Outlook Contacts - Office XP

[Guest]

It looks like this has been answered previously but I believe my problem
configuration may be a bit different and may be causing additional problems.

My wifes hard drive crashed and we rebuilt from scratch with a new drive.
The latest Outlook.pst was from late 2003 (I know; bad computer user, bad!)
The old Outlook.pst file was imported and didn't work properly for some
reason. The old email folders imported without problem but the Contacts did
not.

Now, when we attempt to send an email, and click on "To", the error message
that the Contacts folder cannot be found comes up. I can open the Contacts
and see that there are in fact names and email addresses there.

When I view the contents of Outlook I see there there are three Personal
Folders, two with only a "Deleted" folder, and one with all the available
addresses. There are also two Contacts folders when I view Outlook Properties
but I only see one when I am in Outlook (I'm pulling this off the top of my
head in that I'm at work and not at home looking at the actual
configuration.).

I've tried deleting the two extra Personal Folders but they will not be
deleted. They do go away when I "Close" them but they are still in Outlook
and I want them gone. Possibly I have to boot to Safe Mode to be able to
delete them?

I've backed up the Outlook.pst, again. If I am able to delete the Contacts
folders:
1) how do I find the second one to delete both?
2) if I delete them both and reboot will Outlook generate a new, accessable
Contacts folder?
3) can I then restore (import) only addresses (Contacts folder) from the
exported Outlook.pst folder?

 

[Brian Tillman]

My wifes hard drive crashed and we rebuilt from scratch with a new
drive. The latest Outlook.pst was from late 2003 (I know; bad
computer user, bad!) The old Outlook.pst file was imported and didn't
work properly for some reason. The old email folders imported without
problem but the Contacts did not.

Never import a PST. Just open it with File>Open>Outlook Data File.

Did you open the Contacts folder to check?

Now, when we attempt to send an email, and click on "To", the error
message that the Contacts folder cannot be found comes up. I can open
the Contacts and see that there are in fact names and email addresses
there.

Well, then, they DID import. You said they didn't.

When I view the contents of Outlook I see there there are three
Personal Folders, two with only a "Deleted" folder, and one with all
the available addresses. There are also two Contacts folders when I
view Outlook Properties but I only see one when I am in Outlook (I'm
pulling this off the top of my head in that I'm at work and not at
home looking at the actual configuration.).

Importing can damage your mail profile. Is there anything in the "Personal
Folders" that contain just the Deleted Items folder? If you select
"Personal Folders" does anything appear in the right-hand pane?

I've tried deleting the two extra Personal Folders but they will not
be deleted. They do go away when I "Close" them but they are still in
Outlook and I want them gone. Possibly I have to boot to Safe Mode to
be able to delete them?

If they go away when closed, how are they "still in Outlook"? In Outlook
where?

You have what I believe to be a couple of problems, one of which is a
damaged mail profile. The simplest way to fix both problems is to start by
creating a new mail profile using the Mail applet in Control Panel. When
you create the new profile (Control Panel>Mail>Show Profiles>Add), use the
Data Files button to locate your existing working PST, adding it to the
profile. Add your mail accounts there, too. When next your start Outlook,
you should have only one set of folders under the heading "Outlook Today" or
"Personal Folders". Then right-click the Contacts folder, choose
Properties, and then the Outlook Address Book tab. Put a check in the "Show
this folder as an e-mail Address Book" box. If that box can't be checked,
close the dialogues you're in and at Outloko's mail menu, click Tools>E-mail
Accounts>Add a new directory or address book>Next. Select "Additional
Address Books", click Next, select Outlook Address Book, click Next, then
Finish. Now you'll be abe to go back to the Outlook Address Book tab in
Contact's properties and check the box.

 

[Guest]

My wifes hard drive crashed and we rebuilt from scratch with a new
drive. The latest Outlook.pst was from late 2003 (I know; bad
computer user, bad!) The old Outlook.pst file was imported and didn't
work properly for some reason. The old email folders imported without
problem but the Contacts did not.

Never import a PST. Just open it with File>Open>Outlook Data File.

That’s good information to have. I have imported .pst files previously
without apparent malfunction but possibly I was just lucky.

Did you open the Contacts folder to check?

Did I open the Contacts folder to check what? I’ve opened the Contact folder
that is displayed when I open Outlook, and as I indicated in the paragraph
below, there are contacts in that folder.

Now, when we attempt to send an email, and click on "To", the error
message that the Contacts folder cannot be found comes up. I can open
the Contacts and see that there are in fact names and email addresses
there.

Well, then, they DID import. You said they didn't.

No, actually if you read what I said, “The old email folders imported
without problems but the Contacts did not.†Possibly I should have been more
precise and concluded with “… did not import properly.†Had it imported
properly we wouldn’t be having this communication.

