Contacts Manager: help

A quick guide to everything the app does. Changes you make go straight to your Microsoft 365 mailbox, so they show up in Outlook and on your phone.

Getting started

Click Sign in with Microsoft and sign in with your work account. The app only ever sees your own contacts.
The first time, your organisation's Microsoft 365 administrator may need to approve the app once (see Set up for your organisation).
Your contacts load into the Contacts tab. Click ↻ Reload any time to fetch the latest from Microsoft 365.
Sign out is at the top right. Closing the tab also ends your session.

Search looks in every field. A search that looks like a phone number matches any format, so 082 123, 0821234567 and +2782… all find the same contact.
Click a column heading to sort; click it again to reverse.
Tick contacts to use Merge selected or Delete selected. Starting a new search clears the ticks, so nothing you can't see gets changed by accident.

Click Columns ▾ and tick the fields you want to see. Columns marked read-only can't be edited in the grid.
To move a column, drag its heading left or right (a blue line shows where it will land), or use the ↑ / ↓ buttons in Columns ▾ (↑ moves it further left).
Your layout is remembered on this PC. Reset to default columns is at the bottom of the menu.

Quick edit (the ✎ button turns it on or off): click a cell and type. Enter saves and moves down, Tab saves and moves right, Esc cancels. A green border means saved; a red border means it wasn't (hover to see why).
Edit at the end of a row (or double-click the row) opens the full contact with every field and the photo.
+ New contact: the display name fills itself in from the first, middle and last name (or the company) as you type. Type your own to override it; clear it to switch automatic filling back on. Existing contacts' display names never change on their own; use the ↺ button next to Display name to rebuild one.

Phone numbers ▾ › Normalise to +27 turns 082 123 4567 into +27 82 123 4567. Normalise to 0 does the reverse.
It works on the ticked contacts, or on everything the search shows if nothing is ticked.
You always see a preview first, and nothing changes until you confirm.
Only South African numbers change. Numbers with another country code, or that aren't a recognisable SA number, are left alone and listed as skipped.
In a single contact's editor, Numbers → +27 and Numbers → 0 do the same for that contact.

The Duplicates tab lists groups of contacts that are probably the same person.

How they're found: a shared mobile number or email marks a likely duplicate, even if the names differ (for example a contact renamed "Mom"). A shared work, home or fax number only counts when the names also fit, such as "Alice T" and "Alice Test", so colleagues on the same switchboard aren't listed. An email or mobile used by three or more different people (like info@company) is treated as a shared company value.
Exact means the same name and a shared number or email. Merge all exact duplicates handles all of those at once, after a preview.
In each group:
- Every contact has a tick. Untick the ones that aren't the same person.
- Choose the contact to Keep. The others' details are added to it.
- Merge ticked combines only the ticked contacts. You see the result before anything changes.
- Not duplicates (ticked) takes the ticked contacts out of the group for good. Tick them all to dismiss the whole group.
Merging never loses data. Values that don't fit (for example a fourth email address) are added to the kept contact's notes. Merged-away contacts go to Deleted Items in Outlook.
Options at the top: Include "same name only" matches also groups contacts that only share a name; Include people who share a work/home number brings back switchboard matches. Reset "Not duplicates" shows everything you dismissed again.

Backups are files saved on your own PC. The app stores nothing online.

Where they go: the first time you back up, you choose:
- Use Downloads folder: nothing to set up. Each backup is saved to Downloads as a .json file.
- Choose folder… (Edge or Chrome): pick a folder once and your backups are listed in the Backups tab. Use a subfolder, such as Documents\Contact Manager (the picker has a New folder button); browsers may refuse Documents, Downloads or Desktop themselves. When the browser asks to let the site edit files, allow it.
Your choice is remembered. Switch any time in the Backups tab with Use a folder instead… or Use Downloads instead. The browser asks once per session before using the folder again.
Automatic backups: a backup is made before the first delete, merge or bulk number change of each session, and before every restore. If it can't be saved, nothing is changed.
Back up now, with an optional note. Tick Include photos for a complete copy (slower).
View opens a backup read-only inside the Backups tab, with its own search. The Contacts tab always shows your live contacts.
Compare with now lists contacts removed, changed and added since that backup. Restore selected brings removed contacts back (they get new IDs); Put back selected restores old values.
Open backup file… opens any backup file, for example one in Downloads or one made by the older desktop version.
If your Documents folder is backed up to OneDrive, backups saved there are backed up too.

The Change log tab lists everything changed in this session. The log is also saved inside every backup made after the change.

Deleted and merged-away contacts are in Deleted Items in Outlook until that folder is emptied.
Or open a backup from before the change, click Compare with now, and restore what you need.

Backups still go to Downloads after choosing a folder: refresh the page (Ctrl+F5) and choose the folder again in the Backups tab. If you see "No backup folder was set", it shows what the browser said and the fix. The most common ones:
- When Edge asks "Let site edit files?", choose Edit files.
- If Edge never asks, editing may be blocked for this site: click the padlock left of the web address › Permissions for this site › File editing: Allow, then reload.
- Pick a subfolder (for example Documents\Contacts Manager), not Documents itself.
The box at the top of the Backups tab always shows where backups currently go. Firefox and Safari can only use Downloads.
Microsoft sign-in error mentioning admin approval: your administrator needs to approve the app once; send them the setup page.
"Extra Outlook fields couldn't be loaded": Microsoft refused the request for fax, pager and similar fields. Everything else still works.
For anything odd, note the message in the status bar at the bottom of the app and send it to Wholistic Business Solutions.

Only your main Contacts folder is managed (the one your phone syncs).
Contact groups (distribution lists), attachments on contacts and follow-up flags aren't available through Microsoft's interface, so the app doesn't show them.