Contact Group greyed out in Outlook 2013
The Title of the post pretty much says it all.  Are Contact Groups only for Exchange Server folks now, or do I have some rouge setting I can't locate to change?  Tried a Repair already with no result.
November 9th, 2012 10:20pm

I have heard this behavior only happend in Outlook 2011 for MAC. In Outlook 2013, can you capture a screenshot and post here for further checking?

Thank you for your post.


Cheers,
Tony Chen
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November 12th, 2012 10:34am

November 12th, 2012 2:02pm

Make sure there is no GPOs effects.

Does it happen when you launch Outlook with the switch command-line "Outlook.exe /safe"? Check if it would reproduce after you disable all AVG/Firewall, add-ins.

Opening Outlook using the switch outlook /resetnavpane to check if resolved the issue.

Thanks.


Cheers,
Tony Chen
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November 13th, 2012 1:17pm

After a lot of command line struggling, I did get Outlook open using both switches.  No change either way.  I've never been near the Group Policy Editor, as this is a standalone home computer.
November 13th, 2012 2:59pm

Tried uninstalling Outlook, then reinstalling Outlook along with all other Office programs I previously didn't install (Lync, Access, InfoForm).  No change.  Tried enabling/disabling Add-Ins one by one.  Also no change.
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November 13th, 2012 3:22pm

Detail your Office version.

And please also try to create another Windows user with admin rights in local machine and test the result.

Thanks.


Cheers,
Tony Chen
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November 14th, 2012 5:18am

Below is the properties sheet off the Setup.exe file.  Not sure how to find, or if there even exists, the old Help Menu "About" window.

.iso for above was downloaded from TechNet about a week ago.  I previously had the Customer Preview installed.  The Contact Group command was available in it.  I had a Contact Group of about one hundred contacts at that time.  I uninstalled Customer Preview, rebooted, then installed the final release shown above.  The previous Contact still appeared in my Contacts list, but all the email addresses had been stripped out and the Contact Group button was then unavailable.

Today I created a new user, promoted the user to administrator, ran another Office Repair under that administrator, rebooted, then opened Outlook in that administrator's account using a different Hotmail address.  No change.

Thanks for hanging in there with me on this one.

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November 14th, 2012 2:53pm

Just a thought, are Contact Groups and Contacts saved as different file types?  If so, could I be missing the file type in some obscure registry setting? 
November 14th, 2012 4:35pm

We can see Outlook version from File > Office Account > About Outlook.

I can reproduce this bahavior when I only configure Live account (such as msn.com, outlook.com, live.com) in one Outlook profile through Exchange SyncActive. Thus, I think it is by design.

You can setup one more other type of mail account and set that account as the default mailbox to comfirm it.

Thanks.


Cheers,
Tony Chen
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November 15th, 2012 12:48pm

Thanks for the try but, no change.

November 15th, 2012 3:19pm

Yes, I created a new Outlook profile and got the same result. However, the New contact Group button is available in the profile with Exchange account and Live account, etc.


Cheers,
Tony Chen
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November 16th, 2012 6:03am

Unfortunately, it didn't work that way for me.  Both accounts have the Contacts Group greyed out.  Looks like this is just not one of those issues that's going to get solved, short of a complete reformat and reinstall of everything, which I don't have the time or patience to do at this point.
November 16th, 2012 2:09pm

I am experiencing the same problem with Office 2013 60-day trial 64 bit on Windows 8 pro 64 bit.

I use Outlook for 4 mail addresses. One is a Hotmail address, two are Gmail addresses and the last one is of my school, but is linked to Gmail as well.


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November 18th, 2012 9:05pm

Hi Michael,

Sorry to hear that you have to reformat/reinstall Windows/Office to fix this. If you have more time free, feel free to tell me, and I would continue to follow up this issue or even try to involve someone familiar with this topic to further look at this issue.

Again, thank you for your post.


