Why can't I populate a Contact Group with members in Outlook 2013?

You may encounter an unusual problem when using Outlook 2013 with Office 365 for email. Under 'People', you can create a new Contact Group but when you try to add members from the Global Address List, nothing happens and the group remains empty. You are also unable to add new members to existing groups. You should be able to add members from your local contacts or when logged into PantherMail on the web.

Resolution

To resolve this problem and be able to add members to contact groups in Outlook 2013, follow these steps:

1. Close Outlook.
2. Open File Explorer.
3. Browse to C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook.
4. Delete the folder Offline Address Books. (If this folder is missing, please proceed with the next steps.)
5. Open Outlook.
6. Go to File and click the Account Settings button.
7. Choose 'Download Address Book' from the drop-down.
8. Keep the default settings and click 'OK' on the dialog window that pops up.
9. Give Outlook a few minutes to download a fresh copy of the Offline Address Book.
10. Try adding members from the Global Address Book to your Contact Group again.