Changes to individual contacts not reflected in member contact lists - plans to fix?

Question

Changes to individual contacts not reflected in member contact lists - plans to fix?

Clay 0

Hello,

When I have an individual contact as a member of any number of lists, none of the changes I make to his individual contact card are reflected in those lists. For example, let's say I update John's email from ******@old.com to ******@new.com - he would still appear in all of my lists with the email ******@old.com.

I understand Microsoft is aware of this "quirk" because the workaround Outlook Web (on the edit contact list page) suggests is to remove and re-add any affected contacts, but this is an awkward and unintuitive workflow, especially when many users may not even think to check the lists that John was a member of and will be unaware of the mismatch.

My question is - are there any plans to change this behavior?

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Answer 1

Dear Clay,

Thank you for reaching out to the Q&A Forum!

I understand your frustration with this issue. It's a common challenge with how Outlook's distribution lists function. You've correctly identified the core of the problem: when you create a distribution list, it saves a static copy of the contact's information at that specific moment. It doesn't maintain a live link to the contact's card, which is why updates aren't automatically reflected.

The Current Situation

Microsoft is aware of this "quirk" and as you've seen, the current workaround is the same one you've already found: removing and re-adding the contact to the list. While I understand this is not an ideal or intuitive process, especially for users who aren't aware of the issue, it's the only method to force the list to update with the new information.

Future Plans

While there haven't been any specific announcements about changing this behavior for distribution lists, Microsoft has been focused on improving contact synchronization across its other platforms. The new "unified contacts" experience for Teams and Outlook is an example of this. This initiative aims to create a more cohesive contact view where changes made in one application are automatically reflected in the other.

This focus on better synchronization suggests that Microsoft is moving in the right direction, and it's possible that future updates could eventually address the issue with distribution lists as well. Unfortunately, for now, the manual process remains the standard procedure.

Please don't hesitate to reach out if you require further assistance.

Warm regards,

Kal Duong | Microsoft Q&A Support Specialist

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Changes to individual contacts not reflected in member contact lists - plans to fix?

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