Outlook Contacts - Unable to update Contact Picture

Question

Outlook Contacts - Unable to update Contact Picture

Tony Vitro 0

After manually creating a New Contact in the New Outlook...clicking back into it and selecting "Edit Contact", you can add a picture to the Contact Picture and it shows in the circle when you click "Apply", but then when back on the Contact Card and you click "Save", it give the error "Couldn't save contact.". Please help.

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Answer 1

Kai-L 20,020 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Dear Tony,

As a forum moderator, I am not able to access your account or delve into the backend systems to diagnose and fix this for you. My role here is limited to providing general guidance and solutions for users to implement themselves. I tried to reproduce this and was able to add a contact picture without any problems, so it may be related to the image or to the app on your computer. Here are a few things to try:

Try a small square .jpg or .png image, ideally under 1 MB in case the original file is too large or in an unusual format.
Open outlook on the web, edit the same contact, and add the picture there. If it saves, the problem is with the new Outlook app on your computer. If it fails there too, it's more likely related to the account or that contact.
If available, temporarily switch to classic Outlook, open People, edit the contact, add the photo, and save it.
Try adding the picture through Teams. Teams shares contacts with Outlook, so changes made there show up in Outlook too. In Teams, open the People app from the left sidebar. If you don't see it, select the three dots (...) on the sidebar to find it. Open the contact, add the picture and save it, then check whether it appears in Outlook.
Try creating or updating the contact in the Outlook mobile app. Other users have reported that contacts created on mobile subsequently synchronized to new Outlook.
Test new Outlook in a different Windows profile or after resetting the app under Settings > Apps > Installed apps > Outlook (new) > Advanced options > Repair. If that doesn't help, try Reset, which clears the app's local data. Your mail and contacts are stored online and aren't affected.

If the contact saves normally without a picture but fails whenever any picture is added, report it through Help > Feedback > Report a problem in new Outlook and include the Outlook version, mailbox type, image format and size, and UTC reproduction time so the product team can look into it.

I hope this helps. Looking forward to your reply.

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Kai-L 20,020 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-10-08T20:48:49.5733333+00:00

Dear Tony,

It has been a while and I am writing to see how things are going with this issue. If there’s anything else I can assist you with or if you need further clarification, please don’t hesitate to let me know, I’m here to help. Looking forward to hearing from you. Wishing you a great day ahead!
Tony Vitro 0 Reputation points

2026-10-09T19:40:50.6666667+00:00
Kai-L,

Unfortunately, your recommendations didn't work for me unless I switched to the Classic Outlook...which is not what I want to do...and I'm' sure that MSFT is going to force everyone to use the "New" Outlook in the near future and the Classic Outlook will not be available. So, for the "New" Outlook, this is what I did:

When I tried to use a small (35kB) square image (tried both .jpg & .png), I got this same error message:

I tried this with both an existing contact as well as creating a new contact from scratch...for both image types.

I also tried the above with "New" Outlook on the Web...and no different outcome...same error message.

In Teams, there isn't a way to edit a Contact's pic, so this isn't a viable option.

When I created a new contact using my phone/mobile and adding an image, this did work and did show up on in the Contacts of the New Outlook. But I'd prefer to be able to use my laptop to create Contacts. This also worked if I edited an existing contact on my phone and added the image...it then did show up on my laptop in the New Outlook.

This is a work laptop so I can't add another Windows profile to try what you're suggesting.

The "Repair" & "Reset" methods also had no positive impact.

Please send along anything else you may have to try where I can stay in the New Outlook to be able to add/edit Contact's Pics.

Thank you.

Tony
Kai-L 20,020 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-10-09T20:06:36.3866667+00:00
Dear Tony,

Thank you for testing all of these so thoroughly, and I'm sorry none of them solved it. On my side, I was able to edit a contact's picture in Teams, so it's interesting that the option isn't available for you. The same error appears in Outlook on the web, and the option is also missing in Teams, so the problem isn't with the new Outlook app on your laptop. It's more likely tied to your work account or your organization's settings. That would also explain why I couldn't reproduce it.

For now, adding or editing the picture from the Outlook mobile app is a reliable workaround, since those changes sync to new Outlook on your laptop.

To get this fixed in new Outlook, I'd suggest two things:

Report it to Microsoft: In new Outlook, go to Help > Feedback > Report a problem. Include the error message, the image format and size, and a note that it also fails in Outlook on the web but works from mobile.

Contact your IT admin: Since this is a work account, they can check whether any organization settings are affecting contact pictures. If needed, they can also open a service request with Microsoft Support. A technical support engineer can perform a remote session to investigate the situation, verify the backend configurations, and run any necessary synchronization tools to resolve the problem. If the issue requires further attention, they can escalate it to a specialized team for deeper analysis. For detailed instructions on how to get support, please refer to Get support - Microsoft 365 admin. If you don't know who your IT administrator is, please refer to this article: How do I find my Microsoft 365 admin? - Microsoft Support

I hope this gets resolved soon. Please let me know if you need anything else.