re: Educate me on iPhone contacts

If they are all the same contacts that you have currently, you could try to install OWA on your phone, set up the same account, go to settings in OWA and sync your contacts.
Once they are synced, turn off the sync and the contacts should be removed.
This is in theory. I have not attempted it.
Here is the except from the OWA app:

quote:

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Outlook allows you to save your contacts to the default Contacts app on iOS. This allows you to easily see the name of a contact when you receive a call or text message from them, and view all of their contact information directly in the default Contacts app. Contacts can be saved to your address book on iOS 9 and above for Office 365 and Exchange accounts. To enable the feature, navigate to your account within Settings. There, tap on "Advanced Settings", and toggle "Save Contacts to Device”. Saved contacts will be added as a group under the contacts in your iCloud account. These contacts will sync to all devices which are signed in with the same iCloud account. For devices that don't have an iCloud account, the contacts get saved to the local address book. Currently, contact push provides 1-way sync from Office 365 or Exchange to your iOS device. Newly added contacts and changes made in Office 365 or Exchange using Outlook on the desktop or web will sync to your contacts on your iPhone/iPad. Edits made on the iPhone/iPad will not sync back to Outlook on the desktop or web. Edits made on the iPhone/iPad will save to the contact created in your iCloud account or local address book. If you'd like to remove these saved contacts, you can toggle this switch at any time and they will be removed from your address book. Saved contacts will also be removed from iCloud if your Office 365 or Exchange account is removed from Outlook. We plan to improve Outlook's contact capabilities over the coming months. ?

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