Outlook contacts scrambled

K

Krista

i recently got a new pda phone
somewhere between having the contacts moved from the old phone to the new
one and then syncing the new phone with outlook all my contacts got scrambled

in the middle of the sync i got a (not responding) message
once it recovered my contacts were there but all the info had shifted

is it possible to go back or restore Outlook to a previous date?
i'm not very experienced technology-wise so please be kind and use small
words :)
also not sure that a back up was ever done on my contacts because 1) i
didn't realize it was possible and 2) i thought i had a back up having
everything on my phone and the lap top. obviously this is a mistake i won't
be making again

any help would be more appreciated than you can know
 
D

DL

You cannot restore the outlook data file unless you have a backup to restore
from.
The MS Outlook site has a free backup addin
 
V

VanguardLH

Krista said:
between having the contacts moved from the old phone to the new
one

Does that involve Outlook at all? Did you move the contacts from the
old phone to the new phone, as you said? Or did you actually move the
contacts from the old phone to Outlook (and then later move the contacts
from Outlook to the new phone?

Apparently you only notice the scrambling when the contacts list got
imported into your new phone. Did you check your contacts in Outlook
after you transferred them from the old phone (and BEFORE you
transferred them to the new phone)?
syncing the new phone with outlook all my contacts got scrambled

Does that mean the contacts list is scrambled in the new phone? Or are
they scrambled back in Outlook?
in the middle of the sync i got a (not responding) message
once it recovered my contacts were there but all the info had shifted

Would that be the sync between your old phone and Outlook? Or the sync
between Outlook and the new phone?

If it was the unresponsive sync between Outlook and your new phone, your
contacts did not get modified in Outlook, just transferred. If the
unresponsive sync was between your old phone and Outlook, why would you
have not checked your Outlook contacts before later trying to sync from
Outlook to your new phone?
is it possible to go back or restore Outlook to a previous date?

If the unresponsive sync was NOT when between your old phone and
Outlook, why not just re-sync your old phone to Outlook?

Just WHERE is the corruption in a contacts list? In your old phone? In
Outlook? In the new phone? Everywhere?
also not sure that a back up was ever done on my contacts because 1) i
didn't realize it was possible and 2) i thought i had a back up having
everything on my phone and the lap top.

Well, the contacts probably still ARE on your old phone, so re-sync
Outlook from your old phone. Otherwise, restore the .pst file for
Outlook from your backups. If you don't do backups, you have deemed
your data as worthless or reproducible. What did you expect to do when
your phone(s) or laptop broke?

There is an Personal Folders Backup add-on for Outlook that will save a
backup of its .pst file after N days has elapsed and only when you exit
Outlook. That will copy the .pst file to wherever you specify.
Obviously if you save that copy on the same hard disk, you have no
backup if the hard disk breaks. Backups go somewhere else. Time to
start thinking about getting a backup program to schedule periodic
backups of your computer(s).

The "corruption" sounds like your sync software has an incorrect map of
fields in the records for the contacts list. It mapped the fields to
the wrong position when updating those records.
 
K

Krista

VanguardLH said:
Does that involve Outlook at all? Did you move the contacts from the
old phone to the new phone, as you said? Or did you actually move the
contacts from the old phone to Outlook (and then later move the contacts
from Outlook to the new phone?

**contacts were transferred from the old phone to the new one by Verizon;
when **that was done there were some issues, i.e. a contact that was
correctly listed **in the old phone as Hero Arts was now Arts, Hero on the
new one

I synced (stupidly) the new phone with Outlook so I could correct those errors
that gave me double the contacts; annoying but easily fixable

the following day i wanted to go back to the old phone (and throw the new
one against the wall!), had Verizon move the contacts back from new phone to
old phone; after that switch I tried to re-sync the old phone back up with
Outlook so that i could at least use it, even with the duplicate contacts -
in the middle of that sync I got an error message saying (not responding)

**once it began responding the contact fields were scrambled or shifted -
i.e. **name & some phone numbers for the named contact with someone else's
**address or even contact picture
Apparently you only notice the scrambling when the contacts list got
imported into your new phone. Did you check your contacts in Outlook
after you transferred them from the old phone (and BEFORE you
transferred them to the new phone)?


Does that mean the contacts list is scrambled in the new phone? Or are
they scrambled back in Outlook?

**contacts are scrambled on old phone and in Outlook
**after all of the headache with the phone, on my 3 and final trip to
Verizon, i **upgraded the new phone to the one i really wanted to begin with,
the contacts **on it are the same as the old phone and Outlook
Would that be the sync between your old phone and Outlook? Or the sync
between Outlook and the new phone?

**re-syncing the old phone, with the incorrect (Arts, Hero rather than Hero
Arts) **with Outlook is when the sync program stopped responding
If it was the unresponsive sync between Outlook and your new phone, your
contacts did not get modified in Outlook, just transferred. If the
unresponsive sync was between your old phone and Outlook, why would you
have not checked your Outlook contacts before later trying to sync from
Outlook to your new phone?

**i'm not terribly computer literate and to make that situation even worse
I'm **likely the most impatient person in the world and on top of that was
completely **frustrated by the entire phone situation - note to self, listen
to that little voice **that says don't do something since it's not really
what you want
If the unresponsive sync was NOT when between your old phone and
Outlook, why not just re-sync your old phone to Outlook?

