If a recipient’s photo, details, or presence doesn’t appear in Outlook contact card, then this post is intended to help you with solutions if the email recipient details are missing in Contact Card in Outlook on your Windows 11 or Windows 10 computer. The contact card displays detailed information about people and provides one-click access to several ways of communicating with someone.
You’ll notice this issue when you try to search for a recipient by using the Search People box; the search results display the user name without the presence information. And when you select to open the user’s contact card, only minimal details are displayed. In addition, mo presence is displayed for a recipient who’s listed in the TO field, and when you open that recipient’s contact card, no photo or details are displayed.
Email addresses, Photo, Details not showing up in Outlook Contact Card
You can open a contact card from anywhere within Office applications where you see a person’s picture, or a person’s name with a presence icon – simply pause on the contact’s picture (or presence icon next to a person’s name), and then click the down arrow to open the card.
If Email addresses, Photo, Details not showing up in Outlook Contact Cardk on your Windows 11/10 computer, you simply need to modify the registry by deleting or disabling the DownloadDetailsFromAD registry key to resolve the issue on your system. Keep in mind that this solution applies only to a corporate recipient that exists in your Global Address List (GAL) and includes information; as presence information and contact card details will not be displayed for a recipient that has only an SMTP address.
Disable the DownloadDetailsFromAD key via Registry Editor
Since this is a registry operation, it is recommended that you back up the registry or create a system restore point as necessary precautionary measures. Once done, you can proceed as follows:
- Press Windows key + R to invoke the Run dialog.
- In the Run dialog box, type regedit and hit Enter to open Registry Editor.
- Navigate or jump to the registry key path below:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\SocialConnector
- At the location, on the right pane, double-click on the DownloadDetailsFromAD registry key to edit its properties.
- Input 1 in the Value data field.
- Click OK or hit Enter to save the change.
- Exit Registry Editor.
- Restart your PC.
Alternatively, you can automatically disable the DownloadDetailsFromAD key in the registry. Here’s how:
- Press Windows key + R to invoke the Run dialog.
- In the Run dialog box, type notepad and hit Enter to open Notepad.
- Copy and paste the code below into the text editor.
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\SocialConnector]"DownloadDetailsFromAD"=dword:00000001
- Now, click the File option from the menu and select Save As button.
- Choose a location (preferably desktop) where you want to save the file.
- Enter a name with .reg extension (eg; DisableDDfromAD.reg).
- Choose All Files from the Save as type drop-down list.
- Double-click the saved .reg file to merge it.
- If prompted, click on Run > Yes (UAC) > Yes > OK to approve the merge.
- You can now delete the .reg file if you like.
- Restart PC.
Similarly, you can edit the registry via Command Prompt to disable the DownloadDetailsFromAD key. Here’s how:
- Press Windows key + R to invoke the Run dialog.
- In the Run dialog box, type cmd and then press CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER to open Command Prompt in admin/elevated mode.
- In the command prompt window, copy and paste the command below and hit Enter:
reg.exe Delete "HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\SocialConnector" /V "DownloadDetailsFromAD" /T REG_DWORD /D "1"
- Exit CMD prompt once the command executes.
Disable DownloadDetailsFromAD via Group Policy
The DownloadDetailsFromAD setting can also be set by a Group Policy. So, you can also use Group Policy Object Editor to manage the setting. Here’s how:
- Download Administrative Templates for the version of Office installed on your system.
- Next, install the Group Policy Administrative Templates.
- Next, open Local Group Policy Editor or Group Policy Management Console.
- Navigate to the following path:
User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Microsoft Outlook 2016 > Outlook Social Connector
- At the location, on the right pane, double-click the Do not download photos from Active Directory policy to edit its properties.
- In the properties window, select the radio button for Disabled or Not Configured.
- Select Apply > OK.
- Exit GPEDIT or GPMC.
That’s it!
Related post: How to restore Contact information in Address Book in Outlook
How do I get Outlook to autofill my contact information?
To access the AutoComplete setting, follow these steps:
- On the File menu, select Options.
- Select the Mail tab.
- Scroll approximately halfway down until you see Send messages. Make sure that the Use Auto-Complete List to suggest names when typing in the To, Cc, and Bcc lines box is checked.
Read: Autocomplete not working correctly in Outlook
How do I show contact information in Outlook?
Go to the HOME tab and click the More arrow in the Current View group. By default, Outlook displays contacts in People view. But you can choose another view if you want. For example, Business Card view organizes contact information to look like business cards.
