Importing contacts into Outlook 2003 from Outlook Express

[Guest]

I'd really like to use Outlook as my default email instead of Outlook Express
however I'm having a problem that makes setting it up a potential pain.
Whenever I try to import the contacts from OE Express it mostly works just
fine. However, I like the way the tabs are in OE Express under an
individuals properties, specifically the personal tab where I can for
instance put in my brother's spouse and children names birthday aniiversary
etc. But this will not import into OE 2003, the details tab there does have
birthday and spouse name and anniversary but does not include children's
name. Plus it has business info as well as personal combined on the details
page where OE Express has separate tabs for this. In OE if I go to the tab
that says All Fields it has a spot for Children, Hobbies and other info and I
can type that info in. But it will not import into those fields from OE
Express and trying to navigate to that info later is a pain to have to go
through all of that. I really don't want to type all of that info all over
again, cousins birthdays kids names etc. plus I'd like to keep the business
and personal info separate. Also, and I'm sure its by design, I can't edit
any of those fields properties so I'm stuck with the way the pages are. It's
great that Office can integrate all sorts of info from different programs but
the defaults on this one just don't help me a lot. I learn these programs by
trial and error and the help files mostly so I may have missed something
extremely easy . At least I hope so. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Outlook and Outlook Express are completely different programs with nothing
in common. Pick the one you prefer. Do not expect anyone to reconcile the
differences for you.

 

[Guest]

Yes, I realize that they are different programs. However, so are Excel and
Word and Access and yet information can be passed between them through
linking, embedding, importing, exporting or whatever voodoo. It could be
argued that they have nothing in common either, but it doesn't keep them from
being of any use to each other. In order to pick which one I wish to use I
would like to know what is possible to effectively transfer from OE to
Outlook without having to retype everything. And any methods you might know
of to do so. I only pointed out the differences to give people some idea of
what I am trying to accomplish. I may very well decide to stick with OE
rather than have to go through some time consuming work. But if I can get
the info I want into Outlook then I could then export it into Access if I
wished to get a start on a database without having to start from scratch.

I don't expect anyone to reconcile the differences in the programs. I do
expect to get a straight reply without condescending elitist attitude and at
least a modicum of courtesy. Even a blunt "you can't get there from here"
would have been a kinder reply than yours was, implying that I expected
something extraordinary or unreasonable. I "hope" that someone might have
encountered a similar situation and be kind enough to share their solution
with me. I certainly don't expect anyone to sit down and devote hours to
trying to solve this for me. Even a man having a heart attack on a remote
hiking trail would understand someone saying they didn't know what to do than
have someone standing over him saying "Dude, don't expect me to call 911."

Outlook and Outlook Express are completely different programs with nothing
in common. Pick the one you prefer. Do not expect anyone to reconcile the
differences for you.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

I'd really like to use Outlook as my default email instead of Outlook
Express
however I'm having a problem that makes setting it up a potential pain.
Whenever I try to import the contacts from OE Express it mostly works just
fine. However, I like the way the tabs are in OE Express under an
individuals properties, specifically the personal tab where I can for
instance put in my brother's spouse and children names birthday
aniiversary
etc. But this will not import into OE 2003, the details tab there does
have
birthday and spouse name and anniversary but does not include children's
name. Plus it has business info as well as personal combined on the
details
page where OE Express has separate tabs for this. In OE if I go to the
tab
that says All Fields it has a spot for Children, Hobbies and other info
and I
can type that info in. But it will not import into those fields from OE
Express and trying to navigate to that info later is a pain to have to go
through all of that. I really don't want to type all of that info all
over
again, cousins birthdays kids names etc. plus I'd like to keep the
business
and personal info separate. Also, and I'm sure its by design, I can't
edit
any of those fields properties so I'm stuck with the way the pages are.
It's
great that Office can integrate all sorts of info from different programs
but
the defaults on this one just don't help me a lot. I learn these programs
by
trial and error and the help files mostly so I may have missed something
extremely easy . At least I hope so. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

List the steps by which you are importing.
If you export from OE to CSV, do all of these details export to that file?
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Yes, I realize that they are different programs. However, so are Excel
and
Word and Access and yet information can be passed between them through
linking, embedding, importing, exporting or whatever voodoo. It could be
argued that they have nothing in common either, but it doesn't keep them
from
being of any use to each other. In order to pick which one I wish to use
I
would like to know what is possible to effectively transfer from OE to
Outlook without having to retype everything. And any methods you might
know
of to do so. I only pointed out the differences to give people some idea
of
what I am trying to accomplish. I may very well decide to stick with OE
rather than have to go through some time consuming work. But if I can get
the info I want into Outlook then I could then export it into Access if I
wished to get a start on a database without having to start from scratch.

