Contacts and Windows Address Bood

[Roger]

What is the difference between Contacts and Windows Address Book and how can
I copy my contacts to the address book?

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

windows address book is used by windows and outlook express. Outlook uses
contacts. to copy the contacts to the WAB, you need to export from outlook
in a format WAB can import.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]



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[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Here's a quick rundown of the various address books that you might encounter
when using Outlook.

Windows Address Book
People who used Windows and its default email program Outlook Express before
they used Outlook were quite accustomed to the "Windows Address Book" which
stored contact information in a separate file with a WAB extension. Outlook
does not and never has used the Windows Address Book but many users think it
does because the old dreadful Internet Mail Only mode of Outlook 2000
appeared to. Read on.

Personal Address Book
The earliest versions of Outlook could store contact information in the
Personal Address Book which existed separately from Outlook data in a file
with a PAB extension. PAB's are no longer in use and are now obsolete. All
Outlook data (Contacts included) is now stored in a single location: an
Exchange mailbox if using Exchange Server or in a local Personal Storage
File (PST file) if using other mail transports. Many users still assume that
their address book in Outlook exists as a separate file. It does not, as you
will see in the next section.

Outlook Address Book (aka Contacts Address Book)
Outlook now uses the Outlook Address Book, which isn't an address book at
all. The Outlook Address Book is a MAPI service within Outlook that displays
the electronic addresses that reside in the Contacts Folders in the Exchange
mailbox or PST file. There is no actual data in the Outlook Address Book. It
is simply displaying every electronic address (email, fax, pager, etc.) that
exists in a Contacts Folder.

One of the reasons users became confused over the difference between the
Windows Address Book and the Outlook Address Book is the sleight of hand
Microsoft used when it created its "Internet Mail Only" mode of Outlook in
Outlook 98 and 2000. This simplified version of Outlook did not have support
for MAPI. Instead, it was forced to use the Windows Address Book engine to
display the data--so now the address book in Outlook looked and behaved more
like the Windows Address Book than the Outlook Address Book, but was missing
several key features. It had one unique feature, however, that users of
later versions have missed and have tried to recreate: the ability to share
Outlook's Contacts with the Windows Address Book. When using IMO mode of
Outlook, the Windows Address Book can be configured to show the Outlook
Contacts instead of the WAB file in Tools > Options. In all full versions of
Outlook this feature never existed and in all current versions of Outlook it
does not exist. But former IMO users think it was always an Outlook feature
that has been taken away from them. For those users who miss that feature
there is a reg hack they can use to force the Windows Address Book to use
their Outlook Contacts Folder as its data source.

 

[Alejandro Marten]

Hi Russ... what's the reg hack to force Windows Address Book to use Outlook
Contacts Folder as the data source?

Here's a quick rundown of the various address books that you might
encounter when using Outlook.

Windows Address Book
People who used Windows and its default email program Outlook Express
before they used Outlook were quite accustomed to the "Windows Address
Book" which stored contact information in a separate file with a WAB
extension. Outlook does not and never has used the Windows Address Book
but many users think it does because the old dreadful Internet Mail Only
mode of Outlook 2000 appeared to. Read on.

Personal Address Book
The earliest versions of Outlook could store contact information in the
Personal Address Book which existed separately from Outlook data in a file
with a PAB extension. PAB's are no longer in use and are now obsolete. All
Outlook data (Contacts included) is now stored in a single location: an
Exchange mailbox if using Exchange Server or in a local Personal Storage
File (PST file) if using other mail transports. Many users still assume
that their address book in Outlook exists as a separate file. It does not,
as you will see in the next section.

Outlook Address Book (aka Contacts Address Book)
Outlook now uses the Outlook Address Book, which isn't an address book at
all. The Outlook Address Book is a MAPI service within Outlook that
displays the electronic addresses that reside in the Contacts Folders in
the Exchange mailbox or PST file. There is no actual data in the Outlook
Address Book. It is simply displaying every electronic address (email,
fax, pager, etc.) that exists in a Contacts Folder.

One of the reasons users became confused over the difference between the
Windows Address Book and the Outlook Address Book is the sleight of hand
Microsoft used when it created its "Internet Mail Only" mode of Outlook in
Outlook 98 and 2000. This simplified version of Outlook did not have
support for MAPI. Instead, it was forced to use the Windows Address Book
engine to display the data--so now the address book in Outlook looked and
behaved more like the Windows Address Book than the Outlook Address Book,
but was missing several key features. It had one unique feature, however,
that users of later versions have missed and have tried to recreate: the
ability to share Outlook's Contacts with the Windows Address Book. When
using IMO mode of Outlook, the Windows Address Book can be configured to
show the Outlook Contacts instead of the WAB file in Tools > Options. In
all full versions of Outlook this feature never existed and in all current
versions of Outlook it does not exist. But former IMO users think it was
always an Outlook feature that has been taken away from them. For those
users who miss that feature there is a reg hack they can use to force the
Windows Address Book to use their Outlook Contacts Folder as its data
source.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

What is the difference between Contacts and Windows Address Book and how
can
I copy my contacts to the address book?

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

For which OS and which Outlook version? It is no longer possible with any
current versions.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Hi Russ... what's the reg hack to force Windows Address Book to use
Outlook Contacts Folder as the data source?

Here's a quick rundown of the various address books that you might
encounter when using Outlook.

Windows Address Book
People who used Windows and its default email program Outlook Express
before they used Outlook were quite accustomed to the "Windows Address
Book" which stored contact information in a separate file with a WAB
extension. Outlook does not and never has used the Windows Address Book
but many users think it does because the old dreadful Internet Mail Only
mode of Outlook 2000 appeared to. Read on.

Personal Address Book
The earliest versions of Outlook could store contact information in the
Personal Address Book which existed separately from Outlook data in a
file with a PAB extension. PAB's are no longer in use and are now
obsolete. All Outlook data (Contacts included) is now stored in a single
location: an Exchange mailbox if using Exchange Server or in a local
Personal Storage File (PST file) if using other mail transports. Many
users still assume that their address book in Outlook exists as a
separate file. It does not, as you will see in the next section.

Outlook Address Book (aka Contacts Address Book)
Outlook now uses the Outlook Address Book, which isn't an address book at
all. The Outlook Address Book is a MAPI service within Outlook that
displays the electronic addresses that reside in the Contacts Folders in
the Exchange mailbox or PST file. There is no actual data in the Outlook
Address Book. It is simply displaying every electronic address (email,
fax, pager, etc.) that exists in a Contacts Folder.

One of the reasons users became confused over the difference between the
Windows Address Book and the Outlook Address Book is the sleight of hand
Microsoft used when it created its "Internet Mail Only" mode of Outlook
in Outlook 98 and 2000. This simplified version of Outlook did not have
support for MAPI. Instead, it was forced to use the Windows Address Book
engine to display the data--so now the address book in Outlook looked and
behaved more like the Windows Address Book than the Outlook Address Book,
but was missing several key features. It had one unique feature,
however, that users of later versions have missed and have tried to
recreate: the ability to share Outlook's Contacts with the Windows
Address Book. When using IMO mode of Outlook, the Windows Address Book
can be configured to show the Outlook Contacts instead of the WAB file in
Tools > Options. In all full versions of Outlook this feature never
existed and in all current versions of Outlook it does not exist. But
former IMO users think it was always an Outlook feature that has been
taken away from them. For those users who miss that feature there is a
reg hack they can use to force the Windows Address Book to use their
Outlook Contacts Folder as its data source.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

What is the difference between Contacts and Windows Address Book and how
can
I copy my contacts to the address book?