Outlook 2003: Two distinct contacts sets

S

Swifty

I seem to have ended up with two different sets of contacts. If I add a
contact using the "Contacts" tab, or by right clicking an originator and
adding to contacts, then I cannot subsequently use that contact in rules
such as "From people" or "in contacts".
Conversely, if I add a contact as part of the process of creating a new
rule, I cannot then find the person in Contacts.

I cannot find any way to distinguish between these two sets of contacts -
they are both called "Contacts", but I'd really like to get to the position
where I have only one set to maintain.
 
S

Swifty

How many Contacts Folders do you see in Folder View?

One - that's the puzzle. Outlook 2003 by the way, but this problem has
survived a upgrade from Office XP, and perhaps even originated in the
predecessor Office 2000.

When playing around in the Address book settings I found two entries called
"Contacts". I crossed my fingers and removed one. It didn't make any
difference. I deleted the other, then added my sole contacts folder back
in. That didn't help either.

At one point I stumbled on a mechanism that would allow me to call the
entry something other than "Contacts" (inherited from the folder,
presumably) so called it "Contacts1" in the hope that I'd be able to spot
the difference later on, but since then I've forgotten where I did this,
and anyway it didn't help.

I'm thinking of making a complete fresh start, or at the least trying a new
profile. Given that this problem has survived three upgrades, I'm fearful
that an uninstall/re-install might not eliminate it.
 
R

Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]

Still need to know how many Contact Folders you have in the Folder List. If
indeed there is only one and you simply have a duplicate reference in the
Address Book, just remove the duplicate here:
Tools > E-mail accounts > View or change existing directories or address
books > Outlook Address Book > Change.
 
S

Swifty

I have only one folder called "Contacts" in the folder list and only one
entry "Contacts" in the address book.

I then decided to look though my folders and see if more than one had the
option "Show this folder as an Email address book" checked. This option
was NOT checked in the contacts folder, so I checked it. My address book
is now back to showing two "Contacts" entries. I removed the top one
(assuming it was the original).
Then I stumbled on the mechanism that allowed me to set the name of the
address book - in the properties of the contacts folder. I set this to
"Contacts Folder". Then I went to the Address book settings and removed
the entry called just "Contacts". Now I could open my address book and see
just the one choice - "Contacts Folder".
I went into the rules, and started a new rule and selcted "From person" so
I could see the rules view of the address book. It still had two entries.
I closed and restarted outlook and now the rules view has fallen into line
- just the one entry called "Contacts Folder". No doubt I could rename
this back just to "Contacts" but I'm going to quit while I'm ahead.
 
B

Brian Tillman

Swifty said:
I have only one folder called "Contacts" in the folder list and only
one entry "Contacts" in the address book.

I then decided to look though my folders and see if more than one had
the option "Show this folder as an Email address book" checked. This
option was NOT checked in the contacts folder, so I checked it. My
address book is now back to showing two "Contacts" entries. I removed
the top one (assuming it was the original).
Then I stumbled on the mechanism that allowed me to set the name of
the address book - in the properties of the contacts folder. I set
this to "Contacts Folder". Then I went to the Address book settings
and removed the entry called just "Contacts". Now I could open my
address book and see just the one choice - "Contacts Folder".
I went into the rules, and started a new rule and selcted "From
person" so I could see the rules view of the address book. It still
had two entries. I closed and restarted outlook and now the rules
view has fallen into line - just the one entry called "Contacts
Folder". No doubt I could rename this back just to "Contacts" but
I'm going to quit while I'm ahead.
Click to expand...

Remove the Outlook Address Book service (Tools>E-mail Accounts>View or
change existing directories or address books>Next). Stop and restart
Outlook. Add the Outlook Address Book service back in. Stop and restart
Outlook.
 
R

Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]

That's all you need to do, then.
Another easy way to reconnect the Outlook Address Book Service to the
Contacts Folders you have enabled as email address books is simply to remove
the service, restart Outlook, and re-add it.
 
S

Swifty

Thanks, both Brian and Russ, for this last suggestion. I still don't feel
entirely sure that I've eliminated the problem, so I'll keep this up my
sleeve as the next step, should I need it.
 
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