When I view the contents of Outlook I see there are three
Personal Folders, two with only a "Deleted" folder, and one with all
the available addresses. There are also two Contacts folders when I
view Outlook Properties but I only see one when I am in Outlook (I'm
pulling this off the top of my head in that I'm at work and not at
home looking at the actual configuration.).

Importing can damage your mail profile. Is there anything in the "Personal
Folders" that contain just the Deleted Items folder?
Nothing.

If you select "Personal Folders" does anything appear in the right-hand pane?
Nothing.

I've tried deleting the two extra Personal Folders but they will not
be deleted. They do go away when I "Close" them but they are still in
Outlook and I want them gone. Possibly I have to boot to Safe Mode to
be able to delete them?

If they go away when closed, how are they "still in Outlook"? In Outlook
where?

“Go away†in that they are no longer displayed. If I close and open Outlook
they are again present and if I view the properties or the Outlook folder
they are also there.

You have what I believe to be a couple of problems, one of which is a damaged >mail profile. The simplest way to fix both problems is to start by
creating a new mail profile using the Mail applet in Control Panel.

When you create the new profile (Control Panel>Mail>Show Profiles>Add), use >the Data Files button to locate your existing working PST, adding it to the profile. >Add your mail accounts there, too. When next your start Outlook, you should >have only one set of folders under the heading "Outlook Today" or "Personal >Folders". Then right-click the Contacts folder, choose Properties, and then the >Outlook Address Book tab. Put a check in the "Show this >folder as an e-mail >Address Book" box.

 

[Brian Tillman]

No, actually if you read what I said, “The old email folders imported
without problems but the Contacts did not.†Possibly I should have
been more precise and concluded with “… did not import properly.†Had
it imported properly we wouldn’t be having this communication.

But if you see your contacts in the Contacts folder, what do you believe is
improper?

“Go away†in that they are no longer displayed. If I close and open
Outlook they are again present and if I view the properties or the
Outlook folder they are also there.

Did you follow the remainer of my advice and create a new mail profile and
reestablish the link between the Contacts folder and the Address Book?

 

[Guest]

But if you see your contacts in the Contacts folder, what do you believe is
improper?

What is "improper" is that when I click on "New" to generate a new email,
and then click on "To" to open my Address Book and select a recipient, I get
the error message, "The Address List could not be displayed. The Contacts
folder associates with this address list coudn not be opened; it may have
been moved or deleted or you may not have permissions. ...."

I have done what you suggested with the same results as before when I click
on "New" and "To".

I have also compared the settings on my pc with the settings on my wifes pc
to see if there were any differences, other than user names they are the same
with one exception.

The exception is that if I view the contents of the Outlook folder on her pc
using Windows Explorer (C:\Documents and Settings\Debi\Local
Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook) I find the following files:
backup (Office Data File), extend (DAT File), mailbox (Office Data File), and
Outlook (Office Data File).

When I go to the same location on my pc I find that I have the same files
with the exception of the mailbox Office Data File. If I delete the
'mailbox' file and reopen Outlook an error message comes up looking for the
mailbox file even though I can't seem to find any reference to 'mailbox' in
any of the Outlook setups.

One other thing that has come to light which I am not sure is significant,
she deleted her Outlook Explorer by removing the OE folder shortly after I
reinstalled her Operating System and MS-Office XP.

On a related subject, you have said that a .pst file should not be
'imported'. How then do you selectivly bring in folders from an old
Outlook.pst file if not by importing?

Thanks for your help,
Vin

 

[Guest]

:
Well I have spent hours reading newsgroup posts, browsing the Microsoft
support site, and trying to figure out why this wouldn't work. I was sure it
was going to be flying on both wings after Brian's suggestions but, even
after following them in detail three times, it still did not work. Hmmmmm. I
finally got fed up and deleted all the email accounts, all OAB and PAB files,
went into the Registry and deleted Outlook, and then reinstalled and
reentered everything.

Now it works fine...with one little excpetion. When she clicks on "New" to
send a new email and then click on "To", the 'Contacts' "Select Names" dialog
box opens as is expected, however, she has her contacts folder set up with
sub-folders and it does not see the sub-folders, in the upper right text box
the only thing that displays is "contacts" and not the sub-folders of the
Contacts folder.

Please tell me there is some simple setting I have to change to make this
work.

Thanks,
Vin

 

[Brian Tillman]

Now it works fine...with one little excpetion. When she clicks on
"New" to send a new email and then click on "To", the 'Contacts'
"Select Names" dialog box opens as is expected, however, she has her
contacts folder set up with sub-folders and it does not see the
sub-folders, in the upper right text box the only thing that displays
is "contacts" and not the sub-folders of the Contacts folder.

Right-click on each contacts folder, choose Properties, select the Outlook
Address Book tab, and click "Show this folder as an e-mail Address Book".

 

[Guest]

Well that didn't work either. However, she created new folders of the same
names as the old ones and then dragged and dropped her contacts from the old
folders to the new folders, then deleted the old folders. Now everything
works fine.