How to Access and Edit Contacts in Microsoft Account
If you’re a Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8 user, you’re well aware that they both require a Microsoft Account to sign in. So what is a Microsoft Account? It’s basically a unified account for all Microsoft services and more. What used to be known as a Windows Live ID is now called Microsoft Account. You can add multiple mail accounts and social networks to one account so that everything is accessible at one place, like the People hub in both Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 devices. Managing your contacts from multiple devices and accounts can be a headache, so here’s how to access and edit contacts in Microsoft Account!
Steps to follow to edit contacts in Microsoft Account:
1. Sign in to either Outlook.com mail or Hotmail. If you’re using a Windows Phone, make sure it’s the same account that’s tied to it.
2. Click the little drop down arrow next to “Outlook” on the top bar.
3. From the following menu, click “People”.
4. You will be taken to the People section where you can add contacts from any network as mentioned.
5. Once that’s done, you can use the “Manage” menu to edit groups, export the contacts as a backup, restore deleted contacts or “Clean up contacts”, which basically checks for duplicate contacts and combines them so all information is at the same place.
6. For an individual contact, click on their name and all their info from multiple added networks will be visible. You can then edit or even link/unlink contacts from here.
Windows Phone users should note that any and every contact they save locally on their phone will be added to the People hub under their Microsoft Account that’s being used on the phone so that there’s basically no fear of losing all contacts. Furthermore, more information can be added to make it more complete. When you sign into your Microsoft Account on any device, all contacts are synced automatically so there’s no difficulties in communication from the get go. Even if you’re not a Windows Phone 8 or Windows 8 user, the Microsoft Account is a pretty snazzy way to keep track of all mails, networks and contacts at one place. It remains as a synced backup and is quite convenient to export.
So that was how to access and edit contacts in Microsoft Account, do let us know if you’re facing any difficulties and let us know what you thought of the article!
About The Author
Rahul Gondane
Rahul Gondane is a technophile and gamer, who has been obsessed with everything tech ever since he started dabbling in it in early 2000. He also enjoys reading books, listening to music and watching movies. Rahul is the Chief Operating Officer of Pyrite Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
good post
Hey Rahul!
Nice insights on editing the contacts on Windows 8! The cloud based backup service provided by Lumia and Windows 8 phones is quite awesome coz you can take your contacts anywhere you go without worrying about your phone being lost or contacts not being backed up.
However, some old fashioned mobile users (Like me! ) would actually want to download all the contacts on their lumia or Windows 8 phone onto their local disks (either for using them on other phones or tablets or just as a fail safe option). Right now, Lumia does not provide an option to backup the contacts (only contacts with phone numbers; not facebook or twitter contacts) on the computer as an out-of-the-box option. Is this possible through an app or is there a tweak available in Win 8 phones to do so?
Someone like me who changes phones often would be greatly helped by this!
Would be great if you could write a piece on this!
Thanks
Ram
Sure, you can follow the same procedure, and in the dropdown menu you can select “Export” to backup all contacts in an Excel sheet to your computer.