Filtering contacts for export to pst

[Guest]

Using Win XP home sp2; MS office 2002 sp3
I have each and every contact assigned to a catagory, some are multiple
catagories [PA, Xmas Cards] for example.
My boss wants to keep a master DB of all contacts from several sales
persons. I am trying to export only certain categories of contacts [several
business categories, but not personal categories]
I go through the export wizard, selecting only the categories I want to
export in the "filter" section of the wizard.
I then open the pst file to check the contents before sending on. I see
categories in the pst file that I did not select. That is, contacts that do
not contain ANY of the categories I selected in the "filter" section. The
categories I selected ARE in the pst, along with some contacts that are in
selected categories AND non-selected ones [that I maybe could understand]
What am I doing wrong?

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

You can't filter exports by category. Nor is exporting a recommended way to
transfer Outlook data unless you want to change their file format.
In what format did you want to save these Contacts?

 

[Guest]

A. Then why is there a "categories" selection in the filtering process?
B. I am not sure what you mean by file format. The objective is to transfer
full contact information, inlcuding notes, categories etc - from my computer
[OL2002sp3] to be incorporated and quarterly updated onto my bosses computer
[OL2002sp3] - resultig in his having all the same information that I do plus
his own contacts. What process do you recommend? We are talking about
transferring and keeping up to date about 300 contacts.
--
Jack S

You can't filter exports by category. Nor is exporting a recommended way to
transfer Outlook data unless you want to change their file format.
In what format did you want to save these Contacts?
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Using Win XP home sp2; MS office 2002 sp3
I have each and every contact assigned to a catagory, some are multiple
catagories [PA, Xmas Cards] for example.
My boss wants to keep a master DB of all contacts from several sales
persons. I am trying to export only certain categories of contacts
[several
business categories, but not personal categories]
I go through the export wizard, selecting only the categories I want to
export in the "filter" section of the wizard.
I then open the pst file to check the contents before sending on. I see
categories in the pst file that I did not select. That is, contacts that
do
not contain ANY of the categories I selected in the "filter" section. The
categories I selected ARE in the pst, along with some contacts that are in
selected categories AND non-selected ones [that I maybe could understand]
What am I doing wrong?

 

[Brian Tillman]

B. I am not sure what you mean by file format. The objective is to
transfer full contact information, inlcuding notes, categories etc -
from my computer [OL2002sp3] to be incorporated and quarterly updated
onto my bosses computer [OL2002sp3] - resultig in his having all the
same information that I do plus his own contacts. What process do you
recommend? We are talking about transferring and keeping up to date
about 300 contacts.

You:
1) Create a new PST with File>Open>Outlook Data File. Create a new Contacts
folder in that PST.
2) Open your Contacts folder and switch to the By Category view.
3) Select all the categories you wish to copy (CTRL-click), then click
Edit>Copy to Folder
4) When Outlook tells you the action will apply to all the items in the
selected groups, click Yes.
5) Close the new PST with right-click>Close. Stop and restart Outlook
6) Mail the new PST to your boss or place it on a network share to which you
both have access.

Boss:
1) Save the mailed PST to a Windows folder.
2) In Outlook, click FIle>Open>Outlook Data File, browse to the PST, select
it, and click OK
3) Click the Contacts folder in the newly-added PST. Enjoy the new
Contacts.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

What do you mean? There is no categories selection in the export process.
Moreover, you have no need to export. Exporting is not the right way to
transfer Contacts from one installation of Outlook to another.
All you need to do is create a separate PST file for the transfer. Then just
copy all the Contacts in one Category into a Folder in that PST file.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

A. Then why is there a "categories" selection in the filtering process?
B. I am not sure what you mean by file format. The objective is to
transfer
full contact information, inlcuding notes, categories etc - from my
computer
[OL2002sp3] to be incorporated and quarterly updated onto my bosses
computer
[OL2002sp3] - resultig in his having all the same information that I do
plus
his own contacts. What process do you recommend? We are talking about
transferring and keeping up to date about 300 contacts.
--
Jack S

You can't filter exports by category. Nor is exporting a recommended way
to
transfer Outlook data unless you want to change their file format.
In what format did you want to save these Contacts?
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Using Win XP home sp2; MS office 2002 sp3
I have each and every contact assigned to a catagory, some are multiple
catagories [PA, Xmas Cards] for example.
My boss wants to keep a master DB of all contacts from several sales
persons. I am trying to export only certain categories of contacts
[several
business categories, but not personal categories]
I go through the export wizard, selecting only the categories I want to
export in the "filter" section of the wizard.
I then open the pst file to check the contents before sending on. I see
categories in the pst file that I did not select. That is, contacts
that
do
not contain ANY of the categories I selected in the "filter" section.
The
categories I selected ARE in the pst, along with some contacts that are
in
selected categories AND non-selected ones [that I maybe could
understand]
What am I doing wrong?

