Outlook 2007, address books, and contacts are giving me ulcers!

[david.f.jenkins]

I, too, am having problems migrating to Outlook 2007 satisfactorily,
especially as it pertains to address books. I've installed OL 2007 as
an upgrade to 2003. In OL, if I click on the little address book
icon, I see Contacts shown as an Outlook Address Book. If I click on
that, I get a drop down that shows "Outlook Address Book" and under
it, indented, it says "Contacts." The dropdown for "Search address
books" remains totally unpopulated.

I do have an OL 2007 .pst file on another system, and on that system,
when I click the "Contacts" address book icon, and pull it down, it
shows "Outlook address book" and under it, indented are the names of
what I had heretofore considered individual address books. I don't
know how they got there, and I can't remember doing anything in
particular about address books the migration on that system to OL
2007. Must have, though... (If, in 2007, those are not "address
books" then what are they called? Are they "folders?" How can I
include a new folder in the Contacts address book? How can I move
entreis from the Contracts folder to a new one?

I would just like to get this latest system looking like the one that
has all the "sub-books" under the Outlook Address Book named
"Contacts." Please help.

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

The address book exposes the contents of your Outlook contacts folders as address lists that you can pick from when choosing recipients. To show a folder in the address book is an option set on the Properties dialog of the folder itself. Look for the Outlook Address Book tab.

To move entries from one folder to another, you don't use the address book; you use the main Outlook window.

The Search Address Books dropdown maintains a list of contacts you've searched for, so it will be blank on a newly upgraded machine.
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

 

[Dave]

The address book exposes the contents of your Outlook contacts folders as address lists that you can pick from when choosing recipients. To show a folder in the address book is an option set on the Properties dialog of the folder itself. Look for the Outlook Address Book tab.

To move entries from one folder to another, you don't use the address book; you use the main Outlook window.

The Search Address Books dropdown maintains a list of contacts you've searched for, so it will be blank on a newly upgraded machine.
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers








- Show quoted text -

Thanks, Sue.

I have managed to muddle through ("Solving by Thrashing Around").
Maybe what I did will help others:

I discovered that when I was in OL, and viewing the Contacts folder,
the "My Contacts" pane (?) was not expanded. When I expanded it, I
discovered that all my previous "address books" (which are now merely
sub-folders of the Contacts folders in OL 2007 - right?) were there
already! Quelle surprise! I then created *new* folders
correspoinding to each of the old ones. (This took two steps for each
folder - there may be an easier way to do this, but what I did worked:
I right clicked the "Contacts" entry in My Contancts, and created a
new folder. Then I selected all the entries in each old folder, and
did a copy of that data to the corresponding new folder.) I then
deleted (after making sure all my contact data was now in the new
folders) the old folders. It probably takes longer to read about than
it did to actually do those changes.

Now, when I click the Address Book (Or the "To ..." when composing an
email) I can select names from any of my various folders (nee "address
books").

I was pleased that I didn't have to create any new profiles, accounts,
etc. to do this.

As a final note, the whole area of contacts folders, address books,
etc. is quite confusing (as witnessed by the extreme lot of posts
regarding difficulties folks are have had dealing with this area of
mail management. I wonder:

1. Is Microsoft dealing with this in a constructive way?
2. Is there a single complete source of tips, explanations,
cookbooks, etc. that one could consult for help when working through
these issues?
3. Why has such an ostensibly simple thing as a hierarchical set of
addresses/contacts been so complicated for so long?

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

You went to a lot of trouble creating new contact folders and copying items into them. You could have saved yourself a lot of time if you'd followed my suggestion of looking on the Properties dialog of each existing folder and checking the box on the Outlook Address Book tab.

1. Is Microsoft dealing with this in a constructive way?

What "this" you are referring to?

2. Is there a single complete source of tips, explanations,
cookbooks, etc. that one could consult for help when working through
these issues?

http://www.slipstick.com and other web sites have many tips. You'll also find that most questions already have answers in these forums, available if you search.

