LOSING DISTRIBUTION LISTS BY DRAG AND DROP

[William]

Access 2003, Windows XP

This morning I was showing a co-worker a tip I got from this site that works
on my computer. Open your contacts folder, drag a distribution list over to
the mail folder in the navigation pane and drop, and a new message pops up
addressed to the DL. Only when she tried this, the list simply disappears
out of her contacts folder and is stored who-knows-where. We found it by
using Advanced Find.

We tried this by drag and dropping to both the Inbox folder in the
navigation pane and the mail tab at the bottom of the navigation pane. Same
result; folder disappears out of contacts folder and must be found with
Advanced find.

This did happen to me once before on my computer (not my co-worker's), so I
have seen it happen. But it no longer happens to me.

Ideas?

 

[William]

FOLLOW UP: I have been able to duplicate losing a DL on my computer. I have
8 DL's in my contacts folder. 3 of the 5 DLs in that folder will disappear
every time I drag and drop them to the Inbox. The other 5 consistently bring
up a new message to that DL. I've opened all 8 lists to look for a clue and
found just one. There are 2 different icons in each of the 3 groups that
disappear. The entries have either an address card, or an address card with
a head (profile) on it. In the 5 that don't disappear, the icons are all the
same (either the address card OR the address card with the head). I hope
this is a clue to the issue!?

 

[William]

FOLLOW UP TO THE FOLLOW UP. I created a new distribution list that has both
of the aforementioned icons, but this one does not disappear into the Inbox
when dragged and dropped. Another possibility is that I am pretty sure the
DL's that disappear were not created on my computer, but sent to me by others
and saved into my contacts folder. I'm about 98% sure on this.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Access 2003, Windows XP

What does Access have to do with it?

This morning I was showing a co-worker a tip I got from this site
that works on my computer. Open your contacts folder, drag a
distribution list over to the mail folder in the navigation pane and
drop, and a new message pops up addressed to the DL. Only when she
tried this, the list simply disappears out of her contacts folder and
is stored who-knows-where. We found it by using Advanced Find.

And where did Advanced Find say it was?

 

[William]

Crap. Outlook 2003
They were found in the Inbox. Of course, they cannot be seen in the Inbox
because there is no way to view distribution lists there. The reason I say
it is in the Inbox is because in the Advanced Find, I checked ONLY the Inbox
in the "Look In" option, suspecting that they might be there since that is
where I had dropped them.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Crap. Outlook 2003
They were found in the Inbox. Of course, they cannot be seen in the
Inbox because there is no way to view distribution lists there. The
reason I say it is in the Inbox is because in the Advanced Find, I
checked ONLY the Inbox in the "Look In" option, suspecting that they
might be there since that is where I had dropped them.

And you can't drag them back to the Contacts folder?

 

[William]

Yes, I have dragged them back. But every time I try to drop them in the
Inbox they disappear again into the Inbox. I'd like them to behave like the
rest of the DL's, which bring up a new message with themselves in the
address. It's a pain trying to remember which DL's work and which disappear.

I'd like to know if I can correct these 3 files, so that if it happens again
to other files in the future I'll know what to do.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Yes, I have dragged them back. But every time I try to drop them in
the Inbox they disappear again into the Inbox. I'd like them to
behave like the rest of the DL's, which bring up a new message with
themselves in the address. It's a pain trying to remember which DL's
work and which disappear.

Drag the DL back to the COntacts folder. Open the DL. Change a member
(i.e., delete it and add it again). Save the DL. Now try again with the
changed DL. What happens?

I'd like to know if I can correct these 3 files, so that if it
happens again to other files in the future I'll know what to do.

They're not files.

 

[William]

I deleted an entry, added again, saved and closed. Same thing happens - the
DL ends up in my Inbox.

I have thought of another clue. The three DL's that disappear into the
Inbox when dragged and dropped were all emailed to me from another worker.
Could it be that they are being recognized by Outlook as a mail item instead
of a contact item, and so do not trigger a new message but a relocation into
a different folder? They do function as DL's; that is, if I right click and
select "new message to contact" they will bring up a new message with the DL
in the To box.

Thanks for staying with this issue.

 

[Brian Tillman]

I deleted an entry, added again, saved and closed. Same thing
happens - the DL ends up in my Inbox.

I have thought of another clue. The three DL's that disappear into
the Inbox when dragged and dropped were all emailed to me from
another worker. Could it be that they are being recognized by Outlook
as a mail item instead of a contact item, and so do not trigger a new
message but a relocation into a different folder? They do function
as DL's; that is, if I right click and select "new message to
contact" they will bring up a new message with the DL in the To box.

And is that DL in the To field resolved (i.e. it displays underlined and
with a plus in front of it)?

 

[William]

Yes, they have an underline and a plus sign. If I click the plus sign, I see
all the individual addresses belonging to the DL

 

[Brian Tillman]

Yes, they have an underline and a plus sign. If I click the plus
sign, I see all the individual addresses belonging to the DL

Well, I'm stumped. Sorry.