Use one Contacts list with two Profiles

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Ernie - 09 Oct 2004 14:43 GMT

I've currently have two profiles configured in my Outlook 2003. I receive a
prompt when I first run Outlook as to which profile to I want to operate
with. I have two profiles because I use the Outlook to access both a
business e-mail account, and a personal account.

How can I configure Outlook so that it uses the exact same Contacts file in
both configuration? Currently the second one I've created has a new (empty)
contacts file.

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Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] - 09 Oct 2004 15:10 GMT

Answer would depend on what you other needs are and whether you want to keep
your Contacts Folder and other Outlook data separate or synchronized between
these profiles. The simplest thing to do is to configure each profile to use
the same Outlook Data File.
File > Data File Management...

It is not usually necessary to create separate profiles to handle two
accounts.

Signature

Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

> I've currently have two profiles configured in my Outlook 2003. I receive
> a
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> (empty)
> contacts file.

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Ernest Maw - 09 Oct 2004 15:22 GMT

We attempted to create a second mail account within Outlook, but we had
errors when sending/receiving.

Since these accounts are in very different environment, (one accessible
via internet, the other behind a corporate firewall), there was no
chance that I could access them both at the same time.

So we created a second profile, (which worked).

Since my Contact information is not stored in a local .pst file, (it's
in my "network" folder behind the corporate firewall, I guess this would
not be possible. (Unless you are aware of a different approach here.)

> Answer would depend on what you other needs are and whether you want to keep
> your Contacts Folder and other Outlook data separate or synchronized between
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> It is not usually necessary to create separate profiles to handle two
> accounts.

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Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] - 09 Oct 2004 15:31 GMT

Perhaps you could start at the beginning and provide all the relevant and
necessary information about your configuration, including your message
store. Don't make us try to read your mind. Perhaps your question is about
Exchange server, not Outlook.

Signature

Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

> We attempted to create a second mail account within Outlook, but we had
> errors when sending/receiving.
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
>> It is not usually necessary to create separate profiles to handle two
>> accounts.

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Ernest Maw - 09 Oct 2004 16:44 GMT

OK,

I have MS Windows 2000 Professional (V 5.0.2195 SP 4 Build 2195)
I'm running MS Office 2003 (11.6359.6360 SP1)

I have a DSL connection.

There are two e-mail accounts.
One with my ISP (T-Online)
One with my company running on an Exchange server behind a
firewall.

My company account was originally set up on my machine, but to access
it, I must first tunnel through our firewall (at the company's end) and
all works fine.

Last week, I set up a second account profile and entered in the correct
information to be able to access my private account at T-Online. I can
only access this account when I'm not tunneled through to my company's
corporate network. (Thus I will never be accessing both accounts at the
same time.)

I'm trying to determine if I can configure my T-Online Outlook profile
to use the same "Contacts" information that my Company configuration
uses. Currently I have two PST files (one with Business related
e-mails, and one with Personal). My Company Outlook uses both of them.
I have my Personal Outlook profile using only the Personal file.

In my business profile, e-mails hit the "network" in-folder and remain
there until I manually drag them down to an in-folder (this is my
preferred way of operating). The same is true in my personal
environment. Nothing but my Calendar, and I'm guessing my Contacts
information is stored on the network server.

I synchronized manually, but often. I guess that places a version of my
Contacts information in the local OST file. So is it possible to view
and use my Contacts information from both profiles?

Sorry for the long post, but you asked for the details. ;)

> Perhaps you could start at the beginning and provide all the relevant and
> necessary information about your configuration, including your message
> store. Don't make us try to read your mind. Perhaps your question is about
> Exchange server, not Outlook.

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Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] - 09 Oct 2004 17:41 GMT

Your Exchange administrator knows you are using a PST with your Exchange
mailbox?
Even if you are, you cannot possibly access the data in your Exchange
mailbox without first authenticating to your company's domain and Exchange
Server. Your OST data will not be available to you in another profile.

Signature

Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

> OK,
>
[quoted text clipped - 40 lines]
>> store. Don't make us try to read your mind. Perhaps your question is
>> about Exchange server, not Outlook.

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Ernest Maw - 10 Oct 2004 08:33 GMT

Russ,

Thank you for the response. This is what I thought. BTW, I'm not using
a PST file in my Exchange Mailbox, but I was never really sure how to
refer to what I've always called the "network" folders. Since they
appear to be similar to the setup of a PST file, (but I know they are
not), I made that reference. I will refer to those sets of folders as
the Exchange Mailbox going forward. Thanks again for the information,
(and patience).

> Your Exchange administrator knows you are using a PST with your Exchange
> mailbox?
> Even if you are, you cannot possibly access the data in your Exchange
> mailbox without first authenticating to your company's domain and Exchange
> Server. Your OST data will not be available to you in another profile.

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