Edit to iCloud contact in Outlook gives error when saving

This just started happening within the past day or two.

My calendar and contacts are in iCloud and they sync with Outlook (Microsoft 365 Home) on my PC via iCloud for Windows (Windows 10 - everything up to date). Has been working fine for months.

Today, when I edit an iCloud contact from Outlook 365 and then try to save the changes, I get this error:

Your changes cannot be saved because you don’t have permission to modify some or all of the items in this folder. Do you want to save a copy of this item in the default folder for the item?

Note: if I answer "yes", a new contact gets saved in "My Contacts" ... Contact list associated with my outlook email address.

This is what "Contacts" looks like in Outlook:

Note that I CAN to the following:

Edit an existing Calendar entry in Outlook on PC and create a new one (and changes appear in iCloud and on iPhone and iPad)
Create a new Contact in Outlook on PC (and it appears in iCloud.com and on my iPhone and iPad)
Edit the contact in iCloud.com or on iPhone/iPad and the edit does show up in Outlook on my PC

So sync is working just fine. The only issue is editing an existing iCloud contact ... in Outlook on PC.

What I've tried:

I have restarted Outlook and PC. I have signed in and out of iCloud for Windows.
I check the permissions on my <xxx>@icloud.com.ost file and they are fine.
I ran Outlook as admin: then I could save the change on my PC without getting the error message. However, the change did not go up to iCloud, and when I opened Outlook again (not as an admin), I got a popup window with this error: "Your changes to this item could not be saved because Server Denied Operation (HTTP 403 Forbidden)."

So it appears that iCloud is denying "change" access from Outlook. (Although "create" access seems to be fine.) But only for Contacts ... as previously documented, Calendar stuff (edit/create) is fine.

Any ideas? I'm out of them!

Thanks! ;-)

Windows, Windows 10

Posted on Sep 10, 2020 2:23 PM

Similar questions

39 replies

Sep 18, 2020 6:49 AM in response to Alicia12341234

Yes, it now works for me as well. I did nothing ... didn't upgrade iTunes (I'm running 12.10.9 - says it's the current version - I do manual updates so I know that I haven't upgraded it since the problem began); didn't upgrade iCloud (my iCloud says it's up-to-date, though - no upgrades to install - no indication of what version it is - it is directly from Apple, not the MS Store).

Sep 18, 2020 7:13 AM in response to Alicia12341234

The issue has resolved itself or it was fixed. No issues this morning with syncing of my contacts in Outlook. I did not update iTunes, I am using iCould for Windows 11.3, but it was a couple of days ago that I updated it and it did not fix the issue then, actually caused more problems. Apple must have done something during the evening or early this morning. The only issue still bugging me is that iCloud for Windows is now sorting my browser bookmarks alphabetically, which I don't want. It's affected all browsers; Chrome, Edge & Firefox. I'll organize them as I like and a few hours later they are resorted. I guess I'll have to wait to see if that is also fixed behind the scenes.

Sep 11, 2020 7:09 AM in response to Alicia12341234

Exact same issue for me that started on September 10. Was ok in morning but this started occurring in afternoon.

Sep 11, 2020 7:57 AM in response to Alicia12341234

Good to hear (sorry) ... glad I’m not the only one. I suspect that either Apple or Microsoft “upgraded” something and it broke.

Sep 11, 2020 12:00 PM in response to Alicia12341234

I know this is not helpful, but you are not alone, I have the same exact issue. I could not find any answers anywhere online yet. Also using Outlook (Microsoft 365 Home) on my PC.

Sep 11, 2020 12:37 PM in response to PeterC1947

Thanks Peter. Please do post back here if you get anything out of Microsoft.

Sep 12, 2020 8:21 AM in response to rsharpnack

Three is also another thread going; https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251781389?page=1 and no fixes there either with 52 posts this morning.

Sep 14, 2020 1:20 PM in response to Alicia12341234

i'm having the same problem

please can someone help

JMEchols

Level 1

8 points

Sep 16, 2020 6:54 AM in response to SloMo20

I tried that and it did not work still get the same error message

Sep 16, 2020 7:02 AM in response to SloMo20

I too tried that; and after an open in outlook of the new iCloud test contact and then trying to save in outlook; same error message.

Sep 18, 2020 4:42 AM in response to JMEchols

Yeah, works for me too without updating iTunes

Sep 18, 2020 7:59 AM in response to Alicia12341234

Looks like its fixed for me too without any downloads or making any changes.

BobzMac

Level 1

8 points

Sep 11, 2020 2:24 PM in response to Alicia12341234

I have EXACTLY the same problem described by Alicia12341234 but can also report that the inability to change iCloud Contacts started within minutes of installing two Microsoft 2020-09 Cumulative updates for Windows. Normally these would have installed automatically at night so its just a coincidence that I decided to do the required reboot during the day and then went back to work - and discovered the iCloud contact issue.

The two Microsoft updates are:

September 8, 2020-KB4576484 Cumulative Update for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8 for Windows 10 Version 1903, Windows Server 1903 RTM, Windows 10, version 1909 and Windows Server, version 1909:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4576484/kb4576484-cumulative-update-for-net-framework

And -

September 8, 2020—KB4574727 (OS Builds 18362.1082 and 18363.1082)

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4574727/windows-10-update-kb4574727

BobzMac

Level 1

8 points

Sep 11, 2020 3:03 PM in response to Alicia12341234

Uninstalling the updates would be a logical trouble shooting step except I don't really have time to spend on this problem until later next week. Uninstalling Updates can be done from Setings - View update history - Uninstall updates.

If you have time to try rolling them back I suggest you do them one at a time and then test to see if the problem has changed. I would suspect the Cumulative Update for Windows 10 as the culprit before trying to uninstall the Cumulative Update for .NET Framework.

I typically add contacts on my iPhone or iPad however IOS Contacts doesn't fully support Contact folders which I use a lot. IOS will filter on folder groups if they exist but does not support adding or removing contacts from folder groups. To group contacts into folders I use Outlook because it's the easiest. My iCloud contacts are syncronized across all my devices, including Windows so I will probably do as you in the short term and use iCloud.com for Contact maintenance.

Sep 11, 2020 8:14 PM in response to Alicia12341234

Also first noticed this issue today... unable to edit Contacts in Outlook when sync'd to iCloud.

Uninstalled and reinstalled iCloud for windows and Office 365 both with latest versions.

No resolution.

Current app builds are:

iCloud 11.3.59.0
Office 365 64-bit Build 13029.20344

Syncing from iCloud to PC is successful

Can Create and Edit Calendar events and tasks on PC and sync to iCloud

Can Create or Delete contacts on PC and sync to iCloud

Cannot EDIT contacts on PC - error message states invalid permissions as noted elsewhere here

Will edit in iCloud.com for now, until software fix is deployed.

Also note that upgrading from iCloud for PC version 10 to 11 significantly changes the way photos are handled.

This seems like a downgrade to me...

Now only "thumbnails" (aka optimized versions) are syncd to PC, and user must manually download full image one-at-a-time if you want to store/archive locally such as on a server or local hard drive.

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Edit to iCloud contact in Outlook gives error when saving