[Android Central Question]

Sorry for the confusing title. I'm going to meet with a friend later today, so I don't have the phone with me right now. It's a Samsung Galaxy phone with Android 10 and OneUI 2.
We synced his Outlook contacts which are displayed when the Contacts app is opened. However, when he opens the Phone app, there are no contacts unless he goes into Groups and "not assigned". How can we get those contacts into his main contacts when he opens his phone app?

[VidJunky]

First it would be helpful if you, or he, creates an account here at Android Central. Registering is the only way to comment/reply to this thread. Plus it will notify you when you get a reply so you're not checking back every so often. Meanwhile this link will help you register... https://forums.androidcentral.com/as...-new-post.html

In the meantime if the contacts were just added there's a good chance that they just aren't turned on or visible in the contacts app. It will depend on which app is being used but;

In Google Contacts>press the 3 lines, in the upper left next to search>Settings>Accounts. See and make sure the Outlook account is listed there. If not use the (+) to add the account.

In Samsung Contacts>press the 3 lines, in the upper left under profile pic>Manage contacts>Sync contacts. See if the Outlook contacts are listed here and the slider is active. If not use the Add account to add the account.

Contacts on Android are some times buggy. On older versions of Android it would some times take up to 24 hours for contacts to be restored. I'm not saying that is what is happening here but you might give it a few hours or so to see if they appear. I'm not sure if this is due to when something syncs or refreshes but I've seen a lot of panic over not having all contacts immediately and then have them all be there the next day.

[BestBefore]

Thank you, I've created an account now.
The synchronization took place ~20 hours ago. Since then, the default Samsung Contacts app has looked good with every contact present. I also definitely checked the contact sync settings to make sure Outlook sync is turned on.
It's only the default Samsung Phone app that doesn't show these on the main screen when opening the app. You have to go to Groups, then not assigned and pick whoever you want to call.
It honestly wouldn't bother me at all to do that or go through Contacts, but a non-tech savvy person (I like him, but he's overwhelmed by touch screens) isn't flexible in that regard.
Is there any other setting hidden somewhere that would allow me to move the not assigned list to the main list?

[VidJunky]

I went through the settings and couldn't find anything that would cause it to sync more than it does. I mean if they appear in the Samsung Contacts app and you're using the Samsung Dialer it would stand to reason that everything would cross over.

You say he has to go through all of these hoops to call anyone from his set of Outlook contacts but has he tried using their name on the dialer? For example, if you open the dialer and enter 546, phone numbers with 546 will appear but so will people 5=JKL 4=GHI 6=MNO so Jim Jimmy Lin Linda would all appear as possible people you intended to call. That may be as close as I can help you get. Honestly I'm not sure if that is more or less work. I mean he was wanting to go to contacts, search or scroll through the list to find whom he was wanting to call, then touching/tapping that contact... typing out their name seems at least as fast and at least as simple and you don't have to type the whole name, just 3 or 4 letters.