Wring contacts being used.

[Guest]

I have a user with a Windows 2000, Outlook 2003 laptop.

She has two accounts setup for her email. One is on the Exchange server and
she has a PST file on the local harddrive. She has a "contacts" option for
both the server and her local pst.

These were both called Contacts so for the sake of my sanity I renamed the
one on the exchange server as Contacts - Good and the one in her pst as
Contacts - Bad. The contacts listed in her pst are older groups that she had
created and have since been updated.

I am unable to delete Contacts - Bad. The option is there and it is greyed
out.

So in the end here are my questions.

1. Is the address book the area that I should be indicating which Contacts
to use when using personal groups that she created? If not where should I
define this?

2. Why am I unable to simply delete the Contacts from the PST?

3. How do I get rid of her old contacts and tell Outlook to simply use the
company global contacts and the Contacts - Good?

I have "Notify me of replies" enabled so I will be answering any questions
quickly enough.

TIA

The issue that she is having is that when she type i/o, which is the name of
a group she created, outlook will take the emails from the old group. So the
Contacts - Bad. She has the same group with the same name but different
emails in her Contacts - Good.

I figured I would simply tell Outlook which Contacts to use and eliminate
the Contacts - Bad from the list. So I went to Tools - Address Book - Tools -
Options. In the option of "Show this address list first:" I choose Contacts -
Good. In the "Keep personal addresses in:" I selected Contacts - Good. The
option "When sending mail, check names using these address lists in the
following order:" I have the company contacts and then Contacts - Good.

The contacts - bad used to be in that list but I removed it. I figured I had
it at this point but the same problem occurs.

I decided to do a little experiment. I actually deleted the i/o group from
the Contacts - Bad and tested the i/o group. It STILL used the old emails
from that group. Now where on earth is it getting that information?!

 

[Brian Tillman]

She has two accounts setup for her email. One is on the Exchange
server and she has a PST file on the local harddrive. She has a
"contacts" option for both the server and her local pst.

These were both called Contacts so for the sake of my sanity I
renamed the one on the exchange server as Contacts - Good and the one
in her pst as Contacts - Bad.

This is not a good idea. In fact, I don't know how you were able to rename
the PST's Contacts folder, based on things you say subsequently.

The contacts listed in her pst are
older groups that she had created and have since been updated.

Older "groups"? Do you mean Distribution Lists?

I am unable to delete Contacts - Bad. The option is there and it is
greyed out.

And the Rename option should have been grayed out as well.

1. Is the address book the area that I should be indicating which
Contacts to use when using personal groups that she created? If not
where should I define this?

The Outlook Address Book service will show any Contacts folder (that is, any
folder created to hold Contacts items no matter what you've named it) that
has been enabled on its Properties dialogue as an address book. IN the
Address Book interface, you can control the order Outlook will search the
folders with the Tools>Options dialogue.

2. Why am I unable to simply delete the Contacts from the PST?

Depends on your it was created. If Outlook created it, then it cannot be
deleted. It has a property embedded in it that won't allow deletion or
renaming.

3. How do I get rid of her old contacts and tell Outlook to simply
use the company global contacts and the Contacts - Good?

You can disable the "Show this folder as an e-mail Address Book" option of
the old contacts folder. Right-click the folder, choose Properties, select
the Outlook Address Book tab, and disable the option. Click OK. Stop and
restart Outlook.

 

[Guest]

By older groups, yes, I meant Distribution List. As far as renaming
contacts I did not really "rename" it on the menu on the left. What I did was
I went into the Contacts Properties - Outlook Address Book tab - in the "Name
of the address book:" I am able to rename it there so that when I go into the
Address Book I am able to diffirenciate the difference between the two
entries of "Contacts".

I will go and test out the "Show this folder as an e-mail Address Book"
option. I am pretty certain I tried this but I am not certain if I restarted
Outlook.

Thanks for the help. I'll keep you updated on the results

Ok, so I went to both Contacts properties and the option of "Show this
folder as an e-mail Address book" was greyed out for both of them. However, I
think this might be due to the fact that I was meddling in the following
settings. I wanted to start fresh before describing this issue so what I had
done is I went to Tools - Email Accounts - View or change existing
directories or address books - Removed every entry. Yet even after rebooting
Outlook I still have both contacts showing and I am still able to select
which address books to access first etc.