 

[Guest]

Brain - thank you for this wonderfully simple and complete response. I have
tried it and it works perfectly. Just a small clarification to others who may
read this..,
Under 1) below - the new pst file is created from FILE>NEW>OUTLOOK DATA FILE
not FILE>OPEN [correct Brian?}
and the completed pst would likely have to be zipped or the extension
changed/restored by mutual agreement with the recipient [if emailed] in order
for OL to accept it as an attachment. This I learned from other
posts/responses from Brian.

Again Brian - thank you
--
Jack S

B. I am not sure what you mean by file format. The objective is to
transfer full contact information, inlcuding notes, categories etc -
from my computer [OL2002sp3] to be incorporated and quarterly updated
onto my bosses computer [OL2002sp3] - resultig in his having all the
same information that I do plus his own contacts. What process do you
recommend? We are talking about transferring and keeping up to date
about 300 contacts.

You:
1) Create a new PST with File>Open>Outlook Data File. Create a new Contacts
folder in that PST.
2) Open your Contacts folder and switch to the By Category view.
3) Select all the categories you wish to copy (CTRL-click), then click
Edit>Copy to Folder
4) When Outlook tells you the action will apply to all the items in the
selected groups, click Yes.
5) Close the new PST with right-click>Close. Stop and restart Outlook
6) Mail the new PST to your boss or place it on a network share to which you
both have access.

Boss:
1) Save the mailed PST to a Windows folder.
2) In Outlook, click FIle>Open>Outlook Data File, browse to the PST, select
it, and click OK
3) Click the Contacts folder in the newly-added PST. Enjoy the new
Contacts.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Under 1) below - the new pst file is created from FILE>NEW>OUTLOOK
DATA FILE not FILE>OPEN [correct Brian?}

Yes. I mistyped.

and the completed pst would likely have to be zipped or the extension
changed/restored by mutual agreement with the recipient [if emailed]
in order for OL to accept it as an attachment. This I learned from
other posts/responses from Brian.

Often true, especially for those people who have not modified the security
settings to allow PST files. It doesn't hurt in any case and will work no
matter what.

 

[Guest]

I now know that exporting is not the proper way to transfer contact
information, but only thanks to a complete and concise response from Brian
Tillman, who provided, in a few words, the complete process for both me and
my boss - very helpful.
As for the Categories selection in the export process, I mean exactly this:
Using OL2002 sp3:
Select FILE>Import and Export>Export to file>pst
In the "select folder to export from" dialog box, there is a "Filter"
button. After highlighting the "Contacts" folder, selecting the "filter"
button brings up a dialog box with 4 tabs. Selecting the "More Choices" tab
shows a "categories" button; selecting the "categories" button brings up my
complete master categories list with check boxes next to categories for
"items(s) that belong to these categories" Checking the desired categories
creates an entry list for the "categories" drop down box. NEXT continues the
export wizard.
TO ME - that seems like a "categories" selection in the export process - as
I stated earlier.
--
Jack S

What do you mean? There is no categories selection in the export process.
Moreover, you have no need to export. Exporting is not the right way to
transfer Contacts from one installation of Outlook to another.
All you need to do is create a separate PST file for the transfer. Then just
copy all the Contacts in one Category into a Folder in that PST file.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

A. Then why is there a "categories" selection in the filtering process?
B. I am not sure what you mean by file format. The objective is to
transfer
full contact information, inlcuding notes, categories etc - from my
computer
[OL2002sp3] to be incorporated and quarterly updated onto my bosses
computer
[OL2002sp3] - resultig in his having all the same information that I do
plus
his own contacts. What process do you recommend? We are talking about
transferring and keeping up to date about 300 contacts.
--
Jack S

