my outlook address book can't find my contacts

[Guest]

I am using XP professional with Outlook 2002

1/ I have loads of email addresses stored in the email address field of my
contacts database. I have for example 4 entries for 'Joe' Joe Soap, Joe
Smith, Joe Belushi, Joe Cohen.

When I click new mail and type the word Joe in the to: field and click send,
my address book cannot automatically find my store of email addresses. Is
there a setting that I have to change.

Any help appreciated.

 

[Scott Atkins[MSFT]]

Hi,

Please make sure that you have automatic name checking enabled by the following.

1. Open Outlook.
2. Select Tools, then Options.
3. Under the Preferences tab click on the E-mail options button.
4. Click on the Advanced E-mail Options button.
5. Select the option "Automatic name checking"
6. Select OK three times to close the dialog boxes.
7. Close Outlook and restart Outlook.

Regards,

Scott Atkins MCSE, MCSA
Partner Technical Lead - Outlook
Microsoft Technical Support
for Platforms and Business Applications
--------------------

 

[Guest]

Thank you Scott
I followed your instructions and found that my 'automatic name checking' was
already enabled. But the problem persists.
Here's a bit of extra information:
When I type in the to field 'joe' it automatically auto completes to
'joe soap' As I do indeed want to email mr soap, I click OK.

But I then get a 'check names' dialogue box

It says 'Microsoft Outlook does not recognise Joe Soap' <which is crazy
because his full contact details ARE definitely in my contacts database>

I then click on 'show more names'

And I get a message in a pop up which says:

The address list counld not be displayed. The contacts folder associated
with the address list could not be opened. it may have been moved or deleted
or you do not have permissions..... Let me tell you another thing. Some
time ago, I moved my outlook.pst file into the folder 'my documents'

When I click OK on this warning message, I am taken to a page which says

'Show names for the 'contacts' the contacts is a drop down box, in the
same drop down box there is another option (also called contacts), if I
select 'the other contacts' option, I then see all my contacts (yippie)
displayed below. Sounds like I have got 2 contacts files , one is blank and
the other has all the correct data in it.

Do I need to tell the programme the new location for my outlook.pst file ?
If so how?

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Examine your Folder list to see how many Contact Folders you have. You
simply need to configure the Outlook Address Book to display the correct
Contacts Folder(s):