Missing Address Book and Email addresses in Outlook 2007

[gordon42]

My Address Book suddenly started listing Contacts by Full Name intead of File
As, which made finding and inserting email addresses into emails difficult.
No idea why this happened. Without doing any research I deleted the Address
Book, with the intent of re-creating it. What I didn't anticipate is that all
my email addresses disappered from my contact records. But I know the
information still exists, because if I start re-entering an email address in
a contact record after a few keystrokes Outlook offers to auto-complete the
address and the Display As field with the correct information.

Any suggestions how I can restore my Address Book and also get alll the
email addresses and Display As names back in my Contact records? Thanks!

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

My Address Book suddenly started listing Contacts by Full Name intead of
File
As, which made finding and inserting email addresses into emails
difficult.
No idea why this happened. Without doing any research I deleted the
Address
Book, with the intent of re-creating it.

Since Outlook doesn't have an address book, it's hard to say what you did.
If you want to change the display order in the Address Book interface (which
is just a vew of your Contacts folder), click Tools>Account Settings, select
the Address Book tab, select Outlook Address Book, click Change, set the
display order there.

What I didn't anticipate is that all
my email addresses disappered from my contact records. But I know the
information still exists, because if I start re-entering an email address
in
a contact record after a few keystrokes Outlook offers to auto-complete
the
address and the Display As field with the correct information.

The autocompletion feature does not reference your contacts in any way. It
merely remembers the last 1,000 addresses to which you've sent mail. if the
addresses are gone in your Contacts folder, then you'll either have to
recover the data from the most recent backup you made (you DO back up
Outlook regularly, correct?) or manually reenter the data. NEVER manipulate
contact data using the Address Book interface.

 

[Patrick Reed]

The AutoComplete list with which you're being prompted is populated with
addresses used on previously sent messages. It's not actually interrogating
an address book.

How exactly did you delete the address book? Luckily, you can't delete the
default Contacts folder. If you select the Tools menu in Outlook | Account
Settings... | Address Books, is anything listed there? We're looking for
"Outlook Address Book." If not, select New... | Additional Address Books |
Next | Outlook Address Book | Next | Finish. Now the Outlook Address Book
service has been re-added. Restart Outlook.

If Outlook Address Book is listed there, select that entry and select
Change... Is anything listed here? If not, select Close | Close. Right-click
on your Contacts folder | Properties | Outlook Address Book. Check the
option to show this folder as an e-mail address book. Select OK. You can go
back into Tools | Account Settings... | Address Books | Change... and verify
the "show names by" option is set the way you want.

I'm not sure how that option would have been changed in the first place
without your knowledge, unless you started synching your Contacts data with
a mobile device and making adjustements to the Contacts on that device or
something similar ...depending on the device settings, I've seen that
re-arrange the File-As order on individual items when you save the changes
and synch back.

 

[DL]

Contacts>Show as an Outlook Address book

The auto complete is something completely different - its a different
scource to your contacts list

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

Auto-complete has no relation whatsoever to the Contacts folder.

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact.
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375


After furious head scratching, DL asked:

| Contacts>Show as an Outlook Address book
|
| The auto complete is something completely different - its a different
| scource to your contacts list
|
| || My Address Book suddenly started listing Contacts by Full Name
|| intead of File
|| As, which made finding and inserting email addresses into emails
|| difficult.
|| No idea why this happened. Without doing any research I deleted the
|| Address
|| Book, with the intent of re-creating it. What I didn't anticipate is
|| that all
|| my email addresses disappered from my contact records. But I know the
|| information still exists, because if I start re-entering an email
|| address in
|| a contact record after a few keystrokes Outlook offers to
|| auto-complete the
|| address and the Display As field with the correct information.
||
|| Any suggestions how I can restore my Address Book and also get alll
|| the email addresses and Display As names back in my Contact records?
|| Thanks!