Missing address book (Ver. 10.0.4024)

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I have (finally!) gotten my .pst files for both of my Outlook profiles moved from my old computer to the new one and Outlook is, for the most part, functional. I now have (hopefully) one last piece of the puzzle I need to solve- my address book is missing and when I click on the Address Book icon or go to Tools/Address Book, I get a pop-up box telling me that it cannot be found (or some such) and am directed to Outlook Help which is no help at all. Any help that I can get from this forum to get me fully back in business would be greatly appreciated.

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Have you right-clicked on your Contacts folder and checked the box “Show this folder as an Outlook Address Book”? HTH

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The Contacts folder in Outlook is populated. I right-clicked on it, went to Properties and under Outlook Address Book (tab) I checked the box for “Show this folder as an email address book”. I rebooted, clicked on the Address Book icon and got the following popup (which is what I got before making the change):
“The address list could not be displayed. The Contacts folder associated with the address list could not be opened; it may have been moved or deleted, or you do not have permissions. For information on how to remove this folder from the Outlook Address Book, see Microsoft Outlook Help.”
In the last sentence, what folder is referred to and why would I want to remove it in the first place. As I stated before, I find Outlook Help to be nearly useless.
Anyway, I am still confused and hope that someone out there may have some ideas as to how to get out of this box.
As always, I appreciate your help!

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I need you to back up for me… you, obviously got a new computer? You moved your .pst files from the old computer onto the new computer? First, what versions of Outlook – on the old computer and on the new computer? Next, were you using Contacts on the old computer or the Personal Address Book? Finally, are you setup for Exchange Server or Internet? Let me know and we’ll try to solve the mystery! Looking forward to communicating more! trish

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You may find some of the detail already given in this thread helpful with your thoughts.

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Thanx for the thread to clarify some of my questions, there is only one IMPORTANT item, was she using the personal address book or Contacts. If you were using Contacts, is it possible to export the Contacts to a PAB on the old system and take the *.pab file to the new system and import it in… any other information may help… good luck… trish

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Thanx for the thread to clarify some of my questions, there is only one IMPORTANT item, was she using the personal address book or Contacts. If you were using Contacts, is it possible to export the Contacts to a PAB on the old system and take the *.pab file to the new system and import it in… any other information may help… good luck… trish

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You may find some of the detail already given in this thread helpful with your thoughts.

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Trish-

Yes, got a new computer (Dell 8300) and, yes, after a great deal of aggravation got the .pst files copied over to the new computer. Was/am running the same OS (XP Home) and version of Outlook 2002 on both machines, (10.4712.4219) SP2, as reported in Help/About in Outlook). To complicate matters further, I have two email profiles, one for me and one for my wife. Anyway, all of the folders and saved email from the old machine for both profiles are in place on the new at this point. I was using the Address Book (vs. Contacts) and found the .wab from the old machine and copied it over to the same path on the new (I think!) but, as stated in the original post, can’t seem to get it linked properly on the new machine. I am not using Exchange and am not on a network if that is what you meant by Internet.
Thanks for the post and I sure hope I can eventually get things working properly.

Jerry

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The WAB is from Outlook Express; you need to see if there is a PAB, which is the old Outlook “Personal Address Book”.
-However- OL 2003 doesn’t use PAB’s and will import your PAB into Contacts, possibly creating some duplicates you will have to weed out.

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Found this thread useful as I had a similar problem with the Address not picking up the Contacts list after I rebuilt my computer. The Right-Click option has sort of fixed the problem.

What happens now is there are two Contact entries in the Show Names from the: field and if I select the bottom one all my old contacts are in there. How can I get rid of the old Contact entry in this field or default it to the bottom Contact entry so I don’t have to manually select it all the time?

Thanks

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I’m not clear how this would happen … do you have duplicates within your Contacts, or perhaps have you added Contacts as an Address Book twice?

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I’m not clear how this would happen … do you have duplicates within your Contacts, or perhaps have you added Contacts as an Address Book twice?

