Importing Windows Mail Contact GROUP to Outlook 2007

[AlphaTucana]

I've got lots of e-mail addresses in a contact group in Windows Mail,
and have tried to get them into Outlook 2007 in two ways without
success. Firstly exporting to .csv or vcard file - the group is
ignored and only other contacts get exported. Secondly, importing
direct into Outlook 2007 using its Import function: the group appears
but is empty. So, what's the secret? Thanks. BTW the reason I want to
get them into Outlook 2007 is because Windows Mail doesn't seem to
have the option of allowing me to send e-mails to only *some* members
of the contact group. I hope to convert it to a distribution list in
Outlook 2007 therefore, where I have more control.

 

[Brian Tillman]

I've got lots of e-mail addresses in a contact group in Windows Mail,
and have tried to get them into Outlook 2007 in two ways without
success. Firstly exporting to .csv or vcard file - the group is
ignored and only other contacts get exported. Secondly, importing
direct into Outlook 2007 using its Import function: the group appears
but is empty. So, what's the secret?

Unfortunately, Distribution Lists (the Outlook equivalent of a WIndows Mail
contact group) don't survive importing very well. WHat you can do, however,
is open that CSV file in Excel, select the "Name" and "Address" column data,
copy it to the clipboard, then open a new DL form in Outlook, click Select
Members, then paste the clipboard to the Members field. That should create
the DL properly.

 

[AlphaTucana]

Unfortunately, Distribution Lists (the Outlook equivalent of a WIndows Mail
contact group) don't survive importing very well. WHat you can do, however,
is open that CSV file in Excel, select the "Name" and "Address" column data,
copy it to the clipboard, then open a new DL form in Outlook, click Select
Members, then paste the clipboard to the Members field. That should create
the DL properly.

I'm afraid the data within the Group never makes it into the CSV file.
On exporting to CSV, the only info that seems to end up there is data
that is not within a group.

 

[Brian Tillman]

I'm afraid the data within the Group never makes it into the CSV file.
On exporting to CSV, the only info that seems to end up there is data
that is not within a group.

Open the contact group in Windows Mail. See if you can select the name and
address fields. If you can, copy the selection to the clipboard and proceed
from there.

 

[AlphaTucana]

Open the contact group in Windows Mail. See if you can select the name and
address fields. If you can, copy the selection to the clipboard and proceed
from there.

Hmm. Can't seem to do that either. I tried putting the group into the
To: field of an e-mail then cutting and pasting them into notepad for
conversion to a.csv file - but only the names get pasted; the e-mail
addresses disappear. Sigh.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Hmm. Can't seem to do that either. I tried putting the group into the
To: field of an e-mail then cutting and pasting them into notepad for
conversion to a.csv file - but only the names get pasted; the e-mail
addresses disappear. Sigh.

Did you try avoiding the CSV altogether as described in the second part of
my original post? Perhaps I wasn't clear. Open the Windows Mail address
book and select the Group. The right-hand pane should show the contacts in
that group. Select them all and press Ctrl-C to copy the names and
addresses. Then in Outlook, open a new DL, click Select Members, then click
in the Members field and press Ctrl-V to paste.

I'll try it at home this evening if I get the chance to see if it works. I
think it will. I did try it with Outlook Express, which should be very
similar and, while I had to edit the Members field in the Select Members
dialogue to remove some extraneous characters the paste inserted, on the
whole it worked in that case.

 

[AlphaTucana]

Did you try avoiding the CSV altogether as described in the second part of
my original post? Perhaps I wasn't clear. Open the Windows Mail address
book and select the Group. The right-hand pane should show the contacts in
that group. Select them all and press Ctrl-C to copy the names and
addresses. Then in Outlook, open a new DL, click Select Members, then click
in the Members field and press Ctrl-V to paste.

I'll try it at home this evening if I get the chance to see if it works. I
think it will. I did try it with Outlook Express, which should be very
similar and, while I had to edit the Members field in the Select Members
dialogue to remove some extraneous characters the paste inserted, on the
whole it worked in that case.

I didn't try that... It sounds like it might work. I'll try it on
Monday. I found a workaround for the moment though: with Outlook as my
default e-mail program, if I right-click on the group and choose to
send an e-mail, the addresses all appear in the To: field of a new
Outlook e-mail, so I can delete the ones I don't want to send to, and
copy the remainder into the BCC: field (or whatever). It is a bit
cumbersome, but it works for now.

 

[Tony UK]

I've been looking for the same thing. I just tried your idea and nothing
copied over at all.

 

[Brian Tillman]

I'll try it at home this evening if I get the chance to see if it
works. I think it will. I did try it with Outlook Express, which
should be very similar and, while I had to edit the Members field in
the Select Members dialogue to remove some extraneous characters the
paste inserted, on the whole it worked in that case.

I managed to remind myself to try this (I don't boot into Vista all that
often). Clearly Windows Contacts presentation is significantly different
from the prior Windows Address Book and the trick I had described for WAB
just won't work for WC. Sorry. I can't try this myself right now, but can
you save a Windows Contacts group as a tab-delimited file? I'll have to try
this as well.