You can't filter exports by category. Nor is exporting a recommended way
to
transfer Outlook data unless you want to change their file format.
In what format did you want to save these Contacts?
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
Using Win XP home sp2; MS office 2002 sp3
I have each and every contact assigned to a catagory, some are multiple
catagories [PA, Xmas Cards] for example.
My boss wants to keep a master DB of all contacts from several sales
persons. I am trying to export only certain categories of contacts
[several
business categories, but not personal categories]
I go through the export wizard, selecting only the categories I want to
export in the "filter" section of the wizard.
I then open the pst file to check the contents before sending on. I see
categories in the pst file that I did not select. That is, contacts
that
do
not contain ANY of the categories I selected in the "filter" section.
The
categories I selected ARE in the pst, along with some contacts that are
in
selected categories AND non-selected ones [that I maybe could
understand]
What am I doing wrong?

 

[Guest]

Hi Brian,
I have a couple of other Filtering Contacts for Export questions - totally
seperate from this one.
The woman I work for has all her emails "catagorized" in distribution lists.
I would like to export some of these lists (but not all of her contacts) into
another email program, so I need them in comma, tab or semicolon delimited
format.
I have not been able to export by distribution list.
1) Can this be done? I fo so, how do I do it?

If not, please read the following and let me know if this is a viable
solution:
What I started to do was to reorganize her Contacts list by assigning
catagories, thinking I will then be able to filter by catagory, and export
that way.

2) Can I do this? And if so, can I filter by multiple catagories, ie: filter
out only people who are catagorized under Canyon Ranch AND Email Blasts AND
2005. I dont want everyone in the Canyon Ranch catagory - only the ones who
are ALSO in the other two catagories.
Thanks very much for any help you can give - I am pulling my hair out!
Jorin

Under 1) below - the new pst file is created from FILE>NEW>OUTLOOK
DATA FILE not FILE>OPEN [correct Brian?}

Yes. I mistyped.

and the completed pst would likely have to be zipped or the extension
changed/restored by mutual agreement with the recipient [if emailed]
in order for OL to accept it as an attachment. This I learned from
other posts/responses from Brian.

Often true, especially for those people who have not modified the security
settings to allow PST files. It doesn't hurt in any case and will work no
matter what.

 

[Brian Tillman]

I have a couple of other Filtering Contacts for Export questions -
totally seperate from this one.
The woman I work for has all her emails "catagorized" in distribution
lists. I would like to export some of these lists (but not all of her
contacts) into another email program, so I need them in comma, tab or
semicolon delimited format.
I have not been able to export by distribution list.
1) Can this be done? I fo so, how do I do it?

Distribution lists don't survive exporting well. DLs are also a poor
substitute for actually using categories for categorizing the Contacts
folder.

If not, please read the following and let me know if this is a viable
solution:
What I started to do was to reorganize her Contacts list by assigning
catagories, thinking I will then be able to filter by catagory, and
export that way.

Since exporting works with folders, one approach to this would be to create
a new contacts folder and copy to it all of the contacts that are to be sent
to the other mail application. Grouping by category and then selecting the
entire category is a good way to select just the contacts you want followed
by Edit>Copy to Folder. Then the contents of that folder can be exported.
At least, that's what I'd do.

 

[Guest]

Thanks, I have one other question about that though. Many of these contacts
are in several categories, and for the purpose of simply exporting only one
list this would work, but for the future sanity of her contact management
system, is it possible to filter out contacts based on multiple categories?
ie: filtering only people who match ALL of the following criteria (Canyon
Ranch, Blast List, Mail List).In other words, I don’t want everyone in the
Canyon Ranch category, just those who are in that AND ALSO in the Blast List
and the Mailing List categories.
Does that make sense?
Thanks! Jorin

 

[Guest]

I've been following along on this thread, since I started it some time ago. I
think i can answer your last question regarding multiple filters [ie meeting
ALL of several categories]
Create a new view in Contacts. VIEW>CURRENT VIEW>DEFINE VIEWS. Create a new
view. Then set the filters on the view to display/include only those contacts
that meet your criteria.
Creat a new sub-folder in your contacts folder to hold the results
Then copy/move the contacts in that view to a new folder
Then export the folder.
You can even reuse the system; Just change the filters to a new set of
criteria on the view; empty the folder of old contacts [if you copied the
previous ones, not moved them]; and repeat the copy/export.
Sounds like a lot of work, but it is not.
I hope I was clear.