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Try looking under Control Panel|Mail and see whether you can change the order in which services are displayed. HTH

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Try looking under Control Panel|Mail and see whether you can change the order in which services are displayed. HTH

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Found this thread useful as I had a similar problem with the Address not picking up the Contacts list after I rebuilt my computer. The Right-Click option has sort of fixed the problem.

What happens now is there are two Contact entries in the Show Names from the: field and if I select the bottom one all my old contacts are in there. How can I get rid of the old Contact entry in this field or default it to the bottom Contact entry so I don’t have to manually select it all the time?

Thanks

Reply | Quote

The WAB is from Outlook Express; you need to see if there is a PAB, which is the old Outlook “Personal Address Book”.
-However- OL 2003 doesn’t use PAB’s and will import your PAB into Contacts, possibly creating some duplicates you will have to weed out.

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Make sure that the file is a *.pab… Outlook will only import a *.wab into the contacts. As JohnBF stated, *.wab files are only used by Outlook Express… is this what you were/are using? Outlook is the full version of the e-mail program which includes Calendars, Notes, etc. If you do not have that functionality, you are using Outlook Express which is a bit different. If you are using the full version of Outlook, I strongly advise that you use the Contacts folder instead of a *.wab/*.pab – it causes less confusion where the addresses reside and is easier to move around because they exist in the *.pst (which you successfully moved). If it is a *.wab/*.pab, try importing (For *.pab files: File, Import and Export, From Another Program or File and choose Personal Address Book, follow the wizard and place in the Contacts folder – For *.wab files: File, Import and Export, Import Internet Mail and Addresses, uncheck Import Mail and check Import Address Book, follow the wizard and place in the Contacts folder).

Last but not least, is the file that Outlook is pointing to ‘Read Only’ – if you burned it onto a CD, depending on the format you wrote the file to it may be reserved as ‘Read Only’ and Outlook cannot use ‘Read Only’ files.

Hope this helps… trish

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Trish, can you clarify something I stated earlier? Does OL 2003 still support PAB’s? When I upgraded, 2003 sucked my PAB into Contacts without asking my permission, so I thought perhaps 2003 no longer supports PABs. (Separate from the issue of whether separate PABs are a good or bad idea.)

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Hi John… Outlook 2003 still includes Personal Address Books as an information service which you can add in and point to the .pab. I haven’t tested how it handles pab files from previous version and am surprised that it automatically imports them into Contacts. I think I would like to control that – not Outlook. Whether Microsoft wants to ‘support’ pabs is another issue… just like .psts!!! Hope this helped… trish

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Perhaps it was something Admin forced on all employees. Would you or unkamunka would know if a corporate installation can force a PAB to be imported to Contacts?

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That’s probably it… someone most likely wrote some script to the perform the import. That was awfully nice of them!

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That’s probably it… someone most likely wrote some script to the perform the import. That was awfully nice of them!

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Hi John… Outlook 2003 still includes Personal Address Books as an information service which you can add in and point to the .pab. I haven’t tested how it handles pab files from previous version and am surprised that it automatically imports them into Contacts. I think I would like to control that – not Outlook. Whether Microsoft wants to ‘support’ pabs is another issue… just like .psts!!! Hope this helped… trish

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Trish, can you clarify something I stated earlier? Does OL 2003 still support PAB’s? When I upgraded, 2003 sucked my PAB into Contacts without asking my permission, so I thought perhaps 2003 no longer supports PABs. (Separate from the issue of whether separate PABs are a good or bad idea.)

