Strange Case of Multiple Folders in Address Book

  • Thread starter Thread starter wayne.herbert
  • Start date Start date
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wayne.herbert

Background: Win XP SP 3, Outlook 2003 with latest updates.

History: Had a disk crash. Rebuilt the computer. Installed Outlook
2003 and let it create a .pst file for me in my D&S folder. Renamed
it, and brought if a backup copy of a .pst from earlier. Then, I
realized that I had a newer version of the .pst file backed up, so I
renamed the old one I had copied over, and brought in the latest
backed up version. This is when my problems began.

Symptoms: Whenever I attempt to create an email and click on the 'To'
button I get the message 'the address list could not be displayed; the
contacts list associated with this address kist could not be
opened...'. When pressing 'OK' I got a list of available folders that
was duplicate, with one being blank, and one having the actual data
(folders such as 'Family/Family', 'Nokia/Nokia', etc).

Actions Taken: I went to the Contacts View and unchecked ALL folders
(show this folder as an email address book).

Next, I went to Tools/Email Accounts/View or Change Existing
directories. There is exactly ONE address book showing. I removed
ALL of the folders, that is there are no folders showing as assigned
to the address book.

Result: When I create a new email and press the 'To' button, I get
the same message as above - 'the address list could not be displayed;
the contacts list associated with this address kist could not be
opened...'. And upon pressing cancel there is a list of my folder
names but everyone is empty. If I go back to the Tools/Email accounts/
Change Directories I find that the list of folders is still empty, yet
I have a list of invalid folders when I create an email.

So, clearly I have gummed something up by switching files twice but I
cannot find the fix. How do I get rid of the phantom folders?

Many thanks.
 
Consider this closed. What I failed to do, having done all as
explained above, was to exit Outlook and restart it. Once I exited
Outlook, the phantom folders went away. I should know this. ALWAYS
restart MS products after making a change.

Cheers.
 
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