Fix for Outlook: “Contacting the server for information” ~~~ this happened to emails from a particular contact .... in trust center ... tick off automatic downloads

 Fix for Outlook: “Contacting the server for information”  ~~~ this happened to emails from a particular contact

annoying yeah, just that one particular person

this worked; trust center  ... tick off automatic downloads

Outlook Automatic Downloads setting might cause similar issues as well. Please check your Automatic Downloads setting and modify them like below, then restart your Outlook desktop client and test again to see if the issue could be resolved.
I configured "Automatic Download" as you showed me in the picture. I restarted Outlook and it worked fine! 

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/499278/outlook-show-message-contacting-server-for-informa

1. Outlook Automatic Downloads setting might cause similar issues as well. Please check your Automatic Downloads setting and modify them like below, then restart your Outlook desktop client and test again to see if the issue could be resolved.