Outlook 2003 Contacts & Address Book

[Javier]

Hi there,

I have "upgraded" from Outlook 2002---->2003. We imported the address book
from Outlook Express to 2002 and afterwards to 2003 and we also converted the
..pst file to the new 2003 format. Then, we have discovered that:

1.- Entering from Tools, we have an address book with two contacts folders,
one empty and the other one with all the mail contacts we imported, most of
them duplicated (or triplicated), but with different information.

2.- Looking at the Outlook 2003 folders, we have a "Contacts" folder with
also all the mail contacts info that we felt was the same as the one in the
address book (now we have discovered it isn't ;-( ).

Then, in order to do some "clean-up", we started to delete all the
duplicated entries in the "address book - contact" folder, in particular
those ones that seemed not to have the correct info.

We expected to have them also deleted from the "outlook contact" folder, but
surprising to us, they weren't.... Than our questions come:

a.- Why do we have the "empty folder" in the address book and can we delete
it in order to avoid confusions?

b.- Which "contact list" (address book or outlook one) are we really using
for our mailing sending ? is there any way we can discover and fix it?

c.- How can we have deleted the entried we delete in one of the contct list
deleted in the other? In other words, how can we synchronize both "contacts
lists"

Thanks for any help and best regards.

Javier

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Whenever you migrate your Outlook Data File you must then reset the Outlook
Address Book Service to display the new Contact Folder. It will retain the
connection to your old, now non-existent PST file until you do so. How did
you "remove" those references?

You've snarled this knot so badly, it will be easier just to remove the
Outlook Address Book completely from the profile, restart Outlook, then set
each Contact Folder you want displayed in the Address Book as an email
address book in its properties.

 

[Javier]

Russ,

thanks for your answer.

I finally discovered (thanks to the answer to my post in another MS related
forum) what the problem was. It was due mainly to a wrong concept I had about
the "Contacts" and the "Address Book" of Outlook 2003 that, read in another
forum, I felt were "totally different and without straight relationship".

I now understand that what one can see in address book under "contacts" is
really a "view" of the contact folder of Outlook, and that If I delete an
entry in Contact Folder, it is deleted in the "contact folder of Address
Book", but if I do it in "Address Book" the corresponding entry isn't deleted
in "Contact Folder", in fact what it does is to delete the contents of the
email userid field of the entry in "Contact Folder of Outlook".

Maybe our migration work was not done in the most right way, but now we know
how to do the clean-up we need to do without the need of re-do all the
migration work again, that could be too work to do.

Thanks anyway for your help and best regards.

Javier

Whenever you migrate your Outlook Data File you must then reset the Outlook
Address Book Service to display the new Contact Folder. It will retain the
connection to your old, now non-existent PST file until you do so. How did
you "remove" those references?

You've snarled this knot so badly, it will be easier just to remove the
Outlook Address Book completely from the profile, restart Outlook, then set
each Contact Folder you want displayed in the Address Book as an email
address book in its properties.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Hi there,

I have "upgraded" from Outlook 2002---->2003. We imported the address book
from Outlook Express to 2002 and afterwards to 2003 and we also converted
the
.pst file to the new 2003 format. Then, we have discovered that:

1.- Entering from Tools, we have an address book with two contacts
folders,
one empty and the other one with all the mail contacts we imported, most
of
them duplicated (or triplicated), but with different information.

2.- Looking at the Outlook 2003 folders, we have a "Contacts" folder with
also all the mail contacts info that we felt was the same as the one in
the
address book (now we have discovered it isn't ;-( ).

Then, in order to do some "clean-up", we started to delete all the
duplicated entries in the "address book - contact" folder, in particular
those ones that seemed not to have the correct info.

We expected to have them also deleted from the "outlook contact" folder,
but
surprising to us, they weren't.... Than our questions come:

a.- Why do we have the "empty folder" in the address book and can we
delete
it in order to avoid confusions?

b.- Which "contact list" (address book or outlook one) are we really using
for our mailing sending ? is there any way we can discover and fix it?

c.- How can we have deleted the entried we delete in one of the contct
list
deleted in the other? In other words, how can we synchronize both
"contacts
lists"

Thanks for any help and best regards.

Javier

 

[Javier]

Russ,

thanks for your answer.

The problem we had was more a "conceptual error", due to my reading on
another forum that the "Contact Folder of Outlook" and the "Address Book"
were thing totally different and without an straight relationship between
them.

Reading the answer to another post I did in another MS-related forum, I
discovered where our problem was. Now I feel that the "contacts" in the
"Address Book" is like a "view" over the "Contact Folder of Outlook". In fact
if we delete an entry in the "Contact Folder", it dissapears in the one in
"Address Book", but if we delete an entry in the "contact list of the address
book", the "corresponding entry" in the "Contact Folder of Outlook" is not
deleted. In fact, what it does is only to "empty" the contents of the e-mail
field of the entry in the "Contact folder of Outlook".

Anyway, we now feel to know what process to follow in order to do the
clean-up we need to do, trying to avoid to do again a full "import" process,
that could be too long and with the risk of losing some of the data we have
already included in our Outlook 2003.

Anyway, thanks again for your help.

Javier

Whenever you migrate your Outlook Data File you must then reset the Outlook
Address Book Service to display the new Contact Folder. It will retain the
connection to your old, now non-existent PST file until you do so. How did
you "remove" those references?

