Accessing correct Contacts list from email being composed.

[Guest]

My computer was recently serviced and all the old file folders from Outlook
Express and MS Outlook (.pst) were combined. There are 5 main folders now.
Archives, Contacts, Inbox, Pat, Personal, Sent. Within each of these
folders there are inboxes, deleted, sent, contacts, and some others. So
there is a Contacts in Archives and in Contacts and in Personal. There are 4
inboxes - all different. Incoming emails are coming into Archives - Inbox ,
not Inbox - Inbox. When I try to send an email message I can't get at the
contacts list in Contacts, It defaults to the Contacts list in Archives.

Question: How do I get the Personal Folders Folder to be the default folder?
Why do I have to have all these duplicate folders at this level when they
already exist in the Personal Folders Folder?
How do I get Contacts into the Personal Folders?
Then how do I make this my default Contacts list?
Can I delete these other contact lists then?
I have searched all through TOOLS but cannot figure it out.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

It is impossible to "combine" files from OE and Outlook. They are completely
unrelated programs with incompatible data file types.
Whoever "serviced" your computer needs to tell you what they did to your
Outlook profile. You are asking us to unscramble eggs. For starters, you
need to figure out which of these files actually contains your most current
Outlook data by examining their contents and then look in the properties of
that file to determine its exact name and location.
Do you back up your data regularly?

 

[Brian Tillman]

My computer was recently serviced and all the old file folders from
Outlook Express and MS Outlook (.pst) were combined.

Who did that, considering that Outlook and Outlook Express use differerent
storage areas and disparate file structures?

There are 5
main folders now. Archives, Contacts, Inbox, Pat, Personal, Sent.
Within each of these folders there are inboxes, deleted, sent,
contacts, and some others. So there is a Contacts in Archives and
in Contacts and in Personal. There are 4 inboxes - all different.
Incoming emails are coming into Archives - Inbox , not Inbox - Inbox.
When I try to send an email message I can't get at the contacts list
in Contacts, It defaults to the Contacts list in Archives.

Question: How do I get the Personal Folders Folder to be the default
folder?

Tools>E-mail Accounts>Next. In the "Deliver new messages to the following
location" drop-down, choose "Personal Folders". Stop and restart Outlook.

Why do I have to have all these duplicate folders at this
level when they already exist in the Personal Folders Folder?

The Archive file is probably just that: the file to which Outlook archives
old messages. Onseqently, it will have a folder structure similar to
Personal Folders. Moreover, since it is your delivery location, Outlook
will make sure it contains all of the default folders.

How do I get Contacts into the Personal Folders?
Then how do I make this my default Contacts list?

As I said above. The default Contacts will be the one in the delivery
location.

Can I delete these other contact lists then?

Sure, if you don't want them. You won't be able to delete the folders in
"Archive", however. If Outlook created them, they'll be non-deletable.
For the other folder sets, right-click their roots and choose Close.