Distribution list not found (but it's there!)

[Parish Pete]

Having recently upgraded from Office 2K to 2007, I find that all my
distribution lists bar 2 are working fine.
The 2 that are playing up appear in the contacts folder and the address
book, as do all the members of both lists individually.

Upon entering the list name into an new email, I got an Invalid list message
(the list could not be expanded). Upon testing I got the same result for the
second. If I opened the list from A/book or contacts and clicked 'email' the
list would expand and the mail would send. Enter the list name in a new
email and no dice.

I messed around for some while, renamed one of the lists and it worked fine,
changed the name back, no dice again.

So I deleted both groups. Guess what, the renamed version which appeared as
an auto complete in the 'To' box, but which didn't exist at all, worked fine!

In desparation I created both lists from new with their original names. At
first the problem with a new email continued by saying the list wasn't valid.
So I typed the names in full and left outlook to think about it. After some
minutes the fields had been auto completed and all now seems well.

It appears that one part of Outlook had lost the membership of the lists and
had decided the lists were invalid whilst another part of Outlook held the
contrary (and correct) view that the lists were valid.

In case I have a problem again does anyone have a less time consuming
solution or indeed an explanation?

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Hard to unravel your post because so many details are unclear. For example
your statement "Upon entering the list name into a new email" could mean
anything and means nothing to anyone not there watching what you did. Nor
does, "If I opened the list from A/book or contacts." Moreover we have no
idea how you transferred your data from Outlook 2000 to Outlook 2007, and it
matters greatly. Doing a simple in place upgrade would not have done so
correctly.
Since all we can do is guess, I would guess that you migrated data
improperly and failed to configure your Outlook Address Book Service
correctly. Accordingly, any DL you entered using autoresolution would not
work. Entering the DL as a recipient directly would work and would also
create a valid autocompletion entry which would persist even if you
subsequently deleted the DL. You might want to read up on the many posts we
have made on DL's, autoresolution and autocompletion so you can sort this
out.

 

[Parish Pete]

Russ

OK I'll try to spell out what's what.

I run XP Pro SP3 Desktop which had a full version of Office 2K installed.
For the record I have an open licence version of Office Pro Plus 2007 and it
has also been installed additionally on a new empty Vista machine and as an
upgrade on an XP laptop. both with no problem.

I'm no stranger to the trials of software upgrade, so all my pst files are
backed in various places, safely out of the way.

I installed Office 2007 and ran Outlook. It went all through the steps of
setting itself up without my intervention and all the settings & data that
were there prior to upgrade, were there at completion.

Now to the nitty gritty; It's perfectly straight forward:

1). All the people on my distribution lists exist in their own right in my
contacts folder and Address book.
2). All the distribution lists contain valid contact entries.
3). My 2 problem lists are called "Col Members" & "Col Committee"

I clicked on new email and a blank message screen appeared with the cursor
blinking in the 'To' field. This is straight forward bread and butter Outlook
so far.

I typed "Col" and the two list names appeared for auto insertion just as I
would expect. I selected "Col Members" typed the message and pressed send.
At that point I got the invalid list message, indicating that there were
either no members on the list or they couldn't be found.

For the hell of it I tried the same thing with the other list, same result.
I went on to try the remainder of my lists but these were OK.

So I turned to inspecting the lists and they appeared in order. I tried
update, save and close and tried create email and send again, same error.

Then I renamed "Col Members" to "Col M". Tried again - SUCCESS! Email sent.

I renamed the list back to "Col Members". Tried again - same error.

Experience has also taught me that when software plays this kind of dumb
trick the only way out is to start afresh. So I deleted both lists (members
& committee), shut down and restarted.

Once powered back up, I searched Address book & contacts for "Col" and found
none (quite correctly) I also tried to create a new email and typed "Col" in
the 'To' box. Up came "Col Members", "Col Committee" & "Col M" as auto
suggestions. Clicked on the first 2 and they were not found (correctly).
Clicked on "Col M", the entry was accepted and so I expanded the list and all
the list contacts were displayed!!! Clearly Outlook was having a bad day.

With enough time spent messing about I recreated both the deleted lists from
scratch with their original names. Initially neither would work (same error)
and persisted to be 'invalid'.

