Trouble addressing e-mail (OL2003 SP3)

[Joe McGuire]

After creating a new profile etc. following "Enter Network Password"
problems (subject of an earlier post) I find I cannot address e-mail. All
my Contacts show up; e-mail comes in and I can reply to e-mail. But when I
compose a new e-mail and click on "To" to enter a Contact's e-mail address I
get this error message:

"The address list could not be displayed. The Contacts folder associated
with this address list could not be opened; it may have been moved or
deleted, or you do not have permission. For information on how to remove
this folder from the Outlook Address Book, see Microsoft Office Outlook
Help." (

Then the "Select Names" window opens and the little Show Names From window
says Contacts. But the darned thing is totally blank. I would assume that
Address Book, Address List and Contacts are pretty much the same thing but
obviously they are not--at least to OL. I have no idea which of these OL
uses when I click on "To" or maybe there is something else again. I would
appreciate any help to get this part of OL working again!

 

[VanguardLH]

After creating a new profile etc. following "Enter Network Password"
problems (subject of an earlier post) I find I cannot address e-mail. All
my Contacts show up; e-mail comes in and I can reply to e-mail. But when I
compose a new e-mail and click on "To" to enter a Contact's e-mail address I
get this error message:

"The address list could not be displayed. The Contacts folder associated
with this address list could not be opened; it may have been moved or
deleted, or you do not have permission. For information on how to remove
this folder from the Outlook Address Book, see Microsoft Office Outlook
Help." (

Then the "Select Names" window opens and the little Show Names From window
says Contacts. But the darned thing is totally blank. I would assume that
Address Book, Address List and Contacts are pretty much the same thing but
obviously they are not--at least to OL. I have no idea which of these OL
uses when I click on "To" or maybe there is something else again. I would
appreciate any help to get this part of OL working again!

I don't have Outlook at hand so this is from memory (and for OL2002).
Open the Outlook Address Book (OAB). This really isn't an address book
but a container of contact-type folders that have been configured for
inclusion in this container. Do you see any contacts in the OAB? If
not, is there a drop-down list to select different contact folders in
the OAB? If so, select a different one and see if contacts show up. If
contacts show up when selecting a different container, you need to
change which is the default contact folder. That's the part I'm fuzzy
on. I think you use the Mail applet in Control Panel to look at address
books (you can there, too, from data management in Outlook, I think) and
select what is the order from where you get contacts.

Each contact-folder you want to show up in the OAB must be enabled to
show up there. Look at the properties of the contact-type folder and
make sure under the OAB tab that it is enabled for inclusion in the oAB.

 

[Joe McGuire]

Casting about I opened Contacts, right-clicked on the Contacts Bar, selected
Properties, clicked on the OAB Tab and discovered an unchecked box Show this
folder as an e-mail address book. I even renamed the Contacts oflder there
so I could tell it apart from the fake or empty one if I ever find them (Of
course, they aren't really folders but part of the vast pst file.) Now I
get partial relief. I still gegt the error message clicking on "To" but now
when the Select Names window opens I can change to the renamed contacts
"folder". It's a long workaround.

Any suggestions to get this fixed?

 

[Joe McGuire]

thanks. See my followup post.

I don't have Outlook at hand so this is from memory (and for OL2002).
Open the Outlook Address Book (OAB). This really isn't an address book
but a container of contact-type folders that have been configured for
inclusion in this container. Do you see any contacts in the OAB? If
not, is there a drop-down list to select different contact folders in
the OAB? If so, select a different one and see if contacts show up. If
contacts show up when selecting a different container, you need to
change which is the default contact folder. That's the part I'm fuzzy
on. I think you use the Mail applet in Control Panel to look at address
books (you can there, too, from data management in Outlook, I think) and
select what is the order from where you get contacts.

Each contact-folder you want to show up in the OAB must be enabled to
show up there. Look at the properties of the contact-type folder and
make sure under the OAB tab that it is enabled for inclusion in the oAB.

