How to Remove Duplicate Contacts in Outlook?

Rollins Duke
Published: August 5th, 2024 • 7 Min Read

Clutter always distracts a user from being productive. And a clutter of duplicate contacts is no different. Therefore, we have drafted this technical writeup to provide users with proper guidance and accurate solutions on how to remove duplicate contacts in Outlook. We will discuss both manual solutions as well as a professional tool to tackle the issue.

Outlook is indeed one of the most preferred email clients of users and businesses. There are many reasons that make this email client an ideal choice for any user, for instance, enhanced security, advanced features and seamless integration with other Microsoft productivity applications. However, duplicate contacts can occur on any platform, even Outlook. Thus, users search to remove duplicate contacts in Outlook. Moreover, there are various reasons why you may be facing the issue of duplicate contacts in Outlook.

Reasons for Duplicate Contacts in Outlook

You have synced your Outlook with different devices or apps: This is the most common cause resulting in Outlook contacts duplication. Syncing your Outlook account makes it easy for finding contacts on any platform however, this ultimately causes the issue.
You create a contact by dragging an email to the contact folder: As easy as it is to create your Outlook contacts this way, it is certainly one of the reasons you are dealing with duplicate contacts.
You maintain multiple address books on the Exchange Server: Many businesses and organizations maintain several address books on their Exchange server. This is another reason why they face the duplicate contacts in Outlook issue.
Not utilizing advanced options while importing contacts or merging PST files: Whenever you add a new email address or contact in an existing Outlook contact, do remember to disable the checkbox for “Allow Duplicates to be Created”.

So these are some of the common reasons why you may be struggling with duplicate contacts And for a query like ‘Outlook remove duplicate contacts’, we have brought different solutions; including both manual and automated ones. So, let’s get started!

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Remove Duplicate Contacts in Outlook Manually – One at a Time

If you only have a few duplicate contacts to delete then you can simply do it from your Outlook application. This manual method shows you how you can execute that.

Launch Outlook on your device and click on the People icon on the bottom left of the Outlook window
Now, in the top horizontal ribbon, look for the current view group and click on Phone
Next, hold the Ctrl key and click on each duplicate contact, and then press Delete

Note: You can also use this method to scan your Outlook contacts to find duplicates.

As you see, a lesser number of duplicate contacts can be deleted using this method, however, if you have a large number of duplicate contacts to delete then this method would be redundant for you. Thus, you will need a technique that would help you delete duplicate contacts in Outlook. For that, we have a manual solution as well as an automated one.

Read Similar: Best Methods to Delete Duplicate Contacts in Oppo

Manual Approach to Delete Multiple Duplicate Contacts in Outlook

As stated above, the above-mentioned manual method cannot help you in deleting a large number of duplicate contacts. Following the method would make the task tedious and tiresome. Thus, in place of that, you can use this method instead. This manual method involves importing and exporting your Outlook contacts in order to delete the duplicates. Here’s how to execute it.

Launch Outlook on your device and go to the Contacts window
Create a new folder in there and name it, for instance, “Duplicate Contacts”
Now, go back to your original contacts folder and select all of your Outlook contacts by using Ctrl+A. Then, drag those contacts to the new folder you created
Now open the File menu of Outlook and click on Open & Export >> Import/Export
Then, select the “Export to a File” option
Choose the CSV (Comma Separated Values) format
To export, select the new folder where you have moved all your Outlook contacts
Browse a location on your system and save the folder there

Now that you have all your Outlook contacts in CSV format, it is time to import them in Outlook again. You can do so by using the Import Export Wizard in Outlook. Must remember to “Check the box for Do not Import Duplicate Items” while importing the exported files into Outlook. So this is how you can remove duplicate contacts in Outlook with a manual approach, however, this method is quite lengthy which makes it extremely tiresome for users to perform. Thus, in the next segment, we have provided an automated solution for a secure and reliable job.

Remove Duplicate Contacts in Outlook with an Expert Solution

For a reliable and safe job get the BitRecover Outlook Duplicate Remover Tool. Numerous experts recommend this tool because of its utmost data security while performing the task. Checkout its remarkable features.

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Highlighted Features of this Software

It can add your Outlook Profile data by default from the storage location.
Or you can choose to add your own mailbox data if you have any orphaned OST/PST files.
You can choose to split PST file in 2 GB, 5 GB or 10 GB size as well.
Rather than affecting the original file data, it creates a fresh new PST file.
Provides users with a Recovery Mode option that deletes duplicate Outlook emails and creates a new healthy PST file.
It preserves all attributes of all the items in the PST file

All these extraordinary features make this tool the best among its peers. Now, let’s see how to delete multiple duplicate contacts in Outlook using an Outlook duplicate contacts remover.

How to Delete Multiple Duplicate Contacts in Outlook?

Download and install the Outlook duplicate contacts remover
Next, upload your Outlook data with either of the two given options: With Convert Configured Outlook Mailbox Data, you can add your Outlook profile directly to add the required data. Whereas, the Let me Select my Outlook Mailbox Data gives you two options, Select Files or Select Folders to add your Outlook data in software
If you have Corrupted PST files which you want to deduplicate then you can use the Recovery Mode
Now with the Outlook data uploaded in the software, check or uncheck the boxes for the required folders
Choose either Select duplicates within the folder(s) or Select duplicates across the folder(s)
If you want the resultant files to be smaller and manageable in size then you can use the Split PST option.
In the filter options tab, use the advanced filters as per your requirements. For instance, you can perform selective deduplication on the basis of Date, To, From etc.
Next, Browse and select a preferred location to store the resultant files on your system. Finally, click on the Extract button to start the deduplication process

Simple and easy steps to remove Outlook duplicate contacts proficiently.

Conclusion

In the above-mentioned article, we discussed how you can remove duplicate contacts in Outlook. We shared both manual solutions as well as one automated solution. Although for a secure and reliable job, technical experts recommend going for the above-mentioned professional Outlook duplicate contacts remover.

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