rebuilding address book

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dave Holland
  • Start date Start date
D

Dave Holland

I am recovering from a hard disc failure. I have rebuilt
the system, and am in the final stages of recovery. I
have a system backup on a free standing hard disc from a
few months ago, and I want to import the old address book
into the new system. However I seem to require the file
name of the old address book in order to find it.
ie 'browse' doesn't seem to work. Any ideas?
 
Outlook or Outlook Express? If the former, unless you were using a PAB file
(unlikely), your addresses should be in your PST file, in your contacts
folder. If the latter, try an Outlook Express group -

This is a group to support Outlook from the Office group of programs.
Outlook Express is a part of Internet Explorer and is a quite different
program, despite its similar name..

You will probably get a faster and more expert answer if you post this to an
Outlook Express news group.

Try posting in one of these newsgroups:
microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie5.outlookexpress for OE 5.x
microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie55.outlookexpress for OE 5.5x
microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie6_outlookexpress for OE 6.x
microsoft.public.internet.outlookexpress.mac for OE for Macintosh

If those groups aren't carried on the news server that's carrying this group
try using msnews.microsoft.com (MS's public news server that's the source
for all the microsoft.public newsgroups).

A good website for information on OE is:
http://www.tomsterdam.com/
 
Your addresses in Outlook are contained in the Outlook.pst contact folder.

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. Due to
the (insert latest virus name here) virus, all mail sent to my personal
account will be deleted without reading.

After searching google.groups.com and finding no answer, Dave Holland asked:

| I am recovering from a hard disc failure. I have rebuilt
| the system, and am in the final stages of recovery. I
| have a system backup on a free standing hard disc from a
| few months ago, and I want to import the old address book
| into the new system. However I seem to require the file
| name of the old address book in order to find it.
| ie 'browse' doesn't seem to work. Any ideas?
 
I have had a similar problem with my address book as mentioned. It is one
of the last problems of a multiple problem event with MS Office 2003 Pro and
Outlook 2003 Outlook Address Book losing its contact based data. I do not
have, or have never had, a *.PAB file.

I tried the normal changing of inputs and combinations thereof, in the
source boxes of "Outlook Address Book" and "Contacts" which did not make
addresses available.

I tried the import method and it would not let me assign Contacts as the
source with an error method that "con" was reserved....

More searching in help led me to the "pseudo" method, as I call it, to make
a sub-folder, "Mailmerge Contacts", to the contacts folder and copy the
contacts contents to it and then direct the path for the address book to
that. It gives me a working address book but I find it unsatisfactory
because it seems to not be coordinated with changes to my regular contacts
folder which means I have to continually make separate additions and
deletions to both folders.

I have always used contacts as the source for data in the Outlook Address
Book and it was working O K before the spasm of problems that occurred in
Outlook 2003. Suddenly, after a successful time of using Office 2003 Pro my
Outlook seemed to loose track of my PST data file and choose a path to a
null one that had no data in it. I cannot tell you all the things I did to
get back to working because it was a hard 3 or 4 days of effort and many of
the "normal" activities to repair, re-install the Office program and etc.
All the time, I did manage to hang on to my original PST file with the data
in it. So I am now using that data, as it was, and have managed to get the
Tool Bar features restored, and the POP and SMTP accounts restored, which
were somehow changed, removed, or corrupted, except for a satisfactory
Address Book data path.

This spate of problems started after I installed the MS Office OL PST backup
plug-in and the OneNote demo program. They were not installed at the same
time or necessarily in the order mentioned nor am I saying that was the
cause of the problems in OL. Otherwise, my daily use was seemingly normal
and un-changing. If I had a cat, I would say "the cat did it" but he died
some years ago from "the over-blame syndrome".

I do use Symantec's 2004 Pro, "System Works" and "Internet Security"
programs which have been installed long before I moved from Office 2000 Pro
to the full, not upgrade, Office 2004 Pro program. Outlook had been working
for sometime properly with the system as it was and is. No other
operational indications have been visable with the computer in general.