 

[VanguardLH]

Casting about I opened Contacts, right-clicked on the Contacts Bar, selected
Properties, clicked on the OAB Tab and discovered an unchecked box Show this
folder as an e-mail address book. I even renamed the Contacts oflder there
so I could tell it apart from the fake or empty one if I ever find them (Of
course, they aren't really folders but part of the vast pst file.) Now I
get partial relief. I still gegt the error message clicking on "To" but now
when the Select Names window opens I can change to the renamed contacts
"folder". It's a long workaround.

As mentioned in my other post, the default address book is probably no
longer defined (that contact-type folder doesn't exist) or it is empty.
You need to change the order of the addressbooks listed in the OAB. Set
the default one to whichever contact-type folder you want to be the
default one from which contacts are searched.

 

[Joe McGuire]

Any idea how to do that?

As mentioned in my other post, the default address book is probably no
longer defined (that contact-type folder doesn't exist) or it is empty.
You need to change the order of the addressbooks listed in the OAB. Set
the default one to whichever contact-type folder you want to be the
default one from which contacts are searched.

 

[VanguardLH]

...

Any idea how to do that?

Tools --> E-mail accounts.
Click "View or change existing directories or address books".
Click "Next."
Click "Outlook Address Book".

 

[Joe McGuire]

Thanks. I deleted one of the 2 Address books there. Both had the same
name, neither matching the name I applied to the "true" stuff.. The problem
persists..

 

[VanguardLH]

Thanks. I deleted one of the 2 Address books there. Both had the same
name, neither matching the name I applied to the "true" stuff.. The problem
persists..

The problem when contact-type folders have the same name is that you
cannot distinguish between them, like in this dialog where the same name
will show for each same-named contact-type folder. You probably end up
deleting the wrong one. Deleting just removes the option to include
that contact-type folder in the OAB. I've had problems in the past
where what was listed didn't see to show up in the OAB even when the
folder was selected in the address book window. In that case, I deleted
all address books from the OAB. I then renamed my contact-type folders
so each one had a unique name. I left the default one named "Contacts"
but the rest were renamed to something else, like "Contacts - Work" and
"Contacts - School". In the property for each contact-type folder, I
enabled the OAB option to include it in the OAB (since all had been
deleted in the OAB config dialog, none of the contact-type folders
should have this option enabled until I go back and reenable it). Then
when I was in the OAB config dialog, I could tell which contact-type
folders were included in the OAB container and which one I selected as
the default one. It wasn't until I deleted all contact-type folders
from inclusion in the OAB container and then re-added them that they
sync'ed up right.

 

[Joe McGuire]

[I could have sworn I sent a reply yesterday but can find not trrace of
it--sorry]
The problem seems to have vanished. I did something right, but I have no
idea what. Or maybe I did nothing. In anyn event I ignored the problem,
did lots of other stuff with the computer, including a few reboots for
unrelated reasons. When I finally read your post I thought I'd just try OL
again to confirm that it was still screwed up. To my astonishment the
problem seems to be gone! Maybe it's something I did. Or didn't. Anyway,
thanks for your help.

Optional reading: Although I love OL generally, I positively despise it
once it gets a little off-kilter. Everything about it is near-inscrutable,
overlain with double-speak (e.g., all current--i.e., non-archived--OL data
is kept in a single pst folder, which is actually a file; meanwhile lots of
"help" info refers to various "folders" in OL) and almost entirely beyond
the ken of ordinary users. The terminology alone is understood only by a
tiny priesthood of experts. Even the business of moving OL from one
computer to another is a remarkably but unnecessarily complex undertaking,
complete with dire warnings. Well, perhaps it is "necessary" because of
OL's remarkable complexity, but I guess that's the point. The ordinary user
would assume, for example, that his address book and single Contacts
"folder" or collection of Contacts would be one and the same. But, noooo.
Well, enough said.