Cheers,
Tony Chen
Forum Support
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November 19th, 2012 4:42am

Unfortunately, it didn't work that way for me.  Both accounts have the Contacts Group greyed out.  Looks like this is just not one of those issues that's going to get solved, short of a complete reformat and reinstall of everything, which I don't have the time or patience to do at t
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November 19th, 2012 12:03pm

I am still experiencing this problem.
November 19th, 2012 12:04pm

I didn't say I was going to reformat and reinstall.  Much too busy to do that.  I've saved all the list addresses in Notepad separated by semicolons, so all I have to do is paste the list into the Bcc field to mail.  Since I'm not the only one with the issue, I hope Microsoft will eventually get around to fixing their issue and issue a hotfix.  Reformat and reinstall is always the "fix" when the "fixers" are completely clueless.  I suggested it many times in my days of Tech Support. It really meant "I'm bored with your issue and have no clue how to help
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November 19th, 2012 3:59pm

Unfortunately Contact Groups are not supported with Outlook 2013 Hotmail Exchange ActiveSync.  We published content to help explain how to migrate Contact Groups from earlier versions of Outlook, http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/manually-migrate-outlook-hotmail-connector-features-and-settings-to-outlook-2013-HA103683232.aspx?CTT=1. 
December 4th, 2012 12:31am

Thanks.  That's the answer I was looking for.  Water under the bridge at this point.
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December 4th, 2012 1:13am

I tried this (after reinstalling outlook 2010) but unfortunately it failed. Outlook gave me this message: http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/7717/28703906.png which translates to: *Could not complete task because the server (function) does not support it.* 

I did everything as it said in the tutorial: export as .pst, create new .pst, import old .pst in new .pst, but to no avail. And why is it so that contact groups not supported but there **is** a button for groups? A bit silly if you ask me.
December 4th, 2012 6:46pm

**Edit**: so, I cannot import this .pst in my hotmail account, but I can in my GMail account. That's just ridiculous. How is MS going to implement groups then? :/ But fine, it's working (a bit) now, so thanks.
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December 4th, 2012 6:55pm

I have gone back to using Windows Live Mail, it seems to be the best option for working with a Live/Hotmail/Outlook account.  I am running it on my Windows 7 laptop at work and Windows 8 laptop at home with no issues.

January 31st, 2013 9:46pm

i have the same problem.

But somehow it works on my laptop. There i have 2 contact lists. One which syncs with other devices and one that says "this computer only". The latter allows me to save contact groups. Unfortunately this does not apply on my desktop (both running Windows 8 & Outlook 2013). I can't save the group which i send to myself and neither can i create a new one...

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March 5th, 2013 8:53pm

I am experiencing the same thing.  I have teams and committees.  Gabriel, I have been a faithful Office user for 20 years.  Guys, you all have to fix this.
April 17th, 2013 2:50am

Yes, it's an answer, but not a solution. The button is there, but it doesn't work on a new install of Office 365 on a new 64-Bit Windows 7 device. It's a very important piece of functionality - why aren't contact groups supported? I guess they want us to use Facebook instead?
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April 24th, 2013 2:08am

Microsoft: please let us know when this is fixed.  Thanks, Mitchell
May 18th, 2013 7:14am

This is June 2013 and I have the same problem, feature/bug

terry

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June 21st, 2013 4:01am

The problem exists with Outlook.com accounts and with IMAP accounts when you use the IMAP folder's contacts ('this computer only' folder). If you use a separate pst file for IMAP contacts (the Outlook 2010 and older behavior), you can create contact groups.  For Outlook.com, you create groups online - they sync down to outlook as categories.

June 21st, 2013 4:27am

End of July 2013...same problem....I can see why they are giving this software away on campuses.....this sucks....going back to my 2007....2013 didnt import all of my address books and the one AB that it did import it stripped out my groups and won't allow me to recreate them.....been a PC guy since 1982...my kids think I am a dinosaur and laugh at the problems that MS causes by releasing a minimal viable product so that they users can debug....reconsidering moving the entire office to apple.....should have stopped at XP
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July 30th, 2013 9:32pm

Really???

Why make it so difficult to use what I paid for.  Why even tease me by putting the option there, then greying it out.

BTW, somehow I managed to create a group two days ago.  Now for some reason it's gone.  What's up with that?

August 5th, 2013 3:52pm

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