Contacts disappeared/missing

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EvH - 20 Nov 2005 08:24 GMT

Some users in my office have reported that they can no longer see any
contacts. One user has said he has lost his contacts as well as what he
thinks is his Outlook Address book. Here are the details:

EMAIL CONFIGURATION: IMAP
OUTLOOK VERSIONS: Outlook 2002 and 2000
DATA FILES: Users had *.pst files and *.pab files stored on their local
hard drives

RELEVANT CIRCUMSTANCES: I have had to create new Windows XP workstation
logons for users following renaming our domain. All users are using the
same computers as before. No data has been manually deleted by me or moved
to another location.

WHAT I'VE DONE SO FAR: Following setting up their new profiles, I logged
onto to Windows using their new logons and set up their MS Outlook profiles.
I searched for their *.pst file and associated it with their new Outlook
profile. In data files, I also searched for their *.pab file and added these
to their new profiles. I have not imported any data. Emails show fine;
however, no contacts or other address books display at all.

I have heard of this problem happening before and know there is a resolution
to it; however, I haven't found anything yet. Please help and thanks in
advance to anyone who does!

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Vince Averello [MVP-Outlook] - 20 Nov 2005 10:29 GMT

Any particular reason you're using PABs. They've been essentially obsolete
for a few versions since the Outlook Address Book supports distribution
lists and just about everything the PAB does plus the Outlook Address Book
is created dynamically from the Contacts folder.

> Some users in my office have reported that they can no longer see any
> contacts. One user has said he has lost his contacts as well as what he
[quoted text clipped - 24 lines]
> to it; however, I haven't found anything yet. Please help and thanks in
> advance to anyone who does!

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Brian Tillman - 21 Nov 2005 18:56 GMT

> Some users in my office have reported that they can no longer see any
> contacts. One user has said he has lost his contacts as well as what
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> users are using the same computers as before. No data has been
> manually deleted by me or moved to another location.

Since Outlook's PSTs are kept, by default, in the Local Settings path of the
Windows user profiles, creating new profiles has removed from those users
the ability to access their old user profiles. If those profiles atill
exist on disk, then you should be able to copy the data they contain to the
new Windows profiles, thereby restoring access. If the old Windows profiles
no longer exist, you've good and truly screwed over your users.

> WHAT I'VE DONE SO FAR: Following setting up their new profiles, I
> logged onto to Windows using their new logons and set up their MS
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> imported any data. Emails show fine; however, no contacts or other
> address books display at all.

So, it looks like you have their old data still. That's good. However,
PABs have been obsolete for years and they shouldn't be used. All contact
data should be kept in the Contacts folder and that folder enabled as an
address book. Make sure the Outlook Address Book service is in each user's
mail profile (in Control Panel's Mail applet) and then, in Outlook, check
the Contacts folder's properties to see that it is enabled as an address
book.

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Brian Tillman

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