As a last resort I typed eached list name in the 'To' box of an email in
full and left it. After a short while, Outlook made the connection and
inserted the list (which was expandable) and had obviously overwritten it
erroneous memory.

As far as migrating data improperly is concerned, I had no hand in it.
Outlook 2007 did all the migration for me which frankly is what I would
expect.

I trust the above makes more sense.

regards

Peter

Hard to unravel your post because so many details are unclear. For example
your statement "Upon entering the list name into a new email" could mean
anything and means nothing to anyone not there watching what you did. Nor
does, "If I opened the list from A/book or contacts." Moreover we have no
idea how you transferred your data from Outlook 2000 to Outlook 2007, and it
matters greatly. Doing a simple in place upgrade would not have done so
correctly.
Since all we can do is guess, I would guess that you migrated data
improperly and failed to configure your Outlook Address Book Service
correctly. Accordingly, any DL you entered using autoresolution would not
work. Entering the DL as a recipient directly would work and would also
create a valid autocompletion entry which would persist even if you
subsequently deleted the DL. You might want to read up on the many posts we
have made on DL's, autoresolution and autocompletion so you can sort this
out.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Having recently upgraded from Office 2K to 2007, I find that all my
distribution lists bar 2 are working fine.
The 2 that are playing up appear in the contacts folder and the address
book, as do all the members of both lists individually.

Upon entering the list name into an new email, I got an Invalid list
message
(the list could not be expanded). Upon testing I got the same result for
the
second. If I opened the list from A/book or contacts and clicked 'email'
the
list would expand and the mail would send. Enter the list name in a new
email and no dice.

I messed around for some while, renamed one of the lists and it worked
fine,
changed the name back, no dice again.

So I deleted both groups. Guess what, the renamed version which appeared
as
an auto complete in the 'To' box, but which didn't exist at all, worked
fine!

In desparation I created both lists from new with their original names.
At
first the problem with a new email continued by saying the list wasn't
valid.
So I typed the names in full and left outlook to think about it. After
some
minutes the fields had been auto completed and all now seems well.

It appears that one part of Outlook had lost the membership of the lists
and
had decided the lists were invalid whilst another part of Outlook held the
contrary (and correct) view that the lists were valid.

In case I have a problem again does anyone have a less time consuming
solution or indeed an explanation?

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Go back to the beginning. Your assumption that Outlook migrated your data
properly for you is incorrect. Never trust an in place upgrade of Outlook to
migrate your data. It never has, especially when you skip several versions
like this. It has always been necessary to create a new Outlook profile from
scratch after an upgrade and then use a supported method to migrate your
data. Do so now with one of your backups and then post back with any
remaining issues.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Russ

OK I'll try to spell out what's what.

I run XP Pro SP3 Desktop which had a full version of Office 2K installed.
For the record I have an open licence version of Office Pro Plus 2007 and
it
has also been installed additionally on a new empty Vista machine and as
an
upgrade on an XP laptop. both with no problem.

I'm no stranger to the trials of software upgrade, so all my pst files are
backed in various places, safely out of the way.

I installed Office 2007 and ran Outlook. It went all through the steps of
setting itself up without my intervention and all the settings & data that
were there prior to upgrade, were there at completion.

Now to the nitty gritty; It's perfectly straight forward:

1). All the people on my distribution lists exist in their own right in my
contacts folder and Address book.
2). All the distribution lists contain valid contact entries.
3). My 2 problem lists are called "Col Members" & "Col Committee"

I clicked on new email and a blank message screen appeared with the cursor
blinking in the 'To' field. This is straight forward bread and butter
Outlook
so far.

I typed "Col" and the two list names appeared for auto insertion just as I
would expect. I selected "Col Members" typed the message and pressed
send.
At that point I got the invalid list message, indicating that there were
either no members on the list or they couldn't be found.

For the hell of it I tried the same thing with the other list, same
result.
I went on to try the remainder of my lists but these were OK.

So I turned to inspecting the lists and they appeared in order. I tried
update, save and close and tried create email and send again, same error.

Then I renamed "Col Members" to "Col M". Tried again - SUCCESS! Email
sent.