I don't expect anyone to reconcile the differences in the programs. I do
expect to get a straight reply without condescending elitist attitude and
at
least a modicum of courtesy. Even a blunt "you can't get there from here"
would have been a kinder reply than yours was, implying that I expected
something extraordinary or unreasonable. I "hope" that someone might have
encountered a similar situation and be kind enough to share their solution
with me. I certainly don't expect anyone to sit down and devote hours to
trying to solve this for me. Even a man having a heart attack on a remote
hiking trail would understand someone saying they didn't know what to do
than
have someone standing over him saying "Dude, don't expect me to call 911."

Outlook and Outlook Express are completely different programs with
nothing
in common. Pick the one you prefer. Do not expect anyone to reconcile the
differences for you.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

I'd really like to use Outlook as my default email instead of Outlook
Express
however I'm having a problem that makes setting it up a potential pain.
Whenever I try to import the contacts from OE Express it mostly works
just
fine. However, I like the way the tabs are in OE Express under an
individuals properties, specifically the personal tab where I can for
instance put in my brother's spouse and children names birthday
aniiversary
etc. But this will not import into OE 2003, the details tab there does
have
birthday and spouse name and anniversary but does not include
children's
name. Plus it has business info as well as personal combined on the
details
page where OE Express has separate tabs for this. In OE if I go to the
tab
that says All Fields it has a spot for Children, Hobbies and other info
and I
can type that info in. But it will not import into those fields from
OE
Express and trying to navigate to that info later is a pain to have to
go
through all of that. I really don't want to type all of that info all
over
again, cousins birthdays kids names etc. plus I'd like to keep the
business
and personal info separate. Also, and I'm sure its by design, I can't
edit
any of those fields properties so I'm stuck with the way the pages are.
It's
great that Office can integrate all sorts of info from different
programs
but
the defaults on this one just don't help me a lot. I learn these
programs
by
trial and error and the help files mostly so I may have missed
something
extremely easy . At least I hope so. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Sorry. I misread your post.
I thought you were wanting Outlook's Contact Records to have the same format
as OE's.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Yes, I realize that they are different programs. However, so are Excel
and
Word and Access and yet information can be passed between them through
linking, embedding, importing, exporting or whatever voodoo. It could be
argued that they have nothing in common either, but it doesn't keep them
from
being of any use to each other. In order to pick which one I wish to use
I
would like to know what is possible to effectively transfer from OE to
Outlook without having to retype everything. And any methods you might
know
of to do so. I only pointed out the differences to give people some idea
of
what I am trying to accomplish. I may very well decide to stick with OE
rather than have to go through some time consuming work. But if I can get
the info I want into Outlook then I could then export it into Access if I
wished to get a start on a database without having to start from scratch.

I don't expect anyone to reconcile the differences in the programs. I do
expect to get a straight reply without condescending elitist attitude and
at
least a modicum of courtesy. Even a blunt "you can't get there from here"
would have been a kinder reply than yours was, implying that I expected
something extraordinary or unreasonable. I "hope" that someone might have
encountered a similar situation and be kind enough to share their solution
with me. I certainly don't expect anyone to sit down and devote hours to
trying to solve this for me. Even a man having a heart attack on a remote
hiking trail would understand someone saying they didn't know what to do
than
have someone standing over him saying "Dude, don't expect me to call 911."

Outlook and Outlook Express are completely different programs with
nothing
in common. Pick the one you prefer. Do not expect anyone to reconcile the
differences for you.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

I'd really like to use Outlook as my default email instead of Outlook
Express
however I'm having a problem that makes setting it up a potential pain.
Whenever I try to import the contacts from OE Express it mostly works
just
fine. However, I like the way the tabs are in OE Express under an
individuals properties, specifically the personal tab where I can for
instance put in my brother's spouse and children names birthday
aniiversary
etc. But this will not import into OE 2003, the details tab there does
have
birthday and spouse name and anniversary but does not include
children's
name. Plus it has business info as well as personal combined on the
details
page where OE Express has separate tabs for this. In OE if I go to the
tab
that says All Fields it has a spot for Children, Hobbies and other info
and I
can type that info in. But it will not import into those fields from
OE
Express and trying to navigate to that info later is a pain to have to
go
through all of that. I really don't want to type all of that info all
over
again, cousins birthdays kids names etc. plus I'd like to keep the
business
and personal info separate. Also, and I'm sure its by design, I can't
edit
any of those fields properties so I'm stuck with the way the pages are.
It's
great that Office can integrate all sorts of info from different
programs
but
the defaults on this one just don't help me a lot. I learn these
programs
by
trial and error and the help files mostly so I may have missed
something
extremely easy . At least I hope so. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Guest]

