Address Book Problem in Outlook Reinstall

[Dave Olson]

I had to reinstall my OS last week (Vista Business Version), and also
reinstalled Outlook 2003 (and was able to successfully re-import my saved
..PST file) . Before this, I backed up my Contact List as well as the old PST
file, but not my Personal Address Book. I thought I could just rebuild my
PAB from the Contact list.

Two problems I would appreciate help on (in fact, it's probably the same
problem, not two different ones):

1. When I click the Address Book icon in composing a message, I get an
error message saying: "The address book could not be displayed. The
Contacts folder associated with this address list could not be opened; it may
have been moved or deleted, or you do not have permissions. For information
on how to remove this folder from the Outlook Address Book, see Microsoft
Office Outlook Help."

When I click "OK" to that message, a new windows comes up, and it does
permit me to look at my Contact list if I select it from the "Show Names from
the..." dropdown choice at the top right. There are, in fact, three choices
in that list: "Contacts"... "Contacts"... and "Contacts (backup)". The last
two have my correct contact list (in fact they are identical). But the first
shown one (which is the default choice in the dropdown list), called
"Contacts" like the second choice is, shows no names or contacts in it at
all. I mention this because I wonder if there's a way to somehow delete that
first empty, zombie Contacts list choice, and if that might fix my bigger
problem:

2. I am not getting new names into my address book from people who send me
emails. And I can't even manually add any names, because when i try to open
the Address Book I get that error message I posted above, "The address book
could not be displayed etc."

Any suggestions?

 

[Gordon]

I had to reinstall my OS last week (Vista Business Version), and also
reinstalled Outlook 2003 (and was able to successfully re-import my saved
.PST file) . Before this, I backed up my Contact List as well as the old
PST
file, but not my Personal Address Book. I thought I could just rebuild my
PAB from the Contact list.

Outlook hasn't used the PAB since version 2000 AFAIK.....

Two problems I would appreciate help on (in fact, it's probably the same
problem, not two different ones):

1. When I click the Address Book icon in composing a message, I get an
error message saying: "The address book could not be displayed. The
Contacts folder associated with this address list could not be opened; it
may
have been moved or deleted, or you do not have permissions. For
information
on how to remove this folder from the Outlook Address Book, see Microsoft
Office Outlook Help."

That's because you IMPORTED your pst file.
ALL advice on all the Outlook groups says "do NOT use import to transfer
Outlook data"
The use of import has very probably corrupted your Outlook mail profile.
Go to Control Panel-Mail, create a new profile and attach the existing pst
file to it under Data Files.
See if that helps.

 

[Dave Olson]

:

Outlook hasn't used the PAB since version 2000 AFAIK.....

Oh good, that's probably why I didn't back it up.

That's because you IMPORTED your pst file.
ALL advice on all the Outlook groups says "do NOT use import to transfer
Outlook data"
The use of import has very probably corrupted your Outlook mail profile.
Go to Control Panel-Mail, create a new profile and attach the existing pst
file to it under Data Files.
See if that helps.

OK, I created a new profile called "Outlook2". Then it allowed me to attach
files under "Data Files". It shows two PST files now in the list there, the
one that was freshly created when I reinstalled Outlook, and the backup which
is on an external hard drive.

Do I need to manually copy over my backup PST file into the
user/david/appdata/local/microsoft/outlook folder and replace the one that's
there already?

I think this is what I did the first time, rather than using the Import
program. Everything came over nicely (all my folders, message rules, etc.)
except for the contacts. (Wow, now I'm confused... I think that they were
there, at first, and only recently has the address book gotten fried. I
think I'll have to try that again, to see.)

One more question: I want to save email addresses of everyone who sends me
mail, in the address book / contacts list. Is there a special setting to
make sure I'm doing this? Again this is Outlook 2003. Many thanks.

 

[Gordon]

:



Oh good, that's probably why I didn't back it up.