3. Why has such an ostensibly simple thing as a hierarchical set of
addresses/contacts been so complicated for so long?

Maybe because you're trying to impose a structure that doesn't exist? Outlook is not a hierarchical database.
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?id=54

 

[Dave]

You went to a lot of trouble creatingnewcontact folders and copying items into them. You could have saved yourself a lot of time if you'd followed my suggestion of looking on the Properties dialog of each existing folder and checking the box on theOutlookAddressBooktab.


What "this" you are referring to?


http://www.slipstick.comand other web sites have many tips. You'll also find that most questions already have answers in these forums, available if you search.


Maybe because you're trying to impose a structure that doesn't exist?Outlookis not a hierarchical database.
--
Sue Mosher,OutlookMVP
Author of Configuring MicrosoftOutlook2003

and MicrosoftOutlookProgramming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?id=54












- Show quoted text -

Well, I certainly didn't intend for this to be an adversarial
relationship, Sue, but (to me) it sounds like you headed it off in
that direction.

1. By "this" I mean the entire subject of contacts, address books,
confusion on how to manage those (during and after upgrades,
migrations, etc.) Certainly the myriads of Google hits attests to the
fact that this area is fraught with misunderstanding by scads of
folks, many of whom of at a minimum semi-tech-literate. *This* is a
mess. A constructive way for MS to deal this would be to make more
information readily available regarding how books/contacts etc. are
handled, and what its users need to do to handle some common
requirements, such as adding/deleting items from an address book
folder. (Or is it from a contacts folder?)
2. Thanks for the reference
3. I never said it was. However, when you right-click on a contacts
folder, and create a new folder, it's hierarchically situated in the
contacts folder. It only adds to the confusion that the folders are
*not* shown as a tree in the contacts display of folder names. I'd
venture to say that most of your users would naturally look for such a
hierachical set of folders in the file system (if not in some database
somewhere).

At any rate, thanks for input.

 

[Dave]

You went to a lot of trouble creatingnewcontact folders and copying items into them. You could have saved yourself a lot of time if you'd followed my suggestion of looking on the Properties dialog of each existing folder and checking the box on theOutlookAddressBooktab.


What "this" you are referring to?


http://www.slipstick.comand other web sites have many tips. You'll also find that most questions already have answers in these forums, available if you search.


Maybe because you're trying to impose a structure that doesn't exist?Outlookis not a hierarchical database.
--
Sue Mosher,OutlookMVP
Author of Configuring MicrosoftOutlook2003

and MicrosoftOutlookProgramming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?id=54












- Show quoted text -

Oops - I forgot about your first comment. I deleted everything I
didn't think I needed and so I can't go back and look, but it's my
impression that at that point, I couldn't check the boxes you cited -
they were already checked, but grayed out. I had seen some other
posts dealing with situation, I think, and I had tried the new profile
route I'd seen documented, but didn't seem to be able to cure my
problem that way. All is now well, however. Thanks.

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

There was no adversarial intent on my part. I just find it odd when someone does it the hard way after being told the easy way to take care of a task and feel obliged to point that out so that the other person might not have to go the long way around the next time.

I'd
venture to say that most of your users would naturally look for such a
hierachical set of folders in the file system (if not in some database
somewhere).

I'm not sure what "your" you are referring to. The only user I have is me. Microsoft, on the other hand, based the changes in the Outlook UI in recent versions on very extensive user research, much of it aimed at the problem of people not being able to find things once they entered the data in Outlook.

A constructive way for MS to deal this would be to make more
information readily available regarding how books/contacts etc. are
handled, and what its users need to do to handle some common
requirements, such as adding/deleting items from an address book
folder. (Or is it from a contacts folder?)

If I search Help for "address book," the topic at the top of the list is "Add or remove an address book." This topic explains that (a) the address book is used to look up and select names and (b) that the Outlook Address Book, in particular, shows contacts from the Contacts folder that have email addresses or fax numbers. It also tells you how to include other contact folders in the Outlook Address Book. The "See also" links at the bottom of that topic includes the "Create a contact" topic.

If you use the online Help content, you will see at the bottom of each topic All the Help topics have an option at the bottom for answering the question "Was this information helpful?" Any suggestions you make do get recorded and reviewed by Microsoft's support staff for possible inclusion in updates to the online Help content.

Yes, there are often problems with migrations. We Outlook MVPs have been trying to get Microsoft to do something about that for years.
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?id=54