Messenger contacts deleted after migration to Skype [ Edited ]

[Claudius Community Manager]

We’ve released a number of fixes for this issue in Skype 6.1 and later for Windows and Mac. If you haven’t already updated to the current Skype 6.3, you can download it here.

Please verify first if you can see all your Messenger contacts at https://people.live.com – If you discover they have not been deleted there, please follow the instructions here.

For a small number of users a crash could result in a corrupted contact database which would sync with our servers, resulting in missing contacts.  This is the least common of the three issues but also the most serious. We have fixed the cause of this issue in Skype 6.1.

Users who have been affected by this issue can restore their Messenger contacts by following these instructions.

How to restore your deleted Messenger contacts

1. Sign out and quit Skype.
2. Sign in with your Microsoft account to https://people.live.com
3. At the top of the page open the Manage menu
4. Click Restore deleted contacts in the Manage menu
5. Select the contacts you wish to restore by checking the box next to their name and click Restore
6. Select the restored contacts in your contact list by checking the box next to their name and re-invite them by clicking Manage > Invite to Messenger

(Note: There are a limited number of invitations you can send per day so you might not be able to re-invite all restored contacts in one day)

[Carsten1972]

"Thanks" for deleting all my messenger contacts...

[just_matic]

I've updated to Skype 6.1 but haven't fixed the problem. I can't see my Messenger contacts neither in Skype nor at people.live.com and I have the same problem on both of my computers.  It started about 2 weeks ago, just several days after merging Messenger with Skype. It's very annoying as I've lost some of my business contacts.

[Natatka]

@just_matic:  6.1 has a bug fix that prevents contacts lost from people.live.com

In your case you have to restore your deleted contacts manually (see steps above in Claudiu's post). Please let us know if that helped

[tamperous]

So the solution is still to message everyone on your contact list and tell them to readd you to WLM???????

This was the solution 3 weeks ago and it remains today. Instead of spamming everyone to join a service that is horribly broken, How about I just send everyone on my Window Contact list a message to tell them that due to a ham-fisted software migration they have been unfriended and if they don't switch to either facebook messenger or G+/Gtalk, I will never see them online again? It's the same amount of work for both me and them in the end.

How about I talk about how the Windows 8 interface is hard for long time users to get around. How about I talk about how terrible the design choice to make Metro-Interface apps not multitask by default is straight out of 1987? How about I talk about how I BRICKED a Windows 8 phone by reseting the user information because I wanted to change the Microsoft account it was linked to? How about I tell everyone the lunacy of pricing a tablet with almost no apps at a price higher than the iPad?

Congratulations Microsoft, you've essentially turned the product switching cost for your users to $0. I'm impressed, in most monopolistic industries it takes government legislation to do this.

[mistanthalas]

Although I'm equally frustrated as you, as MS has shown absolutely no respect for it's users, I have to point out that it's a little easier than you think: you just "invite" everyone through your Microsoft people account, and that's it. Noone actually gets any notifications, they just show up in both skype and msn (for the moment), I have verified this. I suppose this is as long as they were actually connected to you before everything gets messed up, but given the awkward behavior observed over this merge, everything is possible.....

To MS: really not polite to use your users as crush test dummies... I understand the merge is a business decision, but at least do it properly, do some testing before you launch it, BEFORE you send emails urging everybody to change by a deadline. I'm a consultant by profession, this would be my advice to a small company with 10 employees, so that they would be as professional as a big company, someone like, hm let's see... Microsoft? Ironic huh?

[PCTECHJBAY]

Sorry I'm not jumping through hoops for Microsoft. I will just find a working IM program without all the bundled "ISSUES" which come with Skype.

[Natatka]

@mistanthalas:
>> they just show up in both skype and msn (for the moment)

What happens next? Do you contacts become offline or dissapear? Is it in skype or in messenger as well?

[mistanthalas]

@Natatka

Here is the history of what happened:

1. Everything was working fine the first day when I merged, and msn contacts showed up both in msn and skype even when logging in with my skype id instead of my ms account

2. Next day all msn contacts were deleted from all places, regardless of the credentials

3. Following suggestions in these forums I undeleted my contacts through the ms people account

4. The msn contacts showed up in the ms people account, and in skype when logging in with the ms account credentials only, but they were all offline. There were no contacts showing up in the msn client at all (neither online or offline).

5. I invited ALL my contacts back manually to msn using the ms people webpage. At this point they showed up BOTH in my msn client and in skype (with ms credentials) with the correct online/offline status. To my knowledge, none of my contacts atually ever received any invitation that they had to reply to.

6. I unlinked skype/msn through the skype account page

8. After the unlink I have updated my skype client to the new 6.1 version. Note here, that this was not possible through the skype client. I had tried to update before the unlink and I was told I was already to the latest version, but later I realized this was not 6.1, so I had to download it manualy from your webpage.

So currently, I am restored to my before merge state: skype contacts show up ok in the skype client, and msn contacts show ok in the msn client. I have exported my msn contacts as a backup, I am following these forums, and I am not planning to retry the merge until the issue seems to be resolved.

I hope this answers your question... but I'm welcome to provide more details.

[Natatka]

@ mistanthalas:

>> Next day all msn contacts were deleted from all places, regardless of the credentials

how many and what devices were you loged in?