I renamed the list back to "Col Members". Tried again - same error.

Experience has also taught me that when software plays this kind of dumb
trick the only way out is to start afresh. So I deleted both lists
(members
& committee), shut down and restarted.

Once powered back up, I searched Address book & contacts for "Col" and
found
none (quite correctly) I also tried to create a new email and typed "Col"
in
the 'To' box. Up came "Col Members", "Col Committee" & "Col M" as auto
suggestions. Clicked on the first 2 and they were not found (correctly).
Clicked on "Col M", the entry was accepted and so I expanded the list and
all
the list contacts were displayed!!! Clearly Outlook was having a bad day.

With enough time spent messing about I recreated both the deleted lists
from
scratch with their original names. Initially neither would work (same
error)
and persisted to be 'invalid'.

As a last resort I typed eached list name in the 'To' box of an email in
full and left it. After a short while, Outlook made the connection and
inserted the list (which was expandable) and had obviously overwritten it
erroneous memory.

As far as migrating data improperly is concerned, I had no hand in it.
Outlook 2007 did all the migration for me which frankly is what I would
expect.

I trust the above makes more sense.

regards

Peter

Hard to unravel your post because so many details are unclear. For
example
your statement "Upon entering the list name into a new email" could mean
anything and means nothing to anyone not there watching what you did. Nor
does, "If I opened the list from A/book or contacts." Moreover we have no
idea how you transferred your data from Outlook 2000 to Outlook 2007, and
it
matters greatly. Doing a simple in place upgrade would not have done so
correctly.
Since all we can do is guess, I would guess that you migrated data
improperly and failed to configure your Outlook Address Book Service
correctly. Accordingly, any DL you entered using autoresolution would not
work. Entering the DL as a recipient directly would work and would also
create a valid autocompletion entry which would persist even if you
subsequently deleted the DL. You might want to read up on the many posts
we
have made on DL's, autoresolution and autocompletion so you can sort this
out.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Having recently upgraded from Office 2K to 2007, I find that all my
distribution lists bar 2 are working fine.
The 2 that are playing up appear in the contacts folder and the address
book, as do all the members of both lists individually.

Upon entering the list name into an new email, I got an Invalid list
message
(the list could not be expanded). Upon testing I got the same result
for
the
second. If I opened the list from A/book or contacts and clicked
'email'
the
list would expand and the mail would send. Enter the list name in a
new
email and no dice.

I messed around for some while, renamed one of the lists and it worked
fine,
changed the name back, no dice again.

So I deleted both groups. Guess what, the renamed version which
appeared
as
an auto complete in the 'To' box, but which didn't exist at all, worked
fine!

In desparation I created both lists from new with their original names.
At
first the problem with a new email continued by saying the list wasn't
valid.
So I typed the names in full and left outlook to think about it. After
some
minutes the fields had been auto completed and all now seems well.

It appears that one part of Outlook had lost the membership of the
lists
and
had decided the lists were invalid whilst another part of Outlook held
the
contrary (and correct) view that the lists were valid.

In case I have a problem again does anyone have a less time consuming
solution or indeed an explanation?

 

[Parish Pete]

Russ,

Thank you for the explanation. It amounts to the valuable maxim of "trust
nothing" and is one I entirely agree with.

For the present I can find no further fault and will therefore let sleeping
dogs lie. If good reason emerges that requires a new a profile I'll create
one.

If I may trouble you on another matter, The brand new vista machine which
runs a clean install of Office 2007 has a small quirk.

I imported existing email address data within an MSAccess database for a
one-off email shot. The data consisted of email address and name.

These email address contacts were imported into a subfolder of 'Contacts'.
Address book recognises their presence.

The contacts have been categorised into two groups and I wish to send a
seperate email to both categories. Unfortunately Outlook persists in
telling me that some of the contacts have no email address (which is untrue).
When I create mail for a category, niether name nor email of any contact is
inserted in the 'To' box

I have found a resolution on the web. It appears that by removing the
bracketed email address from the 'display as' field leaving only the
recipient's name, allows the create mail function to work.

The downside is that as far as I can tell there is no global option to
change the layout of the email address 'display as' field. Hence each one
must be changed manually.

