Look Up the Right Person Through Outlook Contacts

You can connect Outlook Contacts to your muse so it can look up the people you saved in your Microsoft address book and use the right details.

What it does

Most mistakes about people are identity mistakes: the wrong person with the same first name, an old email address, a phone number from three jobs ago. Connected, the muse reads the address book in the Microsoft account you sign in with and returns the email address, phone number, company, and notes you saved when you name a person. Ask it to stop and ask which one you mean when two contacts share a name, and never to guess between them. It can list saved people who match a description, such as everyone at one company, and show you the gaps in your address book, such as people with no email address. Paired with Outlook Mail and Outlook Calendar from the same account, a name on an invite becomes a person you are prepared for.

How to use it

1. Open the muse app and go to Settings, then Connectors.
2. Select Connect next to Outlook Contacts, sign in with the Microsoft account that holds the contacts you use, and read the permission screen before you approve it. A work account may need your IT admin to allow the connection first.
3. Set approvals so no email or message is sent without your tap.
4. Test with a lookup you can check: ask for the email address of someone you know well, and compare it with your contacts.
5. Ask for lookups first, before drafts. Once the right person comes back every time, let the muse use those details in drafts you approve.

What you need

• A muse account, with access in the US, Canada, Japan, or Singapore
• A Microsoft account with contacts saved, personal or Microsoft 365 for work
• Notes saved on your key contacts

What to watch for

• The muse can only find people you saved. If someone is not in your Outlook Contacts, it cannot pull their details from nowhere, and it should say so plainly.
• It cannot tell you which duplicate is current. If you saved the same person three times with three numbers, it can show you all three. Only you know which one still works.
• Contact notes can hold private details you would not want repeated. Keep notes factual, and move anything truly private out of your contacts.
• It reads one Microsoft account only. Contacts in a Google account or a second Outlook account stay invisible unless you connect those too.