Okay, I first started in Outlook:
1. Went to File, Import & Export
2. Got the Wizard and chose Import Internet Mail & Addresses
3. Got Outlook Import Tool and chose Outlook Express 4.x, 5.x, 6.x also made
sure only Import Address Book was checked.
4. Next page was choices involving how to handle duplicates, first time I
went with the default, which was probably to allow them. Then clicked finish.
5. Next page was Import Summary which showed how many addresses were
imported (which was all of them), 0 distribution lists (which I had none
anyway). Choices were Save In Inbox or OK. I chose OK.
6. Result in Outlook was that the Contacts now contained all of the info
from my OE
address book underthe appropriate tabs, except that no personal info showed
up (i.e. Birthdays, Spouse, Children, Gender, Anniversary).

As you suggested I tried an Export from OE, results were enlightening:
1. I chose to export the address book as a CSV file and chose a name &
location.
2. Next, the Wizard went to the CSV Export box which said "Select the fields
you wish to export" Not all were checked so I checked all just to see
results. None of those selectable fields had anything to do with personal
info. Only thing that could ever be personal would have been "notes."
3. Clicked finish. Got the message saying the file had been exported
successfully.
4. Used Excel to view file. All the selected fields were there with proper
info, but as now expected nothing from personal info.
5. Didn't try to import into Outlook since I know the info I'm trying to get
won't be there anyway.

So, it does look like I can't get there from here. At least not with MS
software functions. Only choice will be to retype the info in unless some
3rd party has written something to strip "all" the info from OE. I did add
some personal info into the Outlook Contacts and then export the address book
contacts to both a CSV and regular Excel file and Excel does get all of the
fields from both, not limited and also able to select which ones to export
through the wizard. So I know that once the info is in Outlook Contacts it
is shareable with other Office Programs.

Thanks for your time and interest. Anything else you might think of to
help? I know I need to learn how to organize my contacts anyway to separate
the business and personal, any links you could suggest?

List the steps by which you are importing.
If you export from OE to CSV, do all of these details export to that file?
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Yes, I realize that they are different programs. However, so are Excel
and
Word and Access and yet information can be passed between them through
linking, embedding, importing, exporting or whatever voodoo. It could be
argued that they have nothing in common either, but it doesn't keep them
from
being of any use to each other. In order to pick which one I wish to use
I
would like to know what is possible to effectively transfer from OE to
Outlook without having to retype everything. And any methods you might
know
of to do so. I only pointed out the differences to give people some idea
of
what I am trying to accomplish. I may very well decide to stick with OE
rather than have to go through some time consuming work. But if I can get
the info I want into Outlook then I could then export it into Access if I
wished to get a start on a database without having to start from scratch.

I don't expect anyone to reconcile the differences in the programs. I do
expect to get a straight reply without condescending elitist attitude and
at
least a modicum of courtesy. Even a blunt "you can't get there from here"
would have been a kinder reply than yours was, implying that I expected
something extraordinary or unreasonable. I "hope" that someone might have
encountered a similar situation and be kind enough to share their solution
with me. I certainly don't expect anyone to sit down and devote hours to
trying to solve this for me. Even a man having a heart attack on a remote
hiking trail would understand someone saying they didn't know what to do
than
have someone standing over him saying "Dude, don't expect me to call 911."

Outlook and Outlook Express are completely different programs with
nothing
in common. Pick the one you prefer. Do not expect anyone to reconcile the
differences for you.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
I'd really like to use Outlook as my default email instead of Outlook
Express
however I'm having a problem that makes setting it up a potential pain.
Whenever I try to import the contacts from OE Express it mostly works
just
fine. However, I like the way the tabs are in OE Express under an
individuals properties, specifically the personal tab where I can for
instance put in my brother's spouse and children names birthday
aniiversary
etc. But this will not import into OE 2003, the details tab there does
have
birthday and spouse name and anniversary but does not include
children's
name. Plus it has business info as well as personal combined on the
details
page where OE Express has separate tabs for this. In OE if I go to the
tab
that says All Fields it has a spot for Children, Hobbies and other info
and I
can type that info in. But it will not import into those fields from
OE
Express and trying to navigate to that info later is a pain to have to
go
through all of that. I really don't want to type all of that info all
over
again, cousins birthdays kids names etc. plus I'd like to keep the
business
and personal info separate. Also, and I'm sure its by design, I can't
edit
any of those fields properties so I'm stuck with the way the pages are.
It's
great that Office can integrate all sorts of info from different
programs
but
the defaults on this one just don't help me a lot. I learn these
programs
by
trial and error and the help files mostly so I may have missed
something
extremely easy . At least I hope so. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Guest]

