Questions about cleaning up duplicates

[KneelLung]

Hi. I was asked to "help" a user clean up duplicate contacts in OUTLOOK 2003.
I exported the contacts to a csv file and manually went through them and
deleted the duplicates. I now have 2 csv files, the original, and the
modified versions. Whats the best way to proceed ? Also, will this process
affect any of the Dist List the user has ? Thanks for any guidance.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

Hi. I was asked to "help" a user clean up duplicate contacts in OUTLOOK
2003.
I exported the contacts to a csv file and manually went through them and
deleted the duplicates. I now have 2 csv files, the original, and the
modified versions. Whats the best way to proceed ? Also, will this process
affect any of the Dist List the user has ? Thanks for any guidance.

The best way to proceed is to get one of the duplicate eliminators you can
find here:
http://www.slipstick.com/addins/contacts_dups.asp . At least one of them is
free (the "Outlook Duplicates Remover").

 

[KneelLung]

--
The city of happiness resides in the state of mind

The best way to proceed is to get one of the duplicate eliminators you can
find here:
http://www.slipstick.com/addins/contacts_dups.asp . At least one of them is
free (the "Outlook Duplicates Remover").

Thanks for the reply, but as stated, I already did the clean up work,
manually in a CSV file. Anyway, the software referenced would not have
worked for me since my user did not have "true" duplicates, (the teaser for
the software says:ODIR recognizes an item as a duplicate if *all* of the
following properties match those of another item in the same folder: #
Contact items:
first name, last name, company name and email address.
This was not the case here.

Anyway, I have figured out how to do it myself, by deleting their duplicate
ridden Contacts folder, and replacing it with the cleaned up version. and
retaining the users Dist List, by emailing them to another account for safe
keeping while I replaced the users contacts with the "duplicate free list",
then emailing those Dist List back to the user.

 

[Karl Timmermans]

Keep the following in mind re: your solution (may not be relevant in your
situation but might be for others reading this):

#1 - The entries in your distribution list will no longer reference actual
"contact items"
#2 - Any <links> that may have existed to any of the old contacts will no
longer be valid
#3 - Any user-defined field data that may have existed for any contacts will
all be lost

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

 

[KneelLung]

The reasons I posted my request for help here are:
The user in question is a big shot.
We are talking about appx 8,000. contacts.
I had never done this before, and could not find
good documentation on the process.

Anybody not selling software willing to expound ?
Thanks.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

The information you received is accurate and unbiased.
Many duplicate checkers are free and are far preferable to any of the
solutions you posed, all of which will alter or lose data for the various
reasons mentioned.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

The reasons I posted my request for help here are:
The user in question is a big shot.
We are talking about appx 8,000. contacts.
I had never done this before, and could not find
good documentation on the process.

Anybody not selling software willing to expound ?
Thanks.
--
The city of happiness resides in the state of mind

Keep the following in mind re: your solution (may not be relevant in
your
situation but might be for others reading this):

#1 - The entries in your distribution list will no longer reference
actual
"contact items"
#2 - Any <links> that may have existed to any of the old contacts will no
longer be valid
#3 - Any user-defined field data that may have existed for any contacts
will
all be lost

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

--
The city of happiness resides in the state of mind


:


Hi. I was asked to "help" a user clean up duplicate contacts in
OUTLOOK
2003.
I exported the contacts to a csv file and manually went through them
and
deleted the duplicates. I now have 2 csv files, the original, and
the
modified versions. Whats the best way to proceed ? Also, will this
process
affect any of the Dist List the user has ? Thanks for any guidance.

The best way to proceed is to get one of the duplicate eliminators you
can
find here:
http://www.slipstick.com/addins/contacts_dups.asp . At least one of
them
is
free (the "Outlook Duplicates Remover").
--
Brian Tillman [MVP-Outlook]


Thanks for the reply, but as stated, I already did the clean up work,
manually in a CSV file. Anyway, the software referenced would not have
worked for me since my user did not have "true" duplicates, (the teaser
for
the software says:ODIR recognizes an item as a duplicate if *all* of
the
following properties match those of another item in the same folder: #
Contact items:
first name, last name, company name and email address.
This was not the case here.

Anyway, I have figured out how to do it myself, by deleting their
duplicate
ridden Contacts folder, and replacing it with the cleaned up version.
and
retaining the users Dist List, by emailing them to another account for
safe
keeping while I replaced the users contacts with the "duplicate free
list",
then emailing those Dist List back to the user.