If more background is needed perhaps a question would prompt my memory and I
would be glad to provide it. Right now, I have said all that I can remember
about my operations, I was not expecting a problem, so was not keeping
detailed notice of my actions.

Would you, please, give me some instructions how I can get the address book
back to the normal Contacts path. I have run out of anything else to do.

Thanks for any considerations you give.

Al Crumrine


Milly Staples said:
Your addresses in Outlook are contained in the Outlook.pst contact folder.
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Snipped Dave Holland asked:
| Snipped
| However I seem to require the file
| name of the old address book in order to find it.
| ie 'browse' doesn't seem to work. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
 
I hope I am not premature in saying this, but....I was still prowling around
the OL 2003 features and happen to check the properties for the Contacts
folder and under the Tab Outlook Address Book the "Show this folder as an
email folder had become not selected during the fiasco. I was not aware
those folders had settings under them.

I selected it, deleted the "Mailmerge Contacts" folder, and the contacts
data shows up in the OL Address book now, seemingly, well integrated with
that data.

It is the simple things that mean alot, AKA; KISS.

Thanks if you have put any effort into my problem.

I just went back and opened the Address Book and it is still a wurkin.

Al Crumrine

Acee said:
I have had a similar problem with my address book as mentioned. It is one
of the last problems of a multiple problem event with MS Office 2003 Pro and
Outlook 2003 Outlook Address Book losing its contact based data. I do not
have, or have never had, a *.PAB file.

I tried the normal changing of inputs and combinations thereof, in the
source boxes of "Outlook Address Book" and "Contacts" which did not make
addresses available.

I tried the import method and it would not let me assign Contacts as the
source with an error method that "con" was reserved....

More searching in help led me to the "pseudo" method, as I call it, to make
a sub-folder, "Mailmerge Contacts", to the contacts folder and copy the
contacts contents to it and then direct the path for the address book to
that. It gives me a working address book but I find it unsatisfactory
because it seems to not be coordinated with changes to my regular contacts
folder which means I have to continually make separate additions and
deletions to both folders.

I have always used contacts as the source for data in the Outlook Address
Book and it was working O K before the spasm of problems that occurred in
Outlook 2003. Suddenly, after a successful time of using Office 2003 Pro my
Outlook seemed to loose track of my PST data file and choose a path to a
null one that had no data in it. I cannot tell you all the things I did to
get back to working because it was a hard 3 or 4 days of effort and many of
the "normal" activities to repair, re-install the Office program and etc.
All the time, I did manage to hang on to my original PST file with the data
in it. So I am now using that data, as it was, and have managed to get the
Tool Bar features restored, and the POP and SMTP accounts restored, which
were somehow changed, removed, or corrupted, except for a satisfactory
Address Book data path.

This spate of problems started after I installed the MS Office OL PST backup
plug-in and the OneNote demo program. They were not installed at the same
time or necessarily in the order mentioned nor am I saying that was the
cause of the problems in OL. Otherwise, my daily use was seemingly normal
and un-changing. If I had a cat, I would say "the cat did it" but he died
some years ago from "the over-blame syndrome".

I do use Symantec's 2004 Pro, "System Works" and "Internet Security"
programs which have been installed long before I moved from Office 2000 Pro
to the full, not upgrade, Office 2004 Pro program. Outlook had been working
for sometime properly with the system as it was and is. No other
operational indications have been visable with the computer in general.

If more background is needed perhaps a question would prompt my memory and I
would be glad to provide it. Right now, I have said all that I can remember
about my operations, I was not expecting a problem, so was not keeping
detailed notice of my actions.

Would you, please, give me some instructions how I can get the address book
back to the normal Contacts path. I have run out of anything else to do.

Thanks for any considerations you give.

Al Crumrine


"Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]"
Click to expand...
wrote in message news:[email protected]...
Your addresses in Outlook are contained in the Outlook.pst contact folder.
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Snipped Dave Holland asked:
| Snipped
| However I seem to require the file
| name of the old address book in order to find it.
| ie 'browse' doesn't seem to work. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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