Howto copy only Outlook contacts/address book to another OL installation ?

[Paul Babb]

As far as I know the contacts/address book of an Outlook installation are stored in
three files:

Personal Address Book (.pab):
drive:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Offline Address Books (.oab):
drive:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Outlook contacts nicknames (.nk2)
drive:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Is this true for an Outlook XP/2002 installation or are these locations only for other versions
(e.g. Express) relevant ?

If I only want to use all these contacts on a new installation is it sufficient
just to copy these files to the new Outlook installation or are there internal references/keys
in these files which are only valid together with other (e.g. *.pst) files?

Paul

 

[Vince Averello [MVP-Outlook]]

Are you using an Exchange Server (I'm guessing you are since you brought up
OAB files)? If not, you'll have to be concerned with PST files since that's
where Outlook stores data, like Contacts, if it's not using an Exchange
Mailbox.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Wrong. Contact data is stored only in Contact Folders. Outlook has not used
a PAB for over 7 years. The NK2 file contains only your autocompletion
cache. An OAB contains Contact information that you can use only when
offline from Exchange server, but cannot be used to transfer Contact data to
another installation.
To transfer Contact data you must copy the PST file in which they reside.

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

As far as I know the contacts/address book of an Outlook installation are stored in

three files:

The majority of Outlook users have no contacts of their own in any of those locations.

Personal Address Book (.pab):
drive:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

This is a legacy address book, supported for backwards compatibility and rarely used these days.

Offline Address Books (.oab):
drive:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

These are addresses from the Global Address List downloaded for Exchange Server users. It contains no personal addresses.

Outlook contacts nicknames (.nk2)
drive:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

This is a list of addresses used by Outlook's autocomplete feature, not contact records.

Is this true for an Outlook XP/2002 installation or are these locations only for other versions
(e.g. Express) relevant ?

Outlook Express is a totally different program and irrelevant to any consideration of Outlook 2002.

If I only want to use all these contacts on a new installation is it sufficient
just to copy these files to the new Outlook installation or are there internal references/keys
in these files which are only valid together with other (e.g. *.pst) files?

Your contacts are in the .pst file or Exchange mailbox that holds the rest of the Outlook data. See http://www.slipstick.com/config/backup.htm

 

[Brian Tillman]

As far as I know the contacts/address book of an Outlook installation
are stored in
three files:

Personal Address Book (.pab):
drive:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Application
Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Offline Address Books (.oab):
drive:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Application
Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Outlook contacts nicknames (.nk2)
drive:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application
Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Not exactly. The Personal Address Book is obsolete and all your contacts
should be in Contacts folders, not the PAB. The OAB is available when using
Exchange with offline folders enabled. No Exchange account means no OAB.
Finally, the NK2 file is not tied in any way to your contacts. It is a file
that contains previously-resolved addresses (i.e., addresses to which you've
sent mail), whether or not they are or ever were in the contacts folder.
Keep in mind that Outlook has no "Address Book". The Outlook Address Book
is just a view of the names and associated electronic addresses that are
found in your Contacts folders (or PAB, but you shouldn't be using that).

Is this true for an Outlook XP/2002 installation or are these
locations only for other versions (e.g. Express) relevant ?

Outlook and Outlook Express are completely unrelated applications, despite
their similar names, and neither uses the others data.

If I only want to use all these contacts on a new installation is it
sufficient
just to copy these files to the new Outlook installation or are there
internal references/keys in these files which are only valid together
with other (e.g. *.pst) files?

All your Outlook data, Inbox, Contacts, Calendar, etc., is kept in the same
file, the PST. If you move that file correctly, ALL your Outlook data will
transfer and be used. See this for more information:
http://www.howto-outlook.com/howto/backupandrestore.htm . If all you really
want to transfer is your Contacts, then create a new PST with
File>New>Outlook Data File. AFter creating the file, right-click and drag
your COntacts folder to the new PST and choose Copy. When the copy
completes, the new PST will contain a copy of your Contacts folder. Close
that PST with right-click>Close, close Outlook, and you'll be able to copy
that PST to the other PC.

Once it's on that other PC's hard drive, in any folder you please (take care
not to overwrite any existing PSTs), make sure it's not read-only, then
start Outlook. Open the PST with File>Open>Outlook Data File. You'll now
have access to all it contains. Open the Contacts folder, select all the
entries with CTRL-A and either right-click and drag to the existing default
Contacts folder or click Edit>Copy to Folder, choosing the default Contacts
folder as the destination. I hope this is clear.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

No. Contact data is stored only in Contact Folders (in your Exchange Mailbox
or local data file). Outlook has not used
a PAB for over 7 years. The NK2 file contains only your autocompletion
cache. An OAB contains Contact information that you can use only when
offline from Exchange server, but cannot be used to transfer Contact data to
another installation.
To transfer Contact data you must copy the PST file in which they reside.