First Names cannot be added in Outlook People

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First Names cannot be added in Outlook People

Blaine Comeaux 0

I have a new laptop. I exported my contacts from Outlook on my old Windows 10 computer. When I import them into Outlook on Windows 11, about half of the first names are missing. So I went back and cleared the mapping of fields in the export process in Outlook because there were strange characters appearing before the title "First Name". That brought all of the info in. Now I have my new laptop with about half of the contacts missing a first name, but multiple copies of the same person. When I try to add the first name to the contact file that is missing the first name, it shows the name in the field while editing, but does not update when it is saved.

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Hi! This issue happens because Outlook uses very specific field names when handling contact data, and the CSV export/import process sometimes adds hidden characters or mismatches the mapping of “First Name.” That’s why the field appears editable but doesn’t save correctly, it may actually be writing to a different field (like Nickname or Given Name). Using CSV can also create duplicates and cause missing data when moving between versions of Outlook.

The best way to fix this is to either carefully remap the fields during import (Map Custom Fields > ensure “First Name” goes to Outlook’s “First Name”), or better yet, use a PST export/import instead of CSV.

PST files preserve Outlook’s contact fields without corruption. If you already have duplicates, you can export the contacts again, clean them up in Excel, and then reimport into a clean Contacts folder. This ensures all first names are properly aligned and your contacts display correctly on the new laptop.

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First Names cannot be added in Outlook People

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