Imported contacts not recognized.

[Jerry]

I have a user running Outlook 2007 on Vista Ultimate. Original install -
neither are upgrades.

He started having trouble with his Contacts list - distribution lists being
corrupted and individual contacts occasionally corrupted.

It seems that these problems started occurring after he started synching
with an iPhone. He has the lastest iTunes and phone software.

As well, with the other problems, there is a lot of clean up work that needs
to be done because the synch with the iPhone has messed up / duplicated
contact info.

So I exported the Contacts list to an Excel file, did a CTRL A and deleted
all the contacts and made a bunch of edits in Excel to clean it up and
reimported the contacts.

However, now, I can see all the contacts and changes in the Contacts view,
however, when I go to write a new message - whether I click on TO and look at
contacts or start typing - there are no contacts - except for a couple that
should not be in the Contacts group, but the secondary Contacts FAX list
(separate listing and the rest of the contacts in FAX remained in FAX).

Any thoughts on why the imported contacts do not show up when creating a new
message - but show when click on Contacts to view?

Sorry for the long message, just trying to be clear, concise, yet thorough.

 

[Jerry]

I should also note, that I did import the same contacts from the Excel file
into a different Outlook 2007 client and experienced the same problems. I
even tried a csv file and tab delimited.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

He started having trouble with his Contacts list - distribution lists being
corrupted and individual contacts occasionally corrupted.

It seems that these problems started occurring after he started synching
with an iPhone. He has the lastest iTunes and phone software.

As well, with the other problems, there is a lot of clean up work that needs
to be done because the synch with the iPhone has messed up / duplicated
contact info.

So I exported the Contacts list to an Excel file, did a CTRL A and deleted
all the contacts and made a bunch of edits in Excel to clean it up and
reimported the contacts.

Unfortunately, importing loses data and usually fails to resolve any of the
contacts' email addresses. If you don't have scads of them, you can open each
contact, change one character in the email address field to itself, then save
and close the contact to resolve the address. Otherwise, seek a third-party
tool that will force address resolution. Start here:
http://www.slipstick.com/addins/contacts_entry.asp

 

[Jerry]

I downloaded a program the program "ResolveEmail" and ran it against the
Contacts folder that I was having trouble with, however, it didn't help.
Apparently, the email addresses did not import at all.

Is this what you were suggesting I do or is there another program that will
actually do the importing? If so, could you give me a specific example of
one? He has 400 contacts - not all have email addresses, but most do.

 

[Karl Timmermans]

What field exactly did you use when mapping the fields on import (assuming
that you manually mapped the fields or at the very least reviewed the
mappings if you let Outlook <automap> the fields)?

For example - when importing SMTP addresses ([email protected]) - the field that
should be selected for mapping is <Email Address> and not <Email> (or the
equiv for Email 2 & 3). The Email Address Type field will be automatically
set correctly. To import your email addresses to the Root <Email> field
means that you are in essence asking Outlook to parse the incoming data and
hope that all 3 sub-fields are correctly set (a primary cause for email
addresses not getting "resolved")

For what it's worth - have very seldom seen a problem with actually
importing data using the Outlook import wizard if everything is mapped
correctly and there are no issues with the data file being imported (derived
fields excepted). The import wizard has been around for a very long time and
is extremely stable for simple requirements (PST to PST import/export
excepted which is an option that seriously needs to disappear IMHO).

Just for the sake of accuracy (at least in terms of our experience with
dealing with Outlook data) regarding <loss of data>:

#1 - Have never found Outlook to "lose data" for the fields being imported
unless there was another underlying issue (wrong field map etc)
#2 - A more accurate description is that you cannot export <all> Outlook
data and similarly cannot import to <all> Outlook fields which in <that
context> could be described as <data loss>. There are a lot of things that
people wish that the Outlook import/export wizard did (our customers being
prime examples) but that is completely different then the Import/Export
wizard not working properly in what it does.

Karl

___________________________________________________
Karl Timmermans - The Claxton Group
ContactGenie - Importer 1.3 / DataPorter 2.0 / Exporter
"Power contact importers/exporters for MS Outlook '2000/2007"
http://www.contactgenie.com

 

[Jerry]

Thanks Karl!! That was it... the email addresses were not mapped at all in
the default. So I matched up EmailAddress to EmailAddress as well as
display names and types and it imported exactly as I wanted.

Still strange that when he wants to have two entries for the same person -
"Jim Smith" and "Jim & Sandy Smith" - and different emails for each - that it
forces them to be the same name. Both "Jim Smith" or "Jim & Sandy Smith".
He can work around that - but strange nonetheless.

Thanks again for helping!!

Jerry

 

[Karl Timmermans]

Glad it worked for you. Some comments:

#1 - Suspect that the reason the email addressess weren't mapped was because
the "Default Map" button was clicked which also has the result you described
(no email fields being mapped) assuming you are importing the file
originally created by the initial Outlook export (another reason to at the
very least always look at all the fields you're importing to make sure
things are mapped the way you want). Depending on auto-mapping is simply not
a good idea when it comes to Outlook for a host of reasons whether or not
the field names are the "same" which itself is somewhat of a misnomer since
Outlook will match fields if the field name is the same as the "Display
Name" (shown in the Field Map) or internal Outlook field name (field name
exported) - one exception to that which comes to mind is the Notes (external
name)/Body(internal name) field).

#2 - Re" <forcing> Display Names to be the same

Actually - the term <force> is a tad over-stated. A better description would
be <Defaults to>. The DisplayAs fields are "derived" fields. i.e. O'2007
uses the "FullName" and Email Address (many people just enter first and last
names so they think that the DisplayAs field shows <FirstName LastName
(Emailaddress)> when in fact it is 4 of the 5 FullName components (First,
Middle, Last, Suffix) that are used in constructing the DisplayAs field
name. 2nd and 3rd email addresses are really intended to be for the same
person so the logic makes sense for the DispAddr to use the same construct.

Of course - the DispAs field can be modified to whatever you want keeping in
mind that when the corresponding email address changes - the DispAs field
will also be reset to the "default" automatically (the reverse is not true
if only the <name> is changed - in whole or in part).

Karl
___________________________________________________
Karl Timmermans - The Claxton Group
ContactGenie - Importer 1.3 / DataPorter 2.0 / Exporter
"Power contact importers/exporters for MS Outlook '2000/2007"
http://www.contactgenie.com

Thanks Karl!! That was it... the email addresses were not mapped at all
in
the default. So I matched up EmailAddress to EmailAddress as well as
display names and types and it imported exactly as I wanted.

Still strange that when he wants to have two entries for the same person -
"Jim Smith" and "Jim & Sandy Smith" - and different emails for each - that
it
forces them to be the same name. Both "Jim Smith" or "Jim & Sandy
Smith".
He can work around that - but strange nonetheless.

Thanks again for helping!!

Jerry