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How to remove or merge duplicate contacts in Outlook?

Author Xiaoyang Last modified

Managing contacts in Outlook can be challenging, especially when you have duplicate entries cluttering your address book. Duplicate contacts can make your contact list messy and difficult to navigate. Fortunately, there are several methods to remove duplicate contacts in Outlook efficiently. This guide will walk you through different techniques to help you clean up your contacts.

Delete duplicate contacts with Sort function

Delete or merge duplicate contacts with Kutools for Outlook

Delete and merge duplicate contacts with Import/Export feature

Delete duplicate contacts with Sort function

With this Sort function, you can sort the full name or email address, then select all the duplicate contacts you want to remove.

1. Go to the "Contacts" item and select the contacts folder that contains duplicate contacts.

2. Click "View" > "Change View" > "Phone" to list the contacts, so that you can easily scan the contacts and see the duplicates.

delete duplicate contacts by sorting 1

3. Then click "Full Name" column to sort the contacts information by name, and the duplicate contacts are put together. See screenshot:

delete duplicate contacts by sorting 2

4. And then hold "Ctrl" key and select each duplicate contact. After highlighting the contacts you want to remove, right-click, and choose "Delete" from the context menu (or you can press the "Delete" key from the keyboard to delete the selected contacts). See screenshot:

delete duplicate contacts by sorting 3

5. Then all the selected duplicate contacts are deleted.

Delete or merge duplicate contacts with Kutools for Outlook

For the first method, you need to select the duplicate contacts one by one, and it's probable to miss some duplicates if you are not paying more attention to look for the duplicate one. But if you have "Kutools for Outlook", with its "Delete Duplicate Contacts" function, you can remove or merge the duplicates with ease.

 👉 Kutools for Outlook has a free version now, whose 70+ features are free for a lifetime. Download the Free Version Now.

Step 1. After installing Kutools for Outlook, enable Outlook, and click "Kutools Plus" tab, and select "Duplicate Contacts".

delete or merge duplicate contacts by kutools for outlook

Step 2. Then select the data file you want to remove or merge duplicate contacts from. And click "Next" step.

delete or merge duplicate contacts by kutools for outlook

Step 3. Tick the folders from which you want to search for duplicate contacts in the left pane. Then, in the right pane, you can use the up and down arrows to adjust the search order. Click "Next" to proceed.

delete or merge duplicate contacts by kutools for outlook

Step 4. Select the criteria you want to use for identifying duplicates, then click "Next".

delete or merge duplicate contacts by kutools for outlook

Step 5. Select the information you want to display in the results, such as file path or address, and then click "Start Filtering".

delete or merge duplicate contacts by kutools for outlook

Now, all duplicate contacts will be displayed as groups. You can expand each group and click on the items to view more details.

delete or merge duplicate contacts by kutools for outlook

Step 6. Click the drop-down menu next to "How to deal with the duplicate contacts" to choose the action for handling the duplicates. You can remove, merge, or move them, here I choose "Delete". Then click "Apply now".

delete or merge duplicate contacts by kutools for outlook

Then you can see the duplicate contacts in each group have been removed and just keep the first item.

delete or merge duplicate contacts by kutools for outlook
Tip: If you don't need to specify additional filtering criteria or other settings, simply click "Start filtering" in Step 3. This will filter the duplicate contacts based on the settings you used last time, skipping Steps 4 and 5, and take you directly to Step 6 where you can choose the action for handling the duplicates.

Demo: delete duplicate contacts in Outlook

 

Delete and merge duplicate contacts with Import/Export feature

If you have hundreds of contacts seeking duplicate ones, you can use Outlook’s Import/Export feature.

1. Go to the "People" section.

delete and merge duplicate contacts using export and import 1

2. Right-click on your current "Contacts" folder and select "New Folder", then "name" it.

delete and merge duplicate contacts using export and import 2

3. Click back to your main contacts folder which you want to remove duplicates, press "Ctrl" + "A" to select all of your contacts.

delete and merge duplicate contacts using export and import 3

4. Then "drag and drop" the selected contacts into your new folder (Duplicate items) or use "Ctrl" + "Shift" + "V" to open the Move to Folder dialog and select your new folder (Duplicate items).

Now all contacts are moved to the new folder, and your primary contacts folder is empty.

5. Select "File" > "Open & Export" > "Import/Export".

delete and merge duplicate contacts using export and import 4

6. Choose "Export to a file", click "Next".

delete and merge duplicate contacts using export and import 5

7. Select "Comma Separated Values". Click "Next".

delete and merge duplicate contacts using export and import 6

8. Select the new folder you created in Step 2. Click "Next".

delete and merge duplicate contacts using export and import 7

9. Click "Browse" to select a folder to place the exported item. Click "Next" > "Finish".

delete and merge duplicate contacts using export and import 8

Now we start to import the contacts.

10. Click "File" > "Open & Export" > "Import/Export".

11. Select "Import from another program or file". Click "Next".

delete and merge duplicate contacts using export and import 9

12. Select "Comma Separated Values". Click "Next".

delete and merge duplicate contacts using export and import 10

13. Click "Browse" button to select the item that you exported just now, and select "Do not import duplicate items" option. Click "Next".

delete and merge duplicate contacts using export and import 11

14. Choose your main contacts folder as the destination folder (the empty folder). Click "Next" > "Finish".

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Now you can see no more duplicate contacts in your main contacts folder.

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15. If you want to merge the duplicate items to update information, go to the Duplicate items folder, press Ctrl + A to select all the contacts.

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16. Then drag and drop them to your main contacts folder, you will see a dialog pops up. Choose "Update information of selected Contact" option, then click "Update All" button.

delete and merge duplicate contacts using export and import 15

When the move to folder process is done, you can delete the Duplicates folder which is empty now.

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