All my contacts aren't in my OAB

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

Michael - 11 Jan 2006 18:20 GMT

We have about a list of about 650 contacts in a MS exchange public folder
at my office. They are all displayed and updated fine in my "other folders"
section of my contacts pane. Of these very few have email addresses in them
but almost all have fax numbers. I am interested mostly in faxing using
Outlook with a fax transport which is configured on my machine.
When I create a new message I click "to" for my Address Book. I cruise
to my public folder. About 50 of the 650 contacts in the folder are displayed
in my Address Book. Almost all of these 50 contacts which show up have email
addresses in them. One or two have a fax number but no email. I'm missing
about 550 contacts and it seems as if almost all of those 550 have a business
fax in their contact file but no email. Anyone have any idea why I can't see
these contacts in my adress book?

Reply to this Message

Jocelyn Fiorello [MVP - Outlook] - 12 Jan 2006 02:19 GMT

Are all the contacts folders in question enabled as OABs in their properties?

Signature

Jocelyn Fiorello
MVP - Outlook

*** Messages sent to my e-mail address will NOT be answered -- please reply
only to the newsgroup to preserve the message thread. ***

> We have about a list of about 650 contacts in a MS exchange public folder
> at my office. They are all displayed and updated fine in my "other folders"
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> fax in their contact file but no email. Anyone have any idea why I can't see
> these contacts in my adress book?

Reply to this Message

Michael - 12 Jan 2006 14:57 GMT

Yes, all these contacts are in the same public folder and the folder is
enabled as OABs. I have read numerous threads about configuring properties
and creating new OABs and am aware that alot of people get confused on that
point. The folder I am refering to is enabled and an OAB and I have rebuilt
my OAB in Tools-->Email Accounts to no avail. The folder which contains the
said 650 contacts is listed in my address book under Outlook Adress Book,
Company Contacts. Some (about 50) contacts successfully make it in there but
most (about 600) don't. I believe this to be a problem with the address book
recognizing that there is either an email or fax address within the contact.
The contacts with emails all show up fine but many of the contacts with just
fax numbers don't. The fax numbers are recorded under "Business Fax" in the
default location within the contact form. This entire contact list was
imported from MS Access and the fax numbers were imported into "Business
Fax."
I guess I would understand this problem more if none of the contacts with
just fax numbers and no email addresses would show up. I have found a couple
contacts which do contain a fax number and do not contain an email which are
in my address book. I have no idea why my Address Book is acting the way it
is. As I understand it, if a contact is in a folder which is enabled in OAB
and has either an email address or a fax number within it, it should show up
in my OAB. The case is only about 10% of my contacts which fall into that
catagory are showing up and there seems to be no rhyme or reason to which
ones do, and which ones don't. Any ideas why this is happening?

> Are all the contacts folders in question enabled as OABs in their properties?
>
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> > fax in their contact file but no email. Anyone have any idea why I can't see
> > these contacts in my adress book?

Reply to this Message

Michael - 12 Jan 2006 15:46 GMT

Alright! I solved my problem. When our contacts were imported to Outlook 2003
from MS Access all the business fax numbers came into Outlook in the form
(xxx) xxx-xxxx. I had to go through 600 entries in our contacts and click the
"business fax" button next to each fax number and check the phone number.
This placed all my contacts in the for +1 (xxx) xxx-xxxx and now they all
show up in my address book. YAY!! What a pain in the butt though!! Now if I
could just get the I Fax Mail Transport to work that would be a whole nother
thread. For now I'm happy just to have my contacts in my OAB.

> Yes, all these contacts are in the same public folder and the folder is
> enabled as OABs. I have read numerous threads about configuring properties
[quoted text clipped - 34 lines]
> > > fax in their contact file but no email. Anyone have any idea why I can't see
> > > these contacts in my adress book?

Reply to this Message

Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] - 12 Jan 2006 21:48 GMT

That piece about having imported the Contacts would have made this easy to
solve. Always include information like that when you post questions.
Which fax service are you trying to use? What isn't working?

Signature

Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

> Alright! I solved my problem. When our contacts were imported to Outlook
> 2003
[quoted text clipped - 73 lines]
>> > > can't see
>> > > these contacts in my adress book?

Reply to this Message