How to Merge Duplicate Contacts in MS Outlook

Updated On - October 25, 2024 by Nasir Khan | Reading Time: 5 minutes

The Contacts tab is one of the most useful features in Microsoft Outlook. Although having contacts can make life easier, it can cause you headaches if you have multiple pairs. Not only is it a waste of time to have multiple contacts, but you may also make mistakes as some contacts could be the wrong ones. In addition to slowness in MS Outlook, excessive numbers of duplicate contacts can make it take longer to open and create an overflowing mailbox with unneeded clutter. In this blog, we learn how to merge duplicate contacts in MS Outlook.

Understanding how Outlook identifies duplicates

When you have a large number of contacts in Microsoft Outlook, it’s easy for duplicate contacts to creep in. Outlook uses several criteria to identify duplicate contacts, including name, email address, and phone number. By default, Outlook compares the full name, email address, and company name fields when looking for duplicates, but you can customize these criteria if necessary.

To find duplicate contacts in Outlook, go to the “People” or “Contacts” view, click on the “View” tab in the ribbon, and then click on “View Settings.” In the “Advanced View Settings” dialog box, click on “Filter,” then choose “Advanced” and set the criteria to find duplicates.

Explanation of the problem: why duplicate contacts can be a nuisance

Duplicate contacts in Outlook can cause several issues. First and foremost, they can clutter up your contacts list and make it harder to find the information you need. When you have multiple entries for the same person, you might not know which one to choose when you need to send an email or make a call.

Duplicate contacts can also cause confusion if you accidentally contact the wrong person or use outdated information. For example, if you have two entries for your boss, one with her work email and one with her personal email, you might accidentally send an important email to the wrong address.

Importance of keeping your contacts organized and up-to-date

Keeping your contacts organized and up-to-date is essential for staying on top of your professional and personal relationships. When you have accurate contact information for the people you work with or care about, you can easily get in touch with them when you need to.

To keep your contacts organized, make sure you use consistent naming conventions and add any relevant details to each contact’s notes section. You can also create contact groups to make it easier to send emails or schedule meetings with specific people.

Regularly reviewing and updating your contacts list is also important. Make sure to add new contacts as you meet them and remove any outdated or incorrect information.

How to avoid having the same Contacts at different places?

It is not hard to see how having too many phone numbers can be detrimental to your health. However, it is possible to remove or merge them with some effort and time. To avoid them, it is always a good idea to do away with them. In the next paragraphs, we will discuss several ways to avoid duplicate contacts.

Avoid Duplicate Contacts when Importing from Multiple Devices

All email accounts belonging to the same person should be placed under the name of that person. It is not necessary to create multiple contacts for the same user’s many email accounts.

• It is important to exercise extreme caution when synchronizing social media connections.
• Be cautious when importing or syncing contacts from multiple email clients.

Read: How Can You Remove Duplicate Items in Microsoft Outlook?

How to merge duplicate contacts?

Let’s now discuss the problems with duplicate contacts, and the solutions. These steps will allow you to manually import Outlook contacts via the Import/Export function: Open Outlook. Click File > Import/Export > Contacts in the menu. 2. Choose the contacts that you wish to import or export.

The Import/Export utility may be used to remove duplicate contacts. It’s quicker than manually deleting every email. Let’s get started with the celebrations.

1. Open Outlook to get started. Create a contact folder using the left-hand pane.
2. All Outlook contacts should be copied to the Contacts folder. Copy and paste all of them there.
3. Your old contacts folder will not be affected by the new organization of contacts. Here, your new contacts will be imported.
4. Outlook’s File menu has two options: Open and Export. Next, choose the  Import/Export option from the drop-down menu.
5. Continue by clicking Export to a File from the drop-down menu, and then selecting the Comma Separated Valuables option.

Selecting a new folder and pressing “Save”, will save the file.

Outlook should import all the contacts from the newly created folder. To do this, return to the File menu.

1. Import data from another program/file by selecting it from a drop-down menu.
2. Drop-down menu: Select “Comma Separated Values” (Windows).
3. Use the newly created contact folder to import contacts into Microsoft Office Outlook.

You can import new contacts to the empty contacts folder by choosing Do not import duplicates as the first option. This is the most important phase.

Manual steps for merging duplicate contacts in Outlook

To complete the task, copy the contacts from the new folder and paste them into your existing contacts folder. To begin, open the folder and select all contacts. Next, drag them to your main contacts directory.

1. When Outlook prompts, remember to click on Update information for selected contacts during contact transfer.
2. If you don’t wish to do this for every contact, updating all is an option.
3. After all your contacts have been successfully migrated, you can delete the newly created folder.
4. You must follow each step carefully if you want to achieve the best results.

We discuss merging duplicate Outlook contacts in the previous section. Another idea is that it is possible to link contacts. Linking contacts is the process of pulling all information from multiple social media accounts into one place.

Merge duplicate contacts in MS Outlook by using Professional Tool

Regain PST merger is a trusted third-party product that merge Outlook duplicate contacts. It’s the fastest and most efficient way to do this. This tool allows you to combine multiple Outlook PST files or just select items, depending on your requirements. Easy-to-use merge PST software allows novice users to quickly combine multiple files. These are the steps to follow:

• You can obtain Regain PST Merger tool directly from the website. Once it is installed, you are ready to use it!

• Open the software, click on the menu and then Upload Files. You can get rid of unneeded PST files by using the Remove Files option.
  
• After you have completed adding PST files for Merge, click the Next link.

PST files must be combined

Select the folders that you want to combine using the drop-down menu. Once you have selected the contacts that you want to use, click on the Next button.

When merging PST files, you must select the right folders

To be able to define all details in the final result, you will need to add filters. You can choose to include the date, destination folder and whether you want to combine in a new PST. You can also choose to remove duplicates from your list. Make sure you check the box. Click the Next button to continue.

Use filters during the merging process

Once you have given the command, the merging process will start. A corresponding report will be displayed on your computer screen. Wait for the end.

• Any combination of two or more items that accomplish a particular purpose.
• Once the merging process is complete, click on the OK button.

You can merge multiple contacts using PST Merger. After you have completed each step, you can check Outlook to verify that nothing has changed.

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As this blog has demonstrated, duplicate contacts can cause Outlook problems. We have discussed both automated and manual methods to merge contacts in MS Outlook. The manual method can be very inefficient and time-consuming. We recommend you use the automated process if you are looking to save time and effort. You can learn more about Regain PST Merger’s features and download the free trial version. This blog is my sincere hope that it has been of assistance to you.

Conclusion

By understanding how Outlook identifies duplicates and taking the time to merge them, you can keep your contacts list organized and up-to-date. Regularly reviewing and updating your contacts list is a simple but important way to stay on top of your professional and personal relationships. With a little effort, you can ensure that your contacts list is always an accurate and reliable resource for staying connected.