contact data vanished

B

Bruce

I just turned on my PowerBook G4, opened Entourage and found that my
contact names are all there but all other data for each record is
gone. Just a few hours ago at work everything was intact. I can't
imagine what happened. Thankfully, much of the data, though not all,
is on my Palm; so I can recover that much. But does anyone have an
idea what has happened and if there is any hope of restoring my fairly
extensive contact database?
Thanks,
Bruce
 
Q

qris riner

I just turned on my PowerBook G4, opened Entourage and found that my
contact names are all there but all other data for each record is
gone. Just a few hours ago at work everything was intact. I can't
imagine what happened. Thankfully, much of the data, though not all,
is on my Palm; so I can recover that much. But does anyone have an
idea what has happened and if there is any hope of restoring my fairly
extensive contact database?
Thanks,
Bruce
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, i cannot give you any advise. But I lost much more than
contact. Inbox, sent mails and calender. So be aware of that this
might happen to you as well.
 
D

Diane Ross

I just turned on my PowerBook G4, opened Entourage and found that my
contact names are all there but all other data for each record is
gone. Just a few hours ago at work everything was intact. I can't
imagine what happened. Thankfully, much of the data, though not all,
is on my Palm; so I can recover that much. But does anyone have an
idea what has happened and if there is any hope of restoring my fairly
extensive contact database?
Click to expand...

Quit the Microsoft Database daemon and see if that helps. You will need to
quit and restart Entourage after quitting the daemon.

How to quit the daemon:

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/glossary/daemon.html#quit_daemon>
--
Diane Ross, Microsoft Mac MVP
Entourage Help Page
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog
<http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
 
B

Bruce

Quit the Microsoft Database daemon and see if that helps. You will need to
quit and restart Entourage after quitting the daemon.

How to quit the daemon:

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/glossary/daemon.html#quit_daemon>
--
Diane Ross, Microsoft Mac MVP
Entourage Help Page
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog
<http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion. I did that and when I restart Entourage,
there is still no data for my contacts. I have also tried replacing my
Office 2004 identity's database (User:Documents:Microsoft User
Data:Office2004 Identities:User) with the same file from a back up two
weeks ago to an external HD. Same result, all contact names but no
data. The Database Utility verifies the database. So it seems there is
a problem with Entourage. Perhaps I should try removing and
reinstalling?
Any suggestions?
 
D

Diane Ross

Thanks for the suggestion. I did that and when I restart Entourage,
there is still no data for my contacts. I have also tried replacing my
Office 2004 identity's database (User:Documents:Microsoft User
Data:Office2004 Identities:User) with the same file from a back up two
weeks ago to an external HD. Same result, all contact names but no
data. The Database Utility verifies the database. So it seems there is
a problem with Entourage. Perhaps I should try removing and
reinstalling?
Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Generally, you replace the entire did Identity not the individual files.

What happens if you try exporting the contacts as a tab delimited file?

Removing and reinstalling generally doesn't help problems like this.
--
Diane Ross, Microsoft Mac MVP
Entourage Help Page
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog
<http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
 
B

Bruce

Generally, you replace the entire did Identity not the individual files.

What happens if you try exporting the contacts as a tab delimited file?

Removing and reinstalling generally doesn't help problems like this.
--
Diane Ross, Microsoft Mac MVP
Entourage Help Page
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog
<http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
Click to expand...

I'll try replacing the entire Identity next tomorrow at the office
where I have the back-up HD.

I just tried exporting the contacts as a tab delimited file and there
is no data in it apart from names. Weird! Where could the data have
gone?

Any other ideas?

Thanks,
Bruce
 
D

Diane Ross

I just tried exporting the contacts as a tab delimited file and there
is no data in it apart from names. Weird! Where could the data have
gone?
Click to expand...

If you have Sync Services set up depending on the options you select, you
can erase data. However, it usually erases everything and not just leave
names. I'm afraid this one is going to fall under weird and unusual and
you'll never find an answer. Just make sure you have a good backup strategy.
A simple one is to create a Task to remind you to back up every xx days. Set
your Account to leave on server for XX days and you'll always have your
received mail available.

I like to archive as a .rge file. It's small and quick, but I also duplicate
my Microsoft User Data folder occasionally plus export my contacts as tab
delimited files. This way I don't have to rely on one data type for backup.

There are also many third party applications that can be used.

--
Diane Ross, Microsoft Mac MVP
Entourage Help Page
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog
<http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
 
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