Address book and contacts questions

[Guest]

I'm sure that this is in here somewhere, but after several searches and
reading lots of threads, I can't for the life of me find the answers to my
questions, so here goes! Im using Outlook 2007 on XP SP2.
1) When I click on "to" in a new e-mail window, I don't see any contacts
listed. All I get is some fields to enter and hit "go" to search.
2) If I enter a name to search for, it doesn't find it.
3) Is there a way to have Outlook automatically add any e-mail address I
send to into a contact folder called "new contacts" or something? Then I can
move them to the correct directory as needed.
4) What is the relationship between contact lists and the address book? I
can't figure it out, and for the life of me, don't understand why there's a
difference, or why the configuration of the software requires so much work
for it to make any sense.

This is a good start to the issues I'm having with Outlook addressing, I'm
sure that many of these have been answered, but I couldn't find the threads
that pertain to them. A better search function for the support groups would
be really helpfull too!

Thanks for any that take the time to help...

Matt

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

It appears you have not yet configured the Outlook Address Book Service for
your profile. Do so now:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;287563&Product=ol2002

If you want to understand the various "address books" in Outlook, read the
primer:
http://home.indy.rr.com/russval/addressbook.htm

 

[Guest]

Hi Russ, thanks for the time.

I've got the Address Book Services running and configured. I also read the
link you supplied as well. Now I find that my contacts ARE listed, but only
if I specifically select contacts from the drop down list. While I can see
that this could be a feature if one has tons of different contact lists (and
I will, I'm a consultant, and automotive journalist, and running a small
company), I have NO CLUE why I don't get a superset of all my contacts if I
select the "All address lists" or "All Contacts" options. What don't I
understand about the word all? In fact I get NO listing at all, if I select
anything but the contacts list or one of the lists I've specifically created.
So OK, I'll accept this one as somewhat closed... But

1.1 How do I make the Contacts list (the only one with any addresses in it)
my default so I don't have to click on the address book, then go to contacts
to have it be any use? Also, since the contacts aren't in the top most level,
when I hit the "to" field, I get the blank list, then have to tell it to look
in "Contacts" and then select. It would be so nice if upper levels of these
listings included all of the lower levels, instead of nothing at all.... Oh
well.

2) Is now well explained to me.

3) How do I get Outlook to take every e-mail address I use and put it into a
different contacts list? That way I could harvest the e-mails at one time,
and sort them to the appropriate contact list based on how I use that name or
the like. Right now, the only way I see to do this is to open each e-mail (or
use the preview pane), left click on the name, and add it to my contacts
list.. This is a royal, time wasting PITA.

4) The link you provided somewhat cleared up my confusion on how contact
lists and the like work in Outlook. Let's just say I agree with the author
(if it was you, thanks for writing it) and I'll note that this is far from an
optimal arrangement. That's polite speak for FUBAR!

Once again, thank you for your time.

Matt

It appears you have not yet configured the Outlook Address Book Service for
your profile. Do so now:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;287563&Product=ol2002

If you want to understand the various "address books" in Outlook, read the
primer:
http://home.indy.rr.com/russval/addressbook.htm
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

I'm sure that this is in here somewhere, but after several searches and
reading lots of threads, I can't for the life of me find the answers to my
questions, so here goes! Im using Outlook 2007 on XP SP2.
1) When I click on "to" in a new e-mail window, I don't see any contacts
listed. All I get is some fields to enter and hit "go" to search.
2) If I enter a name to search for, it doesn't find it.
3) Is there a way to have Outlook automatically add any e-mail address I
send to into a contact folder called "new contacts" or something? Then I
can
move them to the correct directory as needed.
4) What is the relationship between contact lists and the address book? I
can't figure it out, and for the life of me, don't understand why there's
a
difference, or why the configuration of the software requires so much work
for it to make any sense.

