Outlook: Resolve Duplicate and Mismatched Contacts When Using iOS Devices

A synchronization issue between Microsoft and Apple is causing duplicate and mismatched contacts in Microsoft Outlook for some employees and medical students with iOS devices. To prevent this issue, Microsoft recommends all iOS users disable the native iOS contact synchronization. You can do this by following the steps below. 

Contents:

• Disable iOS Contact Syncing and Remove Duplicate Contacts
• Enable Outlook Mobile App Contact Syncing
• Add New Personal Contacts in Outlook
• Fix Incorrectly Linked Contacts

Disable iOS Contact Syncing and Remove Duplicate Contacts

1. Open the Settings app on your iOS device
2. In the Apple Settings list, select the Contacts option
   
   
   
   
3. Under the Accounts header, select "Exchange" or "Exchange Online" (Note: If you have set a custom name for your Rowan Exchange account select that instead). 
4. From the list of currently syncing data, tap the "Contacts" slider to disable native iOS contact sync
5. When prompted, select the option to "Delete From My iPhone" option to remove duplicate contacts.
   
6. Open the iOS Contacts app and verify all the duplicate contacts have been removed.
   
   

Enable Outlook Mobile App Contact Syncing

While you need to fully manage your contacts in Outlook, you can also save your contacts to the default Contacts app in iOS. This allows you to easily see the name of a contact when you receive a call or text message from them, and view all of their contact information directly in the built-in Contacts app.

PLEASE NOTE: Edits made in the Contacts app will not sync back to Outlook and will be overwritten the next time Outlook syncs to the Contacts app.

Install the Outlook Mobile App if you haven't already.

1. Open the Outlook Mobile App.
2. Click the hamburger menu in the top left.
   
   
   
   
3. Click the "gear" icon in the bottom left.
   
   
   
   
4.  Slide the "Save Contacts" setting to ON if it is not already and click "OK" when prompted to allow Outlook to access your contacts.
   
   
   
   
5.  Your contacts, when added through Outlook using any client - including the mobile client or web client, will now sync to your phone's contacts so you can use them through your phone or messaging app and avoid creating duplicates. 
   
   

Add New Personal Contacts in Outlook 

All newly added personal contacts and changes should be made in Outlook. You should avoid making edits in the iOS Contacts app. Edits made in the Contacts app will not sync back to Outlook and will be overwritten the next time Outlook syncs to the Contacts app.

You can add new contacts using the following methods:

• Outlook Windows Client (Article from Microsoft)
  
• Outlook Web Access:

1. 1. Sign into outlook.rowan.edu
   2. Click "People" in the upper right corner of the window.
      
      
      
      
   3. On the People page, select +New in the upper left corner and select "Create contact" when prompted.
      
      
      
      
   4. Enter details for the contact. Select +Other to add more information, such as the contact's address and birthday.
   5. Select Save in the upper left when completed.

• Outlook Mobile App:

1. 1. To create a new contact in Outlook for iOS, tap on the search bar near the bottom of the screen.
      
      
      
      
   2. Tap Create +.
   3. You can also add a new contact directly from a message or event by tapping the name of a person and then tapping Add Contact.

      Once you've added a contact, you can edit their information by opening the contact and tapping the Edit button. Any changes made in Outlook for iOS will be synced and available across all versions of Outlook.
      
      

Fix Incorrectly Linked Contacts

Outlook 2013 introduced a feature where all contacts for a person are linked together and Microsoft currently offers no way to turn this feature off. Outlook occasionally gets it wrong, especially when duplicate contacts are involved. When contacts are incorrectly linked their information can get merged with a different contact.

1. You MUST FIRST follow the steps above to turn off iOS contact syncing and deleting duplicate contacts.
2. If you see mismatched contacts, you can correct the bad links from the contact card. (You can't bulk unlink all contacts.)
3. Login to outlook.rowan.edu
4. Click "People" in the upper right corner to open your contacts
   
   
   
   
5. Click "My Contacts" in the left menu and remove any duplicates that may still exist.
6. Open the contact that is showing the incorrect information and under "Linked contacts" click Manage...
   
   
   
   
7.  Under "Linked Contacts" check to see what, if any, contacts are linked incorrectly. Click the incorrectly linked contact.
   
   
   
   
8.  Click "Unlink" to unlink the incorrect contact and then click "OK."
   
   
   
   
9. If the incorrectly linked contact has duplicates, verify the information in the now unlinked contact is correct and then check to make sure the duplicates contain the same information and unlink them if necessary and then delete them.
   
10. If Step 9 does not resolve the issue, you may need to unlink and delete every contact with duplicates and re-create the original contact.

Because of the current design of iOS, contacts syncs often don't finish. The sync process cannot run continuously in the background to ensure a consistent steady state. This causes sync errors. Over time, the accumulated errors cause duplicate and mis-matched contacts to be created. The steps contained in this article should alleviate that situation.

If you have any questions or need help, please contact the Technology Support Center at 856-256-4400 or submit a ticket in the IRT Support Portal.