field in addition to Name, and Email Address fields. To proceed, provide a password in that field.

6. Click Next, and follow the on-screen instructions to finish the automatic setup of the Outlook profile.
7. Launch the Control Panel once again >> Show Profiles >> Choose Prompt for a profile to be used and click OK

This setting helps you choose and open an Outlook profile out of the multiple profiles that you may have created.

8. Close Outlook and relaunch it
9. Select the newly created profile to load
10. Check if you’re able to see the contacts

Also Read: How To Recover Deleted Outlook Emails on Windows 10/11?

3. Use Stellar Repair for Outlook to Recover Contacts in Outlook

The above-stated methods are your best shot at the recovery of Outlook contacts that disappeared from Windows 10 and 11 without involving any software. But if they don’t work, your only option is data restoration using software as repair does not always work well in the case of Outlook.

Stellar Repair for Outlook is the only viable solution for the recovery of calendar, email, and other data from a corrupt PST file.

How to use Stellar Repair for Outlook?

1. Download and launch Stellar Repair for Outlook

2. Select the PST file by browsing

3. Preview the file. You might wish to recover emails of a particular genre.

4. Save the recovered data.

Know, How to get an Activation Key for Stellar Outlook Repair?

Why Trust Stellar Repair for Outlook?

If your problem is Outlook contacts disappeared from Windows 10 and 11 your best bet is Stellar.

• Stellar Repair for Outlook repairs all sizes of corrupt PST files.
• Can successfully recover emails, attachments & calendars.
• You can save the recovered PST file in several formats such as MSG, RTF, HTML, MBOX & others.
• Provides a detailed preview option allowing you to save what you want.
• Technician’s edition can split and compact large PST files.
• Able to export PST files to Office 365.

Watch Video: How to Recover Missing Contacts After Windows 10 or 11 Update?

Conclusion

Installing Windows updates may move personal data and application data from one location on your Windows 10 system to the other. Therefore, you may find your contacts missing from Outlook 2010 or the latest versions of Outlook after the Windows 10/11 update.  You can try the hotfix mentioned in this blog to solve this problem. However, If the problem persists, you can try to —Create a new Outlook profile and use the Outlook recovery tool to recover missing contacts from the Outlook address book location.

FAQ

1. What is Outlook?

Those who are not using Office 365, need not worry about Outlook.com. Outlook.com is a webmail service from Microsoft like Gmail. Previously it was known as Hotmail. Outlook is an email client and not a web-based mail service.

2. Why are PST files used?

PST files are data files. Outlook on the same PC can be used by several users. PST file stores personal information for every user – their calendar, email addresses, phone numbers, and so forth. In technical terms, it is an archival file that makes it easy to transport data from one location to another on the same PC, backup, and migration to a new PC.

3. Why do PST files get corrupted?

It may happen due to:

• Improper shutdown of PC when Outlook was still working
• Hardware failure affecting the section of the hard drive where the PST file was stored
• Improper sync between devices
• Malware attack

Also Read: How to Repair a Damaged or Corrupt Outlook PST File?

4. How good is the Stellar PST Repair tool?

Stellar Repair for Outlook is a robust and efficient software that uses advanced algorithms to repair PST files.
With time PST files tend to become very large. It can lead to Outlook malfunctioning in various ways. Since Outlook is the defacto address book of a Windows PC, Outlook crashes can be terrible. Stellar Repair for Outlook can recover damaged PST files and repair them perfectly. No need to worry about Outlook contacts disappearing from Windows 10 and 11 anymore.

Also Read: Top Solution to Repair Corrupt PST Files – With Stellar Repair for Outlook

5. Why did my contacts disappear from the new Outlook after upgrading from Windows Mail?

Upgrading from Windows Mail, missing contacts may be noticed in the new Outlook as the two programs deal with data differently and the contacts are not migrated automatically during the upgrade. To fix this manually export your contacts from Windows Mail and import them into Outlook or adjust sync settings to guarantee all data is correctly migrated.