1000+ Contacts No Longer Available in Entourage

[myinport]

Please Help!!!

Since yesterday (3/17/07) I have been unable to access ANY of my
contacts in Entourage. I am the only contact listed in the Address
Book. All of my email appears to be intact and I seem to be receiving
new email as usual. Also, the calendar still contains the events that
were there beforehand, although the links to contacts are missing.

My "Database" file (located in the Main Identity folder; inside the
Office 2004 Identities folder; inside the Microsoft User Data folder;
located in the Documents folder of my User folder) is a 345.4Mb file
(yes, I have a lot of contacts in there).

I have rebuilt the database 3 times; once from within the Entourage
Preferences (in the Spotlight section) and twice via the Entourage
Database Utility, where I have also backed up and compacted the file.
The resulting Main Identity Database file is 170.2Mb.

Note: Shortly before discovering the disappearance of my contacts, I
utilized the Apple Software Update program and installed "Security
Update 2007-003 / Mac OS X v10.4.9", which upgraded my system from
10.4.8 to 10.4.9. The update required a restart, which I performed.

I hope this helps and the problem is obvious to someone out there. I
really need to access the missing info and I am in a desperate way as
a result.

It's probably very unlikely, but feel free to contact me directly at
720-234-5699

Thank you in advance for you time...

Escher Van Korlaar

 

[Diane Ross]

Note: Shortly before discovering the disappearance of my contacts, I
utilized the Apple Software Update program and installed "Security
Update 2007-003 / Mac OS X v10.4.9", which upgraded my system from
10.4.8 to 10.4.9. The update required a restart, which I performed.

I hope this helps and the problem is obvious to someone out there. I
really need to access the missing info and I am in a desperate way as
a result.

Try exporting your contacts under File --> Export. Select export as a tab
delimited file. It's very strange that it's just your contacts. Usually,
when things go missing it's everything. I'm hoping the exporter can still
see the files.

I'm assuming you have restarted your computer and run Repair Permissions.

Using Repair Permissions after installing MS Office or any application that
uses an installer is often advised. To use Repair Permissions:
1. Open Disk Utility in your Applications/Utility folder.
2. Click on the First Aid tab and select Repair Permissions
3. Click on the icon for your boot volume.
4. Click the repair permissions button.

Don't run from CD. Updates contain a newer versions of the application's
permissions.

FWIW with any update there is the possibility of disaster. Sometimes the
files end up as invisible files in the invisible root folder lost+found.
However, finding invisible files is broken in the Finder. You might try
using a third party application to find them.

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/troubleshoot/user_exp.html#user1>

A surprising number of people are having similar problems after recent Apple
updates.

When updating, it might be best to download and use the "combo"
Updater, rather than the updater that comes with Software Update. Doing so
overwrites potentially problem-causing files. Several users have reported
this fixed some odd problems they were having with Entourage.

The combo update installer updates Mac OS X 10.4, 10.4.1, 10.4.2, 10.4.3,
10.4.4, 10.4.5, 10.4.6, 10.4.7, or 10.4.8 to 10.4.9.

Mac OS X 10.4.9 Combo Update (PPC)

<http://wsidecar.apple.com/cgi-bin/nph-reg3rdpty2.pl/product=13206&cat=60&pl
atform=osx&method=sa/MacOSXUpdCombo10.4.9PPC.dmg>

Mac OS X 10.4.9 Combo Update (Intel)

<http://wsidecar.apple.com/cgi-bin/nph-reg3rdpty2.pl/product=13207&cat=60&pl
atform=osx&method=sa/MacOSXUpdCombo10.4.9Intel.dmg>

It should go without saying that having an up-to-date backup is a
Good idea before upgrading.

Let me know what happens.
--
Diane Ross, Microsoft Mac MVP
Entourage Help Page
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
One of the top five MS Entourage resources listed on the Entourage Blog.
<http://blogs.msdn.com/entourage/>