You've snarled this knot so badly, it will be easier just to remove the
Outlook Address Book completely from the profile, restart Outlook, then set
each Contact Folder you want displayed in the Address Book as an email
address book in its properties.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Hi there,

I have "upgraded" from Outlook 2002---->2003. We imported the address book
from Outlook Express to 2002 and afterwards to 2003 and we also converted
the
.pst file to the new 2003 format. Then, we have discovered that:

1.- Entering from Tools, we have an address book with two contacts
folders,
one empty and the other one with all the mail contacts we imported, most
of
them duplicated (or triplicated), but with different information.

2.- Looking at the Outlook 2003 folders, we have a "Contacts" folder with
also all the mail contacts info that we felt was the same as the one in
the
address book (now we have discovered it isn't ;-( ).

Then, in order to do some "clean-up", we started to delete all the
duplicated entries in the "address book - contact" folder, in particular
those ones that seemed not to have the correct info.

We expected to have them also deleted from the "outlook contact" folder,
but
surprising to us, they weren't.... Than our questions come:

a.- Why do we have the "empty folder" in the address book and can we
delete
it in order to avoid confusions?

b.- Which "contact list" (address book or outlook one) are we really using
for our mailing sending ? is there any way we can discover and fix it?

c.- How can we have deleted the entried we delete in one of the contct
list
deleted in the other? In other words, how can we synchronize both
"contacts
lists"

Thanks for any help and best regards.

Javier

 

[JR]

Russ,

I developed a recent issue w/ my Outlook 2003 contacts, and in
searching for a solution, you seem to be the go-to guy - so here's
another one for you.

As of the last few days, none of the contact entries that I added
within the past week or so are searchable via Find a Contact. In other
words, I could be staring directly at the entry for "Smith, John" and
if I search "Smith, John", I get the message "Outlook could not find
the requested contact." Suggestions?

Thanks...in advance.

JR

Whenever you migrate your Outlook Data File you must then reset the Outlook
Address Book Service to display the new Contact Folder. It will retain the
connection to your old, now non-existent PST file until you do so. How did
you "remove" those references?

You've snarled this knot so badly, it will be easier just to remove the
Outlook Address Book completely from the profile, restart Outlook, then set
each Contact Folder you want displayed in the Address Book as an email
address book in its properties.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Hi there,

I have "upgraded" from Outlook 2002---->2003. We imported the address book
from Outlook Express to 2002 and afterwards to 2003 and we also converted
the
.pst file to the new 2003 format. Then, we have discovered that:

1.- Entering from Tools, we have an address book with two contacts
folders,
one empty and the other one with all the mail contacts we imported, most
of
them duplicated (or triplicated), but with different information.

2.- Looking at the Outlook 2003 folders, we have a "Contacts" folder with
also all the mail contacts info that we felt was the same as the one in
the
address book (now we have discovered it isn't ;-( ).

Then, in order to do some "clean-up", we started to delete all the
duplicated entries in the "address book - contact" folder, in particular
those ones that seemed not to have the correct info.

We expected to have them also deleted from the "outlook contact" folder,
but
surprising to us, they weren't.... Than our questions come:

a.- Why do we have the "empty folder" in the address book and can we
delete
it in order to avoid confusions?

b.- Which "contact list" (address book or outlook one) are we really using
for our mailing sending ? is there any way we can discover and fix it?

c.- How can we have deleted the entried we delete in one of the contct
list
deleted in the other? In other words, how can we synchronize both
"contacts
lists"

Thanks for any help and best regards.

Javier

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Need a little more information. Clarify the method by which you are doing
this search, especially in what folder you are searching. Also, use Folder
List view to examine your entire folder hierarchy in this Outlook profile.
See if you have more than one Contacts Folder and if so whether any of those
Folders is not included in your Outlook Address Book Service.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Russ,

I developed a recent issue w/ my Outlook 2003 contacts, and in
searching for a solution, you seem to be the go-to guy - so here's
another one for you.

As of the last few days, none of the contact entries that I added
within the past week or so are searchable via Find a Contact. In other
words, I could be staring directly at the entry for "Smith, John" and
if I search "Smith, John", I get the message "Outlook could not find
the requested contact." Suggestions?

Thanks...in advance.

JR

Whenever you migrate your Outlook Data File you must then reset the
Outlook
Address Book Service to display the new Contact Folder. It will retain
the
connection to your old, now non-existent PST file until you do so. How
did
you "remove" those references?

You've snarled this knot so badly, it will be easier just to remove the
Outlook Address Book completely from the profile, restart Outlook, then
set
each Contact Folder you want displayed in the Address Book as an email
address book in its properties.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Hi there,

I have "upgraded" from Outlook 2002---->2003. We imported the address
book
from Outlook Express to 2002 and afterwards to 2003 and we also
converted
the
.pst file to the new 2003 format. Then, we have discovered that:

1.- Entering from Tools, we have an address book with two contacts
folders,
one empty and the other one with all the mail contacts we imported,
most
of
them duplicated (or triplicated), but with different information.

2.- Looking at the Outlook 2003 folders, we have a "Contacts" folder
with
also all the mail contacts info that we felt was the same as the one in
the
address book (now we have discovered it isn't ;-( ).

Then, in order to do some "clean-up", we started to delete all the
duplicated entries in the "address book - contact" folder, in
particular
those ones that seemed not to have the correct info.

We expected to have them also deleted from the "outlook contact"
folder,
but
surprising to us, they weren't.... Than our questions come:

a.- Why do we have the "empty folder" in the address book and can we
delete
it in order to avoid confusions?

b.- Which "contact list" (address book or outlook one) are we really
using
for our mailing sending ? is there any way we can discover and fix it?

c.- How can we have deleted the entried we delete in one of the contct
list
deleted in the other? In other words, how can we synchronize both
"contacts
lists"

Thanks for any help and best regards.

Javier