Lost Contacts Vista Mail

[skibuz]

My Contact list in my Vista Mail has disappeared. I would like to recover it
if possible. I have a 3 week old Acronis True Image Home 11.0 on an external
hard drive. The 'Contacts' folder in the back ups is empty. I have Microsoft
Office 2007 installed but use Vista Mail. My last Microsoft update was
9/10/08. My Vista Mail worked just fine as of 2:00pm September 30 ~ then it
vanished. I have imported a very old Outlook Express Address Book from my
desktop, but it is 6 months old and very outdated. I also did a Windows back
up on the same date, but the 'Contacts' folder in that backup is empty as
well. I'm stumped!
Can anyone help? I see an outlook.pst file, but couldn't open it. There is
an address book in Outlook, but it is very outdated as well.
Thank you!

 

[skibuz]

I was reading another thread on What folder contains the Contacts in Vista
Mail? The answer was:
C:\users\{username}\contacts

MY contacts file is in:
C:\users\{username}\cookies\contacts
Could that be contributing to my problem???

Thank you!

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

In order for Windows Mail to be able to use your contacts, they must be
in the folder C:\Users\{username}\Contacts\ .

 

[skibuz]

Thank you Gary,
I created a new folder under C:\users\{username}\contacts and moved the
contacts file over to it. Could you please clarify that what is needed is a
FOLDER named contacts with the contacts file underneath it? Or is
C:\users\{username}\contacts Is the contacts the filename? I have tried both
ways and have not been successful. The system keeps changing things! Sorry
to be so dense. I've been looking at this a long time.
thank you

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

There is no "contacts file".
Each individual contact is in its own file. So, for example, a contact
named Joe Smith is in a file name 'Joe Smith.contact'. All the
contacts are stored in the Contacts folder.

 

[skibuz]

Thank you Gary, that really helped me understand how this works. Through
Windows Explorer, I deleted all Contacts folders (and therefore all of the
contacts below that). Then I imported my old Outlook Express Address book to
let the program put the contacts where they belong. NOW I have a
C:\Users\{UserName}\Contacts Folder with 4 more Contacts Folders below and at
the end is the Blue (I assume system created) Contacts folder with my
contacts. THEN I have another Blue Contacts folder that is under
C:Users\{username}\Blue Contacts Folder that ALSO has my old contacts in it.
This thing seems to have taken on a life of it's own! When I try to delete
some of the seemingly extra folders, it tells me I need permission to do
that. I'm afraid I've made a big mess...........
Any suggestions would be welcomed!
Thanks!

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

Why do you have "4 more Contacts Folders" under
C:\Users\{UserName}\Contacts\ ? That should not be.
Only the individual contacts should reside in that main folder.
There should not be any sub-folders.

 

[skibuz]

Gary,
I do not know HOW those 4 folders were created! But I can't delete
them....it tells me I do not have permission to do that. Also, coincident
with all of this mess, it does appear that my Trend Micro Internet Security
2007 might have been compromised. I have (obviously) reactivated my security
modes and run all of the scans....and there are no problems found. But I did
NOT create those 4 'contacts' folders. I had deleted them all, then imported
my old address file from Outlook Express and the folders just appeared. I
don't know how to determine if this is:
Microsoft Issue or a Security Issue or a Vista Issue.
Thank you for hanging in there with me on this!

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

Exactly how did you import your old address book from OE?

 

[skibuz]

Gary,
From Outlook Express (on my desktop downstairs) I exported my Address Book
to my flash drive. I connected my flash drive to my laptop and (from Windows
Mail Vista) I selected Import ~ it found the .wab file on my flash drive. I
imported that file.
Thank you.....

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

That should have worked, except for the fact that Windows Mail ignores
sub-folders under the Contacts folder. Can you copy the individual contacts
from their sub-folders into the main Contacts folder?

 

[skibuz]

Gary,
Does this forum allow for attachments? I'd like to sent you a PrintKeyPro
picture of my C:\ heirarchy.
There is a 2nd Contacts Folder (that is blue and I assume system generated)
that also has the contacts listed under that blue folder. This appears under
Desktop\{Username}Blue Contacts Folder ~ with contacts underneath.
When I go to C:\Users\{username}\there is a manilla colored folder that has
the 4 contacts folders (mainilla) under them with a 2nd blue contacts folder
(with contacts as well) under it. This 2nd manilla folder also appears in
Desktop/{Username}\Contacts.
Let me know if I can send a picture attachment to make this less confusing.

Thanks!

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

You can post modestly-sized .jpg attachments here (say up to 50K), but
anything larger is better uploaded to a free file sharing site such as
http://tinypic.com. Then post the URL link here.

 

[skibuz]

Gary,
I took the picture. Here is the URL:
http://tinypic.com/4duhyejr
Under the other Blue Contacts folder (directly under {username} the contacts
are also listed.
Thank you!

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

It looks like you have your contacts buried about six levels deep under the main
Contacts folder. Contacts must reside directly in the main (top level) Contacts folder.
See my equivalent screen shot:

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=wt7s6b&s=4

Is this the same arrangement as you have under the top level ('Blue') Contacts folder?
If so, you may need to delete all the other contacts folders, because they may be
confusing Windows Mail.

 

[skibuz]

Gary,
Under both Blue Contacts folders, my contacts reside. When I try to delete
the Manilla contacts folder(s), I get an error that I need permission to
perform this action. Then I went down in the hierarchy and deleted the Blue
Contacts folder. This worked. So then I deleted all of the extraneous
Manilla Contacts folders. This worked. HOWEVER, then my stand alone Blue
contacts folder that also had my contacts and was where it belonged, also
disappeared. Now in my Vista Mail, there are no contacts.

So now I'm going to import my old Outlook Express address book from my
desktop and see what happens.

I need to leave in a few minutes for a meeting, but will post the results of
my latest Import into Vista Mail.
Thank you!

 

[skibuz]

OK, I imported my old OE address book and now have all of the extra contacts
folders as I had in my original picture to you. I am stumped!
Thank you for all of your help!

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

Then there is something not kosher about that import method.
Delete all those contacts folders again. This time export contacts from OE
using the CSV format. Then import that CSV file into Windows Mail.

 

[skibuz]

Gary,
I thought importing via .csv was a great idea! BUT I deleted the blue
contacts folder (and subsequently all contacts), then I deleted all of the
manilla contacts folders. I confirmed in Windows Mail that there were, in
fact, no contacts. I imported the .csv file (which went smoothly) and then
rebooted. WELL, the hierarchy is just as it was when I imported the .wab
file. I'm beginning to think this thing has taken on a life of it's own!!
AACCKK
Any thoughts?
Thanks!

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

I've exhausted all I know about Vista's Windows Contacts.
If I was in your shoes, I'd upgrade to Windows Live Mail and hope
it is better at importing contacts.
To upgrade to Windows Live Mail: http://get.live.com/wlmail/overview