Contact List

[Auntie Mame]

Okay, I'm new to Vista -- and I'm a firm believer that there must be a
solutioni to this problem and I simply haven't found it yet..... says she
hopefully.

Man, I've loved Outlook Express.

I need to be able to segregate sections of my contact list into different
categories.
Now it seems we can still set up 'groups' to which all in any given group
will receive an email, but that's not what I'm looking for.
As I said, just to segregate.... work from friends from family from an
organization I'm involved in from some students that I work with, etc.

When I imported my Outlook Express address book into Vista contacts, it
included EVERYONE, even those I don't regularly mail to but have perhaps
sent out one email in the past 6 years. Well, okay, so what... I just went
through the list and deleted all those I didn't want to keep.
And then I very painstakingly went through the entire list and "renamed"
each and every contact to include a letter in front of their names to
designate different categories: Fr for friends; Fa for family; W for
work... etc. Well, that works for the contact list but not for the address
list when I go to insert addresses into e-mails. So that didn't work at
all.

Please help, if you can -- what would the solution be? What is the method
whereby one segregates those in your address book into specific categories?
I just know there must be a way because it was such a valuable option on
Outlook Express and, without that ability, it's like taking 10 giant steps
backwards. I often wonder why it is these guys feel it so necessary to fix
something that's not broken.

And, Merv... next time you lose sight of your folders, click on "View" (up
at the top) and select "Layout" -- my folders all disappeared the other
night and that's how I got them back again -- I must have inadvertently done
something that made them all go *poof*.

Thanks for any help -- I'll greatly appreciate any and all ideas here.
Regards,
Mame

 

[Dave]

There is no way to separate contacts into categories.
Groups is all you've got.
However, you can do it bassackwards if you have folders... open your
Contact folder, open your sub-folder, select your recipient(s), right-click,
select Action - Send Email

I suspect that MS felt that OE was a little too much like Outlook, and was
losing revenue.

 

[Auntie Mame]

Thank you, Dave, for the reply!

Well, isn't that a corker... hard to believe that they would eliminate such
a valuable part of a very popular programme.

Okay, so I guess the next question is... can I import, into the new
computer with Vista, the Outlook Express programme from my old
computer that has XP running on it? Will it run in the Vista OS?

hmmm, if not, then I just might begin to wonder why bother running
the Windows Mail programme at all... why not toss it and begin using\
a net based email programme that won't fill my system up with mail?

I loved my Outlook Express! dang!

 

[Dave]

No, OE won't run on Vista.

You might try Outlook, if you have it.

Or take a look at the free Thunderbird.
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/

 

[Stubbo of Oz]

Okay, I'm new to Vista -- and I'm a firm believer that there must be a
solutioni to this problem and I simply haven't found it yet..... says she
hopefully.

Man, I've loved Outlook Express.

I need to be able to segregate sections of my contact list into different
categories.
Now it seems we can still set up 'groups' to which all in any given group
will receive an email, but that's not what I'm looking for.
As I said, just to segregate.... work from friends from family from an
organization I'm involved in from some students that I work with, etc.

Two possibilities.

1. Open contacts window and from "File" menu select "New --> Folder"

Name this folder, say, "Family", then another for "Friends" and so on.

Now drag all relevant contacts into the new folders.

2. This is how I do it

Right click each contact in turn and select "Edit"

Go to "Work" tab and use the "Company" field to enter "Family" or
"Friend" or whatever.

When finished, go back to Contacts window and, if you are not viewing
by details, go to "View" menu and select "Details"

Right click on one of the headings and select "More"

Look in the list for the item "Company" and click it to put a tick
there.

While you are there, untick any headings you do not use.

Click "OK"

Back in the "Contacts" window, left click on the "Company" header and
all your "Family" and all your "Friends" will be together.

 

[AM]

have been reading your report on the contact list and do agree OE was better
on this subject. It took me a while and a lot of questions to hear it was not
available in Windows Mail. You should think they want to improve things
rather than lose them.

 

[Auntie Mame]

Thank you, Dave, for this...

I don't have Outlook and so, yes, I will have a look at the Thunderbird
programme
and appreciate the link you've provided.

But, at the same time, I'm shaking my head here wondering just what got into
the Vista people to change it so dramatically -- so much so that they've had
to open a completely new newsgroup in order to handle all the problems
involved
in the programme.... I'm astounded at the number of messages each day that
come through this group. People are not happy.
Such a shame when you think that it most probably would have been such
a simple thing to simply put through some nice improvements to what was
already there, instead of changing it to such a great extent.

 

[Auntie Mame]

Hiya Stubbo,

Thank you for this outline, I really appreciate any help I can get right
now.

But I'm wondering if I'm missing something here, but by doing all of that
I still don't get the addresses segregated when I click on the addresses
to put into the actual mails.
Yes, the Contact list is segregated.... but I had that when I put a letter
in front of each name.
Then start a new mail and click on the "To:" or the "CC:" and the list
pops up that is the entire contact list all merged into one alphabetical
list with none of the identifying letters I input at the beginning of each
name.

And so did I miss a step in there? lol
Thanks for your help.
Regards,
Mame

 

[Auntie Mame]

Yes, AM, I am in complete agreement with you here.
The interesting thing is that it has made me ponder on just what the
reasons are for something like hotmail and gmail to have become
so very popular the past year or so. And I'm wondering if the
omissions, either intended or inadvertent, might be the cause of
that -- this one aspect is pushing me away from using their programme.

I have been thinking, too, that my transition from Win98 to XP was
very very smooth, even though it was a major step for the programmers
to move away from the DOS based programming.
But transition from XP to Vista is very awkward, at least for me. I'm
not a very happy camper right now. I am hoping that, with use, I'll
find greater ease with Vista over time -- but that was a step that
was not required while moving from Win98 to XP.

*sigh*...,. will keep plugging away here

Regards,
Mame