This is to help me in the future. IProceed with caution if trying it yourself.
My contacts had become fragmented between iphone/icloud contacts and Office 365. To create a seemless experience across all my devices I:
Made sure iCloud Contacts were syncing between iPhone and desktop Mac. In iPhone it’s in Settings > Contacts > Contacts Accounts > iCloud. On desktop it’s System Settings > Apple ID (i.e. your profile) > Show More Apps (under Apps Using iCloud).
In Outlook iPhone went to Settings > Contacts > Save Contacts and swicthed on Microsoft 365. This pushes your 365 contacts into the native contacts app. The contacts app is now a single source of truth.
Waited till all contacts showed up on Mac desktop. Exported from Contacts using File > Export > Export vCard.
Went to Gmail and clicked Contacts from right hand menu. Used the Open in new tab icon (top right). I had no contacts saved here. If you do, and don’t want to mess with them, use a different gmail account or figure out labelling.
Import the .vcf file exported from Contacts into Gmail using import option on left.
Use the Export option (top centre right next to the print icon) and export as csv. I needed to clean up this csv because international numbers formatted with a plus symbol e.g. +44 123 4567 were being corrupted so I reformatted them to 00441234567.
In Mac contacts app delete all contacts. Accept. Accept any prompts to delete data.
In Mac Outlook desktop delete all contacts. Accept any prompts to delete data.
In Outlook online import the csv file.
In iPhone make sure 365 contacts are syncing in Settings > Contacts > Contacts Accounts > Microsoft 365
In iPhone Settings > Contacts > Default Account set to Microsoft 365
Now, when you add a contact on iPhone it is saved to 365 > 365 then syncs to Contacts using Outlook ‘save contacts’ option > Contacts sync to the cloud which syncs to your other Apple devices e.g. iPad, watch etc. And if you add a contact in 365, 365 syncs as above.
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