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Is There a Way to Merge Duplicate Contacts in Outlook? Here Are the Fixes

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Published By Jamie Kaler 
Rollins Duke
Approved By Rollins Duke
Published On July 10th, 2025
Reading Time 6 Min Read
As lots of users are searching to merge duplicate contacts in Outlook but no one described complete information. So, we have decided to share all proven solutions to merge Duplicate Contacts in Outlook by using Outlook inbuilt and Alternative Method. Whether you are using Outlook for Windows or Outlook 365.

Having duplicate contacts in your Outlook can mess up your address book, make it hard to find the right person, and even cause problems when your contacts sync across devices. These duplicates often happen when you import files, use more than one account, or add contacts by hand. Cleaning them up helps keep everything organized and running smoothly.

Table of Contents Hide
  1. Why Do Duplicate Contacts Appear in Outlook?
  2. How to Remove Duplicate Contacts in Outlook?
  3. Alternative Approach to Remove Duplicate Contacts in Outlook
  4. Merge vs. Delete: How to Combine Duplicate Contacts
  5. Prevent Duplicate Contacts in Outlook (Best Practices)
  6. General Inquiries
  7. Final Verdict

Why Do Duplicate Contacts Appear in Outlook?

  • Outlook connects with Exchange, iCloud, Gmail and phone apps. If syncing doesn’t work properly then it will create duplicate contacts in Outlook especially when changes are made on different devices at same time.
  • If you use Outlook with more than one account (like work and personal as well) it might pull the same contacts in both accounts.
  • Adding contact by hand or dragging emails into your contacts without checking then it will create duplicates with small differences.
  • When you import contacts using PST or CSV files, Outlook can’t always tell if a contact already exists, so it may add the same one again.
  • Apps like CRMs, marketing tools, or contact managers on your phone can also send contact data to Outlook. If these tools aren’t set up correctly, they might create duplicate contacts by mistake.

How to Remove Duplicate Contacts in Outlook?

There are several approaches to remove duplicate contacts in Outlook, depending on your requirement and the number of duplicate contacts appearing in Outlook. You can clean them using Outlook import/export, add-ins and clean up tools.

Method 1. Outlook Clean Up Tool

  1. Open Outlook and navigate to people and switch to Phone View or List View to see all your contacts.
    Open Microsoft Outlook
  2. Click the column header to sort your contacts by name or email. This makes it easier to spot identical or nearly identical entries.
  3. Hold CTRL and click on duplicates then Press Right-click on delete and tap Delete to remove them from your contact list.

Merge Duplicate Contacts in Outlook via Import/Export Feature

  1. First, Open Outlook and create a New Temp folder and move all contacts into it.
    Launch Outlook
  2. Navigate to file and hit on open and export then press on Import/Export.
    Click on file
  3. Choose Export to a file and press Next button.
    Choose Export to a file
  4. Select Comma Separated Value and export folder.
    Select CSV file
  5. Now, Choose the newly created Temp folder and browse the destination for the resultant contact file.
    Save exported file as
  6. Press the finish button and again click on the file.
    Press on file
  7. Hit on open and export and press on Import/Export.
    Select Import/Export
  8. Choose Import from another program or file and press Next to select CSV file as you have exported.
    Import from another program or file
  9. Check on, do not import duplicates and press the finish button.
    Check on do not import duplicate items

Alternative Approach to Remove Duplicate Contacts in Outlook

If you want to merge duplicate contacts in Outlook in batch and want accurate results as you need. Then, we recommend you to choose RecoveryTools Outlook Duplicate Remover as this software can easily eliminate duplicate contacts in Outlook and also can detect Outlook files from default location without browsing for Outlook files.

Procedure to Eliminate Duplicate Contacts in Outlook

  1. Download and Run Automated Software on your system.
    Launch Outlook Duplicate Contact Remover
  2. Click on configured Outlook files and tap on Next button.
    Select Outlook mailbox data
  3. Choose Outlook contacts as you wish to merge duplicate contacts in Outlook.
    Select Outlook contacts folder
  4. Select search duplicate within the folder or across the folder as needed.
    Choose duplicate remover mode
  5. Browse destination path and select Advanced filter.
    Select filter options
  6. Press Next to start removing duplicate contacts in Outlook.
    Start Merge duplicate contacts in Outlook

Highlighted Benefits of Automated Approach

  • This software offers a simple initiative interface to make it reliable for all professional and individual users.
  • You can also remove duplicate emails from Outlook in batch or individual files without passing any restriction.
  • With this wizard, you can also use filter options such as select export settings from, to, cc, subject, body, attachments, time, separate PST per user, change language, export only selected Outlook items and many more.
  • This software also helps you to remove duplicate calendar entries from Outlook and all Outlook items without losing any information.
  • It allows you to remove duplicate emails from individual or batch PST files without passing any restrictions.

Merge vs. Delete: How to Combine Duplicate Contacts

Linking Contacts by Manual Review

  • Open Contact and under the Contact list click on Link Contacts.
  • Search for duplicate contact and select it.
  • Outlook will link them and show all details in one profile.

Using Merging Features or Tools

  • Field-by-field merge previews.
  • Undo or backup options.
  • Smart matching algorithms

Prevent Duplicate Contacts in Outlook (Best Practices)

  • When you add or import contacts, Outlook usually gives you a warning if it finds similar ones. Make sure to check those and either merge them or skip adding duplicates.
  • Syncing Outlook with iCloud, Google Contacts, and phone apps all at once can create duplicate contacts. To avoid this, try to sync with just one main service or use tools that help keep things in sync without making copies.
  • Set a reminder once a month to go through your contacts and clean them up. Before you import or sync anything, use the Export feature to save a backup of your contact list—just in case anything goes wrong.
General Inquiries

Does Outlook have a Mail Merge feature?

Yes, Outlook supports the Mail Merge feature using Microsoft Word. You can send personalized emails or multiple recipients by connecting with Outlook with Word or Excel list. Navigate to Word then Mailing and click on Start Mail Merge and press Select Recipients from Outlook.

How to Merge Multiple Email Addresses in Outlook?

Outlook doesn’t merge email accounts into one inbox directly, you can add multiple accounts and view them in a unified view using All Accounts or Favorites folders. For contacts, you can manually link or merge duplicate email addresses in Outlook.

How do I Consolidate Duplicate Contacts?

To merge duplicate contacts in Outlook you can use Phone(List/View method), Import/Export feature, clean up tool or use Outlook Duplicate Items Remover for maintained results.

Final Verdict

Merging duplicate contacts in Outlook is a crucial task as it can create confusion in communication and consume lots of time to navigate any specific contacts. So, we have shared all possible tried and tested methods, both manual and automated approaches. As manual approaches sometimes skip some duplicate contacts and may risk data loss, we recommend you choose Outlook Duplicate Items Remover. It can easily handle batch numbers of Outlook files and also offers selective elimination, which can easily remove duplicate contacts from any specific folder.