Problems with associating contacts with mail app.

[Inbox20039]

After a major system crash I reloaded the OS and Office Professional 2003,
among others. I had saved the outlook.pst and extend.dat files from the old
install and copied them into the ...Local settings\Application
Data\Microsoft\Outlook directory.

When I opened out look everything was there, but when I tried to click on
one of the tabs (like to to add recipients to a mail, I got a message
telling me that there was a problem with the address book.

This message has been referenced here many time and in reading the solutions
suggested I went into tools/email accounts and removed the contacts. It was
the only one there. After this I don't get the error message anymore, just a
blank "Select Names" window.

I couldn't quite understand the next step of adding a contact list. My best
quess was to up the contacts from the left side and then right clicked on the
Contact folder on the top (under My Contacts) and chose the property
options. That seemed to be what I was reading.

Going to the Outlook Address Book tab the option to show this folder as an
e-mail address book is greyed out so I can't complete the fix suggested.

The Contacts window has all the contacts that I had previously, I just can't
seem to get them associated with the mail app. Where do I go from here?

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Answered here daily. You never connect a data file to an Outlook profile by
just copying it to the default location. That simply corrupts your profile.
The only correct way to migrate and Outlook data file do so is to place the
file anywhere but the default location then open it in Outlook.

 

[Inbox20039]

I don't understand this answer. Can you be more detailed in what you are
trying to say?

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Of course. We already have and do so every day here. Take a look at these
pages for info on Outlook data backup or transfer:
http://www.slipstick.com/config/backup.htm
http://www.howto-outlook.com/Howto/backupandrestore.htm
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA010771141033.aspx