Well, that wasn't the major intent. Sorry for the misunderstanding. Yeah, I
was indulging in a little "why can't they make this as easy as" moaning. And
that sort of overshadowed my original problem. You weren't wrong in assuming
what you did, I would like to have the Contact Records in Outlook be more
similar to OE. It's just that I didn't know for sure whether there were some
options somewhere in Outlook to change the view to bring up user defined
fields easier or to create your own separate tab. In other words is there
something I'm missing that allows a more similar appearance or is that just
the way it is? But that is definitely secondary to the import question.

Thanks for the export suggestion, I forgot all about CSV files since i was
concentrating on the address book import view of things. Exporting as CSV
file showed me exactly what info is there and what isn't. So I know that
trying to import into Outlook is not a matter of the program not knowing
where to place the info, it just isn't there to start with. Once again my
apologies to you.

Sincerely,
Randy1701

Sorry. I misread your post.
I thought you were wanting Outlook's Contact Records to have the same format
as OE's.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Yes, I realize that they are different programs. However, so are Excel
and
Word and Access and yet information can be passed between them through
linking, embedding, importing, exporting or whatever voodoo. It could be
argued that they have nothing in common either, but it doesn't keep them
from
being of any use to each other. In order to pick which one I wish to use
I
would like to know what is possible to effectively transfer from OE to
Outlook without having to retype everything. And any methods you might
know
of to do so. I only pointed out the differences to give people some idea
of
what I am trying to accomplish. I may very well decide to stick with OE
rather than have to go through some time consuming work. But if I can get
the info I want into Outlook then I could then export it into Access if I
wished to get a start on a database without having to start from scratch.

I don't expect anyone to reconcile the differences in the programs. I do
expect to get a straight reply without condescending elitist attitude and
at
least a modicum of courtesy. Even a blunt "you can't get there from here"
would have been a kinder reply than yours was, implying that I expected
something extraordinary or unreasonable. I "hope" that someone might have
encountered a similar situation and be kind enough to share their solution
with me. I certainly don't expect anyone to sit down and devote hours to
trying to solve this for me. Even a man having a heart attack on a remote
hiking trail would understand someone saying they didn't know what to do
than
have someone standing over him saying "Dude, don't expect me to call 911."

Outlook and Outlook Express are completely different programs with
nothing
in common. Pick the one you prefer. Do not expect anyone to reconcile the
differences for you.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
I'd really like to use Outlook as my default email instead of Outlook
Express
however I'm having a problem that makes setting it up a potential pain.
Whenever I try to import the contacts from OE Express it mostly works
just
fine. However, I like the way the tabs are in OE Express under an
individuals properties, specifically the personal tab where I can for
instance put in my brother's spouse and children names birthday
aniiversary
etc. But this will not import into OE 2003, the details tab there does
have
birthday and spouse name and anniversary but does not include
children's
name. Plus it has business info as well as personal combined on the
details
page where OE Express has separate tabs for this. In OE if I go to the
tab
that says All Fields it has a spot for Children, Hobbies and other info
and I
can type that info in. But it will not import into those fields from
OE
Express and trying to navigate to that info later is a pain to have to
go
through all of that. I really don't want to type all of that info all
over
again, cousins birthdays kids names etc. plus I'd like to keep the
business
and personal info separate. Also, and I'm sure its by design, I can't
edit
any of those fields properties so I'm stuck with the way the pages are.
It's
great that Office can integrate all sorts of info from different
programs
but
the defaults on this one just don't help me a lot. I learn these
programs
by
trial and error and the help files mostly so I may have missed
something
extremely easy . At least I hope so. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

So everything was imported into Outlook except what was stored in OE's
Personal Tab, right?
And none of that information was exported to the CSV file either, right?
I've not seen this reported, but it would not surprise me in the least. I
also suspect not many users have that Personal Tab filled out so the issue
has not been reported often enough to make it onto the radar screen. This is
an OE issue, so we never run into it here.

