Contact link to e-mail address is broken

[Michael Ray Brown]

Yesterday my system crashed when I copied some text from a Web page into a
note in Outlook 2007. After rebooting, Outlook failed to launch. An error
message said it could not open the Outlook window. Figuring the Outlook
profile was corrupt, I decided to create a new profile, which solved the
issue.

However, now whenever I double-click on the e-mail address field in a
message from one of my contacts, Outlook displays the e-mail properties
rather than the contact. If I right click on the e-mail address and select
"Look Up Outlook Contact," it displays the message, "Could not find a
contact with this e-mail address." And yet, the e-mail from that contact is
listed in the "Activities" tab for that contact.

Somehow, the link between e-mail addresses and their corresponding contacts
has been broken. Is there a setting that will restore the link between the
e-mail address and the contact?

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

Yesterday my system crashed when I copied some text from a Web page into a
note in Outlook 2007. After rebooting, Outlook failed to launch. An error
message said it could not open the Outlook window. Figuring the Outlook
profile was corrupt, I decided to create a new profile, which solved the
issue.

However, now whenever I double-click on the e-mail address field in a
message from one of my contacts, Outlook displays the e-mail properties
rather than the contact. If I right click on the e-mail address and select
"Look Up Outlook Contact," it displays the message, "Could not find a
contact with this e-mail address." And yet, the e-mail from that contact is
listed in the "Activities" tab for that contact.

Did you enable the COntacts folder as an address book? Right-click Contacts,
select Properties, choose the Outlook Address Book tab and make sure the box
labeled "Show this folder as an e-mail Address Book" is checked.

 

[Michael Ray Brown]

Yes, I made sure the Contacts folder was enabled as an address book. The
checkbox is grayed out, but there is a checkmark in it.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

Yes, I made sure the Contacts folder was enabled as an address book. The
checkbox is grayed out, but there is a checkmark in it.

That can indicate the Outlook Address Book service is damaged. Is this an
Exchange account at work or some other kind of account (POP or IMAP, eg.) at
home?

 

[Michael Ray Brown]

It's at home. The data file is not on a network. However, I was able to
solve the problem. Here's how: I have a subfolder under Contacts that I
use whenever I want to select some contacts for a mail merge. I
right-clicked on that subfolder, and put a check mark in the "Show this
folder as an e-mail Address Book" box. I then moved one of my contacts into
that subfolder, and back to the master Contacts folder. That fixed the
issue. Now whenever I double-click on an a-mail address in the header
field, that contact's record comes up, just as it should.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

It's at home. The data file is not on a network. However, I was able to
solve the problem. Here's how: I have a subfolder under Contacts that I
use whenever I want to select some contacts for a mail merge. I
right-clicked on that subfolder, and put a check mark in the "Show this
folder as an e-mail Address Book" box. I then moved one of my contacts into
that subfolder, and back to the master Contacts folder. That fixed the
issue. Now whenever I double-click on an a-mail address in the header
field, that contact's record comes up, just as it should.

Great. Thanks for posting your approach.