Reply | Quote

Make sure that the file is a *.pab… Outlook will only import a *.wab into the contacts. As JohnBF stated, *.wab files are only used by Outlook Express… is this what you were/are using? Outlook is the full version of the e-mail program which includes Calendars, Notes, etc. If you do not have that functionality, you are using Outlook Express which is a bit different. If you are using the full version of Outlook, I strongly advise that you use the Contacts folder instead of a *.wab/*.pab – it causes less confusion where the addresses reside and is easier to move around because they exist in the *.pst (which you successfully moved). If it is a *.wab/*.pab, try importing (For *.pab files: File, Import and Export, From Another Program or File and choose Personal Address Book, follow the wizard and place in the Contacts folder – For *.wab files: File, Import and Export, Import Internet Mail and Addresses, uncheck Import Mail and check Import Address Book, follow the wizard and place in the Contacts folder).

Last but not least, is the file that Outlook is pointing to ‘Read Only’ – if you burned it onto a CD, depending on the format you wrote the file to it may be reserved as ‘Read Only’ and Outlook cannot use ‘Read Only’ files.

Hope this helps… trish

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Trish-

Yes, got a new computer (Dell 8300) and, yes, after a great deal of aggravation got the .pst files copied over to the new computer. Was/am running the same OS (XP Home) and version of Outlook 2002 on both machines, (10.4712.4219) SP2, as reported in Help/About in Outlook). To complicate matters further, I have two email profiles, one for me and one for my wife. Anyway, all of the folders and saved email from the old machine for both profiles are in place on the new at this point. I was using the Address Book (vs. Contacts) and found the .wab from the old machine and copied it over to the same path on the new (I think!) but, as stated in the original post, can’t seem to get it linked properly on the new machine. I am not using Exchange and am not on a network if that is what you meant by Internet.
Thanks for the post and I sure hope I can eventually get things working properly.

Jerry

Reply | Quote

I need you to back up for me… you, obviously got a new computer? You moved your .pst files from the old computer onto the new computer? First, what versions of Outlook – on the old computer and on the new computer? Next, were you using Contacts on the old computer or the Personal Address Book? Finally, are you setup for Exchange Server or Internet? Let me know and we’ll try to solve the mystery! Looking forward to communicating more! trish

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Jerry, if you were not using a PAB (as Trisha asked about), it’s also possible that Outlook just ‘got confused’ and can’t see the Contact list as an Address Book. Sometimes, using the menus you have already explored, Remove-ing Contacts as an Address Book and them Add-ing it back as an Address Book, will fix the problem.

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John-

I was replying to Trish when your post came in. As you will see, I was using a .pab but am interested in your comments. If you could give me some specifics as to what you were describing, I would give it a try. Please understand that this is all ‘new art’ to me plus the fact the my brain is, once again, turning to oatmeal!

Jerry

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John-

I was replying to Trish when your post came in. As you will see, I was using a .pab but am interested in your comments. If you could give me some specifics as to what you were describing, I would give it a try. Please understand that this is all ‘new art’ to me plus the fact the my brain is, once again, turning to oatmeal!

Jerry

Reply | Quote

Jerry, if you were not using a PAB (as Trisha asked about), it’s also possible that Outlook just ‘got confused’ and can’t see the Contact list as an Address Book. Sometimes, using the menus you have already explored, Remove-ing Contacts as an Address Book and them Add-ing it back as an Address Book, will fix the problem.

Reply | Quote

The Contacts folder in Outlook is populated. I right-clicked on it, went to Properties and under Outlook Address Book (tab) I checked the box for “Show this folder as an email address book”. I rebooted, clicked on the Address Book icon and got the following popup (which is what I got before making the change):
“The address list could not be displayed. The Contacts folder associated with the address list could not be opened; it may have been moved or deleted, or you do not have permissions. For information on how to remove this folder from the Outlook Address Book, see Microsoft Outlook Help.”
In the last sentence, what folder is referred to and why would I want to remove it in the first place. As I stated before, I find Outlook Help to be nearly useless.
Anyway, I am still confused and hope that someone out there may have some ideas as to how to get out of this box.
As always, I appreciate your help!

Reply | Quote

Have you right-clicked on your Contacts folder and checked the box “Show this folder as an Outlook Address Book”? HTH

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