OK, I created a new profile called "Outlook2". Then it allowed me to
attach
files under "Data Files". It shows two PST files now in the list there,
the
one that was freshly created when I reinstalled Outlook, and the backup
which
is on an external hard drive.

Do I need to manually copy over my backup PST file
yes

into the user/david/appdata/local/microsoft/outlook folder and replace
the one that's
there already?

No - that's the second most popular way to corrupt a mail profile. It
actually doesn't matter where the pst file resides - I have mine in my
Documants folder for ease of backup.
Copy it to somewhere OTHER than the default location (unless you rename it
first) and then attach it to the profile. What you can then do is to set it
as the default delivery location and remove the file created on installation
from the profile. (That won't delete it - Outlook will just ignore it)

HTH

 

[Dave Olson]

:

Copy it to somewhere OTHER than the default location (unless you rename it
first) and then attach it to the profile. What you can then do is to set it
as the default delivery location and remove the file created on installation
from the profile. (That won't delete it - Outlook will just ignore it)

HTH

OK, I've copied the backup PST file to my documents folder.

1. How do I attach it to the profile? I've tried several things, but it's
not working. (e.g., Mail in the Control Panel / Show Profiles... /
Properties / Data Files -- I've added the new PST location, the one in my
Documents folder, to the list, but it's still not attached to the profile
from what I can tell -- I did set the default Profile in that box to my new
profile).

2. Is that last thing the same as setting it "as the default delivery
location"? How do I do that last part of the process?

Sorry for these, but you've been so helpful so far, I hope you don't mind.

 

[Dave Olson]

OK, I've copied the backup PST file to my documents folder.

1. How do I attach it to the profile? I've tried several things, but it's
not working. (e.g., Mail in the Control Panel / Show Profiles... /
Properties / Data Files -- I've added the new PST location, the one in my
Documents folder, to the list, but it's still not attached to the profile
from what I can tell -- I did set the default Profile in that box to my new
profile).

2. Is that last thing the same as setting it "as the default delivery
location"? How do I do that last part of the process?

Sorry for these, but you've been so helpful so far, I hope you don't mind.

OK, I've got most of this figured out! I've got the right PST file
attached to the profile that opens up when I start Outlook, and I deleted all
the extraneous PST files I had created in trying to get this fixed. And when
I open the Address Book, I don't get the error message I was getting before.
I think my folder rules are working OK, too Progress!

I still don't have the Contact List thing working right, though. When I
open the Address Book, initially it shows no contacts. However, at the upper
right is a dropdown box saying "Show Names from the...". The default choice
is an empty list, showing no contacts. There are three choices in the
dropdown list, all called "Contacts". The second and third both have my
contacts (one is a backup of the other). So... I need to:

a) somehow delete that first empty "Contacts" folder / list completely

b) make sure that new names that I add are going into the correct other
Contacts folder, which probably means deleting the wrong one so there's just
one to worry about.

So how can I delete these bad Contacts folders / lists? I don't know where
these are, what they're called, etc. The list is in my users/david/Contacts
directory, which is where I copied them back after my Operating System
reinstall. But I don't know where Outlook is grabbing these Contacts from.

And my very last question: what do I have to do to make sure people who
send me mail get their addresses saved automatically in my address book?

You've been a great help, and I much appreciate it, Gordon. Can I buy you a
beer?

 

[Dave Olson]

So how can I delete these bad Contacts folders / lists? I don't know where
these are, what they're called, etc. The list is in my users/david/Contacts
directory, which is where I copied them back after my Operating System
reinstall. But I don't know where Outlook is grabbing these Contacts from.

OK, I solved this one too. I got rid of the empty list. I still have the
two lists, one being a backup of the other... I'll try to figure out which is
which but I may just let it be.

And my very last question: what do I have to do to make sure people who
send me mail get their addresses saved automatically in my address book?

I still don't know how to do this.

Two beers for you!