getting contact list when clicking "to"

[TS Mathews]

A little background to make the clear...hopefully:

I wanted to do some serious maintenance on my MSN Explorer address book and
unable to find any way to import from anything but Outlook Express, for some
reason, I had forgotten about simply exporting the contact list as a text
file and used the help screen to try to create an address book from my
Outlook (Office 2003) contacts. It seemed to work and I didn't give it
another thought until I just tried to click on "to" to get a list of my
contacts to which I wanted to send an e-mail and I got a prompt:

"The address book could not be displayed. The Outlook contact list
associated with this address book 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 Office help.
"

When I close that window, another pops up and there's a box where I can
select the addresses. Opening it, I see two contact lists with the one
selected being empty. If I click the second one, it shows my entire contact
list. I can then add whatever address I wish and it works just fine BUT,
obviously, I'd like to get things back to the way they were with clicking
"to" producing my actual contact list. When I have Outlook open, it shows
the tabs to the lower left wide where I can select "mail, calendar" or
"contacts." If I click "contacts" my full contact list shows just as
thought nothing had happened.

Using "help" I get various ways to remove address books and contact lists
but nothing seems to change. I don't want to risk losing my actual contact
list but would like to get things back to "normal" where I have one and only
one contact list and have it be my actual contact list.

I hope this is clear and I hope someone can clue me in on how to fix this.

Thanks,
Tim

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

It is not clear from your post how you managed to disconnect the Outlook
Address Book Service from your Contacts Folder, but you did. It is not
unusual for the Outlook Address Book to "lose track" of the connection to
its Contacts Folder when you move or import your PST or update your Outlook
version or operating system. Use the following steps to reset the
connection. Note that in some instances you may actually have to remove the
Outlook Address Book completely from your Profile, close Outlook, and then
re-add it before you can get it to work.

Make sure the Contact folder is enabled as an email address book. Right
click the Contacts folder, choose Properties then Outlook Address Book. Is
the box to enable as email address book checked?
If this is grayed out...Go to Tools | Email Accounts, choose View or change
existing directories or address book. Is the Outlook Address Book present?
If it isn't listed, add it and close and restart Outlook. If it is listed,
then remove it and close then restart Outlook and repeat these steps to add
it.

More details available here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;287563&Product=ol2002

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

You also appear to have created some invalid entries in your address book
service. You can easily remove them here:
Tools > E-mail accounts > View or change existing directories or address
books > Outlook Address Book > Change. >

 

[Brian Tillman]

I wanted to do some serious maintenance on my MSN Explorer address
book and unable to find any way to import from anything but Outlook
Express, for some reason, I had forgotten about simply exporting the
contact list as a text file and used the help screen to try to create
an address book from my Outlook (Office 2003) contacts. It seemed to
work and I didn't give it another thought until I just tried to click
on "to" to get a list of my contacts to which I wanted to send an
e-mail and I got a prompt:
"The address book could not be displayed. The Outlook contact list
associated with this address book 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 Office help. "

When I close that window, another pops up and there's a box where I
can select the addresses. Opening it, I see two contact lists with
the one selected being empty. If I click the second one, it shows my
entire contact list. I can then add whatever address I wish and it
works just fine BUT, obviously, I'd like to get things back to the
way they were with clicking "to" producing my actual contact list. When I
have Outlook open, it shows the tabs to the lower left wide
where I can select "mail, calendar" or "contacts." If I click
"contacts" my full contact list shows just as thought nothing had
happened.

In Outlook, click Tools>E-mail Accounts>View or change existing directories
or address books>Next. Select "Outlook Address Book", click Change, and
remove the bogus entry.

 

[TS Mathews]

Worked like a charm. I can't explain exactly how the disconnection took
place as I had done whatever I did a few hours earlier while trying to setup
an address book FROM Outlook that Outlook Express could read. Kinda
convoluted but on the MSN help area, I got what is usually the
"transferring" advice...if I imported the Outlook contact list into Express
first, MSN could read and import THAT address list directly. All I know is,
something I did in creating that address book really fouled things up and I
really don't remember doing anything but clicking on whatever prompt I
got for establishing the address book while working inside Outlook.

Anyway, whatever I did to screw it up, your help has resolved the
problem...thanks so much for the help.

It is not clear from your post how you managed to disconnect the Outlook
Address Book Service from your Contacts Folder, but you did. It is not
unusual for the Outlook Address Book to "lose track" of the connection to
its Contacts Folder when you move or import your PST or update your
Outlook version or operating system. Use the following steps to reset the
connection. Note that in some instances you may actually have to remove
the Outlook Address Book completely from your Profile, close Outlook, and
then re-add it before you can get it to work.

Make sure the Contact folder is enabled as an email address book. Right
click the Contacts folder, choose Properties then Outlook Address Book. Is
the box to enable as email address book checked?
If this is grayed out...Go to Tools | Email Accounts, choose View or
change existing directories or address book. Is the Outlook Address Book
present? If it isn't listed, add it and close and restart Outlook. If it
is listed, then remove it and close then restart Outlook and repeat these
steps to add it.

More details available here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;287563&Product=ol2002



--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

A little background to make the clear...hopefully:

I wanted to do some serious maintenance on my MSN Explorer address book
and unable to find any way to import from anything but Outlook Express,
for some reason, I had forgotten about simply exporting the contact list
as a text file and used the help screen to try to create an address book
from my Outlook (Office 2003) contacts. It seemed to work and I didn't
give it another thought until I just tried to click on "to" to get a list
of my contacts to which I wanted to send an e-mail and I got a prompt:

"The address book could not be displayed. The Outlook contact list
associated with this address book 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 Office
help. "

When I close that window, another pops up and there's a box where I can
select the addresses. Opening it, I see two contact lists with the one
selected being empty. If I click the second one, it shows my entire
contact list. I can then add whatever address I wish and it works just
fine BUT, obviously, I'd like to get things back to the way they were
with clicking "to" producing my actual contact list. When I have Outlook
open, it shows the tabs to the lower left wide where I can select "mail,
calendar" or "contacts." If I click "contacts" my full contact list
shows just as thought nothing had happened.

Using "help" I get various ways to remove address books and contact lists
but nothing seems to change. I don't want to risk losing my actual
contact list but would like to get things back to "normal" where I have
one and only one contact list and have it be my actual contact list.

I hope this is clear and I hope someone can clue me in on how to fix
this.

Thanks,
Tim