**old phone was in the middle of the sync when the error occurred, old phone
was **still hooked up once it began working again and the sync finished up
therefore **contacts were scrambled on both
Just WHERE is the corruption in a contacts list? In your old phone? In
Outlook? In the new phone? Everywhere?

**sadly, everywhere
**i know i made several very stupid choices and mistakes
**and i know this is probably a long shot, but it's at least worth a try
before trying **to recreate that many contacts and all the additional info
that was associated **with them
Well, the contacts probably still ARE on your old phone, so re-sync
Outlook from your old phone. Otherwise, restore the .pst file for
Outlook from your backups. If you don't do backups, you have deemed
your data as worthless or reproducible. What did you expect to do when
your phone(s) or laptop broke?

**again, technology isn't my strong suit
**in my naivete I believed that I had the phone if anything happened to the
lap **top and i had the lap top if anything happened to the phone, i just
didn't realize **i would ever face a situation like this
There is an Personal Folders Backup add-on for Outlook that will save a
backup of its .pst file after N days has elapsed and only when you exit
Outlook. That will copy the .pst file to wherever you specify.
Obviously if you save that copy on the same hard disk, you have no
backup if the hard disk breaks. Backups go somewhere else. Time to
start thinking about getting a backup program to schedule periodic
backups of your computer(s).

**where/how can i find this? obviously i need this
**and if i end up re-creating all of those contacts, which i'm sure is what
is going **to have to happen, i don't want to have to face this situation
again
The "corruption" sounds like your sync software has an incorrect map of
fields in the records for the contacts list. It mapped the fields to
the wrong position when updating those records.
**i'm a little familiar with mapping.
**since the address info is in the correct fields in the scrambled contacts
- they **are just associated with the wrong contact - i don't understand how
re-mapping **would correct the problem
 
V

VanguardLH

Krista said:
**contacts were transferred from the old phone to the new one by Verizon;
when **that was done there were some issues, i.e. a contact that was
correctly listed **in the old phone as Hero Arts was now Arts, Hero on the
new one

I synced (stupidly) the new phone with Outlook so I could correct those errors
that gave me double the contacts; annoying but easily fixable

the following day i wanted to go back to the old phone (and throw the new
one against the wall!), had Verizon move the contacts back from new phone to
old phone; after that switch I tried to re-sync the old phone back up with
Outlook so that i could at least use it, even with the duplicate contacts -
in the middle of that sync I got an error message saying (not responding)

**once it began responding the contact fields were scrambled or shifted -
i.e. **name & some phone numbers for the named contact with someone else's
**address or even contact picture

**contacts are scrambled on old phone and in Outlook
**after all of the headache with the phone, on my 3 and final trip to
Verizon, i **upgraded the new phone to the one i really wanted to begin with,
the contacts **on it are the same as the old phone and Outlook

**re-syncing the old phone, with the incorrect (Arts, Hero rather than Hero
Arts) **with Outlook is when the sync program stopped responding

**i'm not terribly computer literate and to make that situation even worse
I'm **likely the most impatient person in the world and on top of that was
completely **frustrated by the entire phone situation - note to self, listen
to that little voice **that says don't do something since it's not really
what you want

**old phone was in the middle of the sync when the error occurred, old phone
was **still hooked up once it began working again and the sync finished up
therefore **contacts were scrambled on both

**sadly, everywhere
**i know i made several very stupid choices and mistakes
**and i know this is probably a long shot, but it's at least worth a try
before trying **to recreate that many contacts and all the additional info
that was associated **with them

**again, technology isn't my strong suit
**in my naivete I believed that I had the phone if anything happened to the
lap **top and i had the lap top if anything happened to the phone, i just
didn't realize **i would ever face a situation like this

**where/how can i find this? obviously i need this
**and if i end up re-creating all of those contacts, which i'm sure is what
is going **to have to happen, i don't want to have to face this situation
again
**i'm a little familiar with mapping.
**since the address info is in the correct fields in the scrambled contacts
- they **are just associated with the wrong contact - i don't understand how
re-mapping **would correct the problem

Well, it sounds like you have your contacts in your old phone although
perhaps with some duplicates that you can clean up. At this point, if
you cannot get the contacts from your old phone to Outlook then there is
a problem with their process or software, like the field mapping for the
records in the database are wrong. That's something you'll have to iron
out with Verizon, check if they have updated software, or if they let
you modify the mapping. I don't sync between my phone and Outlook but I
have imported into Outlook from other applications. At some point in
the import wizard, I'm offered a chance to select which fields to import
and what names to give them (because a field name in the input file from
the other app might not be the field name in Outlook for that same
data). For example, the other app might use FirstName and LastName in
their contact record but Outlook might have Name and LastName (just
giving examples since I don't know that they're called). That means you
need to change the map so the import doesn't try to copy over FirstName
to a non-matching field in Outlook (because there is no field with name
FirstName). During the import, I can select which fields to include in
the procedure. There also might be differences in field names used in
the input file and those used in the database within Outlook so I would
have to match those up. Sometimes that mapping is already provided.
When you select to import, you pick what source created the input file
and it knows if there's any remapping of field names that are required.

It sounds like you have your contacts in your old phone. As to getting
them into Outlook, that's something I can't much help with. Since the
contacts in Outlook are apparently already all screwed up, there's not
much point in keeping any of them. You might want to export them to a
file and then delete them all. Then try importing from your old phone
to Outlook. If that still results in corrupted contacts in Outlook then
the problem is with the format of the exported file from your old phone
not matching up with something Outlook can use.
 

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