If I simply want to send any those contacts in the normal manner there is no
problem.

Perhaps you would be kind enough to point me in the right direction.

Again there are backups of everything and re-importing the 60 items of data
would not be an issue.

I cannot recall whether Outlook imported, or Access exported, the data,
though under the umbrella of MSOffice either should work!

I can't see this being a profile issue since this is a 'first use' computer.

kind regards

Peter

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

One of Outlook's many flaws is its inability to import or export data
reliably. Your email addresses were imported but Outlook failed to resolve
them and hence cannot fine or recognize them. Opening and saving each of the
Contacts you imported should correct the problem.

 

[Parish Pete]

Russ

Thank you for the prompt reply.

I have just tried opening the contact and clicking 'save and close'.
Regretably this does not change the situation, only those contact's email
addresses where I have removed the bracketed entry are actually added to to
the 'To' box

Each email entry in the indivial contact is displayed thus:
Allan B ([email protected]). Removal of the bracketed name cures the
problem but it's long winded. I do note that all my addresses are stored
this way.

It is as you say one of Outlook's flaws. I have a number of Outlook 2K pst
files which are untouched by 2007. Can you point me to the correct procedure
for importing contacts from them without flaw?

Kind regards

Peter

One of Outlook's many flaws is its inability to import or export data
reliably. Your email addresses were imported but Outlook failed to resolve
them and hence cannot fine or recognize them. Opening and saving each of the
Contacts you imported should correct the problem.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Russ,

Thank you for the explanation. It amounts to the valuable maxim of "trust
nothing" and is one I entirely agree with.

For the present I can find no further fault and will therefore let
sleeping
dogs lie. If good reason emerges that requires a new a profile I'll
create
one.

If I may trouble you on another matter, The brand new vista machine which
runs a clean install of Office 2007 has a small quirk.

I imported existing email address data within an MSAccess database for a
one-off email shot. The data consisted of email address and name.

These email address contacts were imported into a subfolder of 'Contacts'.
Address book recognises their presence.

The contacts have been categorised into two groups and I wish to send a
seperate email to both categories. Unfortunately Outlook persists in
telling me that some of the contacts have no email address (which is
untrue).
When I create mail for a category, niether name nor email of any contact
is
inserted in the 'To' box

I have found a resolution on the web. It appears that by removing the
bracketed email address from the 'display as' field leaving only the
recipient's name, allows the create mail function to work.

The downside is that as far as I can tell there is no global option to
change the layout of the email address 'display as' field. Hence each one
must be changed manually.

If I simply want to send any those contacts in the normal manner there is
no
problem.

Perhaps you would be kind enough to point me in the right direction.

Again there are backups of everything and re-importing the 60 items of
data
would not be an issue.

I cannot recall whether Outlook imported, or Access exported, the data,
though under the umbrella of MSOffice either should work!

I can't see this being a profile issue since this is a 'first use'
computer.

kind regards

Peter

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

If the email addresses were not in a valid or standard format, Outlook will
not be able to resolve them no matter what you do. There are no known
workarounds for Outlook's failure to resolve valid email addresses on
importing.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Russ

Thank you for the prompt reply.

I have just tried opening the contact and clicking 'save and close'.
Regretably this does not change the situation, only those contact's email
addresses where I have removed the bracketed entry are actually added to
to
the 'To' box

Each email entry in the indivial contact is displayed thus:
Allan B ([email protected]). Removal of the bracketed name cures the
problem but it's long winded. I do note that all my addresses are stored
this way.

It is as you say one of Outlook's flaws. I have a number of Outlook 2K
pst
files which are untouched by 2007. Can you point me to the correct
procedure
for importing contacts from them without flaw?

Kind regards

Peter

One of Outlook's many flaws is its inability to import or export data
reliably. Your email addresses were imported but Outlook failed to
resolve
them and hence cannot fine or recognize them. Opening and saving each of
the
Contacts you imported should correct the problem.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Russ,

Thank you for the explanation. It amounts to the valuable maxim of
"trust
nothing" and is one I entirely agree with.

For the present I can find no further fault and will therefore let
sleeping
dogs lie. If good reason emerges that requires a new a profile I'll
create
one.

