annoying problem with distribution lists

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bill Brehm
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Bill Brehm

Hi. I keep my outlook PST files on a poratbale drive that i carry and share
between my laptop, home PC and work PC. I have a terrible problem with
distribution lists. i haven't detected the pattern yet but when i send from
certain PC(s) the Outlook on that PC cannot recognize the members of the
list. I get an error that none of my accounts could send to the recipient.
When i click the recipient i get the highly informative message "Cannot
perform the requested operation. the command selected is not valid for this
recipient.". The help thinks i'm trying to access someone else's calendar.
Since having this problem i tried to keep an email with all the recipients
in the BCC field in the drafts folder and copy it when i need to send. this
time it also has the same problem. Please help! Thanks!
 
Bill Brehm said:
Hi. I keep my outlook PST files on a poratbale drive that i carry and
share between my laptop, home PC and work PC. I have a terrible
problem with distribution lists. i haven't detected the pattern yet
but when i send from certain PC(s) the Outlook on that PC cannot
recognize the members of the list. I get an error that none of my
accounts could send to the recipient. When i click the recipient i
get the highly informative message "Cannot perform the requested
operation. the command selected is not valid for this recipient.".
The help thinks i'm trying to access someone else's calendar. Since
having this problem i tried to keep an email with all the recipients
in the BCC field in the drafts folder and copy it when i need to
send. this time it also has the same problem. Please help! Thanks!
Click to expand...

DLs are very fragile constructs and many power users of Otlook stay away
from them, especially with the practices you're following (i.e., PSTs aren't
meant to be constantly shuttled between Outlook instances). One can usually
use categories or multiple contacts folders to perform the same function.
 
I do also have these contacts categorized, so i can easily find them all in
the contacts page. But i can't figure out how to get all the names into an
email BCC feild. If I copy paster or drag drop I get only text with their
names, phone numbers, everything. If I select all and right click I don't
get anything like Email To... So how can I use categories to replace
distribution lists? Thanks...
 
Bill Brehm said:
So how can
I use categories to replace distribution lists? Thanks...
Click to expand...

Display your Contacts folder in the By Category view, select the category
containing the people you wish to mail, then click Actions>New Message to
Contact. This will open a new message window containing the contacts in the
To field. Right-click the To field contents, choose Select All, then click
the selection and drag it to the Bcc field.
 
Okay, I'll give that a try - thanks.

I'm curious about your comment that PST are not mean to be shuttled around
between Outlook instances. What is the technical reason for that? I'm aware
that some data is stored locally and some stored inthe PST. For example, the
autofill email addresses seem to be stored locally. But for PSTs to have
trouble moving between instances would mean that something like, for
example, an index is stored locally so that when I move the PST to the next
instance of Outlook then the index there would not point to the correct
locations for items that were moved. So is it something like this that you
meant? Thanks.
 
Bill Brehm said:
I'm curious about your comment that PST are not mean to be shuttled
around between Outlook instances. What is the technical reason for
that?
Click to expand...

I don't know about "techical reason", but my reasons are that it's all too
easy to get something wrong in the transfer and that information about the
specific machine where the PST was created can be embedded in the PST and
then take adjusting after the move.
 
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