This is a good start to the issues I'm having with Outlook addressing, I'm
sure that many of these have been answered, but I couldn't find the
threads
that pertain to them. A better search function for the support groups
would
be really helpfull too!

Thanks for any that take the time to help...

Matt

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

1) You can set any folder you want as the first to appear in the address
book view. While in the address book view, use Tools > Options to designate
that folder.

3) Is far too vague a question. Define "every email address I use" for
me.... Time's up. There are far too many contexts in which email addresses
appear to permit an answer to your question. A R click on any resolved email
address in Outlook will provide you the option to add it to your default
Contact Folder in the context menu. If you want to save it to a different
Folder, use the "Move to Folder..." option instead of "Save and Close."

4) No one has decried Microsoft's obfuscation and misappropriation of the
"address book" feature in Outlook louder or longer than I.

Finally, you might want to consider not bashing the folks in this newsgroup
who try to provide help on a regular basis. It doesn't make us feel very
good, and it probably won't garner you many helpful replies to your posts in
the future.

You're welcome.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Hi Russ, thanks for the time.

I've got the Address Book Services running and configured. I also read the
link you supplied as well. Now I find that my contacts ARE listed, but
only
if I specifically select contacts from the drop down list. While I can see
that this could be a feature if one has tons of different contact lists
(and
I will, I'm a consultant, and automotive journalist, and running a small
company), I have NO CLUE why I don't get a superset of all my contacts if
I
select the "All address lists" or "All Contacts" options. What don't I
understand about the word all? In fact I get NO listing at all, if I
select
anything but the contacts list or one of the lists I've specifically
created.
So OK, I'll accept this one as somewhat closed... But

1.1 How do I make the Contacts list (the only one with any addresses in
it)
my default so I don't have to click on the address book, then go to
contacts
to have it be any use? Also, since the contacts aren't in the top most
level,
when I hit the "to" field, I get the blank list, then have to tell it to
look
in "Contacts" and then select. It would be so nice if upper levels of
these
listings included all of the lower levels, instead of nothing at all....
Oh
well.

2) Is now well explained to me.

3) How do I get Outlook to take every e-mail address I use and put it into
a
different contacts list? That way I could harvest the e-mails at one time,
and sort them to the appropriate contact list based on how I use that name
or
the like. Right now, the only way I see to do this is to open each e-mail
(or
use the preview pane), left click on the name, and add it to my contacts
list.. This is a royal, time wasting PITA.

4) The link you provided somewhat cleared up my confusion on how contact
lists and the like work in Outlook. Let's just say I agree with the author
(if it was you, thanks for writing it) and I'll note that this is far from
an
optimal arrangement. That's polite speak for FUBAR!

Once again, thank you for your time.

Matt

It appears you have not yet configured the Outlook Address Book Service
for
your profile. Do so now:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;287563&Product=ol2002

If you want to understand the various "address books" in Outlook, read
the
primer:
http://home.indy.rr.com/russval/addressbook.htm
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

I'm sure that this is in here somewhere, but after several searches and
reading lots of threads, I can't for the life of me find the answers to
my
questions, so here goes! Im using Outlook 2007 on XP SP2.
1) When I click on "to" in a new e-mail window, I don't see any
contacts
listed. All I get is some fields to enter and hit "go" to search.
2) If I enter a name to search for, it doesn't find it.
3) Is there a way to have Outlook automatically add any e-mail address
I
send to into a contact folder called "new contacts" or something? Then
I
can
move them to the correct directory as needed.
4) What is the relationship between contact lists and the address book?
I
can't figure it out, and for the life of me, don't understand why
there's
a
difference, or why the configuration of the software requires so much
work
for it to make any sense.

This is a good start to the issues I'm having with Outlook addressing,
I'm
sure that many of these have been answered, but I couldn't find the
threads
that pertain to them. A better search function for the support groups
would
be really helpfull too!

Thanks for any that take the time to help...