If I may trouble you on another matter, The brand new vista machine
which
runs a clean install of Office 2007 has a small quirk.

I imported existing email address data within an MSAccess database for
a
one-off email shot. The data consisted of email address and name.

These email address contacts were imported into a subfolder of
'Contacts'.
Address book recognises their presence.

The contacts have been categorised into two groups and I wish to send a
seperate email to both categories. Unfortunately Outlook persists in
telling me that some of the contacts have no email address (which is
untrue).
When I create mail for a category, niether name nor email of any
contact
is
inserted in the 'To' box

I have found a resolution on the web. It appears that by removing the
bracketed email address from the 'display as' field leaving only the
recipient's name, allows the create mail function to work.

The downside is that as far as I can tell there is no global option to
change the layout of the email address 'display as' field. Hence each
one
must be changed manually.

If I simply want to send any those contacts in the normal manner there
is
no
problem.

Perhaps you would be kind enough to point me in the right direction.

Again there are backups of everything and re-importing the 60 items of
data
would not be an issue.

I cannot recall whether Outlook imported, or Access exported, the data,
though under the umbrella of MSOffice either should work!

I can't see this being a profile issue since this is a 'first use'
computer.

kind regards

Peter

 

[Tim]

If I read this correctly, your email addresses are in the contacts view but
do not show up when typing a new email.

Try this: open Contacts.
You'll see an area on the top left that says My Contacts. do a write click
on an item and look for properties.
A tabbed dialog box should appear that has one tab called Outlook Address
Book.
Rename the address book in the field and check the box to show this folder
as an email address book.

Open the new email and then open the address button next to the To: box. You
should find it next

If the email addresses were not in a valid or standard format, Outlook will
not be able to resolve them no matter what you do. There are no known
workarounds for Outlook's failure to resolve valid email addresses on
importing.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Russ

Thank you for the prompt reply.

I have just tried opening the contact and clicking 'save and close'.
Regretably this does not change the situation, only those contact's email
addresses where I have removed the bracketed entry are actually added to
to
the 'To' box

Each email entry in the indivial contact is displayed thus:
Allan B ([email protected]). Removal of the bracketed name cures the
problem but it's long winded. I do note that all my addresses are stored
this way.

It is as you say one of Outlook's flaws. I have a number of Outlook 2K
pst
files which are untouched by 2007. Can you point me to the correct
procedure
for importing contacts from them without flaw?

Kind regards

Peter

One of Outlook's many flaws is its inability to import or export data
reliably. Your email addresses were imported but Outlook failed to
resolve
them and hence cannot fine or recognize them. Opening and saving each of
the
Contacts you imported should correct the problem.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]


Russ,

Thank you for the explanation. It amounts to the valuable maxim of
"trust
nothing" and is one I entirely agree with.

For the present I can find no further fault and will therefore let
sleeping
dogs lie. If good reason emerges that requires a new a profile I'll
create
one.

If I may trouble you on another matter, The brand new vista machine
which
runs a clean install of Office 2007 has a small quirk.

I imported existing email address data within an MSAccess database for
a
one-off email shot. The data consisted of email address and name.

These email address contacts were imported into a subfolder of
'Contacts'.
Address book recognises their presence.

The contacts have been categorised into two groups and I wish to send a
seperate email to both categories. Unfortunately Outlook persists in
telling me that some of the contacts have no email address (which is
untrue).
When I create mail for a category, niether name nor email of any
contact
is
inserted in the 'To' box

I have found a resolution on the web. It appears that by removing the
bracketed email address from the 'display as' field leaving only the
recipient's name, allows the create mail function to work.

The downside is that as far as I can tell there is no global option to
change the layout of the email address 'display as' field. Hence each
one
must be changed manually.

If I simply want to send any those contacts in the normal manner there
is
no
problem.

Perhaps you would be kind enough to point me in the right direction.

Again there are backups of everything and re-importing the 60 items of
data
would not be an issue.

I cannot recall whether Outlook imported, or Access exported, the data,
though under the umbrella of MSOffice either should work!

I can't see this being a profile issue since this is a 'first use'
computer.

kind regards

Peter