So new questions

1. Why is the option of "Show this folder as an e-mail Address book" greyed
out for both Contacts folders?

2. Tools - Email Accounts - View or change existing directories or address
books ... The entries found in here... What are they for? I removed
everything that was previously there and it did not seem to affect anything.

Once again. Thanks for the help

 

[Guest]

This is not a good idea. In fact, I don't know how you were able to rename
the PST's Contacts folder, based on things you say subsequently.


Older "groups"? Do you mean Distribution Lists?


And the Rename option should have been grayed out as well.


The Outlook Address Book service will show any Contacts folder (that is, any
folder created to hold Contacts items no matter what you've named it) that
has been enabled on its Properties dialogue as an address book. IN the
Address Book interface, you can control the order Outlook will search the
folders with the Tools>Options dialogue.


Depends on your it was created. If Outlook created it, then it cannot be
deleted. It has a property embedded in it that won't allow deletion or
renaming.


You can disable the "Show this folder as an e-mail Address Book" option of
the old contacts folder. Right-click the folder, choose Properties, select
the Outlook Address Book tab, and disable the option. Click OK. Stop and
restart Outlook.

By older groups, yes, I meant Distribution List. As far as renaming
contacts I did not really "rename" it on the menu on the left. What I did was
I went into the Contacts Properties - Outlook Address Book tab - in the "Name
of the address book:" I am able to rename it there so that when I go into the
Address Book I am able to diffirenciate the difference between the two
entries of "Contacts".

I will go and test out the "Show this folder as an e-mail Address Book"
option. I am pretty certain I tried this but I am not certain if I restarted
Outlook.

Thanks for the help. I'll keep you updated on the results

 

[Brian Tillman]

1. Why is the option of "Show this folder as an e-mail Address book"
greyed out for both Contacts folders?

The Outlook Address Book service is damaged. It's easy to do.

2. Tools - Email Accounts - View or change existing directories or
address books ... The entries found in here... What are they for? I
removed everything that was previously there and it did not seem to
affect anything.

Those are supposed to be the links from the Contacts folders you have to the
Address Book service. If I were experiencing what you describe, I'd delete
the Outlook Address Book service, stop and restart Outlook, add the service
back in, and stop and restart Outlook one more time. Your "show this
folder..." checkboxes should work after that.

 

[Guest]

The Outlook Address Book service is damaged. It's easy to do.


Those are supposed to be the links from the Contacts folders you have to the
Address Book service. If I were experiencing what you describe, I'd delete
the Outlook Address Book service, stop and restart Outlook, add the service
back in, and stop and restart Outlook one more time. Your "show this
folder..." checkboxes should work after that.

Brian. Do you live near Montreal, Canada? Come on over and fix this problem.
I will buy you a nice steak dinner with all the trimmings!!

Ok back to the problem

"I'd delete the Outlook Address Book service, stop and restart Outlook, add
the service back in, and stop and restart Outlook one more time."

Can you explain to me how to delete the Outlook Address Book service? And
perhaps add the service back in part as well. I am not certain if you mean
within Outlook. I checked services.msc and could not see an outlook address
book type service running.

Thanks

 

[Brian Tillman]

Brian. Do you live near Montreal, Canada? Come on over and fix this
problem. I will buy you a nice steak dinner with all the trimmings!!

Michigan. Over 1,000 km.

"I'd delete the Outlook Address Book service, stop and restart
Outlook, add the service back in, and stop and restart Outlook one
more time."

Can you explain to me how to delete the Outlook Address Book service?

Tools>E-mail Accounts>View or change existing directories or address
books>Next. Select Outlook Address Book. Click Remove. Click Finish.
Receive a notice that the changes you made won't take effect until the next
time Outlook starts. Stop and restart Outlook. Click Tools>E-mail
Accounts>Add a new directory or address book>Next. Select "Additional
address books" and click Next. Select Outlook Address Book. Click Next,
Next, and Finish. You'll have a change to adjust the Address Book display
sort order while doing this. Stop and restart Outlook.

As an alternative, you can also do this all in Control Panel's Mail applet
while Outlook is closed. You won't have to stop and restart Outlook at all
if you do it that way. Just make the adjustments and when finished, start
Outlook and all should be in place.