Random Changing Contacts in Groups

D

Drew Davies

Anyone else having this problem and/or know the solution?

This happened in Entourage X and in 2004. I built a contact group containing
8 people from my address book. Every so often, Entourage takes it upon
itself to switch out one of the contacts in the group with another random
contact from my address group. So, I'll send an e-mail to that group, and it
will go to 7 of the original people, and 1 new random one. The switch
doesn't happen each time I send to the group, just happens occasionally.
Also, the contact in the group that's replaced by the new random addition
isn't always the same one, just a random one as well.

Any help would be highly appreciated!
Thanks,
drew.

[email protected]
 
P

Paul Berkowitz

Anyone else having this problem and/or know the solution?

This happened in Entourage X and in 2004. I built a contact group containing
8 people from my address book. Every so often, Entourage takes it upon
itself to switch out one of the contacts in the group with another random
contact from my address group. So, I'll send an e-mail to that group, and it
will go to 7 of the original people, and 1 new random one. The switch
doesn't happen each time I send to the group, just happens occasionally.
Also, the contact in the group that's replaced by the new random addition
isn't always the same one, just a random one as well.
Click to expand...
Rebuild your database. (Hold down Option key at launch.)

--
Paul Berkowitz
MVP MacOffice
Entourage FAQ Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq/index.html>
AppleScripts for Entourage: <http://macscripter.net/scriptbuilders/>

Please "Reply To Newsgroup" to reply to this message. Emails will be
ignored.

PLEASE always state which version of Microsoft Office you are using -
**2004**, X or 2001. It's often impossible to answer your questions
otherwise.
 
D

Drew Davies

Paul,

Thank you for the advice. Three quick questions:

1. Should I do this on a regular basis to keep everything cleaned up?

2. Will it erase anything in my database?

3. If I want to backup my database, should I just copy it out of the Office
2004 Identities folder?

Thanks!
 
M

Mickey Stevens

Paul,

Thank you for the advice. Three quick questions:

1. Should I do this on a regular basis to keep everything cleaned up?
Click to expand...

No, that's not recommended, partly because it is a disk intensive and in
some cases time consuming activity. It is only recommended that you rebuild
if you experience symptoms of database corruption (like what you're
describing) or if the "Verify Database Integrity" feature in Entourage 2004
indicates corruption.

If you want to avoid further corruption and are using Entourage 2004, I
suggest you take advantage of a new feature that warns you automatically if
database corruption is detected:

1. Launch Entourage, holding down the ³Option² key. Or, launch the Database
Utility separately; it is located in /Applications/Microsoft Office
2004/Office/.
2. If you are prompted, allow the Database Utility to quit open Office
applications.
3. Once the Database Utility is open, select your identity from the list at
the top.
4. Click the ³Set Database Preferences" button, and click "Continue."
5. Check the option to "Perform database integrity check in background," and
click "Save."
2. Will it erase anything in my database?
Click to expand...

I believe that the caches for IMAP servers and news servers are cleared
during a rebuild (called "Advanced Rebuild" in Entourage X or 2001).
3. If I want to backup my database, should I just copy it out of the Office
2004 Identities folder?
Click to expand...

You need to copy the entire identity folder from the "Office 2004
Identities" folder to back it up, not just the Database file.

This page on my site discusses the Entourage database in more detail:
<http://home.earthlink.net/~mickey.stevens/tutorials/rebuilddatabase.html>
 
D

Drew Davies

Thanks for all the help on this.

Next issue: I rebuilt the database as instructed, and it "worked," but when
I opened Entourage back up, it had obliterated all of my Links, all of my
Rules, and removed the Category indications from all of the mail folders I
had built (under Folders on My Computer). What gives?

Thanks!
 
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