Problems with OutlookXP Personal Address Book after C: recovery

C

Chuck

Home PC running XP Home, SP1 and OfficeXP. I use an administrator logon
exclusively.
The C: hard drive was failing, so I backed up Documents and Settings
directory, replaced hard drive and reloaded all applications and recovered
Documents and Settings, with a "Force Replace Exisiting Directories & Files"
option.
When I first used OutlookXP, there were no email accounts (had been two), no
mail folders and no Contacts. I used the Outlook Import Files and finally
regained my mail folders intact, setup the two email accounts by hand and
they work fine. I can send and receive mail from both of my two email
accounts.
The problem is in the absence now of my Personal Address Book. If I click
on "Contacts" in the left Outlook pane, I see the contents of what was
originally in my PAB. If I click on the PAB button at the top of OutlookXP,
I get an error "The address list could not be displayed. The Contacts folder
associated with this address list could not be opened; it may have been
moved or deleted, or you may not have permissions. For information on how
to remove this folder from the Outlook Address Book, see MS Outlook Help."
I checked into the help section, but found nothing fitting my problem.
If I go into WinExplorer and search the C: drive (including hidden and
system files) for a file called "Contacts", I get one hit. The Contacts
file shows up as in My Computer. The properties are Type: Internet shortcut;
Internet Address: outlook:Contacts. If I double click on the Contacts
shortcut, OutlookXP opens and shows me all of my original contact (and PAB)
information.

I have yet to find a way to get this information back into my PAB. Can
someone please help me out on this one?? Thanks in advance.
 
S

Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]

Choose Tools | Email Accounts > View or change existing directories or
address books. Select Outlook Address Book, and remove it. Restart Outlook,
then repeat the process to add the Outlook Address Book back in.

FYI, the button you are referring to is the Address Book button. "Personal
Address Book" refers to a legacy .pab file used to store addresses in
Outlook 97 and 98. It's obsolete in your version.
 

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