Sadly, your analogy with Office in terms of integration between apps breaks
down here. Outlook and OE have two completely different development teams
who clearly are not acquainted with one another and never speak or even know
what the other is doing. So things like this crop up all the time. Come to
think of it, even Outlook's integration with the other Office apps would
have to improve a bit just to be rated "poor." Just try to get a mail merge
to work right the first time, or use the "New Letter to Contact Wizard."

Sorry I misread your post the first time. It was after my bedtime and I only
saw the first few lines. I thought you were complaining that Outlook didn't
have a Personal Tab like OE. I didn't see the part that explained that it
was an import failure. I do not, however, call 911 when someone has a heart
attack. 911 calls me.

 

[Guest]

Yep that about sums it all up. OE's Personal Tab doesn't even get exported
at all, so I now have no expectation of Outlook being able to import it.
About the only reason I started using the personal info was because Mom would
talk about someone and I wouldn't have a clue who it was. "Oh, you know your
cousin's son's daughter's first husband." I need a genealogy program. Dad
came from a family of 10 kids, Mom's family had 4 kids. The family tree from
my grandparents on down to date would probably be larger than a lot of
companies.

I know the analogy breaks down once you get away from the Office
"integration." Sadly consumer logic and marketing logic aren't the same
animal. Outlook does give me more options and flexibility for export than OE
does though. I've used Outlook at work before but never had to set it up for
myself. At home I use the rest of Office programs for little projects but
used OE for email. Looks like I've got a lot fun (?) learning to do with
Outlook.

With my luck 911 would only call me to see if I was going to pay the
neighbors ambulance bill.

So everything was imported into Outlook except what was stored in OE's
Personal Tab, right?
And none of that information was exported to the CSV file either, right?
I've not seen this reported, but it would not surprise me in the least. I
also suspect not many users have that Personal Tab filled out so the issue
has not been reported often enough to make it onto the radar screen. This is
an OE issue, so we never run into it here.

Sadly, your analogy with Office in terms of integration between apps breaks
down here. Outlook and OE have two completely different development teams
who clearly are not acquainted with one another and never speak or even know
what the other is doing. So things like this crop up all the time. Come to
think of it, even Outlook's integration with the other Office apps would
have to improve a bit just to be rated "poor." Just try to get a mail merge
to work right the first time, or use the "New Letter to Contact Wizard."

Sorry I misread your post the first time. It was after my bedtime and I only
saw the first few lines. I thought you were complaining that Outlook didn't
have a Personal Tab like OE. I didn't see the part that explained that it
was an import failure. I do not, however, call 911 when someone has a heart
attack. 911 calls me.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Okay, I first started in Outlook:
1. Went to File, Import & Export
2. Got the Wizard and chose Import Internet Mail & Addresses
3. Got Outlook Import Tool and chose Outlook Express 4.x, 5.x, 6.x also
made
sure only Import Address Book was checked.
4. Next page was choices involving how to handle duplicates, first time I
went with the default, which was probably to allow them. Then clicked
finish.
5. Next page was Import Summary which showed how many addresses were
imported (which was all of them), 0 distribution lists (which I had none
anyway). Choices were Save In Inbox or OK. I chose OK.
6. Result in Outlook was that the Contacts now contained all of the info
from my OE
address book underthe appropriate tabs, except that no personal info
showed
up (i.e. Birthdays, Spouse, Children, Gender, Anniversary).

As you suggested I tried an Export from OE, results were enlightening:
1. I chose to export the address book as a CSV file and chose a name &
location.
2. Next, the Wizard went to the CSV Export box which said "Select the
fields
you wish to export" Not all were checked so I checked all just to see
results. None of those selectable fields had anything to do with personal
info. Only thing that could ever be personal would have been "notes."
3. Clicked finish. Got the message saying the file had been exported
successfully.
4. Used Excel to view file. All the selected fields were there with
proper
info, but as now expected nothing from personal info.
5. Didn't try to import into Outlook since I know the info I'm trying to
get
won't be there anyway.

So, it does look like I can't get there from here. At least not with MS
software functions. Only choice will be to retype the info in unless some
3rd party has written something to strip "all" the info from OE. I did
add
some personal info into the Outlook Contacts and then export the address
book
contacts to both a CSV and regular Excel file and Excel does get all of
the
fields from both, not limited and also able to select which ones to export
through the wizard. So I know that once the info is in Outlook Contacts
it
is shareable with other Office Programs.

Thanks for your time and interest. Anything else you might think of to
help? I know I need to learn how to organize my contacts anyway to
separate
the business and personal, any links you could suggest?