Contacts can't be used in address book - Outlook 2007

[Guest]

I've just bought a new laptop with Vista Business and Office 2007. I used
the "Easy Transfer" feature to bring all my outlook data from my old machine
(Office XP). Now I have a problem that I can't use my contacts in the
address book. The contacts folder is there and I can see all the contacts in
it.

I can right-click on the contacts folder, go into Properties and go to the
Windows Address Book tab, but the box to tick for "Show this folder as an
e-mail address book" is greyed-out (disabled) and I can't select it. Does
anyone know how to enable it?

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

are you trying to use it as an outlook address book or in the windows
address book?

Easy transfer is not the best for outlook profiles- you'll do better making
a new one, especially since you changed versions of outlook.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

WET will not configure your Outlook Address Book for you. You must first add
the Outlook Address Book Service to your profile, restart Outlook, then you
can enable your Contacts Folder as an email address book.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your help, but I'm not quite sure how to add the Outlook address
book service to my profile - is this something I do in Vista's Control Panel,
or in Outlook itself?

 

[Guest]

I'm trying to use it as the Outlook address book. I've looked at Vista's
"Contact Manager" but it does nothing for me.

 

[Guest]

I found these instructions:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;287563&Product=ol2002

And if I go into Tools->Account Settings and click on the "Address Books"
tab, I have "Outlook Address Book" with type MAPI listed, I can't remove it
or add another, but I still cannot add a contacts folder to be used with the
address book.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Your assertion then is that you have in fact added the Outlook Address Book
Service to your profile, and yet the option to enable your Contacts Folder
as an email address book remains grayed out? If so, this is another bug.
Personally, I never rely on WET. I always create a new profile from scratch.

 

[Guest]

I've been working with Miocrosoft support to solve this - apparently there
are a bunch of people with this problem and it's somehow related to Easy
Transfer. They weren't able to help, but I experimented and GOOD NEWS- I
fixed the problem.

Heres what i did.
1. Before doing anything, first make a backup copy of your .pst file (mine
was called outlook.pst)

2. I created a new Outlook profile (see instructions below). The new
profile automatically generated a new .pst file - in my case it was called
outlook1.pst.

3. I started Outlook with the new profile and changed the data file to the
original outlook.pst.
From the main menu select Tools/Account Settings.
Select the Data Files tab.
Click the Add button.
Select Office Outlook Personal Folder (.pst) and click OK.
Find your original outlook .pst file and select it and click OK.
Back on the Account settings screen, highlight the original outlook pst file
and click "Set as Default"
Highlight the other outlook folder and click Remove

4. All I needed to do at this point was re-create my other email accounts (I
have 6 email addresses in outlook)

I hope that works for you too.
-Jim



Creating a new Outlook profile:
1. Click the Start Button, and then click Control Panel.
2. Click Switch to Classic View, and then double-click Mail.
3. In the Mail Setup dialog box, click Show Profiles.
4. On the General tab, click Prompt for a profile to be used, and then click
Add.
5. In the Profile Name box, type a descriptive name for the new e-mail
profile, and then click OK.
6. In the E-mail Accounts dialog box, click Add a new e-mail account, and
then click Next.
7. Click the appropriate server type for your new e-mail account, and then
click Next.
8. Type your account information in the required boxes, and then click Next.
9. Click Finish, and then click OK.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Right. The same solution Diane and I suggested 3 days ago.