Matt

 

[Guest]

I did some digging, and found a very helpfull add in that at least will
capture e-mail addresses from new and old e-mails. It's called "Add
Contacts", a plug-in from MAPILab.

http://www.mapilab.com/outlook/add_contacts/?dstr

In short, after you install it, it allows you to point to the contact
directory that you want the contacts added to. (I chose to make a new contact
directory, and then I'll correct, sort and distribute from there). Some nice
features are:

You can have it look through existing directories, sent, new whatever.

You can have it look through the body to try to figure out names and other
e-mail addresses (but this sometimes confuses it about the name of the person
sending, hence the need to correct them before you move them to your regular
contact lists.) This feature can be disabled as well.

The trial verion is full featured, and works for 30 days. So if you're
really cheap, you can just run it against your larger e-mail directories, and
not pay, but the thing works so well, I'm gonna pay for it anyway!

It's only $15 for a single user licence. Really, I'm glad they're making
money from it, but it really is a feature that ought to come in the
application from Microsoft.

This also makes my request to get stuff out of the .nk2 file go away (see
Russ, I did do the reading you suggested!), as I could harvest out of the
sent items folder.

Matt

Hi Russ, thanks for the time.

I've got the Address Book Services running and configured. I also read the
link you supplied as well. Now I find that my contacts ARE listed, but only
if I specifically select contacts from the drop down list. While I can see
that this could be a feature if one has tons of different contact lists (and
I will, I'm a consultant, and automotive journalist, and running a small
company), I have NO CLUE why I don't get a superset of all my contacts if I
select the "All address lists" or "All Contacts" options. What don't I
understand about the word all? In fact I get NO listing at all, if I select
anything but the contacts list or one of the lists I've specifically created.
So OK, I'll accept this one as somewhat closed... But

1.1 How do I make the Contacts list (the only one with any addresses in it)
my default so I don't have to click on the address book, then go to contacts
to have it be any use? Also, since the contacts aren't in the top most level,
when I hit the "to" field, I get the blank list, then have to tell it to look
in "Contacts" and then select. It would be so nice if upper levels of these
listings included all of the lower levels, instead of nothing at all.... Oh
well.

2) Is now well explained to me.

3) How do I get Outlook to take every e-mail address I use and put it into a
different contacts list? That way I could harvest the e-mails at one time,
and sort them to the appropriate contact list based on how I use that name or
the like. Right now, the only way I see to do this is to open each e-mail (or
use the preview pane), left click on the name, and add it to my contacts
list.. This is a royal, time wasting PITA.

4) The link you provided somewhat cleared up my confusion on how contact
lists and the like work in Outlook. Let's just say I agree with the author
(if it was you, thanks for writing it) and I'll note that this is far from an
optimal arrangement. That's polite speak for FUBAR!

Once again, thank you for your time.

Matt

It appears you have not yet configured the Outlook Address Book Service for
your profile. Do so now:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;287563&Product=ol2002

If you want to understand the various "address books" in Outlook, read the
primer:
http://home.indy.rr.com/russval/addressbook.htm
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

I'm sure that this is in here somewhere, but after several searches and
reading lots of threads, I can't for the life of me find the answers to my
questions, so here goes! Im using Outlook 2007 on XP SP2.
1) When I click on "to" in a new e-mail window, I don't see any contacts
listed. All I get is some fields to enter and hit "go" to search.
2) If I enter a name to search for, it doesn't find it.
3) Is there a way to have Outlook automatically add any e-mail address I
send to into a contact folder called "new contacts" or something? Then I
can
move them to the correct directory as needed.
4) What is the relationship between contact lists and the address book? I
can't figure it out, and for the life of me, don't understand why there's
a
difference, or why the configuration of the software requires so much work
for it to make any sense.

This is a good start to the issues I'm having with Outlook addressing, I'm
sure that many of these have been answered, but I couldn't find the
threads
that pertain to them. A better search function for the support groups
would
be really helpfull too!

Thanks for any that take the time to help...

Matt